Measuring EnviroFlash – And Making It Work for You!

Steven A. Ludewig1, Natalie M. LaGuardia1, John E. White2

1Sonoma Technology, Inc. 2U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

Presented at the National Air Quality ConferencesMarch 7-10, 2011

San Diego, CA

4067

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EnviroFlash – More than Email!

Email messages

Twitter

Text messages

RSS Feeds

Website map

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Subscribing to EnviroFlash

The sign-up process• Location (ZIP code or city)

• Format (HTML, text, short)

• Twitter options

• Forecasts and/or real-time

• Select thresholds

• Preview

• Confirm

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Measuring EnviroFlash

Website traffic patterns on www.enviroflash.info

February 19, 2010, through February 20, 2011 • Total visits: 65,369• Visits/day: 178• New subscribers: 24,264• Bulk-loaded subscribers: 8,323Initial Conclusions

• 15,941 new subscriptions resulted from website visits

• 44 new subscribers per day were through the website

• 25% of website visitors subscribed to EnviroFlash

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Measuring EnviroFlash: Site Activity

Activity averages• Web Visits: 178/day• Send-outs: 30,000/day

Example peak daysDate (2010) Visits Emails Sent

May 3 841 120,000

August 23 505 126,000

September 27 352 122,000

December 1 857 121,000

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Measuring EnviroFlash:One-day Activity Analysis

System activity – May 3rd, 2010• An email was sent to 97,000

(O3 season announcement)• Total send-outs: 120,000 • EnviroFlash Challenge

began May 3, 2010Results• Visits: 841• Removals: 80 (average is 33)

– 59 for agency with large send-out• Sign-ups: 329 (average is 66)

– Only 18 were for the agency with the large send-out– 110 were for one other agency – possibly bulk loaded

Initial conclusions• Subscribers are clicking links in the emails (“click-throughs”)• Episodic or seasonal send-outs drive traffic to the website• Campaigns like EnviroFlash Challenge increase activity• An opportunity exists to direct traffic back to your website

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Measuring EnviroFlash:Failures to Complete Sign-up Process

Sign-up dropouts(12/9/2010 to 3/7/2011)

• 4,386 began to fill out the subscriber information form

• 3,515 clicked the “Subscribe” button• 20% of those beginning the process

did not actually subscribe

Ideas?• Further simplify the sign-up process• Enable a default set of preferences

for a city, configured by agency• Other?

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Measuring EnviroFlash:Email Open Rate

Email open rate• Feature to capture open rates was

deployed in December 2010• Applies only to HTML-formatted

emails – 95% of users receive HTML

• 20% of emails were opened

Ideas?• Are some subscribed for lower AQI

category thresholds than needed?• Provide more/better information to

subscribers about thresholds?• Other?

Threshold Number Percent

Good 29,061 55%

Moderate 3,998 8%

USG 16,302 31%

Unhealthy 2,796 5%

V. Unhealthy 208 0.4%

Hazardous 277 1%

Total receiving forecasts: 52,642

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Measuring EnviroFlash:Opt-in Confirmation

Confirmation rates• Double opt-in process confirms

subscriptions (subscribers must click a link in an email)

• Initially, 69% rate of confirmation• Increased to 87% after subject line

was clarified to state “Attention Required”

Ideas?• Automated reminders were considered,

but we risk being labeled as spammers (sending unwanted/unrequested email)

• Other?

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EnviroFlash – What’s New? (1 of 2)

AQI category-specific messages• Configured/controlled by agency• Dynamically displayed when

an AQI level is reached(uses the first forecast day)

• Appears below the forecast discussion

• Can be activated and deactivated by the agency

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EnviroFlash – What’s New? (2 of 2)

Recommend to a friend• Provides a way to share

EnviroFlash with others • Encourages sharing the

health protection benefits of EnviroFlash

• Users who appreciate the service are more likely to spread the word when invited to do so

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EnviroFlash – What’s Next? (1 of 2)

Other planned features• Improved tool for email

regeneration – includes Action Days and shows forecast that will be used

• Improved tracking of forecasts and data used in send-outs

For subscribers• Mobile version of sign-up

websiteNote: 8% of website visits were from mobile devices

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EnviroFlash – What’s Next? (2 of 2)

Other planned features

• Improved map on www.enviroflash.info

– Faster map loading– Easier to select cities– Larger city symbols

• Foreign language options

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EnviroFlash: Its Potential for Your Agency!

A few conclusions...• “Click-throughs” do happen

– Drive traffic to your agency website by placing URLs in your emails—track click-throughs to demonstrate effectiveness

– Provide dynamic, up-to-date information to add value and keep it fresh

• Subscribers can use the system more effectively– Obtain a higher open rate by encouraging selection of AQI

threshold levels that meet subscriber needs

• Promotional campaigns are effective– Use EnviroFlash to raise awareness of your agency program

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EnviroFlash Contacts and Resources

For help with setting up or maintaining EnviroFlash, contact

John White: white.johne@epa.govAmy Gaskill: Gaskill.Amy@epa.gov

Steve Ludewig: steve@sonomatech.com Natalie LaGuardia: nlaguardia@sonomatech.com

AIRNow Data Management CenterAIRNowDMC@sonomatech.com

(707) 665-9900

Online resources for EnviroFlash are available at

http://www.enviroflash.info/toolkit.cfm

www.airnowtech.org/resources.cfm