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Performance data from Iterable

Better Email can show how the emails you build perform once Iterable has sent them: sends, deliveries, bounces, opens, clicks, unsubscribes and spam complaints. The numbers appear on the campaign's Performance tab and in the campaign list, next to the email you built. The same sync also tells you whether the campaign Better Email created in Iterable is scheduled or has gone out.

This guide covers how to switch it on. It assumes you have already set up the Iterable integration.

For what the finished result looks like and how to read it, see Campaign performance.

Your user data stays in Iterable​

Better Email never receives, processes, or stores user-level data. No email addresses, no user IDs, no per-recipient events.

Better Email reads Iterable's campaign metrics, which are one row of totals per campaign, plus the campaign's name, state and send time. Iterable's event export, the one place its API hands out per-recipient activity, is never called.

Nothing to set up inside Iterable​

The server-side key you created for the integration already reads campaigns and their metrics. There is no extra permission to grant and nothing to install.

Enable performance data in Better Email​

  1. Open your Iterable integration in Better Email.
  2. Turn on Sync performance data.
  3. Click Save.

Better Email refreshes performance data about once an hour.

How campaigns are matched​

If you let Better Email create the campaign in Iterable, its numbers are tied to the campaign you built by the campaign itself. Renaming it in Iterable doesn't break the link.

A campaign someone builds in Iterable from the exported template is matched by name: keep its name the same as the Better Email campaign's.

Each campaign's numbers are filed under the Destination its campaign was synced through, so people who can only see one Destination don't see another's campaigns.

Language versions share one Iterable campaign, and Iterable reports the languages together, so the numbers show on the master campaign.

Scheduled and sent campaigns in the campaign list​

When Better Email created the campaign in Iterable, the campaign list and the Review tab tell you where it stands before any numbers arrive:

  • Scheduled, with the send time, once someone schedules the campaign in Iterable. A recurring campaign shows as scheduled too.
  • Sent, once the campaign is running or has finished. The counters follow on a later sync.

A campaign that is still Ready or a draft shows nothing, and cancelling a scheduled campaign in Iterable clears the status on the next sync. The status comes from the same hourly sync as the numbers, so it needs Sync performance data on. It only covers campaigns Better Email created; one built by hand in Iterable gets numbers by name, but no status.

Good to know​

  • Performance data covers email blast campaigns that started in the last 30 days when the feature is enabled, and keeps history for everything synced after that.
  • Metrics for a send keep refreshing while it is inside that 30-day window, so opens and clicks that arrive days after a send are still counted.
  • Blast campaigns only. Triggered campaigns and journeys send one message at a time and aren't reported as a send.
  • No clicks per link, and no engagement timeline. Iterable's API reports totals per campaign. Its per-link and over-time data exist only as recipient-level events, which Better Email never reads, so an Iterable campaign's Performance tab has no engagement chart, no top clicked links and no click map.
  • Delivered is Iterable's own delivered count when its report includes one, and sends minus bounces, Iterable's definition, when it doesn't.

Troubleshooting​

No performance data at all. Check that Sync performance data is turned on. If Iterable rejected the key, the integration says so: replace it with a server-side key from the right data center.

A campaign shows Sent but every number is zero. Iterable's metrics take a little while to catch up with a send. Give it an hour and check again.

A sent campaign shows no performance at all. If you built it in Iterable yourself, its name probably differs from the Better Email campaign's name. See How campaigns are matched. Or the campaign is a triggered one, which isn't included.

The campaign list shows nothing for a campaign that is scheduled in Iterable. Status is only read for campaigns Better Email created, and only with Sync performance data on. Check both.

Numbers differ slightly from Iterable's own reports. Opens and clicks keep accruing after a send, and the two systems refresh at different moments. Better Email refreshes hourly. Metrics for a send stop updating 30 days after it started.