Overview

As you send higher volumes of mail with Lob, you may need to analyze the status and deliverability of your mail on a more aggregate basis. Our Mail Analytics feature in the Dashboard gives you full visibility into where the mail you've sent in any given time period sits in the mail stream. You can slice and dice your tracking data by certain filters to view a full deliverability report, all directly from your Dashboard.

To access this feature, sign in to your Dashboard and click the "Mail Analytics" tab in the left navigation bar.

NOTE: This feature is exclusive to Enterprise Edition customers. Upgrade to the appropriate Print & Mail Edition to gain access.

Mail speed

Lob is the only intelligent platform that tracks each piece of mail as it moves through the USPS delivery process. All mail that is tracked by Lob is presented and aggregated on this Dashboard. The Mail Speed tab shows the number of business days it took from a mail piece's send_date to the date the mail piece was marked as processed_for_delivery by the USPS.

The Mail Speed graph respects all applied filters and shows the average and median mail speed for all the mail pieces that fall within the filter. Pieces that have yet to receive a processed_for_delivery tracking event are not counted in the metrics above the graph. Additionally, the graph is for US mail only.

Mail distribution

The Mail Distribution tab shows the number of mail pieces sent to each US state (and Washington D.C., but excludes US territories). A state's color corresponds to how many mail pieces have been sent to that state. Hovering over a state will provide more details like how many mail pieces have received a processed_for_delivery tracking event, as well as average and median mail speeds (calculated the same way as the Mail Speed tab).

You can also view the data in a table format. The table shows the same data as the map, where each state's data corresponds to a row. Clicking on a column header will sort the values in that column. To search by state name, click on the search icon and input a value to filter the table.

Tracking events

The Tracking Events tab displays a breakdown of all tracking events applicable to the mail pieces within the filter parameters. The main buckets at the top of the Dashboard represent the different stages in your mail's delivery process:

• Sent: This is a count of non-deleted mailings that you have sent to Lob in the specified time frame based on the date for which a piece was scheduled (the piece's send_date), not the date the API request was made.
• Mailed: This bucket is a count of all pieces that have received a Mailed event, which represents handoff to USPS. 
  • NOTE: Access to 'Mailed' events is exclusive to certain customers. Upgrade to the appropriate Print & Mail Edition to gain access.
• In Mailstream: This bucket is an aggregate of two tracking events, In Transit and In Local Area. These are the first two scans that a piece will receive—representing that it's in the mailstream and on the way to its destination.
• Processed for Delivery: This bucket represents pieces that have received a Processed for Delivery scan. This scan means that the piece has been approved for delivery at the destination's nearest postal facility and will likely be delivered in 1-2 business days.
• Delivered: This bucket represents pieces that have received a Delivered scan, meaning they were delivered to the end recipient. The final scan is generated when the mail carrier's GPS unit leaves the delivery area.
  • NOTE: 'Delivered' event will not be reflected into the analytics dashboard calculations until early 2023 
• Re-Routed: If a piece is re-routed due to recipient change of address, address errors, or USPS relabeling of barcode/ID tag area, it will receive this scan.
• Returned to Sender: A piece will receive a Returned to Sender scan if delivery was attempted, but failed due to barcode, ID tag area, or address errors.

Each mail piece will be counted once in each bucket for which it receives a scan. For example, if a letter has these tracking events:

• "In Transit"
• "In Local Area"
• "Processed for Delivery"

Then it will be counted once in the "Sent", "In Mailstream", and "Processed for Delivery" buckets.

NOTE: Certified and Registered letters and Overnight checks are excluded from this dashboard because they are tracked via their own external tracking numbers.

Exporting tracking events

You can also export all tracking events data into a CSV file. This can easily be done by accessing the Filters and Export buttons at the top of any list page.

From the list view, use the filters to select the type of mail items that you would like to export its tracking data. You can specify date range, metadata tags, and several other attributes that differ by form factor. Lob currently supports tracking no more than 250,000 mail items per export. Once your selection is made, click “Apply”.

Next, click the "Export" button at the top of the page, and confirm your filter selections. Click yes to make a granular selection of associated tracking events. Once done, submit your request.

You will receive an email with a link to download a CSV file of your requested tracking events.

Filtering

On your Mail Analytics Dashboard, you can slice-and-dice your data by various other aspects of your mailings, including: product type, recipient ZIP code, template used, and more. You can use these filters to compare deliverability between your different campaigns, recipients, and more.

Be sure to leverage Lob's metadata feature more deeply tag your Lob mailings with any internal data you may have, such as a customer ID or campaign ID. Then, you can easily filter by that metadata within the Analytics Dashboard to view different deliverability reports based on those factors.

For mail sent to international destinations, we only expect to get either "In Transit" or "In Local Area" scans. For this reason, we've added a top level filter where you can compare US and international mailings, with the last three tracking buckets disabled for international mail.

Reading the graph

Under the tracking event statistics on the dashboard, we also provide a graph that provides an even further breakdown of your mail by day, week, or month. Time periods are grouped by the date a piece was sent, not by the date of the API request. As with all other dates within the Lob system, the UTC time zone is used.

Hover over a specific column to view a full tracking breakdown for that time period. Use this breakdown to narrow down your data for even further analysis.

Benchmarks

Over time, you can expect to see tracking events for 98-100% of your mailings. The numbers below are benchmarks for when you should start seeing scans. Keep in mind that these timings and percentages may vary based on the volume of mail you've sent, where you're sending to, and the quality of your address set.

For First Class mail, you'll start to see mailings reach the "In Mailstream" bucket in 2-3 business days and the "Processed for Delivery" bucket 1 business day afterward. After about 4 business days total, you should expect almost all of your mailings to be in the "In Mailstream" state. After about 5 business days total, almost all of your mailings should be in the "Processed for Delivery" state.

For Standard Class mail, which is inherently slower, the timing is a bit different. You'll start to see mailings reach the "In Mailstream" bucket in 4-5 business days and the "Processed for Delivery" bucket 2 business days afterward. After about 10-11 business days total, you should expect almost all of your mailings to be in the "In Mailstream" state. After about 12-13 business days total, almost all of your mailings should be in the "Processed for Delivery" state.