PERFTECH REACH IS ~80% FOR A 7-DAY CAMPAIGN

DESPITE 94%+ HTTPS RATE IN 2019…

PerfTech’s messaging platform uses upstream HTTP Internet requests as opportunities to deliver in-browser messages. During the past year, the frequency of websites using HTTPS has increased to approximately 80% in 2019 and 94% of all Google web traffic is encrypted*. While encrypted traffic creeps toward the saturation point, PerfTech delivery logs show that in-browser message delivery still reaches approximately 80% of its targeted recipients within a typical 7-day campaign window. To better understand this impact, PerfTech has monitored the same policy of one of our large ISP-customers to determine what percentage of targeted subscribers successfully received an intended in-browser message.

“Reached” versus “Targeted”
For our purposes, the term “targeted” refers to the total number of unique subscribers on a recipient list that is specified by a messaging policy. The term “reached” means that the intended message successfully displayed on a targeted subscriber’s device, an event that is time-stamped and logged by the PerfTech system. We chose a policy that sends a “Terms and Conditions” message due to its continual activity throughout the year and its typically large recipient list. The ISP dynamically adds new and upgraded subscribers to the recipient list on an ongoing basis. Reach was analyzed for a typical 7-day delivery window for the past three calendar years. The percentage of subscribers reached versus targeted was as follows:

Targeted Reached
2017 1,466,311 93.61%
2018 1,023,829** 87.42%
2019 933,359 78.75%
2020 45,241 81.38% (January 1-19)

Factors that Influence Reach
Assuming that a subscriber is online, several factors contribute to the ability to reach a targeted subscriber with an in-browser message. Remember that the factors below are evaluated for every single GET request.

Factors that prevent reach for a single GET request include:
• Not using a browser, such as when gaming or viewing video
• Loading an HTTPS site or page
• Having previously selected to opt out of the respective in-browser message category
• Requesting a site that PerfTech’s platform automatically bypasses, such as those that result in environments unfriendly to message frames
• Requesting a site that the provider expressly wishes to bypass, such as their own

Factors that enable reach include:
• Bulletin System is persistent, and monitors every upstream request for an opportunity to deliver
• A huge number of sites redirect to an HTTPS site. Requesting an HTTP site (using www. for example) that is subsequently redirected to an HTTPS site still gives Bulletin System an opportunity to deliver
• It's also important to note that even if a site is marked as having Default HTTPS, it does not guarantee that all traffic on every page of that site will be over HTTPS
• It takes only one unencrypted (HTTP) page request to successfully deliver a message

In Sum
With the adoption rate of HTTPS across the Internet in North America approaching saturation, PerfTech’s ability to deliver an in-browser message would seem to be heavily thwarted; however, PerfTech logs show otherwise: an approximate 80% reach across a 7-day campaign. When compared to delivery statistics and the inherent downfalls of other subscriber communication forms, such as email, in-browser messaging emerges as highly successful.

For more information regarding the impact of encryption on actual delivery times, see the next most recent news item.

* Google Transparency Report (ongoing) as of January, 2020
https://transparencyreport.google.com/https/overview?hl=en

** Note that any decrease in the number of targeted recipients for this policy has no bearing on the effectiveness of Bulletin System. The decrease in this number is solely a factor of the number of subscribers who were “new” or “upgraded” or otherwise met the ISP’s criteria to need an updated Terms and Conditions message.