higher open number than sent number

[Györke_-_Szasz_]

I try to check an email report numbers. I found a strange thing. If I create a smart list for ppl who received a particular email, I get much fewer numbers than the smart list for those ppl who opened the email
65 ppl opened (based on smart list)
31 ppl sent (based on smart list)
And in the email performance report I can see the following numbers:
209 sent
83 open

When I filter for a person, who is on the list of 'open email' and not on the list 'sent/delivered email', and check the activity tab, I can see both activity

I don't know what can I report now,  these are so. different numbers. Why do you think I have this?

Thank you for your help
Kata

[Christiane_Rode · Accepted solution]

In the screenshot you provided, it looks like you sent the email back in February. If this is the case, the "sent email" data on a person's record may no longer be available in Marketo, as that data is retained only for 90 days. The aggregate data in your email performance report won't change, however. 

So, it makes sense if you're pulling a smart list using "was sent email" if some of those emails were sent over 90 days ago. The data doesn't exist in the lead/person record anymore so it may appear that you have more opens than sends (as the Open data is retained for much longer).

Here's some additional information on the data retention policies.

[Györke_-_Szasz_]

Thanks a lot Christiane
So if I want to create a campaign and send the email for those ppl who received/sent another email earlier than 90 days, it is not possible? Is there any way to see these ppl? 

And why can I see different numbers for open number? Smart list and the email report shows big difference

[Christiane_Rode · Accepted solution]

The aggregate analytics reports will retain this information, which is why you see it on the performance reports. It's just not available in the lead/person record for you to use this information in Smart Lists or other filters.

Moving forward, you might consider creating a smart campaign that will update the program status to sent if this is critical information. This is imperfect, as "sent" doesn't always mean "delivered." You could also play around with program membership -- in some simple situations, if someone is not a member of your program, my guess would be they were never sent your email. But, having duplicates in your DB will complicate either of the above scenarios (and will complicate most scenarios anyway).

But, program status changes will be retained for 25 months, so that could be an option moving forward.