Improving Relevancy of Email Campaigns: Simplify Data Capture with Dynamic Profiling
By Megan Ouellet, Director of Marketing for Listrak
March 26, 2008
Email marketers know that the more they know about their subscribers, the more targeted and relevant their email messages can be. They have perfected the opt-in process to capture the crucial preference data needed to segment their campaigns – they know where each subscriber lives, what newsletter topic interests them most, what products or services they’re looking for, and all of the other pertinent information they need to determine what information to send. In many cases, organizations are also following best practices by offering sample emails and delivery schedules up front so subscribers know when and what to expect. They’re asking if subscribers prefer text or HTML message. They’re even following up immediately with automated confirmation emails before adding subscribers to their lists. They’re doing everything right.
So why are some subscribers still reporting their messages as spam? Why are their open and click-through rates so low? And why aren’t the emails converting?
These issues are partly caused by the fact that email marketers are relying on the information given by the subscribers. Most subscribers fill out the form as honestly as they can, but over time, their situations change. Others may be in a hurry so they just enter whatever information is quickest and easiest with the intentions of going back later to update their subscriptions, which rarely happens. Others just don’t care what information they put on the form because they aren’t really interested in receiving the emails, they just want to enter a contest on a site and in order to do so, they must opt-in to an email newsletter (which is never a good idea, by the way). Email marketers are left with a database filled with a lot of accurate data but also some misinformation.
Listrak, a leading provider of email marketing solutions, has put together the following white paper that discusses ways email marketers can overcome these issues by incorporating report data into their subscribers’ profiles. This process is called dynamic profiling, and it is a very powerful tool that uses data generated when subscribers read messages and click on links. Best of all, marketers can automatically update each profile with the information and can then segment the lists based on the new criteria. This allows them to send emails to the right subscribers at the right time with the right information so increasing open, click-through, and conversion rates and decreasing spam complaints.
