The fact that one-to-one marketing is critical to email success is old news. So why are so few doing it? Many find it hard to decide how to tailor and personalize content. I’ve always been a big fan of taking ideas to the streets, so I ask you– how do you approach content decisions when determining relevant content for your audience segments?
Great campaigns are executed outside the box, so I say ask the people what they want! A great example is the approach Toyota took when launching the Tundra in 2007. They first identified vertical demographics in construction, hunting, fishing, farming, and the outdoors. Before deciding exactly what to say to these consumer segments, they made a list of major events related to each segment. Toyota attended these events, documenting anything from the color of trucks driven by attendees, down to the beer the enthusiasts drank during the events.
Many clients are realizing how important it is to tailor messages and how easy it can be to personalize email. Yet others are still missing the opportunity to leverage features that can make the creation of highly-relevant emails much easier, such as Dynamic Content. What’s the hold up? The biggest concern isn’t the cost or maintenance of the email, but is deciding what content to put in the emails and how varied target segments should be. The solution can vary depending on the industry, but the key is to first sit down and define your target audiences. Then be creative when gathering market research as you determine how to personalize your emails.
I’ve put together a quick list of top questions to help you get started in defining your target segments. Print it out, meet with your team, and get creative!
- How do you define your brand? Are you known as an innovator? Are your products known for their high safety ratings? What is it that your customers remember you most buy and does it vary across age groups, geographic location, etc.? Should the message to each of those groups look different?
- Have you identified every attribute stored about these various customer bases from all data sources? Are you sending based on geo-graphic location, gender, age, categories of interest, favorite color, life-style, etc.?
- Is there a personality that resonates well with each of your target segments that you could carry through to other content areas? Think real or non-real. Heck– create them from scratch!
- Certainly along the way, there have been lots of customer surveys telling you exactly what your customers want. How can these be tied into the content creation?
- How can you make brand extensions work for personalization efforts? Look at products already launched successfully via email and determine if perhaps, product recommendations along with personally identifiable attributes could be leveraged together for multiple content areas.
- How does each of these email variations tie back to various ROI metrics? Tip: Don’t rely on just one metric– identify many. Just because one metric was successfully met or unmet doesn’t mean the send was or wasn’t successful. And don’t forget to measure against short-term and long-term metrics.
Download the Dynamic Content for Email Marketing Whitepaper and learn how companies such as Ice Miller, Scott’s Lawn Care, and Nexus Energy Group have leveraged the power of one-to-one messaging using Dynamic Content.
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