E-mail Marketing – Where Do You Find The Data?

01/04/09

As the recession continues to bite, direct marketing channels, in particular email, are becoming ever more popular with brands. In a sense, well executed email marketing is a no-brainer for tough economic times - it is highly measurable, can be highly targeted and spreads the ever-decreasing marketing budget slightly farther. There is some evidence that the smartest brands have grasped this and are starting to move budgets to email from other channels. Yet the reality is that many more brands are failing to target their mails and segment their distribution lists effectively thereby reducing the chances of delivering...

...high returns. Indeed, recent research by Forrester revealed that 19% of email marketers are still sending a single generic version of an email to their entire contact list and 26% will only divide their list by a single dimension. Simone Barratt, managing director at e-Dialog offers advice for marketers.

Segmentation is a word that can often provoke fear in the minds of those that hear it - it seems to carry connotations of all sorts of impenetrable IT and data processes. The reality is, however, that with very little time marketers can segment their email distribution lists into target audiences using data they don't even know they're capturing. The key is knowing where to look.
The most important sources of data for segmenting a distribution list can be grouped into six categories:

Customer's e-mail behaviour

This data (i.e. number of opens, clicks, link-levels) is not only the easiest to use but the most immediately available. Email behaviour can indicate which subscribers are most interested in your message enabling you to market to them individually, and enabling you to target specific topics of interest.

A customer's profile

With only a few pieces of customer profile information, it is possible to send highly... continued on page two >

 

 

Advertisement

Advertisement