I don't know about you, but I get tons of email. Sure, I live
and work in this space; it's what I do. But occupation aside, I'm
also a Web consumer. And a business owner. And an online news aficionado,
hungry for content.
As a result, I've plugged into a number of different email offers
out there -- from shopping and business-to-business (B2B) sites
to online publications. From the most popular to the most obscure.
And what have all of those email services gotten me? Well, some
good products, ideas, and reading material, to be sure.
But also way too darned many emails.
OK, here's my resolution: I vow that one day soon I will be subscribed
to only the most necessary emailed newsletters and services.
So, you ask, just what constitutes "necessary"?
In a word: RELEVANCE.
In other words, if you want to keep my name on your email file,
speak to me about what's really important, with messages and offers
that are truly customized and meet my own personal needs and interests.
That's the beauty of database marketing. It can do all this. And
more.
Take a look at Amazon.com, for instance. Its email service, which
sends book offers and discounts based on customers' selected areas
of interest, is one of the first that I ever subscribed to... and
will no doubt be one that I retain over the long haul.
Why? Because every time I get a message from Amazon.com, I know
it's going to be worthwhile. Before I even open it. Granted, the
messages may not be personalized to the point that they address
me by name; nonetheless, this doesn't make or break the service
for me.
In fact, Amazon.com has gotten more business from me than even
I expected to give it. And it's all because of its reasonably simple
email service, which often leaves me saying, "Gotta have it."
Of course, it could get a lot more complicated if Amazon.com were
to slice and dice even further. (And maybe it already DOES slice
and dice more than I've suggested -- I'm not privy to its database
strategy!) Here's a hypothetical example to illustrate:
Say there are 50,000 subscribers who, like me, have an interest
in books in the "Business and Investing" category. If
Amazon.com wanted to fine-tune (and strengthen) its offers and strategy,
it could split this list a hundred different ways and market differently
to each segment.
It could group folks by criteria such as date of last purchase,
number of purchases over the last 3/6/12 months, and whether they
subscribe to other interest categories (and which ones). Other segments
can include people who responded to specific offers. And which books
they actually BOUGHT.
As you can see, there can be dozens, even hundreds, of potential
segments, each with its own "hot button." The key, of
course, lies in not only how the list is split but how each segment
is marketed to. In other words, how each segment's hot buttons are
targeted with multiple offers and messages.
If you're not currently using a database to enhance your relationships
with your customers, consider it the foundation of your future email
marketing success. Begin laying the groundwork now by planning or
implementing the following:
Analyze your current customer database. What have your customers
purchased? What are they interested in? Which key points or segments
of your database would be the most relevant or suitable for your
offers? Maybe it's just a matter of targeting emails to subscribers
based on categories of interest, as Amazon.com did.
Or maybe your business calls out for a service such as the AA Net
SAAver Fares program offered by American Airlines, in which a traveler
can register his or her home city as well as the cities he or she
visits most frequently. When relevant flights go on sale, American
sends off a personalized email "alert." A much more complex
scenario, to be sure, but a good example of solid database marketing
in action.
What assumptions can you make about your customers? If you're selling
high-end baby gift items online, will your 40- to 55-year-olds be
more interested in the 18-karat gold-rimmed pacifier or the DKNY
infant sweatsuit?
Plan your offers according to your answers to the questions above.
Don't forget to consider format decisions, such as whether to use
or test HTML and/or rich media.
Build your database. Include any pertinent variables from the above
analysis that can be turned into data fields. Think about your reporting
functions, and prioritize your fields in terms of weight.
Of course, it can get a heck of a lot more complicated than this,
and we'll explore more details next week in Part 2. But my strongest
suggestion is to begin looking for outsourcers now, especially if
you want to use email as a marketing tool in the future.
Mark my words: Relevance will be key.
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