| Have you developed, or had someone in your | | | | difference between dining on steak or losing your |
| organization develop, a large data base containing | | | | shirt. |
| prospect and customer history? | | | | When you're beginning to collect email data, you |
| If so, are you using it to its full potential? | | | | really don't need a big, sophisticated program with a |
| Your database can be a gold mine, if you don't mind | | | | lot of segmenting. Start with easy criteria. |
| doing a little digging. Unfortunately, there are a lot of | | | | One area that's easy to track and critical to the |
| companies that are sitting on just such a gold mine | | | | success of your email marketing program..and your |
| and don't know it. If your organization has a | | | | bottom line...is buying history. You could send |
| database with customer information like age, gender, | | | | thousands of email marketing messages, and lots of |
| and buying habits... including shopping cart | | | | information to build the bond between your company |
| abandonment, types of products researched, types | | | | and your email prospects and customers. If nobody |
| of products purchased... just to mention a few... this | | | | buys anything as a result of your email marketing |
| information may be nuggets of pure gold to be | | | | plan, however, it really won't matter, will it? |
| polished and used. | | | | If some email users are opening your email, clicking |
| Segmenting, or splitting your database lists (collected | | | | the links, and buying...and some aren't; what is the |
| from email activity and other information provided by | | | | difference? How can you find out? |
| the prospect or customer) into various groups, allows | | | | One way to find out is to review the emails being |
| you to more closely align your organization with your | | | | sent to both buyers and non-buyers. Are there |
| prospect or customer's wants, needs and desires. By | | | | patterns present? If you have non-buyers who have |
| analyzing the information, you can increase the | | | | always been non-buyers, what's next? There are |
| relevancy of your email messages. More relevancy; | | | | two options: convert them to buyers, or phase them |
| more e-mails opened, fewer email messages about | | | | out of the email marketing program. |
| products or areas where your prospects or | | | | If your buyers are buying less, what can you change |
| customers have expressed no interest. | | | | to help them resume their previous buying pattern? |
| When you collect preference data at the beginning of | | | | If they're buying more, what can you clone to |
| your email relationship, then analyze how the | | | | spread the success? |
| recipients use the email information they get from | | | | All of the data you collect and use to improve your |
| you...emails opened, click-through rate, purchase data, | | | | email marketing program will bring you closer to a |
| and abandoned shopping cart data... you can create | | | | one-on-one connection with your prospects and |
| trend data. And...you can further hone your email | | | | customers, and further from the 'point and spray' |
| marketing campaign to encourage or persuade | | | | broadcast of the past. |
| lookers to become buyers, or buyers to complete | | | | One thing I always mention about data, though. That |
| any uncompleted sales. | | | | is...it's only data. If you want to know what's going on |
| Subject lines and content can be varied within | | | | in your customer's minds, you still have to observe |
| segmented groups and tested to determine what | | | | people...and ask. Do surveys. Get feedback, and have |
| users found relevant, and acted upon, within specific | | | | real one-on-one conversations about what matters to |
| groups. Then, changes can be made accordingly. | | | | them, and what else you can do to help them solve |
| If you are seeing trends heading south on the graph, | | | | their problems. |
| you can start designing a new email marketing | | | | Remember...it's not just "what have you done for |
| program to turn it around. Early detection can be the | | | | me?" It's "what have you done for me lately. |