The popularity of email as a marketing tool has not diminished despite the proliferation of other communication channels, such as social media and pop-up advertising. Just think of how many emails you receive a day.
A cost-effective and direct way of reaching your audience, segmented email marketing with custom content, which targets consumers by persona or job function, is overwhelmingly prevalent. Yet, as efficient and budget-friendly as it may seem, studies show that a dark cloud looms over this silver lining if email marketing is not properly executed.
According to a 2015 Smart Insights study, approximately only 23 percent of email subscribers open the content they receive. Of those, only 3 percent click on calls-to-action, meaning 97 percent of subscribers never see the content that brands are referring for additional insight and information.
So do businesses throw their hands in the air or do they take conscientious steps to improve their communication with quality custom content that appeals to their target audience?
Given that effective engagement between brands and their target audience is vital to the success of marketing campaigns and overall profitability, no business can afford to bury their head in the sand. To get the most out of your email marketing efforts, consider the following:
Progressive Profiling
One of the best ways to build customer profiles is progressive profiling, which determines a consumer’s interests based on their email behavior. There are two types of progressive profiling:
- Direct profiling asks questions that readers can respond to by clicking on their answer. This data is collected and added to the subscriber’s profile.
- Indirect profiling creates a link category in the email and utilizes this data to determine interest without asking questions.
The goal of direct profiling is to drive engagement and gather data to create a more personalized email marketing approach through custom content. By designing questions that engage and incite subscribers to respond, surveys can significantly increase consumer awareness and result in custom content that appeals to their specific interests.
With indirect profiling, marketers can advance conversion and revenue by using prior subscriber behavior to determine potential interest in new campaigns and products. Assigning link categories to email campaigns, marketers can detect the product category a subscriber is most likely to respond to and create custom content that addresses this appeal.
Content Promotion
Businesses may also rely on rich custom content marketing to target consumers. Some content can be available publicly or within an information wall that requests a consumer’s email to join a content page. Other engagement methods include requesting people to share a content link on social media for access to articles or asking for information regarding specific interests. This information is extremely valuable to foster trust and create a loyal customer base.
Relationship Building
The goal of email marketing is to build a relationship with consumers by making relevant offers and affording worthwhile content. Asking for subscriber feedback or assessing their answers to a survey allows companies to create a convincing emotional connection with customized content. Not engaging with consumers will result in your brand being perceived as indifferent or irrelevant.
Custom content creation enhances the consumer-brand bond by speaking directly to potential customers, rather than at them. It has become increasingly important in this tech saturated world to reestablish a human connection with people so they understand that a brand is not simply a product but also an asset that can be trusted and add value to their lives.
