Photo courtesy of J. Kleyn's photostream on Flickr
Since I’ve been diving into email marketing more and more over the past year and a half (since the birth of this blog especially), I’ve been (as part of my job) managing the email marketing at WGU. It’s only a portion of my job, but it looks like this will be the year I finally complete the total overhaul of all automated and one-off emails I’ve been dying to do for quite a while.
As a result, I’ve been thinking a lot about the data I need to leverage to better plan campaigns.
I know I won’t be breaking new ground here, but email marketing is the most leverage-able medium for data. Every piece of information you collect about your subscriber can be used as a segmentation tool. Not only that, but those pieces of data can also be used as tracking metrics for your campaigns as well.
What does it all boil down to? Something I call “relevance potential.”
What is relevance potential? The ability to provide the most pertinent message to the needs of your subscribers at all times. How do you do that? With data.
Here are some examples of data you can leverage immediately:
- Geographic location. This is an obvious piece of data to utilize, but localization can be a key for segmentation, particularly if you have bricks-and-mortar locations.
- Date of birth. You’ve likely seen articles on it before, but a birthday-specific email with an incentive can be very effective.
- Product lines. I work for a university, so the obvious segmentation is by program of interest. You can do the same thing with your products, ensuring that you’re only delivering messages about the products they have expressed interest in.
Using Your Conversion Rates
Figuring out your conversion rates are also critical for determining what metrics you should not only track, but also utilize for segmentation. For example, if you use a scoring algorithm to determine a “lead grade” for your prospects or customers, determining the conversion based on the lead grade can alter how you segment your campaigns.
Conversion rates can also help determine cadence (or frequency) of your messaging if you run automation programs. For example, if you determine that your leads convert best in the first three months after inquiring, then you may decide to be more aggressive in those months, then back off unless engagement changes your mind.
Remember what I said about “relevance potential?” It’s all there in your data. You just have to learn what you have and make the best use of it.
