Being a data-centric organization will help in developing an effective email strategy. While it is beneficial to have access to data that allows you to personalize and individualize customer interactions at each touchpoint, don’t lose sight of the importance of quality. 63 percent of consumers expect personalization as a standard of service, according to the Retail Customer Experience. Being able to build a detailed profile of your customer based on the information they share is a very powerful tool to have, and a step in the right direction to building lasting relationships.
Let’s say you visit a website looking for a new pair of denim jeans.You can’t find what you need, but you fill out a short form to say you’d like to be notified of similar products in the future. However, the next triggered email you receive is about glittery leather jackets and fluorescent flip flops. You probably wouldn’t consider it a personalized and thought–out email from the brand, and it’s likely they don’t have accurate data about your interests.
By having access to detailed, quality data you can build a customer profile based on various attributes and tailor your email strategy accordingly. Some automated email examples to consider:
- Consumption habits – Reward repeat buyers with loyalty points.
- First purchase – Could you offer a discount for next purchase to build repeat purchasing?
- Event Reminders – Keep customers engaged leading up to an event.
- Welcome email – Kick off the email relationship on the right foot.
- Refer a friend – Build your audience with your most powerful referral tool: your happy customers.
- Occasion emails – Remembering a customer’s birthday and rewarding with offers goes a long way.
If you have…
5 minutes – Review how you obtain data across your organization’s channels (web forms, questionnaires, etc.) and the level of information you gain from your customers. Are you getting enough information, or are you asking for too much too soon, and possibly scaring customers away?
1 hour – Review data and look at the ways you can segment based on the information you have (long–term customers, new customers, age, product purchased etc.). This is also an opportunity to highlight where key data is missing and what improvements to web forms etc.can be made.
1 day – Start implementing. This is an opportunity to try some “surprise and delight” automation based on your customer data. For example, set up birthday automation. Or, if you’d like to find out more about your audience, reach out with a campaign to learn about preferences and interests which, in turn, will improve the quality of the data you hold.
Having a foundation of high-quality data will help take your email marketing strategy to the next level. If you’re unsure of how to effectively gather data or how to maximise your data and develop automated emails as a result, speak to your Customer Success Manager or contact us here.