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Focus on the Target

 In Email Marketing, Optimization

A sure fire way to increase open or click-through rates is to target your email content. When you focus on some bits of data already housed in your contact list, get ready to receive their undivided attention. Prepare a targeted email campaign using personalized, geographical or behavioral segments. Or all 3!

Personalization

If your contact list includes the first name of your subscribers, you can target not only the salutation in the body of your email message (for example: “Dear Bob,”), the subject line can also contain the first name of your subscriber (like “Bob, Get a 5% Service Contract Discount from ACME Corp”).

While you are at it, why not familiarize the from field name, too? Send your email from an actual person and your company name (ie, Joi Brooks | OpenMoves). When the message lands in your subscriber’s inbox and the sender’s name is friendly, clear and recognizable, it’s probable that your email will get opened.

Geography

While you are getting your summer clothes out of storage, your subscribers may be celebrating the first day of winter! Whether you are sending to international lists or around the corner, think about all the members of your contact list and their whereabouts; the benefits of targeting your message to a geographical area include engagement, open rate and long-term customer loyalty.

Including a state, province, postal code or country field in your contact list provides you with the ability to distribute different messages to different subscribers. So Miami, Florida receives a message in April about a seasonal service offer while Anchorage, Alaska receives the same message in July. Or Seattle, Washington learns all about a product more likely used in mild, wet climates and Phoenix, Arizona discovers your warm weather solutions.

Behavioral

Your emails include links to your homepage, products or services page, white papers, PDFS, and specially prepared landing pages. If you are data mining your email analytics report after every campaign, then you know who has clicked on what link.

What comes next is pivotal to conversion. Prepare your campaign’s call to action but add another step: the follow up campaign. For those that clicked a strategic call to action link, send a more targeted campaign.

Don’t shy away from the task. The objective here is to save the specifics for the follow up and provide enough information up front to capture interest.

Wondering how? Well, here’s an example… Insert a Get More Information link that navigates to your website landing page and describes a product or service. Then follow up in a week or even next month with a more targeted email related to the click; offer specifications, other similar products or services, a free sample or discount.

Getting into the habit of using your monthly emails to better qualify your subscribers and then creating just the right campaigns can facilitate the conversion process. It’s as easy as 1 – 2 – 3!

Your OpenMoves project manager can offer you best practices and guide you through the segmentation process, so schedule a call today.

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