Dynamic Content Strategy Guide:
Five Essential Email Campaigns
By Megan Ouellet, Director of Marketing for Listrak
August 26, 2007
Dynamic content will take your email campaigns to a whole new level as it allows you to send targeted, personalized messages containing very specific information to every individual contact on your list. Instead of sending an all-inclusive, one-size-fits-all email to every subscriber, you will be able to tailor and adapt the messaging that each contact receives so your subscribers only read information that is interesting to them and relevant to their needs.
A study by JupiterResearch found that targeted emails generate results that are four to eight times higher than simple broadcast emails and achieve net profits 18 times higher. However, that is not the only benefit to dynamic content.
Dynamic content allows you to get to know your customers and subscribers on an intimate level, strengthening your relationships and increasing brand loyalty. Your subscribers will trust and rely on you to send them the right information at the right time and you will truly set yourself apart from your competition.
At first, generating emails using dynamic content might seem somewhat daunting. Dynamic content is a complex mail merge technique that relies on a single message template with multiple customizable fields and previously created blocks of content. These fields merge with the company’s subscriber database to pull the correct content blocks based on the subscribers’ preferences. The more data a company has on their subscribers, the more targeted the messages can be. To learn how to collect the right data and how to build emails using dynamic content, read Listrak’s white paper “Email Marketing Best Practices: Creating Relevant Email Campaigns with Dynamic Content.”
Listrak, a leading provider of email marketing solutions, has put together the following white paper to give marketers ideas on how they can get started with a dynamic content strategy and create simple campaigns that generate high click-through and conversion rates while increasing customer loyalty.
1. Simple Segmentation Campaigns
Chances are, you are already segmenting your contacts into groups and sending targeted emails based on each groups’ specific needs. For example, an online retailer promoting a sale on shoes might create two separate emails – one featuring images and content on men’s shoes and the other showing images and content on women’s shoes. That way, the men on their list receive information on a product they use instead of opening an email announcing a sale on wedge-heeled peep-toe sandals. Segmenting your contact list is a great way to increase the relevancy of your email campaigns, and it is a perfect place for you to start with dynamic content.
Instead of creating two separate emails and setting the profiling filters to send the correct message to each subscriber, dynamic content allows you to deploy a single email that contains different images and content for each group. This means you only have to track the results of a single message instead of tracking each version individually.
Using the simple segmentation approach, you can create a number of email campaigns using this method, such as:
- Gender
- Age
- Geographical location
- Occupation, title, and income level
- Status – marital, children, home owner or renter, etc.
- Hobbies
- Brand or product preference
You do not have to limit the dynamic content in your email messages to just the contact data. You may always use it to include specific information on your company, such as phone number and email address of the regional salesperson, physical locations of the stores located near each subscriber, or links to specific corporate events that match the interest of each subscriber. Doing so caters to your customers needs and adds a level of personalization that makes your company more approachable.
For those of you who have wanted to try dynamic content but were intimidated by it, this is an easy way for you to get started.
