Teaching Email Marketing A Few New Tricks

Email marketing won’t disappear any time soon. In fact, it’s one of the best ways for companies to increase their ROI. But that doesn’t mean your approach doesn’t matter. For example, the revenue generated through batch and blast is only an average of $0.04 per send whereas triggered email based on customer behavior generates an average of $0.95 per send. Clearly, it’s time to teach email marketing a few new tricks.

Personalize, personalize, personalize

The days of batch and blast are over—or at least, they should be. Customers want companies to market relevant information and take a personal approach to their relationship. Sending out mass emails is only going to tempt them to unsubscribe. 

New technology allows your business to access real-time data, and AI provides a level of personalization that was impossible to reach in the past. Why wouldn’t you want to leverage that for your company’s benefit?

Automation

AI and machine learning allow for automated emails that are triggered by user behavior and contain individualized messaging. Despite the fears many marketers have about AI, using it actually makes emails seem more humanized. That’s because AI simulates human traits like learning and reasoning. 

Getting on board with automation will help your company reach the right customer at the right time, in the right way. Instead of attempting to find the best timing for a particular audience by trial and error, AI can analyze your customer’s behavior and predict what content should be sent to which customers at the time they are most likely to engage. 

Segment in real time

Obviously, segmentation is a prerequisite to reaching the right customer with the right content at the right time. In the past, those metrics needed to be manually exported, but now, it can be done in real time. Customers evolve over time, and your marketing approach should evolve with them. 

Blueshift’s segmentation engine provides a real-time 1:1 view of customers. That means marketers can create customer segments on web and mobile behavior, predictive attributes, and transactional data. 

Include an interactive element

Customers can easily lose interest in opening the vast sea of emails they receive on a daily basis. Including an interactive element in your emails piques your reader’s interest and entices them to read further. 

Interactive elements could be as simple as adding a game or an interactive photo that shows a product feature when clicked. However, as we move into the future, useful features like interactive menus, surveys, and animated calls to action will increase the value of your emails to your customers. 

Dynamic content

The demand for dynamic content is increasing, and your company will have an edge if it can fill that need. That’s why having access to real-time data is so important. Although customers consistently say they want a more personalized experience, 78% of marketers don’t take personalization any further than using their customers’ first names.  

Research has shown that 49% of consumers report purchasing an item they did not originally intend to buy because a brand sent them a personalized recommendation for the product. Real-time data provides your company with insights into your customers, and AI can predict the products they are likely to engage with. 

Sending a targeted email with a recommendation generated from real-time data and AI not only helps you make a sale on an item the customer may not have otherwise purchased; it also leaves the customer feeling like your brand understands their needs. 

When customers feel like they have a personal relationship with a brand, they are more likely to develop brand loyalty. Blueshift’s Single Customer View gives you the real-time data and predictive scores you need to create a one-on-one experience with your customers. 

Schedule a demo today to find out how you can put a few new email marketing tricks up your sleeve.