In e-mail marketing, think beyond a one-message-fits-all approach. Relevancy is key – placing the most applicable message in front of each consumer will produce the best results.
The old school way: one database, divided into multiple segments (based on geography, interests, date of signup, etc.) >>> different sets of creative for each database segment >>> multiple e-mail deployments >>> multiple sets of results = lots of time and difficulties pulling it all together.
The smart way: one database full of various record attributes >>> one e-mail template with dynamic content >>> one e-mail deployment >>> one set of results.
Compare ’smart e-mail marketing’ to form letters. In a form letter, you designate spaces where a placeholder, such as [first_name], looks in the database and finds the appropriate first name for that member of the audience. Same can be true for content… be creative. Example:
In a database of potential tourists, if:
- Visitor 1 is interested in mountain biking
- Visitor 2 is interested in shopping
- Visitor 3 is interested in casino gaming
Within the e-mail template, visitors 1, 2 and 3 above would received personalized e-mail content relevant to their interests. Within the same location in the e-mail template the visitors would see the following:
| |
Information |
Image |
| Visitor 1 |
Upcoming mountain biking event |
Scenic trail images |
| Visitor 2 |
Upcoming mall events |
Clippable mall coupons |
| Visitor 3 |
Gaming hall promotions |
Photos of recent big winners |
More to follow on e-mail marketing… stay tuned.
Efficiently e-mailing,
Robin
Filed under Advertising, Marketing, Online Marketing, Travel & Hospitality
Tags: database marketing, email marketing, Online Marketing
Some of you may have heard about this over the weekend, but Google leaked an announcement of its new, open source web browser, dubbed Google Chrome. I say “leaked” because it appears they (snail) mailed some press materials that showed up a day early. The announcement was meant for today, not yesterday. As such, there’s little to nothing online from the Internet giant.
http://blogoscoped.com/archive/2008-09-01-n47.html was sent a Scott McCloud illustrated comic book talking about the new Chrome web browser. Scott McCloud is awesome, if you’ve never heard of him.
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2008/09/fresh-take-on-browser.html is Google’s “oops” post.
http://www.google.com/googlebooks/chrome/ is a Google book with scanned pages of the comic book. It’s a great read, and the web browser is explained in a way that is entertaining as well as informative, all without being technical.
http://www.google.com/chrome is the URL at which (presumably) we’ll be able to download Chrome for Windows when it’s released. Apple and Linux versions are in the works.
http://ejohn.org/blog/google-chrome-process-manager/ is John Resig (creator of Javascript library jQuery)’s take on what Chrome can mean for web developers in particular.
It’ll be interesting to see how Mozilla, Microsoft, Apple, Opera and others respond to this. What do you think? Is the browser market too cluttered? Is there room for improvement? Would you consider switching browsers?
Filed under Online Marketing
