The job of a contemporary marketer is not an easy one. And that’s due to the fact of the ever changing understanding of the whats and hows in contemporary marketing. We‘ve all faced the traditional marketing mix going to the pit. And that pit is as much as there is left of the 4 Ps.
Looking towards 2017, custom content is the trend to follow. Why? Take a look around. Amazon, Netflix, Groupon, Zalando, Booking.com. What do they have in common? For starters, the understanding that no two customers are the same. And the customer journey is not a straight line. How do they do it? They use dynamic content. In fact, over 50% of marketers see dynamic or custom content as their priority (Altimeter). And according to DragonSearch, relevant and personalized content drives 18 times more sales than broadcast content!
Now that we know that customized content is here to stay, let’s get our hands dirty and apply it to email marketing. Here’s how to use dynamic content effectively.
Set-up
In a nutshell, custom content is the magic link between your offer and conversions. And here’s what you need to get started:
- A database. In order to customize your messages, you need to start collecting information about your prospects. And that goes beyond name and email. You also need a tool to organize this information and find it whenever you need it.
- Customer profile – who is your buyer persona and how do they interact with your brand?
- Easily editable newsletters
- A marketing automation tool that tracks on-site user behavior and helps you plan your communication
Database management and buyer personas
For this purpose, let’s follow the lead of the Chocolate Monster – a local eCommerce candy store. The Chocolate Monster defined three basic customer groups in their database. Are you wondering how to map your buyer personas? You can create a purchasing roadmap with GetResponse due to its versatility in segmentation and campaign management. For instance, the Chocolate Monster has a fair insight into the activities of their customers, their geolocation, and interactions with the brand. And you can get there, too.
Our sample store uses custom fields to get to know their customer’s taste better. Custom fields contain values that are tied to buyer’s preferences and help the store owners determine what to feature in their communication. To narrow down this segmentation, they decided to apply tags to buyers who open their newsletters on a regular basis and view the presented menu updates. Thanks to the geolocation filter, the Chocolate Monster also tailors the offer to local tastes. These techniques make up the first set of rules towards making the content of their newsletters truly dynamic and personal.
Easily editable newsletters
The owners of Chocolate Monster found out that personalized emails improve open rates by at least 15% (Aberdeen Group). And since they started personalizing their subject lines with custom fields, they managed to hit the sweet spot! Referring to their customer by their name was another good example of how the candy store showed interest in each individual. With the help of the drag-and-drop email editor it was easy to customize the images, call-to-action buttons, text, and prices. And it didn’t require any coding. Sounds like what you need? Keep reading, because there’s more!
Automating the buyer’s journey
This is what I like to call “smarter marketing” – for a good flow of communication, you need to use dynamic content effectively, with a strategic purpose. So what is your marketing goal? Is it conversion? Or retention? Or brand recognition? Think about it when you start mapping your first workflow. If I am your customer – don’t pitch me, or convert me with content when I’m not ready to buy yet.
This can be a really difficult step to take. But once you’ve collected enough data through tags and custom fields, you can start scoring your leads. That’s exactly what they did at Chocolate Monster. The triggers were either an abandoned cart, a website visit, or opening a newsletter. What seems a simple set of features, has grown to the size of a dynamic, personalized communication plan.
Key takeaways
The goal of smart content is to provide a more relevant experience than could otherwise be achieved through static content. Remember not to over-personalize. Your newsletters need to remain authentic, so don’t force the use of personalization tokens.
Go ahead and explore what GetResponse can do for you. Follow the lead of the Chocolate Monster and:
- assign custom fields, scores and tags through an automation workflow;
- create personal emails in the drag-and drop-editor;
- maintain your email list.
Since we’ve just added more smart content options, we’d love some ideas from you. How would you like to use smart content in your campaigns?
The post How to Use Dynamic Content Effectively: 3 Simple Steps appeared first on GetResponse Blog - Online Marketing Tips.
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