In the past five years, the avalanche of data coming from social media and website analytics has enabled marketers to produce more relevant messages than ever before. Rich with customer information, this data is like a gold mine waiting for the right algorithm to come along and unearth the shimmering but narrow consumer segments most eager to respond.
Marketers have long waited for ways to reach these veins of high potential. Forrester’s Global Email Marketing Customer Reference Online Survey found that 66 percent of email vendors and the enterprise companies that utilize them put precise segmentation capability at the top of their wish lists.
Marketers long for better microsegmentation for two reasons. First, recent research has shown the more relevant email content is to a recipient, the more engagement and conversion it wins. In 2015, the Direct Marketing Association shared that segmented and targeted emails generate 58 percent of all revenue.
While microsegmentation is still new, some companies have gotten amazing results slicing their lists by multiple attributes rather than simple demographics:
- Totes-Isotoner refined its segments by adding a browsing behavior dimension. Content and offers changed based on whether the subscriber had been perusing gloves, umbrellas or boots. The extra effort paid off. Emails sent to these microsegments returned seven times more revenue than standard batch-and-blast emails going to an entire list.
- Using microsegmentation, exclusive shoe manufacturer Allen Edmonds targeted the audiences of specific stores in specific states and cities. Email content and offers changed according to local weather conditions, a tactic that increased opens, click-through rates and sales.
- Using browsing and purchase history microsegmentation, Vistaprint showcased its backlog of pink and yellow sweatshirts to an audience most prone to considering the discount pricing a great deal for a great product. The company was able to recoup costs in an underperforming line while offering great savings to those who prefer the product.
Consumers No Longer Tolerate Irrelevant Content
Companies aren’t gravitating toward microsegmentation just to boost revenues, opens and click-throughs, however. All email marketers remain focused on their ultimate goal: warm, authentic client relationships. Interrupting a consumer’s day with inappropriate products and services elicits annoyance rather than the respect and gratitude the brand intends. Irrelevant emails also prompt unsubscribes.
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