Lifecycle Messaging: A Three-Point Victory
Senior Account Development Manager
Two weekends ago, I watched the biggest game in football, which is considered to be the biggest night of advertisement, as well. Despite the astronomical investments put into creative and placement, I have a confession to make: I don't actually remember too many of the ads themselves. Do you?
Even if you've got all the money in the world and a large, captive audience, it can still be a real challenge to make a lasting impression when you're trying to reach many people with only one widely broadcast message. We know that limited targeting capabilities are a shortcoming of traditional advertising. But even though email offers virtually unlimited targeting opportunities, many email marketers are still sending the equivalent of a print or broadcast ad via email, hoping some part of their message will resonate with some segment of their audience. It's kind of like throwing long pass after long pass straight down the middle of the field, expecting the right player to somehow manage to get to the ball in time.
Last month we challenged you to make a commitment to Lifecycle Messaging (LCM) -- a campaign management approach that uses strategy and technology to deliver highly targeted email campaigns that evolve as your customers' or subscribers' preferences and behaviors change over time. And we committed to arming you with the tools and techniques to truly send the right message to the right people at the right time. So forget throwing one message out to your entire database and hoping it sticks.
Let's discover three ways you can target your subscribers today to make a winning play without a super-sized budget….
Segment by Clickthrough
We'll start with one of the easiest ways to segment subscribers in your existing eMS system: Using the Segment by Clickthrough feature. This feature puts the power of lifecycle messaging and behavioral targeting into every email marketer's hands, so there's really no good reason why you shouldn't be using it.
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| Segment by Clickthrough |
On your link tracking page in message creation, you can use Segment by Clickthrough to automatically place subscribers in a group if they click on a particular link in your email. The clickthrough behavior allows you to gain valuable insight into subscribers' preferences. For example, a shoe retailer wants to segment based on subscribers' interest in men's shoes. Setting up segment by click thru allows the marketer to push clickers of the men's shoe category into a “men's clicker” group. A subsequent email can then be sent to past men's shoe clickers promoting an upcoming sale. You can create clicker groups for any tracked link in your message.
Smart Lists™ and Recurring Messaging
Smart Lists and Recurring Messaging can be powerful LCM tools as well. Smart Lists work as smart search queries – pulling subscribers into a segment on the fly when they match criteria you've dictated. For instance, you can pull a list of subscribers whose last date of purchase is exactly 14 days in the past. Or you can pull people who first joined your database 7 days in the past. Based on specific subscriber data, you can target events surrounding their behavior. If you're selling a consumable product, determining the average lifespan of the product and setting up recurring messages to target past purchasers reminding them to replenish their supply can be a powerful message. Other examples include targeting trial users of a product to convert them into customers, emailing tips and tricks as a first time user gets started with your product, sending a welcome stream and setting expectations for new members of your mailing list, or mailing a series of messages to encourage upsells of complimentary products.
Almost any online marketer can implement some kind of lifecycle messaging. The key is to narrow your target audience and send appropriate content. The benefits are endless. Your customers are more likely than ever to engage with your brand and your messaging efforts, lifting conversion rates and increasing the longevity and value of the contacts in your marketing database. Get creative! And as always, if you have any questions or need further assistance, we're here to help.
