Personalizing the content of a newsletter according to the centers of interest is very effective. However, it is necessary to succeed in detecting the interests of all the contacts in the database. There is always a part of the population for which you will not have any declared or detected interests. You must therefore ALWAYS provide a generic version of these emails!
We set the scene (in the cabbage)
In honor of the DNA that made Badsender and my revered leader Jonathan Loriaux, I decided to share with you what could be described as the 'Badsender of the week'.
It's a bit like Canada Dry! (I'm talking about a drink that people under 20 can't possibly know). Except that here we're really going to focus this mailing on customer knowledge and its challenges.
Here is the email in question:
" Well, it's pretty! Aren't you exaggerating a bit ? There's a beautiful baby, bottles and cuddly toys..."
That's one of the problems. But for you to understand better, let's recontextualize.
Why did I receive this email?
I went to my regular pharmacy to pick up my wife's medication and was offered the loyalty card. Why not. So I give my email address (it's my job after all), but the rest of the details are those of my wife, collected via the prescription. Some time later I receive the above email.
I am rather surprised by the content of this newsletter, very targeted to young children. For the record, we already have two children, 9 and 12 years old. We can say that the topics highlighted in the email are not really relevant to us anymore.
So I assume this is a generic newsletter, sent to the entire base. " Go ahead Michel the BAT is validated you can shoot fullbase !"
First major concern: routing on the whole database, without segmentation. Is this really the most effective kind of email? Ultra-targeted content, but shot to all your contacts? I'll pick up the papers in 2 hours!
My complete customer experience
Let's continue if you want. To go further in the marketing process, I click on the access to the customer area in the news to connect. I enter my email address, I click on 'forgotten password', not having activated my online customer area yet. After 30 minutes of waiting, I still haven't received anything.
My loyalty card would not be activated? Or maybe my email address is not the main ID... Because if you look at the footer of the email, the personalization infos are there: the pharmacy, the name of the customer, account number and points on the account.
Need help?
Reading content isn't everything. The best way is to talk to us.
I'm curious, and a loyalty program isn't going to stop me! So I create my account online. I enter the basic information and on page 2 miracle: I am asked my interests (what strongly resembles a preference centerthat's a very good point). Then, through the meanders of my personal space, I manage to associate my pharmacy and my loyalty card... I have seen more efficient.
Not great customer experience! Or not glop as Pifou said (I'm talking about a magazine that people under 20 years old can't know)
Knowing your customers better means better targeting!
I want to say it's the basis, if I may. It is essential to know your customer, that he is optin and to send him emails corresponding to his interests. If not, what will be the result of your mailing? Probably not very good.
Don't they say that the first impression is always the right one, especially when it's a bad one... Don't be one of them, and ask yourself the right questions before sending your HTML campaign.
For my part, the first marketing email I received set the tone:
- Do you know me well enough to send me this? No.
- Am I likely to be interested in commercial offers? No.
- Do I want to stay a subscriber? No.
- Do I have a good image of the company that sends me this email? Not really.
All of these 'no's are the result of not taking the time to get to know your customer before sending a newsletter.
What would have been judicious
So, you'll tell me: "We need to set up a welcome email". To be honest, there is one, but only one, that didn't catch my attention since I read it wrong, and quickly forgot about it. Instead of a single welcome email, why not create a welcome scenarioThis would have allowed the issue of interests to be addressed. In the example below, the purpose of the qualification email is to ask the health interests of the contacts. This email could be placed earlier in the scenario to maximize the volume of respondents.
For example:
Obviously, some of your contacts will probably never fill the preference center. Always provide generic content. Personalize the contents of your newsletter according to the detected centers of interest + plan a generic content that speaks about all the centers of interest.
Moreover, when you say welcome scenario in progress, you say exclusion on the sending of the newsletter 😉 And yes, since one of the purposes of these emails is to qualify your base, wait until your contacts have all received them to include them in your mailings.
As you know, we say it constantly at Badsender: Sending less is better!
PS : Discover also our thoughts on boring content in emails !
