In our quest to achieve business objectives and to increase ROI, we often lose sight of the customer experience. We’re caught over-sending, using personalization incorrectly, not utilizing segmentation, or not effectively tracking customer behavior. All of these things add to a poor customer experience. We’ve devalued how important the role of customer experience should be in email marketing.
Here are just a few examples of low hanging fruit that can improve the customer experience.
- Over-sending to your customer. Did your customer set preferences for frequency? If not, have you considered offering your subscriber that option? It’s key to allow your customers to tell you how often they are going to receive your marketing. If you have set frequency expectations, don’t abuse them. Respect your customer’s inbox, by doing so you will have a positive return.
- Personalization used incorrectly. A colleague recently received an email that addressed her with her last name only. It seems the sender didn’t verify that the personalization they were using in fact targeted the first name. It may seem small, but to the recipient, it’s the first tell-tale sign that your message isn’t going to be relevant to them.
- Irrelevant Content/Promotions. Are all of your customers receiving the same content regardless of interest? If so, you may want to rethink your content / promotion strategy. I’m a woman who loves shoes, and when I receive an email campaign that focuses on all-terrain tires, I’m quick to delete it, but send me a discount on your shoes, and I’m buying. Do you know what drives an individual to purchase? Consider using behavioral analytics, purchase history, or preferences to drive content and segment, segment, segment.
Your company can differentiate itself through its customer experience. Your email marketing can influence perceptions, preferences, and predispositions toward additional purchases. Customer experience, relevance, and timing all go hand in hand to create a meaningful dialogue between you and your customer. To get your email marketing program on the right track towards a dynamic customer experience consider the following:
- Define the customer experience. What customer experience will also help you meet your ROI and business objectives? What customer experience speaks to your brand? Are you open to creating dialogue between you and your customer? All are important questions that need to be answered in order to really define how you want your customers to perceive your business.
- Establish expectations, priorities, and performance perceptions. Have you set expectations around delivery? Have you prioritized what email campaigns really should be sent to all customers and which campaigns are better served using segmentation? Determine what expectations you have set for your customers, and if you haven’t set any, maybe it’s time you did.
- Identify and measure opportunities for improvement. Our email programs are always in need of optimization, and this holds true not only for metrics, but also the customer experience. Think segmentation, good use of personalization, and relevant emails.
Your customers are ultimately the lifeline to you meeting or exceeding your business objectives. Create a relationship of respect and trust, and they will respond.
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