Opt to Optimize and Pursue Personalization

By Deb Hanamura

In Merkle PR’s 2009 report,“View from the Inbox”, 73% of survey respondents cited “sending too frequently” as the main reason for opting out of an email mailing list. The study also showed that subscribers increasingly look for value in their email subscriptions, meaning that it is more important than ever for you to deepen your understanding of your customers’ preferences.

In our high-volume communications world, consumers prefer customized experiences that are tailored to their needs and likings. When you manage your email marketing database, consider adding the context of a “Preference Center” in addition to classic fields like Name, Email Address, and Title.

By first allowing subscribers to indicate their email frequency preferences, and then actually adhering to those preferences, you may find that what were once lost leads are actually loyal consumers of your brand. It’s fairly simple to set up a preference center, and your customers might turn out to be more loyal than you originally thought.

Your work doesn’t stop once you’ve set the preference center up; you may need to manage your newsletter a little differently. You need to determine how to aggregate content based on delivery frequency (this can be automated if you are using a data management system for content aggregation, or it can be done the old fashioned way – manually). You also need to modify your database to accommodate the preferences and link to your preference center. While these steps can be tedious, the long-term impact of keeping – and better serving – your customers will pay off.

How many customers have you lost because you send your email marketing messages too frequently? Mark Brownlow’s excellent blog post on email frequency makes the case for increased profitability with decreased email marketing. Check it out and we’d love to hear your thoughts to where you are on the curve.

Deb Hanamura
Account Manager