eBook - Silverpop

10
Better Email Through Automation
In the beginning, there was broadcast email: one message to your entire
distribution list, whether your recipient was male or female, a skier or a golfer, a
first-time customer or a regular buyer.
At first glance, broadcast email is easy to do. You create the message. You send the
message. But it also has inherent limitations:
• It treats all of your customers the same way, with no provision for customer history,
preferences, interests or experiences. As a result, they’re less relevant on
the whole to your subscribers.
• Broadcast emails require a lot of time to research, create and test fresh messages
every time if you send more frequently than once or twice a month.
• You have to deal with delivery-optimization issues such as finding the best day
and time to send as well as the optimum frequency that balances inbox visibility
against burning out or annoying your recipients.
What’s the alternative? Automated messages that trigger according to a customer’s
actions or preferences. That makes them much more relevant and openworthy
to your subscribers.
Broadcast emails – and their cousins, which are targeted messages sent to specific
segments of your database – always will have a place in your email program. They
deliver significant results because of their sheer volume, frequency, brand reminder
and luck of timing.
Also, most triggered messages for e-commerce companies go to existing customers.
So, you need broadcast and segmented emails to convert prospects into paying customers.
A model that blends broadcast/targeted email with a carefully selected set of triggered
messages covers the most revenue and engagement bases for your email program.
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