eBook - Silverpop

Moving Beyond ‘Batch and
Blast’ Email
What is a good strategy to
Q: transition from broadcast
email to one that uses more
targeted or triggered email?
Although it might be a challenge to
A: persuade your upper management to
invest time and money to upgrade your email
program, this story of a company that boosted
its conversion rate 40 percent using segmentation
and targeted messaging might help
loosen up the budget.
First Challenge: Move Beyond
‘One Size’ Email
Fabric.com, a provider of customer-measured
fabrics, operates a custom-tailored business
but at one time offered customers only a basic
“one size fits all” email service.
The company, founded in 1999 and acquired
by Amazon in 2008, had no way to customize
its messages or segment its database; thus,
its messages didn’t reflect what it had learned
about how its customers bought its products.
Its homegrown email
service also didn’t provide
detailed reporting or
analysis on email delivery
to subscribers’ inboxes.
Without the infrastructure
to capture this kind of
information, you have no way of knowing
how well your program is performing and
can’t justify seeking more budget or company
support.
Strategic Mix: Segmentation,
Triggers, Preferences, Analytics
– Even Broadcast
Fabric.com began by segmenting its database
according to customer behavior, from most
active to least active. It began sending out
offers customized to each segment, intending
to keep loyal customers engaged and entice
back inactives.
The company also created a preference
center that asked subscribers for birthdates,
email and frequency preferences, and
details about their sewing habits (experience
level, preferred kind of sewing, whether for
business or personal use).
One important aspect of this email program
makeover is that Fabric.com uses the data
it collected, both in its preference center
and through integration of a Coremetrics
LIVEmail analytics program.
Too many marketers still fail to leverage the
data they collect, such as gender and birth
date.
The birth date it collects at opt-in generates
the Happy Birthday email. The analytics
program generates a “Happy Anniversary”
email on the anniversary of the customer’s
first purchase from the company.
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