Hot-off-the-heels of the recent changes announced to Hotmail and Google, Yahoo have announced their decision to introduce a priority inbox. This is good news for marketers as priority inboxes have the potential to improve the reputation of direct mail by encouraging marketers to use permission and preferences more effectively. Simon Robinson, Marketing and Alliances Director, EMEA, Responsys, provides some top tips for marketers looking to stay in the inbox.
1. Set up preference centres – encourage customers to share their preferences including email frequency, favourite products and the channel they engage with such as social and mobile. Preferences should inform campaigns by offering customers content relevant to their individual needs and tastes.
2. Use permissions – asking a customer’s permission to target them with email communications is not just a common courtesy; it’s also the law in many countries. Smart marketers will also take the opportunity to ask for a customer’s preferences at the same time they ask for their permission. This will help ensure that the very first email lands in their inbox.
3. Rendering for mobile devices – web-based email services such as Gmail and Hotmail are often accessed from smartphones and other mobile devices such as iPads. Ensuring that emails are ‘device-ready’ and can be read while on the go, is crucial to deliverability. Not every company will have the resources to develop bespoke applications for every device, but adding a ‘view on mobile device’ with a mobile enabled link is a straight-forward way to ensuring the message is accessible on the move.
4. Develop customer segmented strategies – group customers into segments according to preferences, and develop marketing strategies for each group to keep campaigns relevant.
5. Test and learn – test priority inboxes to see which emails get through to the customer, and adapt strategies accordingly to boost success rates.
6. Disengaged groups – understand why disengaged groups start interacting differently and find out what you need to get them back into the fold.
By Simon Robinson
Marketing and Alliances Director
EMEA
Responsys
www.responsys.com
