Email marketing has transformed over the years, with new strategies and techniques coming into play to deliver more relatable content. But with inboxes becoming frequently inundated with countless messages that don’t capture the receiver’s interest, something needed to change. 

This is where behavioural targeting comes into play. This type of marketing is the method by which companies target audiences based on their behaviour, interests, intentions, geolocation, and other metrics. Analysing user behaviour and tailoring email campaigns accordingly will help businesses drastically improve their marketing efforts and drive higher conversions. This article will explore the role of behavioural targeting in effective email campaigns, highlighting the best practices and strategies for achieving success.

Understanding Behavioural Targeting

Behavioural targeting is an approach that enables advertisers and publishers to present users with pertinent advertisements and marketing messages based on their browsing activities. In essence, this targeting method predominantly relies on data associated with a user’s behaviour, which may include:

  • Pages visited
  • Previous search queries
  • Duration of time spent on a website
  • Clicked ads, content, and buttons
  • Date of last website visit
  • Other relevant information concerning their interactions with the website.

In a poll conducted by Royal Mail, it was discovered that 47% of UK customers had made a purchase due to the email marketing they receive. This only fuels the idea that there is massive potential in campaigns if executed correctly. 

Best Practices for Behavioural Targeting in Email Campaigns

Data Collection and Analysis:

Start by gathering relevant data about your audience, including their demographics, browsing habits, past purchases, and interactions with your brand/business. By using analytical tools and customer relationship management (CRM) systems, you can collect and categorise this data successfully. The more comprehensive your data, the better you can segment and target your email campaigns.

Segmentation:

If you can categorise your audience into smaller segments based on similar data, it will help you to tailor your email content and pinpoint each customer’s needs and preferences. Basing your grouping on shared characteristics and behaviours, you’ll also be able to identify any trends that can help push your strategy plans further and hone in on each group more efficiently. 

Automated Workflows:

Automation tools operate by establishing triggered email workflows predicated on precise user actions. This can be accomplished by dispatching a welcome email upon a user’s subscription to your newsletter, pursuing a discounted offer after an abandoned basket, or suggesting related products based on recent purchases. These essentially economise time while ensuring prompt and pertinent communication with your target audience.

Behavioural Triggers:

By collecting enough data on your audience, you can identify and use their triggers to send emails based on specific user actions or milestones. For instance, if a user hasn’t visited your website in a while, you can send a retargeting email with an exclusive offer. If a customer has purchased a particular product, you can send a follow-up email with relevant tips or accessory recommendations. When done enough and the emails become more specific to the recipient, this’ll enhance customer engagement and foster a sense of personal connection. Surprisingly, only 20% of marketers use behavioural triggers in their strategies, despite it being one of the most valuable resources. 

Testing and Optimisation:

Testing your email campaigns frequently will help to improve their effectiveness – for example, use A/B testing so you can experiment with different subject lines, email designs, calls to action, and content variations to identify the best performers. You should also monitor metrics such as open rates, click-through rates, conversion rates, and unsubscribe rates to gauge the impact of your behavioural targeting efforts.

Strategies for Successful Behavioural Targeting

Browsing and purchase history:

When a customer makes any movement, whether that’s buying something or specifically looking for a product, it leaves a footprint. If you can examine any trends and patterns in this behaviour, you can begin to implement strategies like recommending similar products which can increase the chances of a purchase.

Basket Abandonment:

With almost 70% of shoppers likely to abandon their carts, this issue can be inevitable, as many like to browse or simply leave their basket full until payday. With a bit of persuasive marketing however, you can decrease your chances of letting a potential purchase slip away. Set up automated gentle nudges in the hopes that it pushes them that little bit further to pressing order. These reminders can be accompanied by enticing incentives such as exclusive discounts or free shipping, encouraging customers to complete their purchase and reducing the likelihood of lost sales.

Engagement and Interaction:

Once you get a steady backlog of customers, you’ll begin to identify the frequent visitors, or ‘regulars’ to your site. You can monitor their interactions with your emails and social media platforms to get a good understanding of their loyalty, and once you have all the information you need you can start to offer them exclusives. This could be anything from content to early access to promotions which can strengthen the bond between them and your brand.  

Seasonal and Event-based Campaigns:

This is one of the easiest marketing strategies to take advantage of, and the best part is that it works all year round. Capitalising on holidays or special occasions can help to create timely and relevant content for your campaigns. By hyping up the events, you can build excitement and let your customers know you’re staying ahead of the game. 

Feedback and Surveys:

If you have an efficient feedback system, this will help you to highlight the exact improvements that your audience want to see. This can also help you to spot trends in any feedback given and allow you to improve better as a brand- and will also show you what is working the best too. This can be done in several different ways, but the best methods include surveys which prompt users to give as much detail as possible.

Behavioural targeting is fundamental in driving the success of email marketing campaigns. By understanding user behaviour and delivering relevant content, businesses can significantly improve customer engagement, increase conversions, and build long-lasting relationships with their audience. Implementing best practices, such as data analysis, segmentation, automation, and testing, along with strategic targeting strategies, empowers marketers to optimise their email campaigns for maximum impact. Embrace behavioural targeting as an important aspect of your email marketing strategy and unlock the full potential of communication with your audience.

Contact Us

If you’re interested in learning more about behavioural targeting, get in touch with Lily at The Writers Diary

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