Creating valuable content is important when you want to do email marketing effectively. Deny this principle and you’ll never get a high score in the world of e-marketing. But there is another holy principle. You need to deliver the right content at the right time.
We often assume that we do just that. We’ve implemented all the basic principles. We’ve asked for their interests in our subscription form. This gives us a first indication.
Clicking behavior
We also monitor the clicking behavior of our contacts. Clicking means they are interested. Not clicking means…. What does it mean? Can you decide of a contact is interested based on a single and random click? It remains a crystal ball gazing exercise.
Ask a question
You could ask your contact directly for his interests. You can find the question “Was this answer useful?” in the FAQ sections of many websites. Why wouldn’t you use this information for your email marketing? Ask the question “was this useful?” at the end of your newsletter. Just give your contact two possibilities: yes or no.
Interpret the answer
In a B2B environment people are eager to answer this question. Professionals know that you’ll change your strategy based on their reactions. This is a win-win for both parties. If your contact responds with “yes”, then you’ve obviously delivered the story to the right place. Make sure to note this down somewhere in your database, so you can use it then next time you’re segmenting.
Learn from a “no”
If people respond “no”, you’re already learning a lot. But maybe you need to ask more question. Put people who click on “no” through to a landing page. There, you can ask them what they do think is interesting. Or you can ask them who in their organization would be interested in your information. If they fill in an email address, you can start an opt-in campaign with the message “ a fiend thinks this could be interesting for you”.
