In today’s crowded inbox, it’s important to stand out among all the other emails. Better yet, your message needs to be opened and generate clicks. Nothing’s worse for a female customers than receiving the latest fashion trends for men in their inbox. Or a customer of a pet store to receive all possible actions when you just go through life with one kind of four-legged friend.

Many companies are still sending one single general newsletter to their entire database. However, not every article in your newsletter is interesting for everyone. A missed opportunity! It the marketer’s job to get the right to content to every customer. So, let’s go!

Why implementing dynamic content in my email marketing strategy

Dynamic Content takes your strategy further by using contact information to display specific content for different contacts. Creating and sending relevant messages will result in lower unsubscription rates, higher conversions and more satisfaction. All the more reason to approach your contacts in the right way, and to surprise them.

Dynamic Content goes a lot further than to address your contact with his first name.

Why wouldn’t you use already existing data from your contacts to send targeted emails? You could say that it would be stupid if you don’t. Dynamic Content means that you match each item in your message with existing contact information and clicking behavior, in order to obtain a highly personalized message for each recipient. Moreover, Dynamic Content eliminates the need and workload of creating numerous messages and campaigns for each specific target group. Group all your articles in one single message and decide to whom each article applies. That way each contact will get a dynamic message completely tailored on his or her needs. Work efficiently, avoid mistakes and save time with one single design.

3.. 2 .. 1.. Go!

You maybe already started scratching you head, because you don’t know where to begin. No worries. You already have -maybe without knowing it - a lot of information about your contacts. Maybe you can get started right away! If you still need more information, you can use the opt-in form to gather information about your contacts. Don’t overwhelm your future contact by requesting lots and lots of data when he decides to sign up for your newsletter.

This is not the ideal moment: you better keep the threshold as low as possible. Once he has registered for your newsletter, you can get more information that may be useful for your email marketing strategy. Are you sending campaigns for a man or a woman? Does he only want information about promotions or specific product categories? The confirmation email is the ultimate time to discover their preferences, so take your chance!

Using a Preference Center you can explicitly ask for the interests and preferences of your contacts, but you could also analyze their click behavior yourself. You could say that your contacts betray themselves when they click on something. Why not use this information when it’s so easily available? Take advantage of every opportunity to get to know your contact. Link tracking and interest groups are the ideal solution. If a contact clicks through to a promotion of product x, then you know that he's interested. It gives you a wealth of information that you can implement the next time you’re adapting your strategy. In short, a measure that ensures results in the future.

Dynamic Content is a win- win situation.

It’s probably clear by now that having a good database with lots of contact data is vital to get started with Dynamic Content. Don’t forget that every customer should feel unique when he receives a message from you. If he gets the feeling that your message was sent to hundreds of other clients, you haven’t done your homework properly as a marketer. A targeted message to the right contact makes for less work on your campaign, fewer unsubscribers and better results. Moreover, your contact will feel unique , instead of just a number in your mailing list.

Once you have collected the necessary contact information, you can really get to work. Here are some examples based on which you can segment to then implement it in your Dynamic Content strategy:

• Demographics: gender, age, function, ...
• Previous clicking behaviour
• Recently purchased products or services
• Preferences: Interests, questions and opinions
• Geographical data

This is only the tip of the iceberg. The possibilities are endless and are different for every business. In short, use the right data to segment based on the aspects that are relevant to you.

To summarize all tips

It’s clear that Dynamic Content makes a marketer’s life easier. And rightly so, because creating a message for lots of different audiences, and targeted to individuals isn’t easy. A qualitative database however is a requirement, before you can start with Dynamic Content. We’d like to offer you some final tips!

Make sure your database is complete

Having a qualitative database means that you know more about your contacts than just their email address, and that you’re able to send them targeted messages. Gather information with your opt-in process, analyze their clicking behavior, and give them the possibility to update their preferences at any time.

Use your existing data as a source of inspiration

You have to make do with what you have. You don’t always have to look far to get ideas. Analyze your database and find out how you can implement this contact information in your strategy. As a pet store, you could ask new subscribers how many pets they have. If they clicked on offers on dog food in your previous newsletter, it probably isn’t for a rabbit. Important information you need to have to link every type of customer with the right products. Thus, a cat owner won’t receive action about the last dog beds you’re trying to sell. By using your database correctly, you can create personalized messages.

Strive for one – to – one communication

As we already said before, there is nothing more annoying than an full inbox that is stuffed with messages that are not directed at you. Dynamic Content allows you to place all items in a single message, but only show the messages that are useful for every specific contacts. Thé perfect way to access your contact as personal as possible. Strive to create a highly targeted message, because that is the bottom line!

Don’t forget to test!

The final, but not unimportant step: testing. A mistake is easily made and as testing your campaign can avoid a lot of problems, we recommend you certainly do. Check your message by sending it to a test group containing different audiences. You will quickly notice if everyone gets to see the correct articles. Match different audiences, test, and make sure you can feel comfortable sending out your campaign!