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By Neil Anuskiewicz
Getting Started
Let's say you are in the wine business and you have a field in your database that delineates general palate preference: "dry," "sweet," and "both." You have another field that delineates wine color preference: "red," "white," and "both."
To target those likely to respond to your message, you would use the filtering feature provided by your ESP to choose those who have "dry" selected in the palate field and "red" selected in the color field. You could also expand your reach by selecting subscribers who have selected “both” in the palate and color fields.
Do not send to those who like only "sweet" or only "white" as they are unlikely to respond well to your message. They key to targeting is to include those likely to be interested and exclude those likely to be indifferent (at best) to your message.
Use Your Reports
Most ESPs provide good reporting on the outcome of your emails: opens, click-through rate (CTR), bounces (both hard and soft), unsubscribes, complaints, and delivery reports. You can get the raw numbers and drill down to get the specific subscribers who performed the specific behavior.
If you find that certain subscribers have clicked on a specific link in your email, you can be reasonably sure they have some interest in what you were offering at the other end of that link. Send them relevant emails.
You can do the same sort of thing for open rates and target based on who opened a specific email. Again, send them relevant emails.
The converse is also true. If you see recipients on your list who rarely open your emails or click on your links, you might need to get their attention again with some fresh approaches.
Always review your reports carefully both to monitor your results and to determine if there are ways you could use the information to more effectively target your emails.
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