Harnessing AI and machine learning in web development and marketing

The use of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) is changing the game in web development and marketing. By automating some repetitive tasks, personalizing user experiences, and providing insights, these technologies are making your marketing strategies easier. 

For instance, chatbots and virtual assistants powered by AI can now better understand and address user needs, so you can focus on more important tasks. Additionally, ML algorithms can analyze huge amounts of data and identify trends and patterns that can be used to improve web designs and marketing strategies. 

David Schulhof, Director of Digital at The PHA Group says: 

“The enhancements in AI and machine learning tech have given marketers the capability to work faster and smarter with more extensive data sets. However, these tools are not magic wands. Success lies in a human-machine partnership, a hybrid approach. Marketers must adopt AI and ML tech to amplify expertise, not replace it. Define clear goals, provide high-quality data, and interpret insights critically. With this collaborative approach, marketers can remove more guesswork and have confidence in data-driven decision-making.”

Integrating user-centric design practices into marketing initiatives

The methods of communication between businesses and their customers are evolving at a fast pace. It’s important for your marketing team and web developers to stay up-to-date with these changes. Nowadays, customers expect personalized experiences, and brands should have a thorough understanding of their customers’ needs to provide such experiences.

To achieve this, your marketing and web development teams should work together. By doing so, they can create designs that work well on different devices and input modes. This collaboration ensures that the designs are responsive and accessible to all users, regardless of their abilities or the devices they use.

Josh Grant, Director of Absolute Design suggests:

“Collaborative efforts between marketing and web development teams are crucial because they ensure a seamless alignment of user-centric design principles with marketing strategies. This partnership enables the creation of responsive, accessible, and personalized digital experiences to meet diverse user needs and preferences. 

Through their joint efforts, these teams can effectively utilize data-driven insights, adapt to evolving user behaviors, and maintain an iterative approach to design, ensuring continuous improvement and relevance in the rapidly changing digital world. This collaboration enhances user engagement and drives more effective and impactful marketing outcomes.”

Leveraging data-driven insights for informed web design and marketing decisions

A data-led approach will be essential in designing attractive, functional, intuitive websites and effective marketing strategies in the coming years. A/B testing, heatmaps, and user feedback tools will become even more vital in determining the success of web designs and marketing campaigns. 

Combining data from various sources, including customer surveys, social media analytics, and website metrics, will provide valuable insights that inform design decisions and marketing efforts.

Dan Coleman, Director of Coleman Marketing says:

“Concepts such as cross-channel attribution, cross-device tracking, and connecting first & third-party data will likely become even more accessible to marketers. What’s more, AI will empower marketers to ask increasingly complex questions of the data in natural language without having to learn complex queries. This empowerment means how you design and integrate your data sources at the outset is paramount.”

The impact of emerging web technologies on marketing strategies

Emerging web technologies such as progressive web apps (PWAs), accelerated mobile pages (AMP), and Extended Reality (WebXR) are transforming the digital landscape, providing exciting new opportunities to enhance user experiences. To stay ahead of the competition, you must adapt your marketing strategy and incorporate these technologies.

PWAs offer an app-like experience through web browsers, increasing user engagement and loyalty with fast-loading content, offline access, and push notifications. AMP helps to improve site performance and reduce bounce rates by expediting content consumption on mobile devices. WebXR unlocks immersive experiences through Augmented Reality (AR), Virtual Reality (VR), and Mixed Reality (MR), enabling the development of creative, interactive campaigns.

Josh Grant says:

“Emerging web technologies are reshaping digital marketing. They compel marketers to think innovatively, focusing on creating more engaging, interactive, and user-friendly experiences. As these technologies become more mainstream, they will provide a competitive edge to businesses that effectively integrate them into their marketing strategies, offering new ways to connect with and captivate their audience.”

Measuring the effectiveness of an integrated web development and marketing approach

To determine the effectiveness of a coordinated web development and marketing approach, businesses must define specific key performance indicators (KPIs), monitor customer behavior, and use data to guide decision-making. Advanced analytic tools with comprehensive reporting capabilities will be essential in providing deep insights and enabling informed choices.

Dan Coleman says:

“The key to succeeding will be to ensure that web development and marketing teams have compatible & complementary KPIs regarding commercial performance. The data can tell you the adjustments you need to make; those businesses with the agility to act on the data and make incremental improvements will outperform the competition.”

To sum up

In conclusion, the fusion of marketing and web development will redefine digital experiences and unlock new possibilities in the coming years. By taking advantage of emerging technologies, adopting user-centric design practices, and leveraging data-driven insights, businesses can stay at the forefront of this transformation and deliver exceptional value to their customers.

If you want to understand more, Dotdigital is hosting a panel discussion alongside Absolute Design, Coleman Marketing, and The PHA Group to explore this further. This panel discussion is for business owners, marketing professionals, web developers, and user experience designers who are keen on staying updated with the latest trends and technologies shaping the digital landscape. 

We aim to empower these innovative minds with valuable insights that facilitate a deep understanding of the symbiotic relationship between marketing and web development, enabling them to create outstanding digital experiences for their customers and stay ahead of the competition in the ever-changing digital world.

After all of your hard work writing engaging copy and designing a visually appealing email, you need your recipients to open your campaign. If they don’t all that work has been for nothing.  

Fortunately, there are certain things you can and should always consider when crafting compelling email subject lines. 

We’ve compiled a list of 16 essential tips to help you create the best possible email subject lines and ensure that your email campaigns stand out in the inbox.

1. Know your audience

It feels like it goes without saying, but for any marketing campaign to be successful, you need to know your audience. If you don’t know this, then you don’t know how you should be approaching, addressing, and marketing to your audience. 

Knowing your audience will help you to devise subject lines that will work for you. That really is the first step – knowing who you’re sending the email to and why, is essential in helping you decide where to start with your subject line. 

2. Personalize, personalize, personalize

If you want to increase your open rate, it’s important to personalize your subject lines. You can grab your reader’s attention by using data fields to pull in information about the customer, like name, location, or other relevant information. 

Additionally, targeting your message to the right audience is crucial. Personalization not only makes customers feel valued and understood, but it also provides useful content that can make their lives easier. In an inbox full of generic messaging, personalization can set your email apart.

Remember, though to not overuse personalization. The best way to explain the use of personalization in email subject lines would be ‘less is more’. While the odd usage is okay, repetitive or irrelevant usage can turn recipients off. 

We also have to remember that consumers are far savvier about the email marketing practices of brands than in the past. 

Overuse of first name personalization in subject lines can make recipients blind to the tactic. 

Still, consumers expect some form of personalization in your email marketing, so it’s important to change it up and try different tactics regularly.

3. Set clear expectations

Time is precious, so you need to make sure that you’re front-loading your subject lines with the benefits. Make it clear what the recipient gets from opening your email. 

Additionally, being clear with your audience from the beginning strengthens the relationship between you and your customers and prospects. If your subject lines always deliver on their promises when the recipient opens the email, they’ll know to trust you.  

For example, if your email is about the new summer product line that your brand is launching, make sure you put that in the subject line! Trying to be too clever with your subject lines could lead to them tanking. 

The following examples are clear and to the point: 

• Our new summer range is here, look and shop now 
• Available now: summer styles 
• Shop our new summer range today 

If anyone opens these emails, they should know exactly what they’re going to see.  

4. Don’t mislead the reader

Following on from the previous tip, you don’t want to mislead your readers, as that can be damaging to your relationship. 

Don’t promise anything in your subject lines that your email doesn’t deliver on. Not only is this disingenuous, but it’s also spammy. If you take this approach your email campaigns will be winging their way to spam folders in no time at all. Either that or your hard-earned subscribers and customers will be searching for that unsubscribe link. 

One misleading tactic that I’m genuinely surprised to be still seeing from brands is the classic ‘RE:’ approach, to make you think it’s a reply to an email that you’ve already sent or received before. 

It may get you opens, but it also gets deletes, spam reports, and low click-through rates. 

5. Be relevant

Relevancy is key. Whether it’s your email copy or your subject lines, shoppers will only answer your emails if it’s going to benefit them.

Don’t be vague or mysterious. Intriguing subject lines might generate good open rates, but your end goal is click-throughs and conversions. And you’re not going to get those if your email isn’t related to your subject line. In the long run, this could actually be detrimental to your brand. By misleading them, you could erode their fragile trust in you.

So, keep your subject lines related to your key message. It’ll increase the quality of opens and consequently improve your click-through rate.

6. Keep it short and snappy

Nearly 50% of all emails are now opened on mobile devices. This brings another issue for you to deal with when writing engaging subject lines for your email marketing campaigns. Smaller screens mean less space to work with. 

With most mobile email clients, you’ll probably only have around four or five words before your subject line is cut off. 

Therefore, it’s important to make your subject line pop in those first four or five words. If you can make a strong subject line in just four or five words (or less) then do it. 

7. Vary email subject line length

Many email clients like Gmail and Yahoo cut subject lines when they’re being viewed by web-based readers. Usually, the cut-off point for this is around the 55-character limit. Mobile inboxes, on the other hand, commonly cut off subject lines at about 30 characters.

To ensure that your subject lines are making an impact, be sure to check your campaign reporting. This will help you identify the device on which your customers are opening. Then, you can plan your email subject lines around this suggested length.

Of course, this doesn’t mean that you must strictly stick to these character limits. One of the best parts of working on subject lines is the ability to experiment. Don’t think about it as trial and error – think of it as trial and trial and trial until success.

8. Avoid spam words

It’s every email marketer’s nightmare to have their hard word flagged as spam. With 333 billion emails sent and received every day around the world, it’s increasingly difficult to stand out from spam.

After all the work that goes into creating a fully optimized email marketing campaign, you don’t want to be the one in five that gets caught by the spam filter.

Spam filters are constantly checking for specific triggers that indicate an email might be spam:

• Specific word choice
• Messages in ALL CAPS
• Emails without an unsubscribe button
• Links to unknown or questionable websites
• Colorful, hard to read, and different sized fonts
• Stay away from heavy use of exclamation marks!!!!!!!! 
• Avoid overzealous use of currency signs ($$$$$ or £££££, for example) 

Typically spam filters look for suspicious words or phrases associated with scams, schemes, free gifts, and more.

What to avoid:

• Spam words that make exaggerated claims and promises, e.g. #1, 100% satisfied, earn money, free consultation, and satisfaction guaranteed.
• Words that create unnecessary urgency and pressure, e.g. act now, apply now, get started now, please read, while supplies last, and more.
• Spammy words or words that imply shady or unethical behavior, e.g. cancel at any time, no hidden charges, meet singles, etc.
• Words that are considered jargon or typically used in legal documents, e.g. as seen on, bonus, certified, cheap, join millions, this message contains, a quote, and more.

Of course, this doesn’t mean you can’t EVER use these words in your emails. It just means to use these words and phrases responsibly.

The best performing email subject lines have included words like ‘reasons’, ‘introducing’, ‘discover’, and ‘recent’. This indicates that customers are looking for content that inspires, such as ‘introducing our new range. They want brands to do more than simply push a product, they want you to sell it.

9. Emojis have their place

Emojis have found their way into almost every aspect of everyday life. Heck, they even made a truly awful movie about them. So, don’t be afraid to give them a whirl in your email marketing campaigns.  

Back in the day, early emoji adopters certainly stood out in their recipients’ inboxes. But slowly marketers have come to realize that these cheeky little icons can help you catch the reader’s eye.  

So, when used effectively, emojis can help your subject lines stand out. Econsultancy summed up its recent research into emoji usage in subject lines, noting that an emoji ‘makes a good subject line better’, or ‘makes a bad subject line worse’. 

So again, you need to ensure that you’re using emojis in the right way for them to be effective. 

It’s important to consider some pros and cons when using emojis in subject lines.  

Pros: 

• They can help your email subject lines stand out. 
• They’re more emotive. 
• You can use them to get a point across without the need for words. 
• Especially useful for mobile. 
• When used properly, they can add context to your email subject lines (again, useful for mobile). 

Cons: 

• Improper use can be detrimental. 
• Inconsistent rendering across mobile devices, platforms, and email clients (a good resource to check the differences is Emojipedia – The ‘grimacing face’ emoji is a great example of how emojis can look very different cross-platform). 
• Some audiences won’t like them (which takes us back to the first tip – know your audience). 
• Irrelevant use can be confusing – is it immediately obvious what the emoji is, and why it’s being used? If the answer to either is no, don’t use it. 
• Some emojis can have multiple meanings, so make sure you understand any and all meanings before you use them.  

10. Tell, don’t sell

Steer clear adding unnecessary descriptive adjectives to your subject lines. Words like ‘amazing’, ‘unbeatable’, and ‘stunning’ actually do very little to convince recipients to open.

Our Global benchmark report revealed that false urgency in subject lines doesn’t perform well. Words that were once considered to inspire action are driving inaction. Especially in retailer sectors, words like ‘exclusive’, ‘days’, ‘ends’, ‘save’, ‘extra’, and ‘last’ were the worst performing. 

Keep it simple and tell readers what they can expect from your email. There’s no need to make grand promises and oversell what is simply a new product launch, event, or mid-season sale.

Once again, this will improve the quality of your opens. When it’s clear to the reader what’s inside you’re giving them more reason to convert.

11. Show some personality

Most of the subject lines that lead me to open emails in my inbox are either to the point or have a bit of personality shining through. Adding personality to your subject lines can be a powerful tool in getting recipients to open. 

This tip relies heavily on your brand’s tone of voice. Are you a playful brand? Can you be cheeky? Are you a leading authority in your field? Your tone of voice is your brand personality, so you must have a clear understanding of it before you start writing your subject lines.  

Even better, if your tone of voice allows you to have some fun with your subject lines, then do it. As long as you keep it relevant, it opens up a world of limitless possibilities for your subject lines.  

12. Ask questions

One of the best ways to get a customer to complete an action is to pique their interest and curiosity. Asking a question in your email subject line is the perfect way to do this. 

If you’re a retailer, it can be as simple as asking whether the recipient wants to see your new collection, or even better, receive a discount on their next order, like this: 

Hi Tosan, do you want 20% off your next order? 

Or if you’re a B2B business, you can ask a question that is relevant to some content that you’ve produced, as we did with our global benchmark report: 

How do your results compare to the competition? 

The reader’s natural curiosity is enough to make them want to click. When they do, it’s up to you to make sure you keep them curious enough to click through the email. 

13. Include a call to action (CTA)

You want customers to complete an action. That’s why you’re emailing, so why not be clear about what you want? Positive action verbs are a good option as long as you’re careful not to come across as spammy. Think along the lines of “get yours,” “discover,” “save”, “join us”, and “book today.”

If you’re worried about coming across as a spam sender (we’ll be covering how best to avoid this later), then try making key benefits or propositions the CTA in your email subject line. If the key benefit of shopping with you comes from your offer of free shipping, push this in your subject line. If you’re offering student discounts, shout about it to drive opens.

Essentially, you should be thinking, “What will drive my readers to convert?” Whatever the answer, try running with it in your email subject line.

14. Overcome writer’s block with artificial intelligence (AI)

If you’re looking for a way to take any email subject line to the next level – say hello to WinstonAI. This innovative tool uses cutting-edge Microsoft Azure GPT3.5 technology to help you come up with the perfect subject line that will make your campaigns stand out from the crowd. 

Plus, WinstonAI can even analyze your past campaigns to learn your preferred tone, wording, and structure. This can help you free up time when you’re stuck figuring out what the perfect subject line is. 

15. Write your subject line last

To ensure your email subject line is clear, relevant, and engaging enough to convert, you should be writing it last.

After you’ve finalized your email design and written your copy, you’ll know the exact message you’re trying to communicate. With that in mind, deciding what to include in your email subject line will be much easier.

16. Test your subject lines

Perhaps the most important tip of all is to make sure that you’re always testing your subject lines and measuring their performance and impact. 

What worked well for one segment may not work for another, and what worked yesterday may not work today. Therefore, it’s crucial to continuously test and measure the impact of your subject lines. By split-testing your email campaigns, you can identify what works best and tweak your subject lines accordingly to get the best possible performance from your campaigns. 

Here’s a handful of things that you should consider when testing your subject lines: 

Don’t get caught up in what you think your recipients expect 

While, to a certain extent, you do have to predict what your recipients want, that doesn’t mean you know what they’re expecting. Keep them on their toes with your campaigns, and they’ll become more inclined to open your emails. 

Don’t be cautious 

Playing it safe is fine if you want to do okay. But most of us want to do better than okay. So that means throwing caution to the wind with your subject lines and stepping out of your comfort zone. It’s okay to brainstorm some really ridiculous subject lines, before scaling them back to something that you are happy with. 

Monitor what works and what doesn’t 

Make sure you’re tracking any tests that you’re doing so that it’s easy to look back and see which type of subject lines worked best. Otherwise, you’ll end up not knowing which types of subject lines work best for certain types of campaigns. 

Don’t stick with a subject line that worked once, or worked well two years ago 

While it may be easy to stick to the old adage of ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’, this doesn’t really work with email subject lines. While you may want to stick to a certain formula if you’re sending regular, consistent email campaigns, you should also consider that recipients will get used to seeing the same types of subject lines. In time, they could become blind or oblivious to them. 

One approach you can use is to ensure that the first part of your subject line identifies the type of email you’re sending, before specifying the content it contains. 

Let’s say you send a monthly newsletter to your subscribers, but all you do is change the month. So, your subject line looks like this: 

May Newsletter 

It’s not the most inspiring or eye-catching subject line that you can use here, is it? 

This is where emojis can be useful. You can add context to them, and over time your recipients will begin to associate that emoji with a certain campaign. 

Seeing as we’re talking about a newsletter campaign, let’s use the newspaper emoji. 

Then you also add a callout to some specific content that’s included in your newsletter. This will make the subject line different every time, while still being clear about its contents. 

Put these elements together, and you end up with a subject line that looks like this: 

May newsletter: Email subject line guide, cookie update, and new platform features 

Sure, it’s a lot longer, and the full subject line will likely be truncated on some displays, but it’s better. By using an emoji and adding clear information about what the email contains, it’s already more appealing to the recipient.

Now you know how to write email subject lines

By experimenting with these subject line tips and analyzing your audience’s response, you can identify what resonates best with them. Remember to keep it concise, intriguing, and relevant to the content of your email. With practice and persistence, you’ll be able to consistently write subject lines that grab your audience’s attention and improve the success of your email marketing campaigns.

Personalization: who, what, when, where, why

Customers nowadays are extremely aware of traditional marketing and sales tactics. Generic batch and blast messaging should be considered a thing of the past with personalization strategies now producing the best results. Personalization can apply to several different areas in your marketing plans. This may include utilizing dynamic content in your messages based on specific data points about your contacts or creating fully customized strategies for distinct customer persona groups.

It’s important to analyze your customers and subscribers to fully understand their wants, needs, preferences, and interests to effectively communicate with them and deliver the right message at the right time to the right person.

Listen to your contacts’ interests and anticipate their needs by using dynamic content based on zero–party data they’ve provided or order data to showcase content they’re interested in such as product types, categories, and attributes. For example, let’s say you sell clothing and shoes online. You can segment your customers by climate regions based on first-party order data and promote products that pertain to their current climate. 

Customers who live in a warm, coastal climate most likely aren’t going to be regularly interested in apparel and shoes such as winter jackets and snow boots. The relevancy of your marketing content is key to boosting engagement and return on investment (ROI) over time. 

An important step in strategizing your marketing plans is determining who you want to target to receive the messages you are sending. Using subscriber data is key to implementing a personalized approach to your marketing activities in Dotdigital. 

Create and send to segments based on the data you have stored such as age, geolocation, customer persona characteristics, purchasing frequency, purchase location (in-store, online, social commerce), predicted churn rate, expressed preferences, survey response data, the list could go on and on. The personalization possibilities are endless and can be very simple to implement into your current and future marketing strategies.

Using artificial intelligence to achieve business goals

Artificial intelligence (AI) isn’t anything new, and it’s definitely not going away anytime soon. So, it’s important to understand the practical applications of AI tools you have at your fingertips that can help you achieve business goals, boost conversions, and operational efficiencies. 

Dotdigital’s WinstonAI is a fantastic example of cutting-edge marketing intelligence. We’ve integrated predictive algorithms, state-of-the-art machine learning models, generative AI, persona analysis, data enrichment and more within the platform to empower marketers with AI-powered insights and analytics, captivating content creation, and optimized communications. 

Utilizing AI-powered insights and analytics in your marketing plans and sending strategy can be crucial in the goal of sending the right message at the right time to the right person. Our predictive analytics segmentation tools give you real-time data to create segments and trigger messages based on churn probability, predicted customer lifetime value (CLV), predicted number of upcoming purchases, and predicted next order date. These segmentation tools make it quick and easy to understand where your customers are in the customer lifecycle, target customers with high churn risk and give an attractive offer, reward predicted VIP brand loyalists, and more. 

Generative AI can be beneficial in many ways, a big one being operational efficiency. WinstonAI’s subject line and email campaign assistant helps marketers unleash their creativity by offering subject line and campaign suggestions to create content that is engaging and drives conversions.

WinstonAI offers comprehensive assistance in your copywriting process, providing accurate grammar and spelling checks. This ensures that your marketing campaign’s copy is error-free and frees up time that would otherwise be spent on manual content review processes. With all of these tools combined, you can be confident in your marketing effectiveness, experience increased team autonomy, and let the data-driven results do all the talking. 

AI tools can be extremely helpful in streamlining processes and assisting in idea generation but it’s important to note the constant need for human review. Training generative AI tools, like our subject line and campaign assistant, is an important step in using this type of technology. Generative AI learns from and adapts to the information you feed it so the more feedback you give it, the better it will understand your prompted needs going forward. 

Shifts in consumer expectations

The direct-to-consumer (DTC) playbook of the past 5-10 years has completely shifted. We now have numerous communication channels, and various paths to purchase, and consumers now have more information at their fingertips than ever before, significantly increasing the level of competition. That’s why it’s important that you understand your consumer’s preferences at every point in the customer lifecycle to create an exceptional customer experience. 

Dotdigital’s Marketing Strategist, Brianna Martinez, spoke on a panel with other marketing experts about digital and cross-channel strategies to amplify your brand where they discussed the importance of analyzing your customer base in order to successfully market your brand.

To produce the best experience, you must fully understand who your customers are. Dive deep into your analytical platforms and pull information that you can use to personify and envision your customers or groups of customers to better communicate and provide an experience that they enjoy. Then, dive into researching consumer shopping habits and online behavior characteristics on those persona groupings to begin learning about how they shop and interact with brands before making a purchase.

By building your marketing plans with your brand’s customer personas in mind, you can create an enjoyable, seamless, personalized, cross-channel experience. Here are 6 analytical data points to look for when beginning to develop your customer personas:

1. Demographical analytics

It’s important to examine your audience’s age in depth to gain a better understanding of their behavior. By dividing demographics into generations, you can investigate online shopping patterns that vary by age group. Additionally, analyzing gender-specific data can provide a more comprehensive understanding of your target audience’s interest in the product categories offered by your brand.

2. Location-based data

Location-based data refers to information gathered about a customer’s location, such as their city, state, or zip code. This data plays an important role in developing effective marketing strategies that cater to the specific needs of customers in each region. By understanding their unique climate and location, businesses can tailor their products and services to meet the needs of their customers better. Analyzing location-based data on a country level can also help businesses identify preferred languages, cultural values, and regional expectations, which can further enhance their marketing approach.

3. Device usage

It’s important to keep track of how your audience uses different devices such as mobiles, tablets, and desktops. This helps ensure that your website and digital marketing designs cater to all users. Analyzing this breakdown can significantly improve the overall user experience (UX), making it an essential component of your marketing strategy.

4. Conversion rate data by channel

In today’s customer journey, there are numerous paths to purchase, ranging from email and SMS to social commerce, direct website, or in-app checkout experiences. It’s important to understand where your customers are buying from your brand, how valuable those commerce channels are to your business, and the experience that goes along with them. By doing so, you can improve your strategy by identifying and promoting the preferred paths to purchase and providing relevant communication based on those channels at the right times.

5. Traffic sources

By monitoring the channels driving traffic to your website, you can identify new points of acquisition and understand what communication channels your consumers prefer. Additionally, taking note of other websites and social media sources that direct traffic to your brand can provide valuable insights into your target audience’s interests, preferences, and behaviors.

6. Google Analytics “interests” or“affinity categories

Google Analytics (GA4) offers a user interests section that provides valuable information on your website visitors based on their online journeys and purchasing activities. This data encompasses hobbies, entertainment preferences, and other interest categories like banking, outdoor activities, shopping, DIY, news, politics, and more. By utilizing these insights, you can develop a more comprehensive understanding of the content that will resonate best with your audience.

A personalized cross-channel approach is an important strategy because the everyday consumer is extremely aware of typical marketing and sales tactics. Batch and blast messages are a thing of the past and generic content is irrelevant to most consumers. With this personified, 360-degree view of your customers, you can tailor your marketing to deliver the right message (containing the right content), to the right person at the right time. 

Reflecting on the 2023 Chicago Retail Summit

The 2023 Chicago Retail Summit provided valuable insights and takeaways for retail professionals who want to stay ahead in today’s competitive market. By participating in events like these and engaging in conversations, our team members are better equipped with the latest news, trends, and insights. This knowledge empowers us to assist marketers using the Dotdigital platform and ensure continuous growth and success in the ever-evolving retail industry.

Customer empathy is a competitive advantage

As an agency dedicated to helping businesses excel in the world of ecommerce, we have seen time and time again how a lack of customer empathy can hinder even the most well-thought-out strategic plans. Many of the clients we onboard come to us with ideas that are focused solely on their own bottom line, forgetting that at the heart of any successful business are the customers.

Embracing a customer-centric approach isn’t just a good deed; it’s a strategic game-changer. Time and time again, brands that prioritize customer experiences outshine the competition in financial success.

So, imagine infusing your strategic planning with the magic of customer empathy – the secret ingredient for progress. This approach will allow you to embark on innovation with a human-centered mindset, decoding the “why” behind your analytical thinking. This fusion leads you to solutions that don’t just inch forward, they propel you in new directions. 

For most businesses, the journey begins with truly understanding people’s needs. Delve into emotions, desires, motivations, and the driving forces behind behaviors. By grasping the thoughts and feelings of your customers, you’re primed to create solutions that resonate. 

With this method, cultural and operational barriers dissolve, replaced by a profound connection to customers. This connection leads to exceeded expectations and improved experiences. Ready to dive in? Let’s talk through five ways to transform your strategic planning.

1. Understand your customers through comprehensive research

Data is definitely useful, but to truly grasp what motivates your customers, you need to go deeper. That’s where qualitative research comes in. By taking the time to truly understand their emotions, attitudes, and behaviors, you’ll gain insights that can’t be found through data alone. Don’t get us wrong – quantitative data has its place, but when you marry that with the power of qualitative research, you’ll gain a holistic understanding of your customer base. 

2. Prioritize customer insights

One key element to transforming your strategic planning is the prioritization of customer insights. It’s easy to fall into the trap of using our own opinions as a proxy for our customer’s needs, but that’s a surefire way to miss the mark. By adopting an objective stance and really listening to our customers, we can gain valuable understandings that will inform every aspect of our strategic planning. It’s not always easy to let go of our personal relationship with the brand, but it’s absolutely essential to put evidenced findings first and ensure that our customers’ needs and desires are at the heart of everything we do. 

3. Invest in informed decision-making

Often, resource limitations are seen as roadblocks to conducting research. But let’s shift that perspective. Research isn’t an optional extra; it’s a savvy investment that pays off. When you unveil customer insights, you’re not just reducing risks – you’re supercharging your decision-making. The benefits gained from well-informed strategies far exceed the costs of gathering vital data.

Think of it as an opportunity, not an obstacle. With research, you’re not just spending; you’re securing the pathway to success.

4. Frame your challenges first

Amid challenges, we often rush to solutions—a natural impulse. However, consider this: dedicating attention to framing solutions themselves. By prioritizing this approach, we establish a robust bedrock for strategic planning. It’s a shift from urgency to measured consideration, and it holds the potential to redefine your organization’s trajectory. Step away from quick fixes and explore the potency of this strategic transition.

5. Champion customers’ voices

Championing the customer’s voice sparks opportunities. By centering on customers, decisions naturally lean towards their experience, not just internal factors like tech upgrades or cost-saving. Even when an advocate is present, remember this: shared insights deepen understanding. They form the foundation for nurturing a customer-focused mindset, turning empathy into a collaborative force across the entire business.

Elevate your customer empathy quotient

At JH, we help eCommerce brands on Adobe Commerce and Magento Open Source bridge their empathy gap by continually seeking a fresh customer perspective. We undertake generative and evaluative research to inform everything from strategic plans to interface designs. And we help clients adopt habits that make them truly customer-centric.

To help you, we’ve created a couple of self-assessment tools to gauge the effectiveness of your research activities and roadmap planning. To receive these, fill in the form – where you will also have the chance to enter a giveaway to win a charming JH memory bear. After completing the assessment, why not connect with us? We want to know how you’re performing.

One area of confusion is the difference between ‘cross-channel‘, ‘omnichannel’, and ‘multichannel’ marketing strategies. By exploring these terms and their benefits, we can clear up any confusion and help you make the best decision for your business. So let’s investigate what these terms mean and how they can benefit you.

What is cross-channel marketing?

Cross-channel marketing is all about connecting with your customers across multiple channels. We’re not just talking about sending out a bunch of emails or posting on social media. It’s about creating a seamless experience for your customers, no matter where they are. 

Think about it, your customers are constantly switching between different devices and platforms throughout their day. They might be reading their inbox on their phone, browsing search engines on their laptop, or scrolling through social media on their tablet. By utilizing cross-channel marketing, you can reach them at each of these touchpoints and make sure they get a consistent message from your brand. 

Figuring out which channels your audience prefers and personalizing each channel is an important aspect of cross-channel marketing. Are your customers more active on social media? Do they prefer email? Once you have that figured out, it’s all about creating a consistent and tailored message that works across those channels.

Some key aspects of cross-channel marketing are:

Coordinated cross-channel strategy

Cross-channel marketing amps up your reach by strategically coordinating your campaigns across multiple channels. This creates a seamless, consistent message for your audience no matter which platform they use. 

Increase cross-channel reach

By using cross-channel marketing, you have the power to reach a larger audience thanks to the variety of platforms available. Each channel offers the opportunity to connect with different segments of your target market, amplifying your brand’s visibility and presence.

Personalized touchpoints across channels

Cross-channel marketing enables businesses to create personalized touchpoints with customers based on their behavior and preferences. By tailoring your message and content to suit the individual, you can effectively address their needs, desires, and pain points at various stages in the customer journey.

What is omnichannel marketing?

Omnichannel marketing is similar to cross-channel as it allows you to deliver a seamless and integrated customer journey across marketplaces, devices, channels, and platforms. 

When comparing omnichannel and cross-channel marketing, the main difference is that omnichannel integrates marketing efforts, data, and strategy under one umbrella while cross-channel does not.

With omnichannel, data is organized centrally and becomes more reliable. This creates more chances for personalization as customer data is synchronized, making it easier to deliver personalized content and messages. This approach enables retailers to offer shoppers the products they need, when and where they need them.

So how does it work? Let’s say someone finds your company through a Facebook ad and decides to view your website. With omnichannel marketing, you want to make sure that the messaging and branding on your website match what they saw in the ad. And if they decide to make a purchase, you want to make sure that their shopping cart is saved across devices, so they can seamlessly continue the checkout process on their phone or tablet.

Some key aspects of omnichannel marketing are:

Customer-centric focus

The primary goal of omnichannel marketing is to ensure customers have a convenient and engaging experience, regardless of the channel they use. By prioritizing the needs and preferences of your customers, you can create a unified experience that encourages brand loyalty and satisfaction.

Connected interactions

In an omnichannel strategy, all customer interactions are interconnected, allowing for a smooth transition between various touchpoints. For example, a customer browsing your website on their phone can continue shopping on your desktop site or in-store, experiencing the same level of personalization and tailored recommendations.

Data integration

Omnichannel marketing relies on integrated customer data that provides a holistic view of each individual’s preferences and behaviors. This information enables businesses to offer relevant content, promotions, and offers across all channels, enhancing the overall customer experience.

What is multichannel marketing?

Multichannel marketing is using different marketing channels to reach your audience. Instead of just relying on one method, like email or social media, you’re spreading your message across various platforms to maximize your chances of connecting with potential customers.

Think about it like fishing. If you only cast your line in one spot, you might catch a few fish, but you’re limiting your chances of reeling in a big one. But if you cast your line in several different spots, you’re increasing your odds of catching something awesome, right?

So, multichannel marketing works the same way. You’re casting your marketing net wider, reaching people through different channels. This approach amplifies your brand visibility, as you’re able to reach a larger and more diverse audience who might have different preferences when it comes to how they like to receive information.

Some key aspects of multichannel marketing are: 

Diverse channel selection

Multichannel marketing involves implementing a mix of channels, such as email, social media, content marketing, paid advertising, and traditional avenues like print or TV ads, to reach your audience. By leveraging each channel’s strengths, you can optimize your overall marketing strategy and reach a wider range of customers.

Channel-specific strategies

With multichannel marketing, each channel has its unique strategy, catering to the specific characteristics of that platform. For example, social media campaigns might focus on building brand personality and driving customer engagement, while email marketing is more targeted towards nurturing leads and driving conversions.

Measurement and optimization

If you use multichannel marketing, analyze the performance of each channel to determine which are most effective in achieving your business goals. Through data analysis and performance metrics, you can optimize your marketing strategy by allocating resources to the most successful channels and maximizing the return on investment (ROI).

What approach is best for me?

Choosing the right strategy depends on your business goals, resources, and the preferences of your target audience. To determine the best fit, consider these key factors:

Customer experience

If delivering a completely unified and immersive customer experience (CX) is your priority, cross-channel or omni-channel marketing may be best suited for your business. 

Personalization

For businesses looking to personalize messaging and engagement at specific milestones in the customer journey, cross-channel marketing offers the flexibility and customization needed to create targeted touchpoints.

Channel diversity

If your focus is on actively engaging with customers via multiple channels, without necessarily linking the messages or strategy between them, multi-channel marketing is the ideal approach.

How Dotdigital helps your cross-channel marketing strategy

Here at Dotdigital, know the importance of implementing comprehensive marketing tools tailored to your business goals and target audience. That’s why we’ve developed an innovative cross-channel platform as an all-in-one solution to help manage your channels.

With the Dotdigital platform, you can:

Connect with your customers on all their favorite channels

In today’s world, reaching savvy customers through multiple marketing channels is essential to stay ahead of the game. With Dotdigital, you can effortlessly connect with your audience across various touchpoints, leading to a more effective and rewarding marketing strategy.

Create seamless customer journeys

Dotdigital’s marketing tools help you send personalized messages to customers through email, text messages, and social media. By enhancing their experience at every stage of their journey, you’ll be able to build stronger relationships and drive engagement.

Supercharge your email marketing

Email is a powerful way to stay in touch with customers who want to hear from your business. Dotdigital’s email builder makes designing eye-catching emails a breeze so that you can grab your customers’ attention and inspire them to take action.

Turn texts into sales

Have you considered using SMS marketing to reach your customers? It’s a quick and effective way to connect with them in real time. With Dotdigital, you can integrate your text messages with other channels like email and social media to increase your chances of making a sale.

Grow, convert, and retain with social media retargeting

Looking to expand your customer base? Dotdigital has got you covered. With Facebook Lead Ads, you can easily acquire new leads and grow your marketing lists. Plus, keep your current customers engaged by showing them targeted ads after they visit your website.

Reduce barriers to purchase with live chat

Forrester says using live chat on your website can increase conversion rates by up to 40%. With Dotdigital’s live chat feature, you can make it easy for customers to get the help they need while also increasing their happiness and likelihood of buying from you. 

Reach customers anywhere with push notifications

Dotdigital helps you stay connected with customers by sending them timely push notifications on their smartphones. These messages remind customers of your business and encourage them to take action, like making a purchase.

Summary

So there you have it – the key differences between cross-channel, omnichannel, and multichannel marketing. Now that you’re in the know, it’s the perfect time to reevaluate your marketing strategy. The good news? Dotdigital’s cross-channel platform can make the journey smoother and more effective than ever before.

1. Tap into eRFM

eRFM customer modeling is a good way to determine whether your customers are genuinely engaged. This tool empowers you to categorize customers based on their past behaviors and actions. eRFM looks at data from four metrics: engagement, recency, frequency, and monetary value.

With eRFM modeling you can develop comprehensive customer segments. Each RFM persona receives an engagement score, so you can identify customers who are primed for conversion, and those who need to be re-engaged. With detailed segments, you can use eRFM to adapt your email marketing strategy to send the right message to your audience at the best time.

2. Predictive AI (Artificial intelligence)

By utilizing predictive analytics powered by Dotdigital’s WinstonAI, you can turn insights into action. Using AI, you can segment your customers based on predicted actions such as a customer’s anticipated next purchase date. This enables you to create timely and relevant marketing campaigns that reach your audience at the perfect moment. Not only does this help you keep your customers, but it also ensures that your messages remain relevant and the conversation continues.

You can use predictive analytics to forecast what products your customers may be interested in next. WinstonAI will analyze browsing history, past purchases, and spending patterns to understand your customer’s unique tastes and interests. This allows you to offer tailored product recommendations before they even know what they want themselves.

3. Behavioral segmentation

Unlocking the full potential of email marketing begins with understanding your subscribers through behavioral segmentation. Start by closely monitoring their email interactions; keep a keen eye on email metrics like opens, clicks on links or attachments, and conversions. This data lays the foundation to help you create highly effective messaging and content.

For ecommerce business owners, understanding your customers’ buying patterns is important. Take a closer look at your customers’ purchase histories, average order value (AOV), and category preferences. This information can assist you in not only refining your segmentation strategy, but also creating personalized campaigns that cater to each customer’s interests and needs.

4. Lookalike segmentation

If you’re looking to reach potential customers who share similarities with your ideal buyers, why not try Dotdigital’s lookalike segmentation tool. To start, you’ll need to use the single customer view (SCV) feature.

Dotdigital’s SCV gives you a holistic view of every one of your customers. You can see all your customer’s interactions, preferences, and behaviors from different touchpoints like email, SMS, and website activity. This helps you better understand your target audience and you can recognize their behavior patterns and trends. With this knowledge, you can optimize and tailor your email marketing campaigns.

Once you have insights from your SCV, you can then identify ideal customer profiles to represent your best buyers and create lookalike segments based on that information. With just one click, you can use these segments to effectively target the right prospects with the right message.

5. Self-segmentation

You can get customers to self-segment using preference centers. Encouraging your customers to select their preferences at an early stage in their journey allows you to use zero-party data to create customer segments.

In the preference center, your subscribers can set and modify their content, frequency, and communication channel preferences. Then you can create segments using selected preferences to easily send messages to your contacts based on their expressed interests in your brand and products.

Alternatively, you may want to send out a survey or questionnaire to learn more about your audience and hyper-personalize your messages. Let’s say your customer service survey asks someone their job title and you find that your audience base has many teachers. Try sending out messages that align with their interests and career seasonality to strategically deliver the right message at the right time to the right people.

6. Preferred channel segmentation

When it comes to cross-channel marketing, recognizing your customer’s preferred channels is your secret weapon for maximizing audience engagement. It helps you discover the communication methods your audience prefers most. 

Start by segmenting your audience based on their preferred channel. By doing so, you will not only increase the efficiency of your segmentation strategy but also ensure a seamless cross-channel customer experience for your customers.

It’s also a good idea to maintain an up-to-date contact list of your customers’ preferred channels. This way, you can easily pinpoint where they’re most active and tailor your cross-channel marketing approach to resonate with their preferences.

By reaching out to your contacts through the channels they’re most likely to engage with, you’ll be well on your way to forging meaningful connections and nurturing long-lasting relationships with your customer base. 

7. Event-triggered segmentation

Segment customers based on key milestones in the journey with your brand. You can do this by sending them a special discount on their birthday or celebrating their brand anniversary. 

Sending personalized messages to your customers is an excellent way to demonstrate appreciation and foster brand loyalty. For instance, if you have customers who were born in a specific month and haven’t engaged with your brand in a while, you can segment this group and provide them with a customized birthday discount. This not only encourages them to come back but also demonstrates your consideration for their special occasion.

Email segmentation summary

By using these seven innovative segmentation techniques, you can deliver personalized and relevant content to engage your customers. When you make your messages more in tune with individual preferences and interests, you’re much more likely to boost engagement, form deeper connections, and ultimately make your customers happier.

1. Make your content mobile and desktop friendly

In today’s digital age, it’s important to ensure that your content is not only visually appealing but also optimized for both mobile and desktop devices. With more and more people shopping and browsing through their phones and laptops, it’s important to review how your website performs across different devices and make any necessary optimizations.

By making your content mobile and desktop friendly, you can provide a pleasant browsing experience for your users. Nobody wants to zoom in or scroll endlessly just to read the content or view product details. So make sure that your website and email design is responsive, with easy navigation, readable text, and properly sized images.

Optimizing your website for mobile devices can also help reduce abandoned carts and increase conversions. If users find it difficult to navigate or complete a purchase on their phones or tablets, they are more likely to abandon their carts. On the other hand, if the checkout process is smooth and user-friendly on all devices, it can lead to higher conversion rates.

2. Turn abandoned carts into revenue with crafty email follow-ups

The holiday season is here, and with more shoppers turning to online shopping, it’s the perfect time to focus on fine-tuning your abandoned cart recovery strategy. Don’t let those potential customers slip away – give them a chance to save their carts for later.

One effective way to reconnect with shoppers who’ve shown interest in your products is through personalized emails or messages. By sending follow-up messages tailored specifically to their abandoned carts, you can remind them of the items they left behind and entice them to complete their purchase.

Whether it’s a friendly email highlighting the benefits of the products or a text message offering a limited-time discount, these personalized approaches can make a significant difference in recovering lost sales during this busy holiday season.

3. Add a personal touch to your messaging

When it comes to holiday messaging, personalization is key. Gone are the days of generic mass emails and cookie-cutter marketing campaigns. Today, it’s all about creating a personal connection with your audience.

By utilizing the data you’ve gathered from preference centers and first-party data sources, you can tailor your messages to cater to each individual’s preferences and behaviors. This level of personalization not only shows that you value their unique needs but also increases the chances of engagement and conversion.

Imagine receiving an email that speaks directly to your interests or a targeted holiday ad that showcases products you’ve been eyeing. It instantly creates a sense of connection and makes you feel understood as a consumer.

4. Sprinkle some holiday magic into your SEO

The holiday season is the perfect time to sprinkle some festive magic into your website’s SEO. By incorporating festive keywords throughout your SEO copywriting and product descriptions, you can capture the attention of shoppers who are in the holiday spirit.

One way to add a touch of holiday flair to your SEO is by updating your meta tags and headings to showcase that seasonal spirit. By including keywords like “holiday deals,” “gift ideas,” or those related to your product, you can align your website to what customers are searching for at this time of year. By with your customers’ seasonal searches, you can increase the chances of attracting more traffic to your website. 

You can make the most out of your website traffic by incorporating a clear call-to-action (CTA) section. Not only does it help enhance your click-through rate, but it also allows you to drive revenue. By organizing your CTAs with various links, you can cater to the different interests and preferences of your visitors.

To make your CTAs engaging, use simple language that is easy for users to understand. A user-friendly layout will also encourage them to take action. Remember, the goal is to create a seamless experience that entices users to click and explore further.

5. Be social media savvy

The holiday season is the perfect time to have some extra fun on social media. With so many people spending time online during this festive period, using paid and organic social methods is an effective way to reach both new and loyal customers.

On Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok, you can use targeted ads to connect with your desired audience uniquely. These platforms offer a range of gamification options to incorporate into your ad campaigns. You can create engaging content that resonates with your demographic using interactive quizzes, polls, and immersive storytelling experiences.

By adding gamification elements to your social media ads, you can transform the user experience from passive viewing to active participation. This approach not only increases brand awareness but also encourages interaction and engagement with your target audience.

But why stop there? For an added layer of flair and authenticity, team up with influencers who resonate with your target audience. Collaborating with influencers can help you tap into their engaged followers and create a buzz around your brand during the holiday season.

Time to wrap up

These five simple and engaging tips will help make your holiday marketing campaign a smashing success. By keeping your messaging personalized, your SEO festive, and your content as device-friendly and heartwarming as possible, you’re setting yourself up for a profitable holiday season. So why wait? Jump into the holiday marketing fun and spread good cheer all around.

It’s important to prioritize customer data privacy and make it a central part of your marketing strategy. At Dotdigital, we know that understanding data privacy can be complex and you may have concerns and questions. That’s why we created this blog to explain the key considerations and best practices you should use. By embracing these practices you’ll build trust with your customers and comply with regulations.

What is data privacy?

In a nutshell, data privacy is the protection, and the fair and transparent use of an individual’s personal information, preferences, and activities. With the rise of online customer data, new measures have been developed to protect personally identifiable information (PII) such as full names, dates of birth, email addresses, financial details, and browsing history. 

How governments and organizations are safeguarding customer data privacy

To tackle the pressing concerns surrounding data collection, governments and organizations across the world are taking action to protect personal information. As a marketer, it’s important to be compliant when collecting data. Consider keeping an eye on these regulations:

General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)

Data privacy regulations like GDPR have made a big impact on marketing. These regulations aim to give people more control over their personal data and make sure businesses ask for clear permission before getting and using their data. Due to this, digital marketers have had to change how they collect data and update their privacy policies to follow the new regulations.

One big challenge for marketers with GDPR is having to be extra clear about how they collect and use data. Companies have to let people know what they’re doing with their data and give them a choice to say yes or no to having their information collected. This makes it more complicated for marketers to target customers and personalize content, as they need to be sure they have the right permission from people before using their data.

Another key part of GDPR is handling requests for people to see or delete their data. Customers can ask companies to show them the data they have on them and request for it to be deleted if they don’t want it stored anymore. Marketers need to be ready to deal with these requests quickly and properly to follow GDPR regulations.

Emerging privacy legalization in the US

As data privacy evolves globally, the United States has started enacting its own privacy laws. Although the country has yet to implement a comprehensive, nationwide data privacy regulation similar to the European Union’s GDPR, individual states have begun stepping up their efforts to protect their citizens’ privacy.

One of the most prominent examples is the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), which came into effect in January 2020. The law grants Californians more control over their personal information by giving them the right to know what data businesses collect, who they share it with, and if desired, they can delete it. Additionally, the CCPA allows consumers to opt out of selling personal information to third parties.

Several states have looked to California’s lead and are creating privacy legislation. Virginia, for instance, passed the Virginia Consumer Data Protection Act (VCDPA) in March 2021, adding yet another layer of privacy protection for its citizens. Similar to the CCPA, the VCDPA gives Virginians more control over their data, offering transparency, access, deletion, and opt-out rights.

Apple’s privacy-focused updates

Marketers continue to face new challenges with Apple’s privacy-focused updates. The MPP (Mail Privacy Protection) feature, introduced in 2021, serves as one example. MPP uses a bot to open incoming emails as soon as they arrive in the recipient’s inbox. This method saves user privacy by hiding IP addresses and preventing open rates from exposing the recipient’s location or tracking their online activity.

In addition to MPP, Apple’s recent iOS 17 privacy updates add another layer of protection for users. These updates have been implemented to safeguard user data and privacy, making it increasingly difficult for marketers to track and measure engagement through traditional methods. For instance, iOS 17 features Link Tracking Protection, which automatically removes tracking parameters from messages, mail, and links, complicating the process of linking an interaction to a specific user.

Despite these challenges, you don’t need to panic. Link tracking remains a useful tool and metric, with only specific link types for certain user cases being affected. For example, Dotdigital customers are expected to see less than a 1% impact on the data they gather from link tracking. By staying informed and adapting to these changes, you can be an ethical marketer and protect your audience’s privacy.

Best practices for responsible data collection

Customers can feel limited when collecting data. If they don’t consent to data collection, their overall experience will be lessened. However, if you’re open and transparent about what data you want and why you want it, you’ll build a relationship based on honesty and integrity. Here are some ways to be ethical when collecting or using personal data: 

1. Use consent management tools: Don’t leave your customers guessing about the data you’re collecting. Use our consent insight feature at the point of sign-up. With this, you can be transparent about the data you collect, and how it will be used, and offer a fair and easy way for customers to provide (or withhold) their consent.
2. Build a preference center: Show your customers you respect their choices by providing an easily accessible preference center. Let them easily add or remove information, and include it in every email you send. 
3. Include a double opt-in: Double opt-in ensures that marketing lists are accurate and high-quality. Make it a standard for any channel you use and your customer engagement will improve.
4. Offer alternative channels: Different customers have different communication preferences. While some prefer emails, others prefer SMS or WhatsApp. Stick to their preferences by giving them the option to choose their favorite channel to ensure an optimal customer experience. 
5. Communicate the benefits: Help your customers understand how sharing their data can improve their experience with your brand. Are you offering exclusive deals? Tailoring content to their interests? Let them know what’s in it for them, and they’ll share willingly. Transparency is key. 

How to build trust and transparency

Trust is an important part of being a responsible marketer. Trust is no longer just a nice to have, it’s a necessity. Customers are more aware than ever of the potential risks associated with sharing personal information online. By establishing trust with your customers, you can reassure them that their data will be handled responsibly. This not only helps to build a positive reputation for your company but also ensures that customers feel safe and secure when interacting with you. 

Here are ways to build trust and transparency:

1. Collect zero and first-party data: To create trust and show respect for privacy, focus on collecting zero-party data by asking customers to share information via a survey or sign-up form. Also, gather first-party data from your customers’ direct actions, like website visits or social media engagements. 
2. Use data protection tools: Keep customer information safe by using encryption, secure storage systems, two-factor authentication, and safe data transfer methods. This will protect data from breaches. 
3. Educate your team: Get your team involved in a workshop or training so they can understand data privacy rules and best practices for protecting customer information.
4. Appoint a Data Protection Officer (DPO): Have a dedicated person, a DPO, in charge of ensuring your company follows data privacy rules. They will also be the main contact between your company and the official authorities.
5. Regularly check your practices: Review how your company handles data privacy. Look for any weak spots and fix them to keep your practices up-to-date and effective.

Key considerations for marketers

Whether you’re aware of it or not, your data is being collected almost constantly. Regulatory breaches, brands, and buying and selling customers’ data have led to an ethical conundrum for marketers.

To tackle these ethical challenges head-on, consider the following concerns when collecting and using customer data. This will make your decisions more responsible and help maintain the trust of your customers:

1. Privacy invasion: It’s not right to take personal or sensitive information without your customers’ permission.  This could make them uneasy about their privacy and potentially put your brand at risk of legal consequences.
2. Data security: You have a responsibility to protect your customer’s data. Data breaches can lead to financial losses and damage the reputation of both your customers and your business.
3. Informed consent: Your customers should be clearly informed about the information being collected, its intended use, and the reasons for it. Transparency goes a long way in building trust.
4. Data minimization: Keep it simple, focus on collecting only what’s necessary, rather than keeping extra data. This approach reduces risks and shows respect for your customers’ privacy.
5. Unwanted communications: It’s not okay to use customer data to send emails, text messages, or make calls without their permission. Doing this can invade their privacy and might even break privacy laws.
6. Unfair targeting practices: Avoid using personal information like gender, race, or disability to unfairly exclude groups. This can lead to discrimination and unequal treatment.
7. Misuse of data: Hold off on using customer data without permission. These actions are not only unethical but can also break down customer trust. Marketers have a responsibility to make sure any third parties they work with handle data properly.
8. Accuracy of data: Double-check and keep customer data accurate, current, and up-to-date. When you use incorrect information it can lead to a negative customer experience.

By sticking to these guidelines, not only will you reduce risk when collecting data, but you’ll also create an environment where your customers feel valued and respected. When your audience knows their privacy is a top priority, you’ll establish a strong foundation of trust that paves the way for more meaningful and long-lasting relationships. In turn, your marketing efforts will flourish as your customers reward you with their loyalty, positive word-of-mouth, and a genuine appreciation for your brand’s commitment to ethical practices.

Future-proof your marketing with Dotdigital

As a marketer, you should use a marketing platform that values data protection and customer trust is essential. Dotdigital, an ISO 27701-certified customer experience and data platform (CXDP), equips you with the tools to stay ahead of the curve and deliver personalized customer experiences. By using these best practices, you’ll stay compliant with data privacy regulations and grow stronger relationships with your audience.

Get to know your target audience

Copywriting is all about creating a connection with your audience. To do so, you need to understand their needs, desires, and pain points. Start by diving into market research, identifying your customer’s demographics, and learning about their preferences and habits. By understanding your audience, you can create personalized content that resonates with them.

The second step is empathy. Place yourself in your customer’s shoes and see the world from their perspective. Write as if you’re speaking directly to them, addressing their concerns, alleviating their fears, and offering solutions to their problems. The more you understand and identify with your audience, the more impactful your copywriting becomes.

Use Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Artificial intelligence (AI) has become a powerful assistant that you can use to optimize your SEO copywriting efforts. Generative AI helps you with:

• Content optimization: You can use AI to analyze your content and provide real-time suggestions on improving your content. These recommendations may include keyword density, readability, structure, and other factors that could impact your search rankings. By utilizing these insights, you can ensure your content is more likely to be discovered by your target audience. 

• Keyword research: Keyword research is an essential aspect of SEO copywriting and tools like SEMrush can simplify this process by providing insights into relevant search terms your audience might be using. 

• Generating ideas and headlines: Content ideation can often be time-consuming for marketers. AI tools can help you scan the web and analyze popular trends and topics within your niche to provide fresh, engaging content ideas. 

• Proofreading: AI-driven grammar and spell-check tools like Grammarly are great for automatically identifying and correcting errors, ensuring your copy is polished and professional.

Write an attention-grabbing headline

The headline is often the first thing your reader sees and plays a significant role in grabbing their attention. A good headline should get your message across, spark curiosity, and encourage them to read more. Use powerful words and be concise to evoke emotion and pique interest.

Headlines should include your primary keywords. A mix of powerful, actionable language and SEO best practices will skyrocket your content visibility, attract new readers, and improve your search rankings.

Keep it clear and concise

Effective copywriting is all about delivering your message to the target audience in the most straightforward and impactful way possible. Remember, every word you write should serve a purpose, and unnecessary fluff will only dilute the power of your message. Here are some quick tips:

• Focus on one idea at a time: When writing copy, focus on one main idea per paragraph or section. Write in an active voice, keep your sentences, short, and punchy to communicate your point effectively. This makes your message easy to grasp and leaves no room for confusion. 

• Use accessible language: While you may have expertise in your industry, remember that your target audience might not share your level of knowledge. It’s important to use simple language and avoid jargon, technical terms, or acronyms that your audience may not understand. 

• Break up the text: Long, unbroken blocks of text can be intimidating and hard to read. Improve the readability of your copy by using white space, bullet points, and subheadings. This will make your content more visually appealing and easier to digest. 

• Use clear headings:  Clear, well-organized headings are essential not only for capturing your reader’s attention but also for providing accessibility to screen reader users. Properly structured headings help in guiding both visually impaired and non-impaired users through your content with ease. 

Use effective call-to-actions (CTAs)

Create effective CTAs to encourage your readers to take action. To achieve this, strategically embed persuasive CTAs throughout and at the end of your copy that focus on the benefits, and are action-oriented. Tailor your CTAs to fit your specific goals, such as driving subscriptions, boosting product sales, or generating leads —a CTA should be direct, use active language, and be interesting. 

Incorporate power words like ‘Discover,’ ‘New,’ and ‘Unlock’ to evoke a sense of urgency and exclusivity. Don’t hesitate to experiment with different formats and styles to see what resonates best with your audience.

Optimize for SEO

Copywriting plays an essential role in creating content that ranks high on Google and other search engines. Research relevant keywords that your audience is likely to search for and seamlessly incorporate them into your content, headlines, and meta descriptions. Strike the perfect balance between readability and keyword density to avoid penalties from search engines.

Additionally, consider the overall structure of your content. Break it into easy-to-read sections with informative subheadings that also contain your keywords. To enhance your online presence and strengthen your backlink profile on Google, make certain to integrate high-quality, relevant external and internal links within your content, as these play a vital role in search rankings.

Cultivate a consistent brand tone of voice

The tone of voice, which serves as the “how” when conveying your message, combines elements like word choice, punctuation, and font style to evoke emotion in your readers. Striking the right balance between creativity and adherence to brand guidelines ensures that your messaging remains both engaging and familiar to your audience.

Defining a brand voice that aligns with your target audience is important for creating an emotional connection and laying the groundwork for meaningful, long-lasting customer relationships. By remaining consistent across various channels, you’ll not only strengthen your brand identity but also cultivate trust with your audience.

Test and measure results

Improving your copy is a continuous process, and A/B testing can help you achieve that. Create multiple variations of your copy, analyze which ones resonate well with your target audience, and use those insights to enhance your content. It’s important to remember that the first draft may never be perfect. Therefore, keep refining your copy based on your test results.

To improve your writing, set up a few key performance indicators (KPIs) to focus on. These metrics will help you pinpoint the areas of your copy that require more attention. When creating new content, prioritize those areas and give them the attention they deserve.

Adapt to evolving market trends

Adapt to evolving market trends, to create content that continues to strike a chord with your target audience. Here are some quick tips to keep up with market trends:

Look at the competition: Keeping an eye on your competitors gives you valuable insights into emerging trends, strategies that work (and those that don’t), and potential gaps to fill in your niche. Analyze their content, marketing tactics, and customer reviews, then use this information to refine your copy and stay ahead in the game.

Do market research: Staying updated with the latest market research helps you understand emerging trends and the shifting needs of your target audience. By gathering and analyzing information on customer preferences, you can adjust your content accordingly and maintain a strong connection with your audience.

Set up trend alerts: Keep track of industry trends and news that could impact your target audience by setting up alerts and notifications. Set up alerts and notifications – you can use platforms like Google Trends to effortlessly follow relevant topics. Use the insights you gather to update your copy and address any new developments or concerns with your audience.

SEO copywriting tips summary

Mastering the art of copywriting is a valuable skill that can significantly impact the success of your digital marketing efforts. By truly understanding your target audience and using empathy to connect with them, you’ll be able to create compelling messages that inspire action. Remember, every aspect – from attention-grabbing headlines to persuasive CTAs – works in harmony, guiding your reader through a captivating journey.

Don’t forget to prioritize SEO optimization and maintaining a consistent brand voice to maximize the reach and impact of your content. Embrace AI-based tools as they can assist you in streamlining your content creation process, optimizing for search engines, and better connecting with your target audience. As you refine your copywriting skills, stay agile and adapt to evolving market trends. Keep experimenting, measuring, and learning from your results, and you’ll soon become a copywriting expert with the ability to convert your readers into loyal customers.

Understanding why readers unsubscribe

While marketing list depreciation is expected, you want to keep minimal. To properly optimize customers’ email marketing experiences, you need to understand why people unsubscribe in the first place.

Surveying customers at the point of unsubscription is the only way to gather real insight into their actions. This will give you a clear idea of what elements of the customer experience you need to prioritize improving.

3 top tips to reduce unsubscribes

1. Personalize

In the modern world of marketing, personalization is essential to reducing unsubscribes. Whether you’re a B2B, B2C, or non-profit brand, customers expect uniquely personal experiences from brands. Failing to meet this expectation will drive disappointed and unengaged customers to unsubscribe.

Personalization can take many forms. From using first names and dynamic content to segmentation, all personalization tactics have a positive impact on the reader’s experience. By tailoring your message to align with individual preferences, subscribers are more likely to engage with your email and maintain a long-term relationship with your brand.

To ensure your content is relevant to your readers, create actionable segments. Nobody wants to read irrelevant content, and if your content doesn’t apply to them, they’ll ignore your marketing efforts. By targeting specific groups based on factors like gender, company size, or location, you can ensure that your content is tailored to the individual reader.

Dynamic content blocks such as product recommendations also go a long way in personalizing your email marketing. Especially using AI-powered product recommendations, every email will be automatically populated with content unique to the reader based on their previous behavior.

Nothing demonstrates how well you know your readers more than a personalized email. It speaks directly to their interests and behaviors, making your email one they’ll want to open. The more you deliver relevant content, the more value customers will get from the relationship. Unsubscribe rates will fall significantly when you deliver one-to-one marketing.

2. Re-engage

There are many tools in a marketer’s arsenal that can help you identify disengaged customers. From eRFM to lead scoring, you should keep a close eye on your customers’ behavior to prevent losing them.

An automated re-engagement program is a perfect way to bring customers back before they leave you forever. Using insights gathered from your RFM persona tracking or lead scoring, you can trigger this program as soon as a customer lapses.

Well-timed “we miss you” emails, teamed with an incentive can drive a shopper back to your website. You can also use this program to drive subscribers to update their marketing preferences or complete a survey. By asking for feedback or encouraging a review of their marketing preferences, you’re demonstrating your commitment to the customer. It’s a clear demonstration that you care about their experience and are willing to change to fulfill their needs.

This will go a long way to keeping readers happy. All too often customers are bombarded with marketing emails, so giving them control of their relationship with you will set you high above the competition. And no one will unsubscribe from a brand that clearly cares about its customers.

3. Familiarize

Don’t wait until you’re on the cusp of losing a customer to remind them why your brand is the one. Newsletters – real ones, not just sales emails masquerading as newsletters – are essential for establishing strong relationships with your readers.

You should think about what kind of content will add the most value to your readers’ experience. Educational articles about how to get the most out of your products and services are an automatic win. They prove that you care about their overall experience, not just sales.

Your brand’s story is also important. To establish a strong bond between the customer and your brand, you need to show them the people behind the brand. The more human you are to the reader, the stronger the relationship will be. By demonstrating your brand values around economic, environmental, and social issues, the reader sees that you are passionate about the same issues as them.

Summary

For an effective email marketing strategy, it’s important to reduce unsubscribes. You can achieve this by implementing these three quick and efficient methods. By taking a tailored approach that aligns with your audience’s expectations and desires, you can foster long-lasting relationships and drive success in your email marketing campaigns. Don’t let unsubscribes undermine your efforts; take action today and keep your email list thriving!