With audience expectations for your emails growing each year, segmenting and targeting in a smart, strategic way has never been more important for your company’s email strategy. We’re way past the days when simply addressing an email to John by name was going to impress him. But now, even emails that are segmented with strategic goals in mind can fall flat if they aren’t relevant to the reader. Content curation can fill that gap.
But how? We’ve all got limited time in the day, and emails are filling up our inbox by the minute. Your subscribers simply can’t devote the time and energy to dive into each individual email they get and give it the attention it requests – nor, for that matter, would they want to if they did have the time. So, they’re going to make decisions on which ones to open, which ones to save for later, and which ones to delete. You want yours in the first pile, you’re probably OK with the second, and you want to avoid the third.
Limitations of your content
What some companies run into is they’re sharing the best content they’re producing, but it still isn’t getting the right targets to open their emails. At that point, it’s easy to write them off as “Not interested” and move on. You’ve tried to drive them to your website via emails, but they haven’t shown any interest. You gave it your best shot, but the content you have just isn’t resonating. What’s there to do? Maybe you should send them elsewhere.
Stay with me here. Yes, ideally, your own original content would fit in perfectly with your target audience; they’d open your emails enthusiastically and click all over the place, read about your offerings, and then enthusiastically make a purchase. We know that’s not always the case, but it’s no excuse not to continue striving to delight subscribers with content. If you’re going to not just get and keep subscribers, but have an engaged subscriber list that generates leads for your business, you need them to look forward to your emails and not even consider deleting them without an open. And the route to that may be content curation.
How curation can make an impact
Maybe take on a new strategy for your next email campaign. Instead of segmenting based upon internal lead scores, build segments around the recipients’ specific personal interest, their hobbies, or purchase history. Then include content that speaks directly to their needs and issues, even if that content isn’t your own. Sure, if that’s all they click, you’re not likely to get a conversion that day. But remember that the buyer’s journey is a long and winding road. You’re looking to build loyalty and trust. You need your subscribers to open and see your logo, getting a smile on their face while they do. That’s because you’re providing information that’s actually useful to them, not just another sales piece, and you’re even willing to send them elsewhere if that’s what it takes to provide them with relevant, targeted content.
It’s important with your email content to remember that it’s always about the reader’s needs, not your own. That can be a tough lesson to internalize for your marketing team. But it has to be true if you want to nurture leads and get the orders, bookings, and long-term customers you’re seeking. As long as they’re coming to you to find the content, it doesn’t matter if they’re coming to your site. If it’s curation that came from others, they’re still finding it through you. Eventually, when they’re ready to buy, they’ll have been reading your emails for a year or more. That’s when they’ll hit that “Buy” button. You sent them all over the web for the past year, but now they’ve come right back to you for what really matters.