By Rogier van der Veen

Consumers want conversations

But email marketing is only a powerful tool if it is used intelligently. For example, it is no longer the sender-driven 'blast' messaging of the past that saw identical emails go to every recipient. Social networking may not have 'killed' email marketing – but it has taught consumers to demand two-way conversations. These must acknowledge that they are 'real' people with individual preferences, interests and lifecycle events.

If organisations do not respect consumers by adhering to the new rules of the digital world, they must expect their audience to vote with their feet. For example, broadcasting the same message to everyone on a database can result in many of them unsubscribing because the material is not relevant to their needs – and the brand being significantly damaged as a result. Rather, organisations need to listen to their customers and learn about the person behind the email address in order to communicate with them in a way that encourages loyalty by making them feel valued, important and individual.

It is for this reason that terms such as Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and business intelligence – more traditionally associated with pure technology offerings – are creeping into everyday marketing language.

Data plays a starring role

Taking a CRM approach requires that email is regarded as a channel (albeit a highly effective one), rather than the complete medium, with customer data playing the starring role. This requires that as much information as possible about each consumer's needs, interests, preferences, online behaviour, buying patterns and upcoming events in their life is gathered and stored on a database. The personal profiles created as a result are analysed in every conceivable way.

Email marketing campaigns that capitalise on CRM and business intelligence of this kind ensure that people receive the right message at the right time. Providing content that is perceived as valuable to the recipient because it is personalised, relevant and timely enables the organisation to engage in a individual dialogue with every consumer. Each communication is an opportunity to continually develop and strengthen the relationship, and can also be used to learn more about the individual.

Evidence suggests that people are happy to divulge details if it results in them receiving something that is of value – such as an email with birthday greeting along with the offer of a relevant gift that takes into account previously-stated preferences. This CRM focus is also behind a wide variety of campaigns, such as emails that provide information on discounted hotels in a specific region to people who have expressed holiday destination preferences, or remind the recipient that a product warranty is nearing its expiry date.

Making CRM the lynchpin

To be effective and deliver ROI, today's email marketing must generate customer loyalty as a result of making the recipients of emails feel valued, important and individual. The only way to achieve this is through making CRM principles the lynchpin around which everything else revolves. In a world in which the customer has the power to call the (online) shots, adopting this approach is no longer a choice – it is imperative for an organisation's long term survival. For this reason, CRM must therefore be placed at the heart of email marketing.

About the E-Village and the author

Rogier van der Veen is UK business development manager for CRM-based email marketing tool, Clang (www.createaclang.com), which has recently launched in the UK by digital marketing technology specialist, E-Village (www.e-village.eu).

A pioneer of e-commerce, Rogier has over ten year's experience of promoting email marketing as a core business strategy that enables organisations to attract, engage and retain customers. He has implemented many successful email campaigns for a variety of organisations, and his achievements include winning an EMMA (email marketing award) for for Robeco, a ‘large asset management’ company.