What do you know about your email marketing list? If you know too little, you’re losing out on great marketing potential. If you know too much you might be bogging down your database, or worse, ruining recipients’ trust. So what information are you collecting? And are you doing it correctly?

Let’s begin with the basics. Typically the first method of obtaining personal data is via an opt-in page, a purchase, or perhaps even a survey, while at the same time ensuring you get their permission to send them future email marketing. For example, if you are a clothing retailer, it will be helpful to know their gender - should you give them coupons for skirts or neckties? Your goal is to get information that will be of potential use to your marketing strategies. And refrain from asking for information that you won’t use, or even what your gut tells you not to gather. Consider how you'd feel about receiving an email from a company you've done business with that displays your credit card information – that would be an unpleasant experience.

After obtaining the basics, consider other demographic or preference data that would be most helpful. How often do they want to receive your marketing messages, and do they want to receive it via email or SMS? Sometimes, knowing the city they live in may help – i.e. if you're in real estate, or can provide them offers at your local stores.

As you build that relationship with your email subscribers, remember that people's preferences do change over time. So consider giving them the ability to update their personal information. It’s as simple as having a page on your Web site, or a link within your email marketing messages. The more people know that you care about their interests, the more likely they’ll keep coming back for more.

Being on the receiving end of email marketing, there are a couple of things I’d rather not experience:

a) A bunch of marketing that isn't relevant to me - if you have my information, I would hope you’d value me enough to want to build a trusting relationship with me that actually caters to my interests and needs.

b) Remember that if I’m trusting you with my personal information, I’ll probably stay away if I have to answer a long list of questions. So gather only the most relevant data, and keep the process short and simple. As a trusting relationship grows, you can always gather more pertinent information over time, via the personal update page mentioned above.

And don't forget that your Web analytics data can reveal a lot about your customers' behavior so that you can get personal in your email marketing, without getting too personal.

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About the Author

Ghia Espino is an account manager at Lyris. She strategizes with clients to improve their online marketing performance and works as their Lyris advocate.

Related Resources:

• Subscribe to Inside Lyris HQ our monthly online-marketing newsletter.
• Download free online-marketing guides, tools and webinars in the Lyris Online-Marketing Resource Center.

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