Media coverage of GDPR tends to focus on the possible negative impacts rather than the opportunities. The fact is that many of the key requirements for GDPR compliance can also help marketers to enhance their activities and boost customer engagement. By implementing a cohesive data-driven marketing strategy, brands can alleviate the risks of GDPR and maximise their data to build meaningful, long-term relationships with their customers.

Research by Jaywing has found that most marketers feel unable to implement effective data-driven marketing strategies in their organisations. Even though 92% of marketers see managing data better as a priority, just 57% of teams say they have the right data skills and only half believe they are using the correct data management approach.

With the GDPR deadline fast looming, it is more important than ever for marketers to be confident with their data. As well as avoiding heavy fines, GDPR compliant data can also help businesses to understand their customers better and build compelling, personalised marketing content that will deliver ROI in the long term. Here, Inderjit Mund, Data Management Practice Director at Jaywing, outlines his top five tips for delivering a data-marketing strategy that is both effective and GDPR compliant.

Better, smarter data

GDPR-compliant data that is current, accurate and structured can help brands to understand customers and build compelling, personalised offers. Likewise, customers who give permission for businesses to use their data in line with GDPR are much more likely to engage, giving brands a base of ready-qualified, open targets for relevant communications.

As well as delivering more appropriate, compelling messages and offers to customers who have opted in to receive them, GDPR-readiness can also help to reduce time and resources spent on hit-and-miss, blanket-marketing approaches. As a result, more resources can be allocated to engaging with those customers who are likely to respond, and less on inactive customers who would rather not hear from you.

Be prepared

Being well prepared for GDPR will help to shift your marketing strategy from one based on gut feel and historical data, to a data-driven approach that can help deliver appropriate, personalised and timely communications to customers and prospects.

Our research shows that most marketing teams are still been unable to implement data-driven marketing in their organisations – even though most want to. Despite the fact that 92% of marketers see better management of their data as a priority, only 8% currently personalise customer communications across all channels. What’s more, just 57% of teams said they had the right data skills and resources to support data-driven marketing and only 50% think they are using the right data management approach.*  

Permission is everything

For forward-looking brands, GDPR compliance creates opportunities to improve data-driven marketing from more personalised, timelier communications, to more effective brand building. A key element of GDPR compliance is gaining customer permission to use data for specific use cases. But relationships aren’t built on compliance alone. Adopting best practice data, channel and brand management strategies to drive positive engagement is one of the biggest opportunities right now for brands. Permission becomes the single most important piece of data for brands in aspiring to build meaningful, long-term and rewarding relationships.

Brands can extract insight from data to develop channel and brand management strategies that focus on opportunities to build meaningful relationships that work on terms appropriate to the customer and brand.

Better data equals better relationships

Compliance with GDPR will also ensure a better start to the customer journey as individuals will be parting with their data with a greater understanding of how it will be used. Those who don’t want to engage won’t provide their data. This means no wasted time chasing, and no resentment before you even begin communicating.

Review and rebuild

Regulatory change on the scale of GDPR implies significant business, process and technology changes. It’s necessary that brands carry out a review of their entire data environment to assess whether customer and prospect databases are compliant.

Additionally, brands need to review their multi-channel communications strategy and define compliant ways to contact customers. They also need to build trust and loyalty with compliant communications that retain existing customers and inspire new opt-ins.

The complexity of GDPR can be daunting, yet underneath the prescriptive text, there is vast opportunity to make business and marketing activity compatible with our digital future. Responsible brands should not fear GDPR, but learn to work with it to unlock and future-proof data-driven marketing practices.

Seven ways you can benefit from GDPR compliance

• Maximise conversion with personalised marketing.
• Increase campaign ROI by targeting engaged customers first.
• Improve customers’ cross-channel customer experience.
• Increase marketing success with the right customer communications at the right time.
• Build creative campaigns that are more compelling and effective.
• Build customer trust by becoming a data custodian.
• Deliver GDPR compliance and enhance your team’s reputation internally.

The post Five Golden Rules for Data-Driven Marketing in the GDPR Era appeared first on PerformanceIN.

Although the majority of organisations are now making preparations for the upcoming General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), a concerning portion still do not have a plan in place to be compliant by May 2018. All businesses will be responsible for managing, protecting and administering personal data under regulations coming into effect from May 25 2018.

The Direct Marketing Association (DMA) surveyed over 1,000 companies and found that while 15% of marketers believed their businesses are on track with GDPR, a further 17% are falling behind their current preparations. This is up from 11% from May 2017.

In terms of marketer’s awareness and preparations for the update, 77% rate their awareness as ‘good’ and 74% feel somewhat or relatively prepared for the changes. However, despite the majority (85%) implementing their plans for GDPR, 58% believe they are fully prepared for the forthcoming changes.

“We should use the new laws as a catalyst to transform the way we speak to customers, making every engagement human-centric. This will enable organisations to build trusted, authentic and transparent relationships with their customers,” commented Chris Combemale, CEO of the DMA Group.

Marketers are feeling the brunt of GDPR with 42% expressing their organisation will be affected by the regulations, while a further 65% said the new law will be a hindrance to their marketing.

Top concerns for marketers on the GDPR law are consent (28%) and legacy data (18%) respectively, while the main priorities are updating privacy policies (15%), integrating systems (12%) auditing current data (12% and managing data breach processes (11%).

Combemale responded that businesses must “keep in mind the customers’ right to privacy”.

“It’s important that businesses put the principles of accountability, transparency and trust at their core. Allowing them to go beyond simply being the right side of the law and actually build a sustainable long-term relationship with customers about their data,” he added.

GDPR and discussions around data handling form the basis of a number of discussions at PI LIVE next week from October 24-25. Find out more here.

The post One in Seven Marketers Have “No Plan” in Place for GDPR appeared first on PerformanceIN.

Content has become a vital component in informing consumers purchasing decisions.

As a result, over a third of UK brand budgets are now channelled towards content strategies while over half (53%) plan to raise their budgets over the next 12 months; with this is in mind, it’s no wonder content marketing is expected to become a $300 billion industry by 2019.

In light of the channel’s continued success, PerformanceIN has teamed up with affilinet to present the Advertisers’ Guide to Content Marketing 2017, a quick-read guide to brush up on content marketing types, strategy and the channel in practice.

According to affilinet’s affiliate development manager, Mary Ellen Cotter, the time has never been more right to invest in an airtight content strategy as it takes an increasingly dominant portion of wider brand strategy.

“While a strong TV campaign or a series of billboard adverts would have been enough to push your brand in front of an audience ten years ago, it is not enough to drive sales in 2017,” said Cotter.

“Content marketing taps into an audience that is not readily accessible to brands; it is an audience whose purchases are driven by the level of trust placed in the brand, and how engaged that brand is with their customers.”

The Guide provides a starting point for marketers looking to learn more about the channel or those simply looking to brush up their knowledge. Download your Guide to Content Marketing 2017 here.

The post Affilinet Launches Guide to Content Marketing in 2017 appeared first on PerformanceIN.

As the year’s busiest selling season approaches, retailers find themselves under increasing pressure to deliver site traffic and hit revenue goals.

Email is an inexpensive and reliable way to reach masses of potential buyers, which means retail marketers are often asked to ramp up email volume during the holiday season – but marketers should proceed with caution before opening the email floodgates.

It’s not uncommon for retailers to push out substantially more email volume from October to December. Subscribers have learned to expect this, and many have developed a higher tolerance for increased frequency during these big shopping months. However, not all consumers will be happy about the increase in promotional email, and mailbox providers are extremely sensitive to changes in subscriber engagement. 

If they see negative trends in a sender’s engagement metrics – like opens, replies, forwards, and spam complaints – they’re more likely to filter your emails to the spam folder.

Many retail executives don’t understand the impact of the directive to “just send another email.” Short term, it may generate more revenue, but you also risk exponential damage to your deliverability, which is not easily repaired. Consider this:

It’s (still) tough to distinguish legitimate mail from spam 

Mailbox providers like Gmail, Microsoft, and Yahoo process trillions of messages each day, and the vast majority is spam. Their filtering algorithms have become increasingly more sophisticated and each company uses a different mix of factors to identify legitimate mail, including send volume, sender reputation, authentication, and subscriber activity.

Gmail is leading the way and marketers have to keep up 

With over 1 billion of the 4.6 billion email accounts worldwide, it’s essential for businesses to deliver to Gmail. Gmail is the most sophisticated of the mailbox providers, leading the industry with constantly evolving spam filters. Most recently, Gmail has begun incorporating subscriber engagement metrics into their filtering decisions, as these provide a clear picture of whether an email from a given sender is legitimate and wanted – and other mailbox providers have followed suit.

Subscriber engagement dictates delivery success

Mailbox providers want to ensure the best possible inbox experience for their end users, by delivering only the mail their customers want to receive – and filtering the rest to spam. Opens, replies, forwards, and foldering are all strong indicators of a subscriber’s interest in your email. Engagement today will influence your deliverability tomorrow, so it’s critical to understand how subscribers are interacting with your email campaigns and adjust your strategy accordingly. If subscribers aren’t engaging with your campaigns, your email may be filtered into spam – something no retailer can risk during the holidays.  

Now that you understand how sending ‘just one more’ email could prove detrimental, here are some ways to mitigate the risk:

Know your numbers: Review each subscriber’s history of opens, clicks, and purchases, along with unsubscribes and complaints. Understanding these behaviors and activity patterns will help you identify your most and least active subscriber groups.  

Send differently to each subscriber group: Mailbox providers treat subscribers differently, and you should too. Set frequency limits for each subscriber group based on their activity level and purchase patterns. Loyal, highly active customers are likely to have a greater tolerance for more volume. Less active subscribers may lodge spam complaints or have messages delivered to spam as a result of low engagement.  

Give subscribers a reason to engage: Your messages aren’t the only ones your subscribers receive – especially during the holidays – so creating an engaging experience is critical. A comprehensive A/B testing program can provide insights into what works (and what doesn’t) with your email campaigns. Keep in mind, too, that individual subscribers like different things and buy different things—and the content they receive should reflect those preferences.

Have a plan for last minute holiday campaigns: Knowing the likelihood of receiving a ‘just send another email’ directive, plan ahead for managing that request. Sending indiscriminately, without accounting for engagement, can cause your next campaign to perform poorly. Consider tactics like sending a targeted offer to loyalty members or a flash sale to very active subscribers, which can be used to engage with those most likely to appreciate and act on the message.  

Being informed before the holidays are in full swing will help you navigate the ever-changing inbox to a successful holiday season. Focusing on subscriber engagement (or lack thereof) to prioritize messages and build a good reputation with mailbox providers will reduce the risk of sudden deliverability problems and ultimately provide subscribers with a better experience – which will drive better results for your email program this season.

The post How Email Engagement Can Make or Break Your Holiday Season appeared first on PerformanceIN.

When it comes to DMPs (data management platforms), there’s certainly no shortage of misconceptions. These false perceptions are holding organisations back from embracing potentially game-changing capabilities. DMPs can do a lot for businesses, and it’s time for the industry to pay attention.

‘DMPs are for display advertising’

There’s no denying that programmatic advertising evolved in the world of digital advertising. And with the growth of programmatic technology, advertisers need to be on top of the tools which make it as effective and efficient as it can be. DMPs are perfect for that. They provide the insight from all the relevant sources for programmatic to be as accurate as possible, moving it away from being a channel which enables a brand to make decisions quicker, but not necessarily the right response.

DMPs can support advertising when it comes to audience creation and campaign planning. They provide a sure fire way to get adverts in front of the right people. But they’re also highly effective when applied to several other uses, including improving marketing accuracy, connecting device IDs and predictive analysis.

The DMP is there to use all the data you can feed it and produce relevant actions based on the insights gleaned from that information. This can plug into any of your executing channels and those insights can power any of your strategies or campaigns, not just advertising and acquisition. DMPs can help advertisers and marketers intelligently communicate with specific prospect groups, present dynamic content, abandoned baskets, retargeting and more.

DMPs need to be considered as more than only an advertising remit – taking that view puts you at risk of missing out on a huge range of opportunities to boost your marketing efforts.

‘A DMP is just a database’

While a DMP is potentially a form of database, it is capable of so much more. It ingests data from multiple sources (email, CRM, cookies, mobile IDs etc.) and compiles all that information to create a complete view of those customers. It can then push decisions out through the same channels based on the insights it has garnered from the information it holds – more than a regular database.

‘DMPs are solely for first party data’

A DMP uses first party data, true. And as your first party data is your most valuable and often that which most insights are based on, it’s incredibly important. However, to get the most out of your first party data you need to combine it with second party data to at first enhance it and then find lookalikes.  A DMP is there to ingest your first party data and any second or third party data you require. In fact some companies offer specialised DMP services allowing advertisers and marketers to easily combine these sources.

‘My data is at risk by using a DMP’

Safety and security are always paramount to marketers and advertisers, and that’s never more true than when talking data.

First-party data is the most valuable information to an organisation and in many cases has taken a lot of time and investment to gather. However, in order to get the most out of it you need to share it to combine and enhance it with other data sources. Getting over this data anxiety is critical for marketers wanting to make the most out of their first-party data. But it’s not as simple as just letting go – there are dangers you need to consider. The best solution is to ensure that the DMP you are using or the managed service you have implementing your activity are trusted and reliable. Stay away from the cowboys and make sure you work with someone who has a history of safeguarding the security and privacy of your customer data.

‘Only data geniuses and experts can use DMPs’

There’s no hiding the fact that the world of marketing today is a complicated one. People are complex, so we have to match that in order to communicate with them effectively. While DMPs can sometimes require sophisticated processes, there is help and support available. So whilst it is true a DMP is a capability many could and should use, it is equally true that you need people to get the best out of them. In the world of DMPs you need to stay clear of providers who give you access to a DMP and then leave you to your own devices and focus on those who can give you the expertise you need.

‘DMPs and DSPs are the same thing’

In the data world there are numerous acronyms, so it’s no surprise that DMPs are often confused with DSPs (demand-side platforms).The line between the two is beginning to merge but the way to consider the difference is that DMPs gather, sort, analyse, and export data, while DSPs are used to purchase media.

They’ve always existed side-by-side with data flowing from the DMP to the DSP to inform the DSP of what audiences to purchase media against. DSPs are not media agnostic, DMPs are. While a DSP can perform some of the roles of a DMP, it is not a standalone method of sorting data and executing actions off the back of insights. A DMP allows your data to be considerably more portable and enables you to plug insights into a range of executions channels – not just a single one, such as media.

The post It’s Time to Debunk Data Management Platform Misconceptions appeared first on PerformanceIN.

If you’ve ever scoffed at the email marketing’s ROI (which accounts to around 4,300%, according to the Direct Marketing Association) you’re not alone. The average office worker sends and receives 122 emails per day, so how can marketers possibly expect to stand out against all that noise?

If you’re part of the majority of marketers planning to increase email spending this year, it’s critical to use your subscriber data to drive targeted (aka relevant) campaigns that truly resonate. And in turn, you’ll increase performance, sales and customer loyalty – a true marketing triple treat.

Here are three proven ways to do just that.

1. Don’t underestimate welcome emails.

Welcome emails receive four times more opens and five times more clicks than other bulk emails. The reason why is clear – they arrive, usually automatically, after a customer has actively shown interest in your organisation. You’ll get bonus points if that welcome email is tailored to how they joined your list; e.g. they downloaded a piece of content, signed up at an event, etc.

However, it’s up to marketers to translate welcome emails into sales results. One effective strategy is to include a special offer that highlights the value of receiving your emails. Luv Aj, a jewellery design and retail company, tested this strategy by updating their standard plain-text confirmation email. They developed an automated welcome email that shared an exclusive sale for 10% off its products, and in three weeks, it converted 21% of new subscribers into paying customers.

2. Use analytics to get to know your audience.

The advent of data analytics changed the way every industry operates. Professional sports teams court new fans, reward loyal ones and draft players using analytics; politicians use crowd research to determine advertising and outreach strategies. Your brand is no different.

Learn more about your subscribers by tracking who’s opening your messages, when they’re reading and what action they take afterward. Children’s Corner Store used this approach to track purchases inspired by emails, subscribers that frequently purchased from the brand and more. Then they took what they learned about their customers and used it to inform future campaigns. As a result of incorporating analytics in its email marketing, the company notably improved its conversion and click rates: while its first email campaign resulted in a solitary $37 conversion, its fifth garnered 17 conversions, worth $1,286 in total. That’s a pretty solid lift.

3. Send more relevant emails through segmentation.

Consider the last few emails you opened, but ultimately ignored. Did they have anything in common? Chances are, they might have looked flashy, but they didn’t deliver content that was relevant to your interests.

Segmenting your mailing list by a number of factors (location, purchase history, demographics) can help avoid this problem and ensure you’re always delivering the right message to the right person at the right time.

Segmentation can also stop your brand from sending emails that appear tone-deaf, for example, a promotion for baby clothes to people who don’t have children. When Peter Nappi, a shoe retailer, applied smart segmentation to a recent campaign, it measured a 67% open rate and 20% click rate – a dramatic improvement from its baseline campaign performance.

Email is the most direct channel of communication between your brand and its customers. They’ve invited you into their inbox. By using analytics to get to know your audience, catching their attention with compelling welcome emails, and building a relationship based on relevant messages, your emails will cut through the noise loud and clear.

The post Three Data-Driven Ways to Boost Email Marketing ROI appeared first on PerformanceIN.

Across online publishing, the competition for advertising dollars is intense. It’s a tough battle.  Falling cost per mille (CPM) is still eating away at the profitability of the industry.  The migration of audiences to mobile devices doesn’t help. Mobile inventory has been notoriously difficult to monetise due to lack of data; the inability to track via cookies and fragmentation of the audience across apps and devices, which has resulted in low CPMs.

Today, more content is created than is actually needed. Anyone can be an online publisher and the ease of becoming one is driving down average revenue per visitor and further increasing competition. Increasingly, the only way for publishers to differentiate themselves is through attracting and keeping the right audience and more importantly understanding and monetising them effectively.

Granular insight

The key almost certainly lies in more sophisticated data and personalisation. The sheer proliferation of competing ad tech solutions doesn’t make it easy for publishers to distinguish between the sound and the unsustainable.

Yet gradually the focus is moving towards more personalised and granular insight derived from the capture and analysis of a range of data, including social which also reveals expressions of interest and opinions. Used wisely, this can uncover hidden affinities to reach a far deeper insight than was ever before possible. Indeed, a ground-breaking new study carried out by researchers at Stanford University and the University of Cambridge found that computers’ judgments of people’s personalities based on their digital footprints are more accurate and valid than judgments made by their close family, friends or acquaintances.

The truth is that publishers already have a wealth of first-party data at their fingertips. Most are in no doubt already tracking the most popular pages on their sites and using behavioural tools to understand the semantics to see which topics are the most popular. But a deeper insight is possible when this is used together with social data. If an individual can be pinpointed through a social login – this information becomes even more valuable as, if permission is provided, they can be targeted directly with information that reflects their interests.

When a publisher has access to a reader’s likes and interests, certain natural clusters emerge which are quite clearly defined – in some cases down to a certain football club or a certain fashion brand. This can be a far more rewarding way to segment readers or an audience. In our experience, these clusters are a much stronger predictor of – for example, whether a user is likely to take part in a reward promotion – and the relevance of different areas of content – than standard segmentation based on value.

‘Natural segmentation’

It’s now possible to combine this kind of data with highly interconnected datasets that reveal the relationships between millions of topics. Unique algorithms can be applied to identify underlying patterns and trends that can be used to characterise the whole dataset. Clusters of interests begin to appear naturally and, using models that enable detect convergence to happen effectively, the most valuable targets in naturally occurring segments can be identified.

This is called natural segmentation because of the organic way the segments form or manifest without human influence. As data is based on a combination of ‘needs’ and ‘wants’ as well as actions, it is possible to develop a more complete and ‘human-like’ view of the audience. It’s a dynamic model, which is continually refined by new information from both behavioural and social sources. In other words, unlike traditional segmentation, it adapts constantly to change.

Natural segmentation has significant implications and benefits for publishers, helping inform editorial direction as well as enabling them to identify more accurate and effective advertising/audience segments.

This leads to better-targeted and effective advertising, in turn resulting in higher CPMs. The data can be plugged into a programmatic strategy or can be used for direct sales to enable marketing solutions based on rich audience data rather than purely content driven conversations.

So how can publishers put this blend of first party data and consumer insights at the core of the business? Here are a few sensible first steps:

• Establish a social login and create a strong call to action;
• Make on-site recommendations to readers, helping people to find and enjoy more content – with the associated benefits of increased dwell time, page views, and more effective advertising placements;
• Use aggregate data to make informed choices about strategy such as editorial direction for the next quarter, or where and how to target native advertising;
• Consider the value of natural segmentation, letting the data tell the story, rather than making arbitrary decisions on your audience, based only on, for example, on content, or demographics.

The post Using Data and Personalisation to Reduce the Fall of CPM appeared first on PerformanceIN.