1. Developing a customer obsession

One of the main buzzwords from the Retail Innovation Conference and Expo was customer obsession. Forward-thinking retailers are prioritizing a deep understanding of their customers’ ever-evolving needs and preferences. How? By mapping the customer journey.

By mapping out the customer journey you can pinpoint pain points and provide exceptional customer experiences. This data-driven approach promotes loyalty, engagement, and overall business growth.

2. Nurturing customer-focused communities

Building strong, customer-centric communities is no longer a nice-to-have; it’s a must-have for modern retailers. By creating a sense of belonging and shared values, brands can foster deeper connections with their customers, driving loyalty and advocacy.

A prime example mentioned at the conference was Lucky Energy‘s Mile High Club, which offers a rewards program that goes beyond points. It cultivates a community of like-minded individuals, fostering a sense of unity and belonging. Engaging customers in meaningful ways across channels leads to lasting brand loyalty and advocacy.

3. Connecting with Gen Z

Retail leaders stressed the importance of connecting with Gen Z, a powerful consumer group. They achieve this by focusing on three key areas: authenticity, shareability, and relevancy.

So, how do you grab Gen Z’s attention? Simple – create campaigns that promote inclusivity, diversity, and purpose. Look to Lucky Energy for inspiration. The brand has woven its story into its marketing and business practices. This resonates with Gen Z, who value brands that go beyond just selling products.

Remember, Gen Z loves visuals and stories. This means exploring new ways to tell your brand’s story. Think of captivating video content, like short and engaging TikTok, or interactive experiences such as quizzes or polls in your email marketing. By understanding what excites Gen Z, you can build strong connections with this influential customer base.

4. Personalized experiences across channels

Imagine this: a customer browses shoes online, then walks into your store and receives personalized recommendations from a salesperson who knows their preferences. Sounds pretty delightful, right? That’s the power of seamless, cross-channel personalization.

Retail experts at the conference highlighted Macy’s innovative approach. The brand empowers in-store associates with access to rich digital customer profiles. This allows salespeople to tailor their interactions, offering relevant suggestions and solutions.

The result? A cohesive customer journey that feels effortless. You reach customers with the right message at the right time, whether they’re browsing online or interacting with your brand in-store. This personalized approach fosters deeper engagement and loyalty.

5. Adapting to the cross-channel era of dynamic customer journeys

At the conference, retail leaders emphasized the importance of adapting to the cross-channel era by prioritizing consistency across all touchpoints.

In essence, the focus is on meeting customer needs seamlessly, regardless of where they make a purchase. For example, a customer might research a product online, visit a physical store to try it on, and then purchase from their phone later in the day. This multi-channel experience should feel effortless.

By providing enjoyable experiences across online, mobile, and in-store touchpoints, you can increase customer satisfaction and loyalty. This involves:

1. Cross-channel availability: Your brand should be present and accessible wherever your customers are, whether it’s on your website, social media platforms, or in a physical store.
2. Consistent messaging: Deliver a unified brand message across all channels to avoid any disconnect between your online presence and in-store experience.
3. Data-driven personalization: Utilize customer data to personalize interactions across channels. For instance, if a customer looks for a specific product online, a salesperson in your store can use that information to provide relevant assistance.

By embracing the ever-changing nature of customer journeys, you can keep your brand relevant and nurture stronger customer relationships.

6. Laying foundations for sustained growth

Retail leaders emphasized the importance of building a strong foundation for long-term success. This involves investing in foundational elements such as effective data management, clear business objectives, and a compelling brand mission. By establishing these pillars, retailers can create a solid base for expanding their marketing efforts and adapting to the constantly changing retail landscape.

Dotdigital is a powerful platform that allows you to organize, segment, and analyze your customer data. The platform seamlessly integrates with various ecommerce, CRM, and third-party systems, ensuring that your customer data is always up-to-date and readily available to inform your marketing strategies.

Future-proof your retail strategy

The Retail Innovation Conference and Expo provided valuable insights into the changing landscape of retail marketing. It’s clear that a customer-centric approach, which is based on data, community, and personalization, is important for success.

Retailers need to be agile and adaptable, from understanding and meeting Gen Z’s unique preferences to providing seamless cross-channel experiences. By embracing these trends and utilizing powerful tools like Dotdigital, you can survive and thrive in this dynamic market.

With a focus on emerging trends, the roadshows delivered actionable insights to help attendees elevate their brands and enhance the customer journey. These events created a buzz in each city, from expert speakers to networking opportunities.

Let’s dive into the key themes from these inspiring events and discover how you can apply these insights to your marketing strategy.

Embracing AI technologies

AI is undeniably transforming the marketing landscape. At the Dotdigital Summit Roadshows, we explored how you should use AI to drive business growth.

Dotdigital has been at the forefront of AI integration, with solutions like WinstonAI empowering you to stay ahead of the curve. But AI’s potential extends far beyond this. Our Roadshows delved into practical applications such as:

• Send time optimization: Leveraging AI to pinpoint the optimal send times for campaigns, maximizing engagement, and delivering a seamless customer experience.
• RFM and eRFM sorting: Prioritizing customer segments through recency, frequency, and monetary value analysis, allowing you to tailor campaigns for maximum impact.
• Product recommendations: AI-driven personalization that enhances shopping experiences, increases average order values, and fosters customer loyalty.

The roadshows showcased the growing importance of how to utilize AI as an extension of your marketing team. 

Acing deliverability

The significance of email deliverability as a critical aspect of digital marketing success was discussed, with tips on ensuring campaigns reach their intended recipients.

With speaking sessions from our deliverability specialists and partners from Shopify and Inbox Monster, we dove into ensuring campaigns reach their intended recipients, protecting brand reputation, and maintaining trust. 

Most importantly, we differentiated between delivery and deliverability, recognizing the latter as a tool, not a final goal. Be sure to implement clear unsubscribe buttons, protect campaigns from spammers, and maintain trust for better email and mobile messaging deliverability.

Team collaboration and partner integration

At Dotdigital, we are dedicated and committed to clients. Which is why we foster a culture of collaboration internally and externally. 

We heard our attendees appreciated the mix of product, education, industry insights, and networking opportunities presented in a fun and engaging atmosphere. Specifically how our team’s commitment to one another’s goals and our client’s goals left a lasting impression. 

Our commitment to our clients also meant collaborating with excellent partners to make sure we have useful and easy-to-use integrations for all of our clients. During our Product Roadmap sessions, we discussed Dotdigital’s extensive partner integrations and forward looking roadmap that demonstrates the company’s commitment to seamless integrations within the platform. 

Cross-channel strategies and customer loyalty

The roadshows highlighted the importance of developing cross-channel strategies to enhance customer engagement and boost brand loyalty. Most notably we had a recurring presentation with timeless examples and valuable insights on how to create seamless experiences across multiple channels. 

Using extreme examples like Taylor Swift and the Grateful Dead, we discussed how generic experiences are conversion killers. Remember that your greatest cheerleaders are your customers. Utilize reviews, loyalty programs, gamifying programs, and creating preference centers to provide your customers with something valuable will create positive associations with your brand and increase customer loyalty. 

By adopting effective cross-channel strategies, you can create memorable experiences, improve customer retention, and ultimately build lasting relationships with your target audience. 

Let’s wrap it up

The Dotdigital Summit Roadshows were a whirlwind tour of digital innovation, leaving attendees energized, informed, and ready to revolutionize their marketing strategies. Each city, from Miami’s vibrant energy to LA’s creative spirit and New York’s fast-paced hustle, provided a unique backdrop for exploring the latest trends and best practices.

We can’t wait to see how our attendees put their newfound knowledge to work and create marketing magic. Until next time, keep innovating, keep growing, and keep creating awesome campaigns.

In a recent interview with Sharon, she shared her extensive experience in creating impactful email templates and how she works with Dotdigital customers across different industries. The creative team at Dotdigital, including Sharon, is always on hand to provide valuable guidance and support.

Keep reading to learn Sharon’s secrets to crafting attention-grabbing email templates within the Dotdigital platform. Let’s delve in and get started.

Maximizing Dotdigital features

During our interview, Sharon revealed some powerful features she uses daily within the Dotdigital platform to create impactful email templates for clients. Let’s explore these hidden gems and show you how to use them to craft email templates that truly connect with your audience.

Image editor

Creating graphics for campaigns can be a time-consuming task, especially for those who lack access to photo editing tools like Photoshop. Relying on design teams can also slow down the process and create obstacles in your campaign creation, taking up valuable time for marketers. 

However, Sharon highlighted that the image editor available in Dotdigital under “Images” (Manage) helps you to design striking images. You can easily crop, resize, and add text overlays to create captivating hero sections and establish the tone for your email.

Link checker

Consider the frustration of spending hours creating the perfect email campaign, only to later discover that some links are not working. Not only is this inconvenient for your subscribers, but broken links can also damage your sender’s reputation and impact the success of your campaign.

Manually checking links in old email templates is a time-consuming task, and it’s all too easy to overlook a broken link. With Dotdigital’s link checker, you can automatically scan your templates for outdated or broken links – this is a huge time saver for Sharon and her team. This tool helps you provide a positive user experience and improve sender reputation.

Custom building blocks

Are you tired of typing the same email content over and over again? Creating emails from scratch can be time-consuming, especially if you must include common elements such as product listings, CTAs, or social media icons. Sharon revealed that using custom building blocks can dramatically improve your email creation process.

These blocks allow you to save frequently used content sections like a CTA block, and then simply drag and drop them into your emails whenever you need them. By doing this, you can create your own content library and save significant time on future campaigns. By focusing on crafting strategic email content, you can let Dotdigital take care of the repetitive tasks.

Display options

Picture this: you’ve crafted a stunning email complete with an eye-catching hero image, only to discover later that it’s cut off on mobile devices. In today’s mobile-first world, your emails need to display perfectly across all devices. Failing to optimize emails for different screen sizes can result in subscribers missing important information or having a negative user experience. 

Sharon highlighted the importance of using display options to create a seamless experience across all devices. This feature gives you control over how your email content appears on different screen sizes, enabling you to create a consistent and user-friendly experience for all recipients. 

With our display options feature, you can choose whether to show or hide specific sections for mobile or desktop viewers, catering to the unique preferences of each audience. By customizing your emails for each device, you’ll keep subscribers engaged and satisfied, regardless of how they access your emails.

Email template best practices

Email templates are a powerful tool to streamline your email marketing efforts, but crafting effective ones requires following key principles. Here are some email template best practices that Sharon uses daily when working with clients. By following these tips, you can create email campaigns that resonate with your audience and drive results.

Balance HTML and imagery

It’s important to strike a good balance between HTML text and engaging visuals. Finding this perfect balance allows your message to stand out across different platforms, ensuring that your audience receives a clear and compelling message. Excessive images in the top section of the email (above the fold) can make the email less engaging when images are turned off. On the other hand, large blocks of text can overwhelm readers.

Above the fold focus

When scrolling through a crowded inbox, you only have a few seconds to decide which emails to open before moving on. That’s why the above the fold section – the initial screen view of your email – is prime real estate. It’s your chance to grab attention and convince recipients to delve deeper. Here are some tips for a captivating above the fold section:

1. Lead with a compelling subject line: Use a clear, concise subject line that sparks curiosity and entices readers to open the email. Feeling stuck crafting the perfect subject line? Consider using a generative tool like WinstonAI.
2. Use visible HTML text: Ensure your HTML text is placed above the fold and is concise, complementing your subject line to engage viewers to open the email.
3. Showcase a powerful image: A captivating image can instantly grab attention and set the tone for your email.
4. Highlight key content: Feature a strong call to action, a new product launch, or a special offer to pique interest.

By prioritizing visually appealing and informative content within the above the fold section, you can significantly increase your email open rates and engagement.

Accessibility for all

Make your emails accessible to everyone. Use alt text to describe images for those who use screen readers, structure your content with clear heading hierarchies, and leave enough white space for readability to cater to a broader audience.

It’s important to ensure that all individuals can fully engage with your content. Creating accessible emails not only demonstrates inclusivity but also extends the reach of your message to a wider audience.

Code cleanliness

When it comes to email design, maintaining code cleanliness is important. By keeping your email code clean and minimizing nesting tables and columns where possible, you can avoid rendering issues – particularly on platforms like Gmail. A streamlined and well-structured code ensures that your messages are delivered effectively without any unnecessary bloat.

Font fundamentals

Fonts can make or break your email’s visual appeal. Opt for widely supported fonts like Arial or Times New Roman to ensure consistent display across different devices and email clients. Avoid fancy fonts that might not render properly and result in a confusing presentation.

Campaign design review

If you’re uncertain whether your emails are performing well, our creative team provides a campaign design review service. We’ll analyze five of your campaigns, provide feedback, and offer best practice advice and suggestions to enhance their effectiveness. This can help you pinpoint areas for improvement and ensure that your emails are reaching their full potential.

Start creating engaging emails today

Crafting compelling emails doesn’t have to be a mystery. By utilizing Dotdigital’s features and following best practices shared by our talented creative team, you can create email campaigns that engage audiences and deliver results.

Power up your emails with strong visuals, clear communication, and a focus on user experience. Instead of using generic templates, unleash your creativity and get support from our dedicated in-house experts. With Dotdigital, you can design email campaigns that stand out, attract attention, and drive results.

AI revolutionizes Olympic viewing

The 2024 Paris Olympics is expected to be a significant event, continuing the long tradition of the Olympics being at the forefront of technological advancements. Key developments from past Olympics, such as the groundbreaking introduction of slow-motion replays and the mind-blowing achievement of live broadcasts reaching audiences worldwide, demonstrate the spirit of innovation. This spirit continues in Paris, where cutting-edge technology will share the spotlight with athletic excellence.

While you may know Alibaba as the force behind Singles’ Day, the world’s biggest shopping event, this Chinese tech giant is also a major player in artificial intelligence. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has found a strong partner in Alibaba, whose cloud-based AI is set to revolutionize the viewing experience for audiences worldwide.

Alibaba Cloud’s AI-powered multi-camera replay system, tested during the Shanghai qualifiers, takes center stage. This innovative technology leverages machine learning and deep neural networks to create high-quality 3D models from strategically placed cameras. The result? Virtual frames from new angles, smoother replays, and an immersive experience for viewers worldwide.

Building on its success at the Beijing Winter Olympics, the multi-camera replay system expands to 12 venues in Paris 2024, including beach volleyball, tennis, judo, and rugby. This grants broadcasters a rich library of dynamic replays, significantly enriching the Olympic viewing experience for audiences everywhere.

5 brands excelling at Olympic marketing

Let’s delve into some five brands that we think are delivering exceptional Olympic marketing campaigns. 

Nike

When it comes to Olympic marketing, Nike is at the forefront. The brand consistently make significant investments, with reports suggesting that its spending for the 2024 Games is its largest ever. This dedication results in impactful campaigns that resonate with audiences.

This year, Nike introduced a diverse range of team uniforms, highlighting athlete comfort and individual expression. Its “spectrum of styles” approach ensures that athletes feel confident and empowered in its attire. 

Nike also took a step further, claiming that the 2024 collection is its most “data-driven and visually unified effort” ever. Each kit supposedly reflects the unique identity and cultural background of the participating countries and sports.

For track and field athletes, Nike offers a wide variety – nearly 50 apparel pieces and 12 competition styles – catering to individual preferences and specific events. This level of customization and athlete-centric design showcases Nike’s profound understanding of the Olympic spirit and its emphasis on empowering athletes to achieve their best.

P&G

P&G takes a unique approach to Olympic marketing, focusing on providing essential, behind-the-scenes support for athletes throughout the Games. Leveraging its vast brand portfolio – over 30 brands like Pampers, Venus, Gillette, and Always activated in over 40 countries – P&G ensures athletes’ needs are met before, during, and after competition.

P&G’s commitment goes far beyond traditional advertising. Imagine stepping off the plane and being greeted with a welcome kit stocked with familiar P&G products. At the Olympic Village, P&G provides practical services that make life easier for athletes, including a Pampers nursery, an Ariel laundry room, and a salon featuring various P&G brands. Athletes competing at Paris 2024 can also expect access to Oral-B products at a dental clinic and readily available feminine hygiene products.

Samsung

Samsung has a strong presence in Olympic marketing as a long-time Worldwide Olympic Partner. For the Paris 2024 Games, Samsung has introduced the “Open Always Wins” campaign, which is in line with the official message of the Paris Olympics and Paralympics, promoting inclusivity and openness.

In addition to traditional advertising, Samsung has strategically placed banners featuring the Galaxy Z Flip 5 in popular Parisian locations such as Haussman Street, Palais Garnier, and La Défense. These placements ensure high visibility throughout the Games, including the Paralympic Games, which conclude in September 2024.

The “Open Always Wins” campaign conveys Samsung’s brand values of embracing innovation and pushing boundaries. This reflects the spirit of the Olympics, where athletes constantly strive to achieve new feats. By highlighting its groundbreaking foldable phone lineup, Samsung reinforces this message and solidifies its position at the forefront of technological innovation.

Deloitte

Deloitte has partnered with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to launch “The First Effect” campaign, taking a unique approach to Olympic marketing. This campaign aims to redefine success by focusing on the lasting influence of groundbreaking achievements at the Olympics and Paralympics, rather than just the medal count.

Debuting 100 days before the Paris 2024 Games, “The First Effect” will be prominently displayed in Deloitte’s key global markets and across the IOC’s digital channels, including Meta, TikTok, and X. The campaign will continue throughout the Games.

In the lead-up to Paris 2024, “The First Effect” will showcase the stories of five inspiring athletes who defied barriers and made history. One such story is that of Nicola Adams, a British boxer who made history at the 2012 London Olympics by becoming the first female Olympic boxing champion. Her win sparked a surge in female boxing participation in Great Britain, dramatically transforming the sport’s visibility and representation for women and girls.

The campaign also spotlights other inspiring figures like Sarah Attar, the first Saudi Arabian woman to compete in track and field at the Olympics, and Natalie Du Toit, the first amputee swimmer to qualify for the Olympic Games.

“The First Effect” doesn’t stop at athlete stories. It delves into other historical firsts at the Olympics, including the introduction of female athletes at the 1900 Paris Games and the first-ever live global broadcast at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics.

LVMH

Luxury giant LVMH is going all out for the Paris 2024 Olympics with its  “The Rooftops” campaign, directed by Louis de Caunes. This campaign captures the magic of the Games against the stunning backdrop of Paris.

The film goes beyond the athletic competition by showcasing the Parisian spirit that drives these LVMH-sponsored athletes. The campaign features swimmers, fencers, wheelchair tennis champions, rugby players, and gymnasts training on Parisian rooftops, with iconic monuments such as the Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triomphe serving as silent witnesses to its determination to achieve victory.

“The Rooftops” is a multi-faceted campaign, with 60 and 30-second films being displayed on event schedule billboards throughout the Games, as well as on social media and in print formats to ensure maximum exposure for both the athletes and the City of Lights.

LVMH’s role as “Artisan of All Victories” goes beyond this campaign. As a premium Partner, the company will utilize the craftsmanship of its artisans for key celebratory moments throughout the Games. This collaborative effort between LVMH and Paris 2024 reflects the Group’s longstanding support for sports and prestigious international competitions, promising to be a stunning showcase of French excellence on the world stage.

How you can score big with Olympic marketing

The Olympic Games ignite a global passion for sportsmanship and excellence. With a captivated global audience, the Games presents a unique opportunity to elevate your brand and connect with potential customers. Here are winning strategies to leverage the Olympic spirit:

Embrace moments-based marketing

The Olympics provide many real-time moments and stories. Take advantage of inspiring victories, upsets, and athletic achievements by creating engaging subject lines, social media posts, ads, or blog content to align with these moments.

Connect to your brand

Instead of posting generic congratulations, relate the Olympic moment to your brand values. For example, if a swimmer persevered through a tough race, highlight your company’s commitment to resilience. If a team achieved victory through collaboration, showcase your expertise in teamwork to make your message relevant and impactful.

Look beyond the winners

Look for opportunities outside the spotlight. Partner with lesser-known athletes who embody your brand spirit. Sponsor their training, create content that follows their journey, or support their local communities. These grassroots partnerships build authentic connections with potential customers who appreciate brands that champion rising stars.

Utilize user-generated content (UGC)

The Olympics ignite a global conversation. Tap into this energy by encouraging your audience to join the fun. Run contests that ask them to share photos or videos celebrating the Games with your product. This user-generated content (UGC) creates organic brand exposure, fosters a sense of community, and provides valuable insights into your customer base.

Highlight human stories

People connect with stories, not just products. Look for inspiring narratives beyond the medals. Feature stories of athletes overcoming adversity, the dedication of coaches, or the passion of volunteers. These stories will resonate with your audience and build a lasting connection with your brand, humanizing it in a way that generic marketing messages can’t.

By following these strategies, you can capitalize on the Olympic moments to create impactful marketing.

A golden opportunity for marketing innovation

The Paris 2024 Olympic Games are revolutionizing the marketing landscape. Brands are challenging traditional Olympic marketing, empowering athletes, and delivering an unforgettable experience for global audiences.

As excitement for the Games continues to build, we can anticipate further marketing innovations and impactful messaging, setting the stage for a remarkable Olympic experience. Beyond the athletic accomplishments, the narratives and connections forged will ensure that Paris 2024 makes a lasting impact on the worlds of marketing and sports alike.

In 2023, ecommerce transactions alone surpassed $63 billion, highlighting the sector’s immense scale. Undoubtedly, this landscape is fiercely competitive, characterized by a constant struggle for consumer attention and market share. Adding to the challenge are economic factors that are heightening consumer discernment in their brand engagements.

Securing customer loyalty is paramount for all retailers, regardless of their scale, especially within the highly saturated and competitive ecommerce sphere. According to numerous projections, cultivating customer retention proves to be four to eight times more cost-efficient than customer acquisition. At SHOPLINE, we prioritize fostering relationships over mere transactions, recognizing that strong connections incentivize loyalty and encourage repeat purchases.

To gain insight into how retailers are addressing not only loyalty but various other aspects as well, SHOPLINE recently conducted and launched our Unified Commerce Benchmarking Study.

So, what were the key findings of this research, and how can retailers transform occasional shoppers into enthusiastic brand advocates?

Enhancing loyalty

Our research underscores the significance of membership and loyalty programs in bolstering customer engagement and incentivizing loyalty. A noteworthy 60% of retailers identify these programs as highly effective in promoting repeat purchases and cultivating brand advocacy. 

This trend is especially pronounced among very large retailers, those with a GVM (gross value merchandising) of AUD$100 million or more. Remarkably, 89% of respondents within this category have already integrated loyalty or membership initiatives into their strategies. Respondents have leveraged them to drive repeat purchases and pursue sustainable, long-term growth.

Nevertheless, small retailers, with a GVM of less than AUD$10 million, exhibit significantly lower adoption rates, with only 31% offering loyalty programs to their clientele. Considering the success attained by retailers of all sizes through loyalty programs, addressing this gap becomes imperative for small retailers. 

An effective loyalty program should offer solutions for customer activation and repurchase. It should also facilitate the transformation of customers into devoted, engaged members. SHOPLINE’s Member System empowers retailers to establish tiers that grant exclusive perks to top customers, enhance engagement and repeat purchases through points. The system can even leverage customers as brand ambassadors using referral codes.

Among those already employing loyalty programs, many fall short of optimizing their strategies. Surprisingly, just 49% of these programs are accessible across multiple channels. To fully harness the potential of their loyalty initiatives, retailers must adopt a unified approach. 

Unified commerce embodies a seamless experience across all customer touchpoints. By deploying loyalty programs that acknowledge both in-store and online purchasing behaviors retailers can unlock greater rewards. This offers compelling incentives for customers to become regular shoppers.

Customer retention and revenue

Customer retention is crucial, especially in today’s climate of economic challenges and heightened competition. Global retail giants like Amazon, Temu, and Shein exemplify the significance of repeat purchases. Whether through diverse product offerings, flexible delivery options, or compelling price points, they have successfully cultivated the loyalty of millions of Australian shoppers.

Despite the vast reach and resources of these giants compared to local retailers, through unified commerce and loyalty programs, retailers can transform one-time buyers into loyal customers.

Unified commerce platforms, such as SHOPLINE, are equipped with the necessary tools for retailers of all sizes to connect with customers. 

SHOPLINE helps retailers to: 

• Establish member systems
• Manage orders and inventory
• Operate across various channels
• Simplify payment processes
• Analyze every facet of their business operations.

This integrated, unified approach lays a solid foundation for retailers to launch successful loyalty programs. Retailers who define clear goals and structures for their loyalty schemes, offer meaningful rewards and incentives, gamify the customer experience, seamlessly integrate across one unified platform, and promote social sharing and referrals are experiencing substantial growth.

Harness the power of data analytics and personalization

Shein and Temu are experts at utilizing data analytics and personalization methods to craft tailored shopping experiences for each customer. By analyzing customer behavior, preferences, and past purchases, these brands can provide highly relevant product recommendations, personalized promotions, and customized content. This leads to increased engagement and sales conversions. 

All retailers should prioritize investing in these capabilities. Today, commerce platforms offer comprehensive ecommerce analytics, enabling retailers to gain insights into customer behavior, identify trends, and make data-driven decisions to optimize their online stores. 

By utilizing these tools effectively, retailers can gain a deeper understanding of their target audience, refine their marketing strategies, and deliver personalized experiences that resonate with customers, ultimately driving sales and fostering lasting loyalty.

Australia’s retail landscape is dynamic and fiercely competitive, with consumers spending over AUD$361 billion on retail goods in 2023 despite cost-of-living pressures. With 155,000 businesses vying for customer loyalty, standing out poses a significant challenge. 

However, the retailers poised to lead in the coming months and years are those who grasp the power of loyalty and employ effective strategies to incentivize it, regardless of their GVM, product offerings, or target audience.

What is a martech stack?

Your martech stack is essentially the collection of software applications and technologies that your marketing team uses to plan, execute, and analyze your marketing campaigns. These tools may handle a wide range of tasks, from creating email campaigns and managing social media to tracking website traffic and analyzing customer data.

Why tech stack consolidation matters

Consolidating your martech stack can bring many benefits to your marketing efforts. Here’s why:

Future-proof scalability

Imagine a marketing platform that adapts and grows alongside your business. Consolidation allows you to ditch clunky, siloed systems and embrace a unified platform that scales seamlessly. Updates become a breeze, and you’ll be ready to tackle emerging marketing trends with ease.

Simplify your workflow and boost efficiency

Juggling multiple tools eats into and can frustrate your team. Consolidation streamlines your workflow by centralizing tasks and data. This helps your team collaborate more effectively, eliminating the need to switch between platforms and decipher scattered data points. This translates to faster campaign execution and more time for strategic thinking.

Break down data silos and gain deeper insights

Bringing your customer data together into a unified data pool unlocks the holy grail of data-driven marketing. Imagine a complete picture of your customers, their interactions, and preferences. 

When you pair this advanced machine learning and artificial intelligence you can enrich your data with insights ready to fuel creative campaigns. This empowers you to personalize campaigns, optimize targeting, and measure results with unmatched accuracy.

Reduce costs and maximize ROI

Let’s face it, maintaining multiple, disconnected tools can be expensive. By consolidating, you can eliminate redundant subscriptions and streamline your budget. Moreover, a more efficient workflow leads to better resource allocation and a higher return on your marketing investment.

Strengthen collaboration and foster a culture of ownership

Working with a single marketing automation platform fosters a sense of ownership and accountability within your marketing team. Everyone is on the same page, eliminating confusion and promoting collaboration. This collaborative environment breeds innovation and empowers your team to achieve more.

The people component

Remember, successful digital transformation is about more than just using new technology. It’s also about working closely with reliable partners and collaborating effectively. When choosing which platforms to use, it’s important to pick ones with a good reputation and strong partnerships.

By consolidating your martech stack, you’re not just simplifying tools, you’re laying the foundation for a more agile, efficient, and data-driven marketing engine. This translates to stronger customer relationships, a higher ROI, and a competitive edge in today’s dynamic marketing landscape.

Why choose Dotdigital?

Let’s take a closer look at why Dotdigital is a standout all-in-one solution for consolidating your martech stack.

Unified customer experience: Dotdigital CXDP offers more than just basic marketing automation. It enables cross-channel marketing such as email, SMS, push notifications, social media, and more. This makes connecting and delivering a consistent experience easy.

AI-powered personalization: Dotdigital’s personalization features help you create personalized marketing campaigns. Its robust customer data insights and personalization features allow you to segment your audience, tailor content, and deliver automated journeys that resonate with individual customer needs and preferences.

Seamless integrations: Dotdigital provides a wide range of pre-built integrations with popular CRM and ecommerce platforms. You’ll have a seamless experience that caters to businesses of all sizes and across various industries.

Scalability and future-proofing: The Dotdigital platform adapts and grows alongside your business. With ongoing product improvements, the platform stays ahead of the curve, providing you with the tools you need to succeed in the ever-changing marketing landscape.

Customer support: Dotdigital prioritizes customer experience and offers excellent customer support, including options like phone and live chat, to help you navigate the platform and maximize its potential.

By choosing Dotdigital as the core of your consolidated martech stack, you gain access to a powerful suite of marketing automation tools, seamless integrations, and exceptional support. This empowers you to streamline your marketing operations, personalize customer experiences, and achieve your marketing goals more effectively.

Conclusion

Consolidating your martech stack isn’t just about reducing the number of tools you use. It’s about creating a more efficient, effective, and data-driven marketing strategy. With the right approach, consolidation can empower your marketing team to achieve greater results and propel your business forward.

If you’re looking to review your marketing tech stack, book a demo.

To leverage this technology effectively, it’s important to understand how to train your ChatGPT. You’re in the right place for that.

In this post, we’ll guide you through training your ChatGPT and provide specific prompts that you can use to maximize the benefits of AI technology.

ChatGPT for market research

ChatGPT can help you learn important information about the people you want to reach, the latest trends in your industry, and the other brands you’re up against. This can include analyzing social media conversations, conducting surveys, or even generating insights based on existing market data. By using ChatGPT for market research, you can gain a deeper understanding of your target audience and make more informed marketing decisions.

Identifying your target audience

Prompt

“Describe the ideal target audience for our[product or service] in terms of demographic, behavioral, and psychographic characteristics.”

Competitor analysis

Prompt

“Analyze the marketing approach of our top three competitors in[industry]. Provide insights about their strengths and weaknesses, and areas where our brand could differentiate itself in the market.”

Trend forecasting

Prompt

“List the top five emerging trends in the[industry] that could potentially impact our marketing strategy in the next 12 months.”

ChatGPT for email marketing

By using ChatGPT, you can enhance your engagement, click-through rates, and connect with your subscribers. With the right prompts, you can create attention-grabbing subject lines and optimize your content for better open rates.

For cold outreaches

Prompt

“Create a cold outbound email to a potential customer for our product [X] (e.g., organization, company, service, or product).”

Welcome emails for new subscribers

Prompt

“Write a warm and engaging welcome email for new subscribers who just joined our mailing list. Briefly introduce our [product/service] and guide them on how to get started.”

Follow-up emails after product demo

Prompt

“Craft a follow-up email to be sent after a product demo, recapping the main features and benefits we discussed and providing the next steps for interested prospects.”

Re-engagement emails for inactive subscribers

Prompt

“Design a re-engagement email targeting subscribers who have been inactive for the past six months. Incorporate special offers or incentives to encourage them to re-engage with our brand.”

Upsell and cross-sell emails for existing customers

Prompt

“Develop an upsell or cross-sell email promoting a related[product/service] to our existing customers who have already purchased product [X]. Highlight the value and benefits of the new offering.”

Change email for desired audience

Prompt

“This email is to [audience]. Please rewrite it with[another audience] in mind. Their pain points are[pain points.] Be sure to keep the tone similar.” 

CTA optimization

Prompt

“Suggest three different call-to-action (CTA) phrases for our[product or service] landing page that effectively encourage users to complete the desired action.”

ChatGPT for content marketing

ChatGPT is a powerful tool for enhancing your content marketing efforts. It can help by creating compelling meta-descriptions that grab the reader’s attention, finding trustworthy statistics to back up your content, and inspiring creativity in the brainstorming and ideation process for your content. With ChatGPT, you can take your content marketing to the next level.

Generating meta-descriptions

Prompt

“Write a 160-character meta description for the blog post below.”

Adding statistics to a blog post

Prompt

“I need statistics from credible reports for a blog post. List [number] websites that publish[industry] reports.”

Brainstorming

Are you struggling with blog post ideas or facing writer’s block? Stop staring at a blank page. Here’s how to leverage ChatGPT for brainstorming:

Prompt

“Based on current industry trends and recent competitor content, list ten blog post topics relevant to [your industry]. Each topic should address a specific pain point faced by [your target audience].”

ChatGPT for SEO

ChatGPT is a valuable resource for streamlining and enhancing various SEO tasks. You can conduct audits, create blog outlines, generate keyword lists, and optimize long-tail keywords using effective prompts.

Conducting SEO audits

Prompt

“Conduct an on-page SEO audit for this webpage [URL].”

Creating blog outlines

Prompt

“Create a detailed blog outline on the topic [insert topic title] with H2, H3, subheading, and bullet points.”

Generating a keyword list

Prompt

“Generate a list of [number] keyword ideas on the topic [insert topic] for [target audience].”

Generating long tail keywords list with search intent

Prompt

“Provide [number] long tail keywords related to [topic]. Match each keyword with any of the four types of search intent.”

ChatGPT for advertising

ChatGPT can help you save time and effort by creating compelling ad copy. You can also create corresponding landing page content that boosts conversions and aligns with your marketing goals.

Keyword research

Prompt

“Identify the top ten high-performing keywords for our [product or service] to use in our PPC campaigns targeting [target audience].”

Prompt

Writing ad headlines and descriptions

“Compose three eye-catching headlines and two engaging descriptions for a Google Ads campaign promoting our [product or service] to [target audience].”

Crafting display ad copy

Prompt

“Develop a concise and compelling display ad copy for our[product or service], targeting [specific audience segment], focusing on the unique selling points that would appeal to this demographic.”

ChatGPT for social media marketing

You can utilize ChatGPT’s capabilities to generate engaging and targeted content for your social media platforms. It’s a great way to keep your audience engaged and interested in what you have to say.

Planning a social media campaign

Prompt

“Craft a[number of months] social media campaign calendar for our [name of product] with the goal of [Y] and mention the relevant channels to focus on.”

Crafting Facebook ad copies

Prompt

“Write a compelling Facebook ad copy for our [product or service] targeting [target audience], focusing on the unique selling proposition and benefits.”

Generating tweet ideas

Prompt

“Create five tweet ideas highlighting the key features and benefits of our [product or service], targeting [target audience].”

Influencer outreach

Prompt

“Draft a personalized message to [influencer’s name], a top influencer in our niche, inviting them to collaborate with our brand on a promotional campaign.”

ChatGPT for event marketing

ChatGPT can assist in creating compelling event descriptions, drafting engaging promotional materials, and even providing real-time support during the event itself. Its ability to understand and generate human-like text makes it a powerful tool for enhancing all aspects of event marketing.

Event planning and concept development

Prompt

“Create a unique and memorable event concept for our upcoming product launch, which will excite and engage our [target audience].”

Email invitation

Prompt

“Draft a captivating email invitation for our upcoming marketing event, targeting[target audience]. Highlight key event details and benefits for attendees.”

Post-event follow-up

Prompt

“Compose a thoughtful post-event follow-up email, thanking attendees for their participation and summarizing the key takeaways from the event.”

ChatGPT for video marketing

With ChatGPT, you have the power to streamline your video marketing efforts. By effortlessly generating compelling scripts and extracting valuable insights, you can enhance your marketing campaigns and captivate your audience.

Video content ideas

Prompt

“Generate five video content ideas that promote [product or service], targeting [target audience], and showcase the product’s key benefits.”

Creating video introductions

Prompt

“Create an attention-grabbing video introduction that will leave a lasting impression on viewers.”

Generating YouTube video titles

Prompt

“Generate a list of catchy YouTube video titles for [topic of your choice].”

Writing video scripts

Prompt

“Write a brief two-minute video script explaining the features and advantages of our [product or service] to [target audience].”

Creating video ad campaign concepts

Prompt

“Develop a high-level concept for a video ad campaign to promote our [product or service] to [target audience], focusing on emotional appeal and storytelling.”

ChatGPT for branding and messaging consistency

You can utilize ChatGPT to ensure that your marketing messages consistently embody your brand’s tone and values across all communication channels.

Developing a brand mission statement

Prompt

“Craft a powerful and concise mission statement that captures the essence of our brand and reflects our values and purpose.”

Creating a brand voice and tone guide

Prompt

“Design a voice and tone guide for our marketing communications, setting the tone and style for different types of content and channels.”

ChatGPT for marketing analytics and reporting

With ChatGPT, you can gain valuable insights and make informed decisions based on data-driven analysis. Whether it’s understanding customer behavior, tracking campaign performance, or uncovering market trends, ChatGPT can help you extract meaningful information and streamline your reporting process. 

Analyzing marketing KPIs

Prompt

“Evaluate the performance of our recent marketing campaign by analyzing key KPIs such as conversion rate, cost per acquisition, and ROI.”

Generating insights from data

Prompt

“Based on the data from our latest customer survey, identify potential areas of improvement for our [product or service] or marketing strategy.”

Creating actionable reports

Prompt

“Summarize the performance of our Q2 marketing initiatives and provide actionable recommendations for Q3 based on the analysis.”

How to utilize AI prompts

Now that you have a comprehensive list of ChatGPT prompts across different marketing disciplines, let’s look at how you can put these powerful prompts into action.

Step 1: Choose your prompt

Identify the specific outcome you want to achieve and choose the appropriate prompt from the list above. Customize the prompt by replacing placeholders, like [product or service] and [target audience], with information that is specific to your brand or industry.

Step 2: Input the prompt into ChatGPT

Open up your chosen AI platform and input the customized prompt. Depending on the platform you use, you may be able to set parameters, such as temperature and maximum tokens. These settings determine the level of creativity and the length of the response. You should play around with these settings to achieve the desired outcome.

Temperature 

A higher value (e.g., 0.8) will result in a more creative output, while a lower value (e.g., 0.4) will produce a more focused and deterministic response.

Maximum token

This determines the length of the response. Adjust the value according to your specific requirements.

Step 3: Review and refine the AI-generated response

After submitting your prompt, ChatGPT will quickly generate a response based on the given instructions. Review the output to ensure it meets your expectations and aligns with your marketing objectives. 

Edit the response. You should make adjustments to grammar, structure, tone, or any other aspects you find necessary to improve the overall quality and effectiveness of the content.

It’s essential to remember that while ChatGPT can generate powerful and useful content, it requires some tweaking and customization on your part. Make sure to check for accuracy and relevance before implementing the generated output in your marketing campaign.

Step 4: Apply the response in your marketing strategy

Once you’ve reviewed and refined the AI-generated content, you’re ready to implement it in your marketing campaigns. Use the optimized output, whether it’s an ad copy, a social media post, or a meta description, to enhance your marketing efforts and achieve better results.

How does Dotdigital use generative AI?

Dotdigital uses generative AI to offer a helping hand throughout your marketing workflow. Our WinstonAI is designed to free up your time for creative thinking and strategic planning by tackling repetitive tasks with superhuman speed and accuracy.

Generative AI for effortless email and SMS

Say goodbye to writer’s block and hello to faster, more effective campaigns. We all know crafting compelling copy takes time and skill. WinstonAI in Dotdigital acts as your personal copywriting assistant, supporting you throughout the entire process – from subject line creation to crafting the perfect campaign message.

Here’s how Dotdigital’s WinstonAI streamlines your workflow:

• Subject line magic: Stuck on a subject line? No problem. WinstonAI analyzes your past campaigns and suggests tailored options that resonate with your audience.
• Content curation: Need a spark for your email body? Generative AI provides suggestions and tips to keep your message on point.
• Flawless grammar and tone: Ensure your copy is always polished and professional with built-in grammar and spell check.
• Versatility at your fingertips: Fine-tune your message by rewriting copy in different tones or expanding or shortening it for optimal length.
• Emoji power: Add a touch of personality with emoji suggestions that complement your text.

By analyzing up to 25 of your previous subject lines, WinstonAI tailors suggestions specifically for your campaigns and target audience. This translates to faster campaign creation, improved accuracy, and messages that resonate with your subscribers.

In short, our WinstonAI gives you back precious time to focus on the creative aspects of your marketing strategy, while ensuring your campaigns are always error-free and deliver results.

Start using generative AI to streamline your workflow

So there you have it. You’ve just learned how to use generative AI for your marketing strategy. Keep experimenting with different prompts and make adjustments along the way. This will help you use AI tools to support your marketing efforts effectively. As you get better at using AI, you’ll find that it becomes really helpful in making your marketing work smoother and getting better results.

The challenge: Overcoming the curse of customer churn

The brand’s customer retention was declining rapidly. It didn’t have a retention strategy in place, and as a result, its customer engagement and conversions were severely impacted. To turn things around, it needed a comprehensive digital marketing strategy to achieve a few key objectives.

• Boost website traffic and brand awareness
• Deepen customer connections and engagement
• Drive conversions and create loyal customers
• Build a rock-solid retention strategy to keep them coming back

By addressing its lack of a retention strategy and incorporating personalization tactics, the brand aimed to reverse the trend of customer churn and achieve sustainable growth. With a clear vision for the future, the brand was on the right track to achieving its goals and overcoming its challenges.

Solution: Building customer loyalty

I decided to adopt a multi-pronged approach to tackle the challenges the brand was facing. First, the team analyzed customer demographics by using platform data and Google Analytics. This helped the brand understand that Gen Z and Millennials were their primary target audience. 

The brand further used eRFM and RFM dashboards to identify engagement levels within this demographic, which provided crucial insights into the audience it was selling to and how interested they were.

Crafting a personalized marketing experience

With a clear understanding of the audience, I suggested creating a content calendar tailored to the customer journey, product use cases, and key seasonal events. The brand recommended creating emails showcasing back-to-school outfits for students or highlighting workout attire during peak gym membership sign-up periods. This ensured content resonated with specific customer needs.

Personalized and dynamic emails were also recommended. By leveraging audience insights, the brand built emails featuring product recommendations based on past purchases (“shop the look” or “more from this collection”). This personalization made the emails more relevant and increased the chance of customers finding something they truly wanted.

Segmentation and growth strategies were another key element. I suggested implementing tactics aligned with the customer journey. This included building preference centers, segmenting customers by purchase history and interests, and nurturing them post-purchase with review requests and loyalty rewards.

By segmenting their audience, the brand could tailor messages to resonate better with different groups. For example, they could send emails promoting new arrivals to frequent buyers or win-back campaigns to those who hadn’t purchased in a while.

Results

The brand embraced these data-driven strategies, and the results were impressive. By diversifying its content and making it more relevant, unsubscribe rates significantly dropped by 50%, leading to increased customer engagement.

The team also tailored content to customer interests, providing personalized and relevant information, which resulted in a click-through rate (CTR) increase of over 30%.

Showcasing the brand’s products in real-life use cases, like workout clothes at the gym, helped customers envision themselves using the products, leading to a rise in direct orders. Ultimately, these improved marketing strategies resulted in an impressive revenue growth of over 50%.

Key learnings: Why data-driven marketing matters

This case study is an excellent example of how data-driven marketing strategies can bring a new life to an ecommerce brand. By utilizing Dotdigital’s expertise, the brand gained valuable insights into its audience and created a personalized and engaging marketing experience. These strategies are not limited to the apparel industry only but are applicable across various industries. 

The key takeaways are:

• Personalization is king: Tailor content and recommendations to your audience’s preferences.
• Content is queen: Offer a variety of content formats to keep your subscribers engaged.
• Know your audience: Understanding their needs and behaviors is essential for success.

By following these principles, ecommerce businesses can navigate the highly competitive online landscape and achieve sustainable growth. So, if your brand is struggling, consider partnering with a data-driven marketing platform like Dotdigital.

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.