Predictive Send: The Evolution of Email Marketing

The process of collecting marketing data isn’t new; it’s been with us ever since marketing itself was a tangible concept. In the area of online marketing, we have seen a substantial increase in the type of data being collected as well as the volume, however, burning question remains:

How is this data used?

On the surface, the obvious use is for reporting – creating reports which allow experts to analyze them so informed decisions can be made. Additionally, data is used to segmented people into groups for more targeted marketing tactics. But the problem with the way data is typically used is that it requires a person, or group of people, to “be aware” of the data in order for it to generate some form of Return on Investment (ROI).

Enter Predictive Marketing

Predictive Marketing refers to the concept of marketing automation platforms analyzing the vast amount of data collected while optimizing campaigns automatically. To better explain the concept of Predictive Marketing, let’s take a look at email campaigns: In the past, marketers would debate the best time of day and day of the week to send an email. Whatever the marketer decided, that is when everyone in the email marketing campaign would receive an email.

Utilizing a more modern “Predictive Send” approach, the habits of each contact in a marketing database is analyzed in order to determine the ideal time and day to send an email. Not only does this take the guesswork out of the equation, 95-percent of the time the approach will outperform any decision a human marketer can make.

We can break the “Predictive Pyramid” down into three major layers:

1. Automatic Personalization

Data is collected about website visitors and marketing contacts, wherein the Predictive Marketing approach is able to use historical data to deliver an email to a specific recipient at the optimal time to maximize a campaign’s performance.

2. Monitoring of Campaign Execution

Through features such as a dashboard showing exactly when emails are being delivered, Predictive Marketing can speed up the send process for more time-sensitive email campaigns to ensure they get delivered on time.

3. Focus on Contacts

Your marketing contacts can’t be expected to respond to marketing messages when you want them to; rather, as a marketer, you need to make your campaigns work for your contacts. That’s where Predictive Marketing comes in, doing just that – contacts will appreciate the timely emails.

Based on research, Predictive Send can take a traditional email campaign that delivers a 20-percent open rate and increase it to 34-percent. How’s that for compelling proof that email marketing is evolving at a breakneck pace?