To maximise the personalisation function in your Newsweaver account you may need to import and store more unique information against your subscribers such as behavioural data or individual preferences. Personalising email newsletters and flyers with relevant content is known to significantly increase subscribers’ engagement as it acknowledges the relationship you have with your readers. To do this, you first need to create custom subscriber fields. 

These default fields are simply a guide to the information that can be stored in your Newsweaver account. If there isn’t a relevant field for some new information you wish to store then you have the option of creating an additional custom field.

To create a custom subscriber field

Click on the New Subscriber Field link

This brings you to a new page with options for creating a new custom subscriber field.

For this example, we will create a new custom subscriber field called “Account Manager Name”. Type this into the Name Section and from the Drop-down menu; decide on the format (text, number, date, etc).

Once you do this, hit save, which will return you to the Fields sub-tab page. At the end of this page, you will see your new field under the Custom Fields Section.

To Manage Custom Subscriber Fields

Custom subscriber fields are not editable. If you wish to stop using one, click on the “Lock Field” link.

When you click on the Lock Field link, a message will pop up asking to give a reason.

You are now able to create and manage custom fields.

For more information watch the video

“By implementing dynamic content we have more than doubled our open rates.”

John Owen Waller, Structured Credit Investor

Structured Credit Investor (SCI) uses dynamic content for advanced personalisation

Structured Credit Investor (SCI) provides investors with time-sensitive in-depth analysis of the structured credit industry via a paid-subscription website and newsletter. SCI wanted to create more targeted and relevant emails for their subscribers by sending dynamic content based on subscriber preferences.

Challenge:

Since 2006, SCI’s website has provided critical, timely and valuable investor analysis on a paid-subscription basis. The company also sent an email newsletter to drive subscribers to their online account. John Owen Waller, Managing Director, says the company needed a solution that would let them send a more personalised newsletter to customers - giving them only content that was of interest to them.

SCI also needed to have one view of their customers, and wanted a system that could be synched with their proprietary CRM system. This single view of the customer would allow SCI to segment their data and target customers and prospects with relevant content in the newsletters, as well as provide the option to send targeted single-message flyers promoting events, special interests and sponsorships.

Solution:

SCI chose Newsweaver because they were able to design and create highly personalised emails, give them access to business intelligence that would provide the data to better understand their customers to drive more relevant timely and targeted newsletters and flyers. In addition, SCI needed a solution that was easy for the team to create and send emails. 
Also, Newsweaver offered an open API (application programming interface) to connect to their SCI proprietary CRM system. The data automatically transfers both ways so they are synched and up to date.  Having access to this depth of data in their account allows them to identify and target data groups to send one-message flyers featuring relevant information such as events and sponsorships.

To start the project, SCI worked with the Newsweaver design team to create a newsletter template that could accommodate any level of personalisation and dynamic content – including general content for non-paying subscribers.

Results

John says that SCI are very happy with the results, and now have the tools in place to further their dynamic content plans. He finds Newsweaver “intuitive to use; editing pages of content is very straightforward. Plus, the reporting is immediate and offers great insight” He also points to the help from support, from implementing the open API, through to the design, “The support we get adds huge value to our use of Newsweaver.” 

The benefits they’ve seen using Newsweaver include:

Implementation of dynamic content has doubled open rates. SCI newsletters now feature dynamic content, which includes articles and sections that appear and disappear depending on the reader’s interests. The emails are highly personalised, and extend the personalisation of subject lines highlighting articles relevant to the reader’s interests.  SCI have seen their open rates double since moving to dynamic content, which John credits to the timelier, targeted and relevant emails.

A flexible template designs allows for advanced personalisation options – John says the design team was very helpful in helping SCI create a flexible newsletter and flyer template that could easily accommodate advanced personalisation of content and sections. 

Reduced time spent on sending customer communications – By taking advantage of Newsweaver’s automation and open API features, SCI is able to save time on every aspect of creating and sending their email communications. For example John says they publish articles onto the website and using the API they are also put into their Newsweaver account. He then simply logs in, makes a few small tweaks to content, tests his emails and sends. This time saving with the API extends to dynamically generating personalised subject lines for each subscriber. John says they plan to save further time by using Newsweaver’s Scheduled Send functionality, which will let them schedule the send based on the local time zone each subscriber should receive the email.

Synching with API has streamlined the data sharing process - The data automatically transfers both ways so they are synched and always up to date. This eliminates out of date information, and ensures business intelligence from email campaigns is shared in SCI’s CRM system.

Increased frequency of email sends leading to deeper customer engagement. Using flyers in addition to newsletters lets SCI increase the frequency of their mailings, which in turn has deepened customer engagement. Newsweaver’s Saved Search facility allows SCI to segment specific groups of subscribers, based on data fields such as location – or on metrics from newsletter mailings, such as opens and clicks. These segments are updated dynamically and get sent their one-message flyers.

Deep reporting and analytics measures response - Using Newsweaver gives SCI the ability to generate tailored reports – using these to monitor engagement and responses to newsletters and flyers. John says with the reports they are able to see an increase in responses now that subscribers are receiving emails based on their data preferences. They are also able to use the business intelligence to manage groups of subscribers, for example trending inactive subscribers and implementing a re-engagement programme.

“Newsweaver is intuitive to use; editing pages of content is very straightforward. Plus, the reporting is immediate and offers great insight”
John Owen Waller, Structured Credit Investor

Offering content choices to your subscribers through a preference panel is a powerful tool to improve your email marketing results. Why? Because giving people the ability to tell you what they want to receive means you can send timely, targeted and relevant emails to them, in turn significantly increasing engagement.

There are a number of benefits in offering a preference panel.  It can  give you valuable insight into where your subscribers are in the sales cycle, or where there are opportunities for up selling and cross selling. In addition, by capturing their areas of interest, you will be able to increase the frequency of contact by being able to send them one-message flyers on that topic, because the information will be relevant to them.

Getting started with a preference panel

Care should always be taken when creating your subscribe form and preference panel. It’s important to remember that subscribers don’t expect to have to fill out a lot of fields to sign up to your newsletter – they want you to prove to them that it is of value. The more fields required the fewer new subscribers.

While many subscribers are reluctant to fill in fields that ask for detailed information about themselves, they will be very proactive when given the ability to select the content and topics of interest to them. Think about using a two-stage subscribe form, capturing only the data needed to send the newsletter in page one and a more detailed preference panel on the second page.

Creating a preference panel

Look within your organisation to identify how you can group content within your preference panel.  These areas can include:

• General interest within your industry – This can be industry news, or any information that will inform your subscribers about issues in your industry.
• Within business lines – Offer a group of sectors to select from that are relevant within your business.
• Specific products, services or brands – Not only does this raise awareness of all the products, services and brands that you have to offer customers and prospects, it also gives your subscribers the ability to select only what is relevant to their interests and requirements.
• Breaking news, webinars, updates, events – Include categories here that relate to your business - these will most likely be time-sensitive. This means you’ll be able to contact the subscriber as soon as the information needs to be sent.

Once you have identified how to group content within your organisation, this should be the structure your preference panel is built on.  Let your readers tell you what areas or topics are of interest to them.

Personalising based on preferences

You will now have the ability to send content that is specifically relevant to your subscribers, along with the general content that all subscribers receive. Newsweaver makes it easy to personalise your emails:

• By sections – You can create a section that will appear in your subscriber’s email if they have indicated that they wish to receive that information.
• By specific articles – You can create articles that pertain to a specific level of interest they have selected in their preferences.
• By single message flyer – You can send one-message flyers in between your regularly published newsletter based on the preferences of each subscriber. The flyer will be sent only to those who have indicated it is relevant to them.