Book time to discuss your messaging program with our email expert, Brian Gruidl, VP of Email Marketing at Hansa.

Email has always been the ROI darling of Marketing Communications. But brands find it hard to resist the urge to email often and watch the cash register ring. It’s an easy trap to fall into; and that's why brands need a CDP to go beyond "opens and clicks."

Are Customer Data Platforms (CDPs) worth the investment? What are the business outcomes CDPs deliver? What is the Return on Investment (ROI)? These are the questions Marketing leaders must ask to prove the value of a CDP as an investment, just like a new product, new store, new capital equipment. And to do that, we need a business case. Like all business cases, our CDP business case should:

• Plan for the tangible, measurable, business benefits a CDP will deliver
• Demonstrate incremental value (that wouldn’t be there without the CDP)
• Deliver long-term profit while delivering a short-term payback 
• Align with business strategies and integrate into the existing MarTech stack

Technology leaders want a strong Marketing partner. They look to Marketing to be articulate, visionary; to build a consensus. They want Marketing leaders to define success and measure business outcomes. But are we- as Marketing leaders - up to the task?

There is a lot at stake. Without Marketing leadership, IT runs the risk of over scoping a solution or missing critical requirements (and under scoping). Either way that means trouble:

CDP readiness series - getting the most out of customer data

No surprise: brands are inundated with customer data from various touchpoints. That’s why a Customer Data Platform (CDP) is important - to help businesses make sense of customer data and provide important benefits...

Marketing leaders already know that Customer Data Platforms (CDPs) can provide a big step forward for brands. CDPs vastly improve the way brands recognize customers. CDPs can help personalize the customer experience seamlessly and across channels.

Where do good ideas come from? Is there a science to innovation? How important is intuition and imagination?

Email is still the darling of digital when it comes to ROI: Email is low cost. By definition, email marketing is addressable media, so brands know immediately who is responding. In a survey, eConsultancy showed that brand managers feel email marketing is best at ROI, relative to other channels.

Research shows that consumers receive more than 300 emails per day. As an industry, we spend tons of energy figuring out how to stand out in a crowded inbox. Maybe we should insert a consumer’s first name in the subject line? What if we repeat back what a consumer browsed on a brand’s website? The tactics make a difference, but we’re missing the most important part.

The difference isn't the email; the difference is the customer

I had the pleasure of interviewing Akin Tosyali, one of the nation's leading Direct To Consumer (DTC) experts. No surprise: DTC is on fire. Most brands are accelerating their digital programs to meet consumer demand; some have adopted subscriptions and membership programs. As usual, Akin was open to sharing best practices from around the web and I guarantee you will be a better digital marketer after you read this, so meet the expert.

Akin Tosyali, DTC expert

Enough with the good ideas already