Email has long been the channel of choice for many marketers, but it is now also giving organizations additional leverage as the driver behind a specialized form of retargeting that is growing in use and popularity. Using email retargeting, marketers can bridge the gap between offline data –such as what’s contained in their CRM systems – and what they know about their online customers and prospects.

The rise of email retargeting makes sense — it’s a strategy that’s purported to drive 10 times the response rate of traditional ad retargeting, which is already on fire in the business world today. While many larger firms with sophisticated digital marketing teams have taken advantage of this newer form of retargeting for a few years already, it is now starting to trickle down to the SMB market. And why not? It’s fueled by email addresses, and that’s something that just about every SMB has access to.

How does email retargeting work? It starts when an organization sends out an email, perhaps as part of a campaign. When a prospect opens that email, they are “cookied” and added to a retargeting list. This then enables the marketer to retarget that individual with display ads that relate to their browsing activity, relationship history with the organization, buying behavior and product interests — just as they would do with ad or search retargeting.

With that in mind, here are three things you need to know about email retargeting before you put it to work for your business:

1. It’s Proactive, Not Passive: Using email addresses as the identifier to jumpstart a retargeting program, businesses are able to initiate engagement with a prospect rather than passively wait for web searches or website visits to prompt a retargeting effort. And by tagging your emails, you gain the ability to gather added insight about your prospect, allowing you to further customize the display ads that will be presented to each recipient.

2. It’s a Force Multiplier: Email gives you the ability to reach your targets, wherever they might be — via any and all of the devices that today’s consumers and business users own, from smart phones to tablets, desktops and more. In this way, it becomes a force multiplier, driving an effective way to reach online customers with highly specific marketing messages, even when they are not visiting your website. For example, your email campaign might revolve around a special incentive to return to your website for those who haven’t visited in the last six months. Or, it might offer a specific solution to a business challenge suggested by the prospect’s recent online activity.

Whether you’re looking to win a new customer, or gain added traction with an existing client, what moves the needle in sales is ensuring that your company is top of mind – and within easy reach — when a purchase decision is about to be made. And that’s what email retargeting is all about.

3. Building Your Email Data List: It’s no secret that most organizations can use a little help with their house email lists. That’s why acquired email data is becoming more important than ever to marketers. A reputable email data provider allows you to extend your reach with retargeting by selecting and pursuing businesses based on geographic location, organization size, executive title, industry and more.

Once you license email data from a preferred provider, and a recipient opts into your mailings or purchases a product or service from you, the data associated with that contact becomes your owned data. Owned data of this kind is extremely valuable to marketers, and is critical not only for email retargeting, but also for associated permission-based “relationship marketing” programs. Further, by segmenting your lists based on the contact’s profile or their behavior/response, you can optimally address customer/prospect interests with a continuous cycle of highly targeted communications.

The Right Time and the Right Offer

As you map out your email retargeting strategy, it’s essential to align with a professional digital marketing or graphic design specialist who can help you develop high-quality display ads and email campaigns that will capture your prospects’ interest. And lastly, remember, when you combine the information you gain from email retargeting with what you already know about your customer through your offline data, you are perfectly poised to present the target with a specific call to action at just the right moment. From there, big things will happen. You can count on it.

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