THE QUESTION IS ENOUGH TO daunt any marketer: How do you come up with stories for dozens if not hundreds of personalized e-mail newsletter editions?
The answer is, you don't. Instead, you should use a content database that can spit out the various versions with little human intervention.
These databases provide “the bulk of the material for a wide variety of newsletters,” says David Fish, CEO of IMN Inc. in Newton, MA. And personalization is added using material from local offices or stores.
Case in point: An HMO with a large medical information database sends tailored newsletters to members suffering from ailments like arthritis and diabetes.
It routes these editions to local HMOs. And they, in turn, put their brands on them by highlighting local events like free blood-pressure checkups.
As Fish puts it, the core content is “handled upstream and the wrapper is done at the local level.” And while dozens of editions may exist, the local content is the same for all recipients.
Then there's the example of a bookstore chain that can serve up many different newsletters based on reader preferences. For example, a science fiction fan might be alerted to other books in the genre or by the same author.
How many versions are we talking about? “The typical case, literally, would be dozens and dozens, up to 60 or 100 of them,” he answers.
Fish concedes that e-mail versioning is “not that radical an idea.” But few firms have connected the dots when it comes to e-mail newsletters, he adds.
“Anybody can come up with a few articles for a few months to get the newsletter program rolling,” Fish says. “But can you do that three years from now in a way that retains and engages your audience, and is sustainable? By that time, you've already asked everyone who can give you an article.”
Typically, these newsletters feature material that was created for other reasons, and can be repurposed.
What do you need to do it?
The first requirement is “a technology platform that allows you to do multitier publishing,” Fish says. And you may have to do some systems integration to “extract the information from the database and get it into a form appropriate for winding it into the newsletter.”
As for circulation, the newsletters can be driven off a centralized marketing database, or off separate ones maintained by the stores (or other local publishers).
And, of course, you will need a user-friendly interface that will allow the HMO or bookstore to post its material and simply “hit the OK button.” All these things can be provided by vendors.
But none of these tools will work if the content isn't properly tagged. “It has to be categorized in a manner that will allow you to map it to the appropriate newsletter version,” Fish says.
And the cost? An information publisher starting out can spend $50,000 or more per year on this. But there are economies of scale.
“Once you've got the technology down, it doesn't make any difference whether you do four segments or 400,” Fish says.
