How To Use Email Tagging in Marketing Campaigns

Get more bank for your email buck

I'm a big believer in the power of list segmentation. I hope you are, too. Segmenting helps marketers send targeted messages that resonate with an audience.  

Adding tags to subscribers is a great way to segment (no surprise there), but here's the kicker: tags have many more uses that can benefit email marketers.

In this article, I'll run through some of the many ways you could profit from better subscriber tag management.

What are email subscriber tags?

Well, in the world of email service providers (ESP), subscriber tags are labels that list managers use to sort, organize, categorize, and segment email contacts. 

By creating sub-groups based on one or more shared characteristics (e.g. favorite product category), list managers can craft and send targeted and personalized email campaigns. That, as you know, is a positive outcome because of this marketing truism: the greater the personalization, the higher the conversion rate. 

Benefits of implementing tags in email campaigns

What's good about tags? Lots. Here are three marketing strategies to implement or enhance your tagging system. 

Organizing contact with tags

• Sub-divide subscribers based on any variable (e.g. nationality, location, preferred product categories) you can think of. On tinyEmail, you're free to assign more than one tag to a single contact. 

Adding personalization with tags

• Classify contacts based on shared attributes (e.g. man, woman, teenager, etc.), interests, or preferences. Then create personalized content that really, truly aligns with subscribers that share those attributes. Better alignment can lead to higher engagement, lower unsubscribe rates, and higher open and click-through rates.

A/B testing with tags

• When you create custom audiences based on tags, you can run all sorts of A/B tests to measure the impact of small changes to your email campaigns. Test subject line variations or experiment with different designs and content. Do a deep dive into your audience, figure out what works, and set yourself up for even greater success in future campaigns.

Email marketing tagging strategies

Sure, tagging takes some time, but you can increase the long-term benefits by incorporating some of these strategies into your marketing efforts. 

Define a tagging system

• Some folks develop criteria to assign tags to generate specific, actionable data. They might work backward, think about the desired outcomes, and build a structure. Other people use a light touch. They use a small number of tags because that's all they need to get useful information. 

Stay current

• Your marketing objectives evolve, and so should your tags. Add tags that properly reflect your audience's attributes and interests.

Tag strategically

• Feel free to use combinations of tags to capture multiple variables. I'd watch out for over-tagging, though. 

Wrap up

Tagging is a simple and flexible tool that can help you focus your messaging and ultimately generate more conversions. 

If you have any questions, give us a shout.