The databases used for email messaging usually contain various bits of information about the recipients (apart from their email addresses). Frequently, these are demographical data that enable targeting of campaigns, or post addresses. Each database should be regularly updated. It requires direct contact with recipients; as such, it is painstaking and costly. However, there is a way to steer clear of this problem.

If we include an edit profile footer in a newsletter, our subscribers will be able to update their data on their own. When the footer link is clicked, our recipients are redirected to a special panel that enables edition of their individual data. 

Subscribers can put their new mailing address, or change their topic group subscriptions. The latter functionality is especially useful when we are segmenting the addressees according to their areas of interest, or their reading preferences. Frequently, when the subscribers use the Internet subscription form to add their name to some database, they choose the types of information they would like to receive. When this is completed, their email addresses are allocated to specific groups; however, they may change their mind, and want to unsubscribe later, and subscribe to some other group. We can easily enable these actions when we include such a footer in our email message. It is also important that we can describe the footer however we like; we can call it e.g. “manage your subscriptions” or “update your personal information”.

As a result, an edit profile option enables all recipients to control their subscription preferences, and all marketing departments find it much easier to have updated information at their disposal.

Tagi: database