Best Practices in Maintaining a High-Quality Database

Apr 26 / Małgorzata Wojtowicz
In the realm of modern marketing, a high-quality contact database is not only a collection of email addresses and names; rather, it is a dynamic repository of up-to-date information about potential and existing customers. It consists of accurate demographic details, behavioral insights, and personalized preferences, providing a comprehensive understanding of the target audience.

The maintenance of a high-quality contact database is paramount for achieving success in marketing activities. By leveraging accurate and relevant data, businesses can craft messages that resonate with individual preferences, leading to increased engagement, higher open rates, and ultimately, a more potent impact on the target audience.

From data enrichment tools to advanced segmentation capabilities, Synerise provides a suite of features designed to elevate the quality of marketing databases. This article aims to provide you with a list of steps to maintain a high-quality database and, additionally, show how the functionalities of the Synerise platform can achieve these steps. We will also present specific usage examples demonstrating how to implement these actions step by step.


Main problem Diagnosis:

Analyzing Decreased Open Rates and Low Message Readability

In the process of diagnosing issues within a marketing communication database, the initial step is to ascertain whether the database is accurate and free of errors. Ensuring data integrity forms the cornerstone of successful communication strategies. Following this, it becomes pivotal to assess whether communication is directed towards the right audience segment and if messages are dispatched at optimal times. It is equally essential to personalize the content of the messages, ensuring clarity, comprehensibility, and the inclusion of personalized elements. Additionally, the importance of testing cannot be overstated; conducting thorough tests allows for the identification of potential flaws and provides the opportunity for refinement before wider dissemination. This holistic approach to problem diagnosis addresses key facets, from database accuracy to content quality, ensuring a comprehensive strategy for effective marketing communication. All of these steps will be discussed in the further parts of this article.

Step 1.
Make an order in your database

Establishing orders in your marketing communication database is a strategic undertaking demanding attention. This proactive approach minimizes the likelihood of bounced emails and fosters a more dependable and engaged audience.

A comprehensive process can guide you, enriched by the capabilities of Synerise, particularly its data transformation module, to achieve a well-organized and high-quality database.
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Comprehensive Database Audit

Begin with a thorough database audit. Review the entire database, identifying and rectifying errors, inaccuracies, or outdated information while ensuring standardized data formatting.

Start from removing inactive and incorrect email addresses, change the format of data that displays incorrectly or contains errors, and in this way, update your recipient database.

The Synerise Data Transformation feature enables the swift updating and modification of datasets, negating the need for manual adjustments to the entire file. All transformations are executed on a representative sample file, adhering to the desired format. This way you may create workflows that retrieve data from external sources, modify them, and process them further.

Enhancing Data Completeness

Address missing or incomplete data using Synerise Data Transformation functionality. The flexibility of handling failed values is also emphasized, allowing users to choose options like skipping rows, stopping further transformation, or inserting null or empty values when errors occur. This streamlined approach ensures efficient data processing and compatibility with Synerise import requirements.
Use Case:
Find out how to transform and import customer data with data transformation and modifications
Use Case:
Learn how to clean your database

Step 2.
Properly segment your database

Precision in defining target groups is paramount. It involves a strategic and data-driven approach to categorize the audience based on demographics, behaviors, and preferences. Accurate segmentation ensures that marketing efforts are directed towards the individuals most likely to engage with the content.  

Once target groups are identified, the next critical step is the personalized tailoring of content to align with the unique characteristics of each segment. Personalization extends beyond merely addressing recipients by name; it involves crafting messages that resonate with the specific needs, interests, and preferences of the targeted audience. Leveraging segmentation data allows marketers to deploy highly targeted campaigns and increase the likelihood of meaningful interaction.
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Synerise segmentation allows you to create even very detailed segments based not only on customer attributes such as age or gender but also based on their behaviors. You are able to – differentiate your communication e.g.; for new and returning customers, for customers choosing a specific communication channel, or visiting a particular product category.  
Use Case:
Send messages based on the channel preferences using this channel which is the most often chosen by specific customer
Use Case:
Segment based on interest of your users in a specific category (visits on the specific URL)
Use Case:
Differentiate your communication for new and returning customers

Step 3.
Personalize your communication

Generic messages often fall short of capturing individual preferences and interests. Usage of advanced AI recommendations, revolutionizes the way you engage with your audience. This cutting-edge technology goes beyond traditional approaches, delving deep into user behaviors and preferences to deliver tailored recommendations that resonate on a personal level.  
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Synerise AI Recommendations based on real-time behavioral insights, understanding each user's unique preferences. This precision allows you to craft messages that speak directly to individual tastes, ensuring a more meaningful and engaging interaction. Recommendations adapt to evolving user preferences. This dynamic approach ensures that your recommendations align with users' changing interests, maximizing relevance and impact, delivering a hyper-personalized experience that enhances engagement and conversion rates.

Synerise offers a diverse range of AI recommendation types; Personalized Recommendations tailor suggestions based on individual buying patterns and behavioral profiles. You can also choose from: Similar Items recommendation, Cross-sell, Cart recommendation, Visual, Last Seen, Top Items, and also Section and Specific Attributes recommendations.  
Use Case:
Learn how to recommend similar items through email based on customer’s browsing history
Use Case:
Create predefined email template with personalized recommendations

Step 4.
Check if content is relevant – test different communicates

Ensuring the relevance of your content is paramount in effective marketing. Testing various communication strategies is a key practice to identify what resonates best with your audience.

This involves A/B testing methodologies where variations in titles, wording, and overall content are systematically compared. Through these experiments, businesses can identify language nuances that capture attention, evoke curiosity, and prompt desired actions. The insights gained from title and content experiments inform the refinement of future communication strategies, ensuring continuous optimization for maximum impact.
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With Synerise's Advanced ABX tests solution, this process is streamlined and insightful. ABX allows you to test different communication approaches, evaluating their impact on audience engagement and conversion rates. By systematically analyzing the performance of various content variants, you gain valuable insights into what truly resonates with your audience. This data-driven approach empowers you to refine and optimize your communication strategy, ensuring that your content remains not just informative but also highly relevant to your target audience.
Use Case:
AB tests in emails; learn how to evaluate which version is more targeted at the customer

Step 5.
Communicate with the segment with the high probability of conversion

Effectively communicating with a segment that holds a high probability of conversion is a game-changer in marketing. By analyzing user behavior and historical data, predictions provide valuable insights into segments most likely to convert. Craft personalized and compelling messages tailored to the characteristics of this high-conversion segment. Utilize predictive analytics to enhance the relevance of your content, ensuring that your communication speaks directly to the preferences and behaviors of this audience.  
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With Synerise Prediction module, you not only pinpoint your high-potential segment but also maximize the impact of your messages for optimal conversion rates.

You can use a few types of predictions, among them:

  • Custom predictions - to predict any type of event or customer’s action that can be calculated and produce a numerical or 1/0 (true/false) value. Here are a few examples of what you can predict: Open rate (OR), Click-through rate (CTR), Click-to-Open rate (CTOR) etc. Based on those predictions you can find the segment of customers who are most likely interested in your communication and will open your messages. In this way you can focus on those more engaged customers rather than those who are not interested in communication with your company.
  • You can use also Lookalikes - for discovering new segments of customers, extending reach, picking the most promising newcomers with regards to their similarity to your best customers and add them to your sending segments.

Using Synerise Predictions helps you reduce overall communication expenditures while staying within budget, such as sending newsletters exclusively to customers exhibiting the highest likelihood of specific actions. Also, it lets you gain precision in communication targeting to avoid reaching out to clients already lost. The possibility to use lookalikes predictions lets you discover untapped potential within both your existing and new customer base.
Use Case:
Find profiles who will make a conversion
Use Case:
Reach customers with the high propensity to make a conversion

Step 6.
Send your communication in the perfect time

In the era of digital communication, timing is everything. As marketers, the ability to deliver messages at the opportune moment can significantly impact engagement and conversion rates. Optimizing the delivery time based on AI algorithm recommendations is a good solution. The algorithm takes into account previous user interactions, the time when most users opened emails, ensuring higher reach to your audience group.
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With Time Optimizer, you can intelligently analyze the behavior patterns of your audience and determine the optimal time to deliver your communications. This ensures that your messages reach your audience when they are most receptive, increasing the likelihood of openings, clicks, and conversions. Synerise's Time Optimizer takes the guesswork out of timing, allowing you to deliver content with precision and efficiency.  
Use Case:
Optimize the sending time of a promotional code campaign
Use Case:
Optimize sending sales campaigns by predicting the best time

Step 7.
Use capping

Striking the right balance between engagement and avoiding message overload is essential. Capping feature is a tool which allows you to set limits on the frequency of messages, preventing potential spamming and ensuring a seamless user experience. Sending too many messages can lead to user disengagement and the risk of being labeled as spam.  
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With Synerise's Capping feature, you gain control over the frequency of messages, preventing the inadvertent flooding of your users' inboxes. This is particularly crucial in scenarios involving advanced processes in automation, where there's a risk of multiple messages being triggered if users meet specific criteria. By setting up capping at the outset, you ensure a balanced and respectful communication approach.

The challenge of message frequency is also pertinent in dynamic content campaigns. With Synerise's Capping, you can precisely manage how often dynamic content is presented to users. The same principle applies to campaigns within mobile applications, where you should prevent excessive push notifications and ensure that your mobile audience receives messages in a carefully paced manner.

Step 8.
Ask for the opinion

Engaging with your audience and seeking their opinions is an integral part of effective communication. Utilizing dynamic content feature, you can seamlessly integrate this practice into your email campaigns. Ask your audience for their valuable feedback by incorporating dynamic content that specifically queries the usefulness of the information provided. Enhance interaction by dynamically presenting questions about the overall communication experience and the frequency of messages.  
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Synerise dynamic content empowers you to personalize these inquiries based on individual preferences, ensuring that your feedback requests are not only relevant but also enhance the user experience. This interactive and personalized approach not only fosters a sense of involvement but also provides actionable insights for refining your communication strategy.
Use Case:
Send a short NPS survey which might be added to email, or displayed on the website

Step 9.
Monitor and Analyze Results

Remember to regularly track campaign performance and adapt strategies based on data insights. Regular monitoring enables real-time visibility into campaign effectiveness, allowing you to make good decisions and promptly address any deviations from expected outcomes.
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Monitor and Analyze Results with Synerise Dashboards:
Here are a few elements of the dashboard which you should take into account:

  • General Campaign Performance: Monitor key metrics such as open rates, click-through rates, and conversion rates. Visualize data trends to understand the effectiveness of your strategies.
  • Segmentation Effectiveness: Track how well different audience segments respond to your campaigns and identify opportunities for further refinement.
  • Conversion Funnel Analysis: Delve deep into the customer journey. Identify strengths and weaknesses in your funnels, allowing you to optimize each stage for maximum conversions.
  • User Engagement Insights: Monitor insights into user engagement across various channels. Understand which touchpoints are most effective, allowing you to allocate resources where they'll make the most impact.

Conclusion

Maintaining a high-quality contact database is not merely about collecting email addresses; it's about curating a dynamic repository enriched with accurate demographic details, behavioral insights, and personalized preferences. Such a database serves as the cornerstone for targeted and personalized communication strategies, leading to increased engagement and a more profound impact on the target audience.

The article emphasizes the importance of a comprehensive diagnostic approach, database organization, precise segmentation, content relevance testing, and the use of Synerise tools for optimal results, ensuring marketers can navigate the complexities of modern communication successfully. 

Małgorzata Wojtowicz

Senior Product Marketing Manager