This article from Inc. Magazine makes some interesting points about automating sites to reach the highest level of CRM. Email can be a big part of automation.
By segmenting lists you can target your opt-in list better. For instance, if a sporting goods store surveys email recipients and asks what sports they're interested in, giving football, tennis, soccer, or swimming as the four possible responses. When the store creates email promotions or newsletters in the future, they can develop four separate versions based on these interests. Better targeting equals more loyal customers and better conversions.
The same e-commerce company can also create and set up triggered emails that go out depending on a person's actions in a Website or email. For instance, if the survey discussed above is placed in an email newsletter, the promotion for tennis can be automated to be sent out as soon as an email recipient submits the survey with tennis as a response. Or the tennis promotion can be sent out at a specific time in the future - say 48-hours after the survey is submitted. In any case, whatever the person clicks on, one of four possible email promotions is automatically triggered and sent.
The article mentions a great idea. An e-commerce company, can produce an RSS feed -- a constantly updated list of news-like items -- highlighting its latest promotions. which the “inner circle” of a customer base can place on their personal home pages.
They'd have to be a pretty dedicated customer to put this on their homepage but it could be worth looking into. How would you find out if customers want this? Ask them.
