Dive into Open Time Email

Learning Objectives

After completing this unit, you’ll be able to:

Understand the concept and benefits of open time email.
Identify the steps to implement an open time email campaign.
Explore real-world use cases and strategic applications of open time email.

What Is Open Time Email?

Do you ever open an email message from a company you do business with that completely misses the mark? You open the message because you recognize the sender, and the subject line catches your attention. But then the content within the email seems like it’s intended for someone else. You have two dogs, but the email is all about cat toys and scratching posts. You’re a vegetarian, and you get promotions for steakhouses. Your customers deserve better than that.

With Marketing Cloud Personalization open time email (OTE), you can add one-to-one personalized content to messages you send using your existing email marketing platform. That means you can pull from all the data you have from various customer interactions to provide content that resonates with each email recipient.

Marketing Cloud Personalization OTE can be used to deliver personalized content or recommendations through any email marketing or marketing automation system. No integrations are required. Just copy and paste a block of HTML code generated by Marketing Cloud Personalization into any outgoing email campaign, even when you create using Marketing Cloud Personalization triggered or smart batch email.

Since MCP-generated content is rendered every time the message is opened, each recipient sees content that resonates with them based on their current affinities, behaviors, and preferences. And if the promotion you included in the original email expired yesterday and the recipient opens the email today, they won’t see the expired promotion. In MCP, multiple experiences, segment targeting, and A/B testing are all supported. And you have access to campaign statistics for each OTE campaign, so you can view the results of including personalized content in your email messages.

What Happens When a Recipient Receives Your Message?

Since open time emails are rendered each time the email message is opened, each recipient sees content based on their most recent interactions with your channels—which can include web, mobile, call center, in-store, and even other emails you previously sent.

This means that if a customer is perusing dog leashes the day you send the email, the content they see when they open the message is based on that behavior. But if two days later they shop for squeaky toys before they open the email, the open time content updates to promote dog toys. And since the content is rendered at open time, they won’t ever see suggestions for out-of-stock items.

In addition to behavior, open time content is also based on the parameters you set for promotions, catalog content, and the selected recommendations recipe. This means that if a promotion you include in a June email is set to expire on June 30, recipients who open that email after July 1 don’t see the promotion. Instead, they see either nothing in that space or whatever you set as the backup promotion.

Open Time Email Capabilities

Here are some examples of the customized content you can create with open time email.

Personalized Newsletters

You can customize your newsletter to recommend only the most recently published content from the categories and authors most interesting to your recipients. For example, suppose there are four groups of entrepreneurs who subscribe to your newsletter via your site—new subscribers, individuals looking to start a new business, individuals looking to buy a business, and those looking for information on money and finance. You can target each group of subscribers with customized advice. New visitors receive your standard newsletter giving them a variety of information and advice. Visitors who are interested in starting a new business receive the new business variation. Those looking to buy a business receive the buy a business variation. And visitors who spend time reviewing information on money and finance receive the finance variation.

Category-Driven Product Recommendations

You can personalize your open time emails based on browsing and purchasing behavior across online and in-store data. Include category and brand recommendations in your recipe algorithm to help surface additional items recipients might not have considered. This approach also provides the opportunity to engage with personalized experiences that meet visitors at different stages of the shopping journey. If you include different sections of recommendations in your emails, you offer even more relevant options to inspire shoppers. For example, you could create two recommendation blocks in an email. The first uses a machine learning algorithm that recommends items based on the customer’s favorite brands and the second based on the customer’s favorite categories, creating an entirely personalized email experience. You can also try variations to ensure discovery at both the brand and subcategory level or limit the recommendations to the visitors favorites.

Post-Purchase Cross-Sell

After a shopper completes a purchase on your site, send an open time email that includes recommendations for accessories or other items that complement the purchase the shopper just made. Sending this upsell email when the shopper is still excited about the purchase can help increase conversions. For example, suppose a shopper just purchased a laptop using a recipe with co-browse and co-buy ingredients. The open time content area can include related accessories, headphones, and speakers, along with a backpack case that fits the laptop. The email can also include a promotional discount that encourages shoppers to convert. Making it easy for shoppers to find what they need when they’re most motivated to buy increases the likelihood that they make an additional purchase.

Build It Yourself

Now you know how Marketing Cloud Personalization open time email allows you to create personalized recommendations and content zones that update each time a recipient opens the emails you send, delivering messages that resonate with your customers and prospects. Move on to the next unit, and learn how to build an open time email and create an open time email campaign.

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