• by Ray Schultz , Columnist, October 24, 2017

There is so much talk about automation that it’s easy to lose sight of just what it can do for you. You can, for one thing, use it to change your email content on the fly, based on a number of variables. 

This discipline, called adaptive marketing, is one way to fill the email relevance gap “between the time that emails are sent, opened and reopened,” states Bob Hale, CEO of Alterian.

Let’s say you’re selling outdoor products — you can change your copy to reflect weather patterns. Or you might update your offer based on aggregated data on the consumer. That’s only the start. Here, from Alterian, are twelve real-time adjustments you can make to your email content.  

1. Dynamic offers — Adjustments to your email promotions based on your offer changes, without having to resend the messages.
2. Self-adjusting offers — Adjustments based on real-time engagement and performance metrics.
3. Timed offers — Adjustments based on expiration dates.
4. Time from purchase — Changes based on purchase behavior since the time of the original email.
5. Aggregated customer details — Real-time adjustments to content based on customer details: aggregate historical information including lifetime value.
6. Cross-channel clicks and browsing activity — Automated changes to content based on the customer’s most recent click and browsing activity in any channel.
7. Up-sell / cross-sell — Instant adjustments based on relevant upsell and cross-sell items.
8. In-stock/out-of-stock — Automate real-time adjustments to email content and item pricing based on demand and remaining inventory stock levels.
9. Countdown timers — Automate real-time adjustments to email content based time countdown timers for things like events and time-sensitive activities.
10. Social media activity — Instant adjustments based on the customer’s social media activity, including likes and follows.
11. Known & unknown customer email receipts — Alterations based on email receipts from in-store purchased by either known or unknown customers.
12. Weather — Email adjustments based on current or future weather forecasts. 

Alterian says it can manage all this with its Chameleon Adoptive Customer Experience platform.