In the general sense, ‘content’ in email marketing refers to all content elements of a newsletter or mailing.
The content elements are essentially texts and images. They may be editorial articles, product information or product images – in other words, classical content elements – but also ‘dynamic’ information, such as the current weather conditions or tailored product recommendations.
In principle, you have two possibilities for filling your mailing with content.
Create content in Inxmail Professional
You can create and administer content directly in Inxmail Professional. This is usually the case for texts that you create specifically for the respective newsletter. An example is the introduction text together with an overview of the current mailing. You can likewise ‘administer’ the images in the mailing by embedding them into the mailing. This can be useful for your company logo, so that it does not have to be downloaded when the mailing is opened in an email client.
Integrate external content in Inxmail Professional
Alternatively, you can create and administer content outside Inxmail Professional, and then integrate it into your mailing. This can be useful for texts that you use at various places in your company and want to maintain at only one place. An example is the imprint or a disclaimer.
It is recommended that images be administered outside Inxmail Professional, that is to say, stored on an external Web server and integrated into the mailing via a link.
Which content can I integrate?
Besides images, there are plenty of other content elements that you can create and administer externally and integrate into your mailings. It can be content from your content management system. You can also integrate the contents of your blog into your mailing. If you operate an online shop, it is particularly advantageous to integrate product information directly from your online shop into your mailing. This can be optimised by integrating recipient-specific contents from your online shop into your mailing.
Advantages of integrating external content
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Reuse
In most companies there is already a wealth of editorial content that is directly suitable for email marketing, or requires only minor revisions before it can be used for this purpose.
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Currency
If you maintain product prices in your online shop, they are also up to date when you create your mailing.
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Personalised contents
The use of external content enables personalised product recommendations (‘Next best offer’) for each mailing recipient. The use of recipient-specific contents can significantly increase the success of a mailing.
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Reproduction of complex data structures
In some constellations, it can happen that the data structure required for the personalisation in the mailing cannot be reproduced through the use of recipient details in Inxmail Professional, or can be reproduced only to a limited degree (for example, participation confirmation for 1 to n persons, customer with 1-n contracts, and so on).
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Recipient details outside Inxmail Professional
You might want to use external content if you do not wish to store particular recipient details permanently in Inxmail Professional. This could be for reasons related to data currency or data protection, or for security reasons.
