So in this day and age, most of us are aware that many of our activities are tracked. Internet usage, cell phone usage, GPS-based location data on smartphones and there’s even a rumor out there that the Federal Government can tap into your cell phone, even if it is off, and eavesdrop on the conversation in the room. But that isn’t the type of tracking or watching we’re going to look at today. No, the tracking we’re talking about is good for you, it’s beneficial. It’s what allows the companies with more advanced systems to deliver the right content to you at the right time. Example: it’s been 9 months since your last vacation and you need a break. Is it a complete coincidence that the Jetblue email lands in your inbox that week? Or the camera you bought online from Best Buy and picked up at your local store… is it a coincidence that 2 weeks later you receive an email featuring memory cards and camera cases? The answer is no, it is not mere coincidence but rather somewhat advanced behavioral profiling.

So Big Brother may be watching, but if he’s delivering relevant content to you, does it bother you? By this point, you’ve been targeted because of a combination of many possible tracking methods: email interaction, purchase behavior (RFM data), cookies, tracking pixels and click tracking, to name a few. But isn’t this part of the reason we love email and even the root of what makes social and text messages so appealing? Timely, relevent content?

This about what data you have and how your data is structured. Dig into your ESP’s database, see if you can sync that database with the database for your e-commerce store and then start sending relevant and timely content. Engage and convert!