Email Tagging: The Steps To Take For Efficient Marketing In 2023

Let’s assume you run a home decor store. This month you are launching a line of wall posters & mirrors but only in the city of Boston. In order to generate awareness about these new products, you want to send an email campaign to your subscribers. 

But it’s truly pointless to send emails to your customers in cities other than Boston. You can use a special option to identify the group to whom you should send the emails so that the information is relevant only to them. And that’s when email tagging comes to help.

Email tags – what are they?

Email tags are pieces of code that help you to track and analyze the performance of your emails. When you add a tag to an email, you can use it in your tracking software to follow its progress through the inboxes of your recipients. You can also use tags to track when people open your emails, click on links within them, or forward them on to other people.

This will allow you to:

• Personalize your emails based on the data you have about that person.

• Make sure all of your emails are using consistent language and style.

• Increase open rates by providing useful information and links that are related to what they might be interested in.

How to use email tags in your campaigns?

So, email tagging is a process of categorizing and organizing your email marketing campaigns by assigning tags to them based on their specific attributes or characteristics. Email tagging helps you keep track of your email campaigns, measure their performance, and optimize them for better results.

Here are some ways email tagging can be useful in email marketing:

1. Segmentation

Email tagging allows you to segment your email list based on the tags assigned to each email campaign. By doing so, you can send targeted emails to specific groups of subscribers based on their interests or behaviors.

2. A/B testing

You can use email tagging to track the performance of your A/B tests by assigning tags to each variant of your email. This will help you determine which email performed better and make data-driven decisions for future campaigns.

3. Reporting

Email tagging can help you generate more detailed reports by allowing you to filter and compare data based on the tags assigned to each campaign. This will help you identify trends, spot areas of improvement, and measure the overall effectiveness of your email marketing efforts.

4. Organization

By assigning tags to your email campaigns, you can easily organize them and find them later when you need to refer to them. This can be especially useful if you have a large number of email campaigns or if you have multiple people working on your email marketing team.

And now let’s take a closer look at each case of using email tags.

Segmentation with email tags

Segmentation with email tags is a technique to categorize and group subscribers based on:

• their interests, 
• behavior, 
• demographics. 

It involves assigning specific tags or labels to subscribers’ email addresses to identify them as part of a particular segment.

For example, you may tag subscribers who have previously purchased products related to health and wellness as “health-conscious,” while subscribers who have purchased items related to outdoor activities may be tagged as “outdoor enthusiasts.” 

With this information, you can create targeted email campaigns that specifically address the interests and needs of each segment.

Segmentation with email tags allows making personalized and relevant email campaigns, increasing the likelihood that subscribers will engage with and respond positively to the email content. 

How to start segmentation with email tags?

To implement segmentation with email tags, you should use an email marketing software that allows adding, remove, and modify tags based on subscriber behavior or attributes. 

Such software may also provide analytics and reporting features that enable marketers to measure the effectiveness of their segmented email campaigns and make data-driven decisions to optimize their email marketing strategy.

Email tags in A/B testing

Email tags can be a useful tool for A/B testing because they allow you to track and compare different versions of your email campaign. 

Here are the steps to use email tags for A/B testing:

1. Create different versions of your email campaign. 

Make two or more versions of your email campaign with different variables such as subject lines, content, call-to-actions, images, etc.

2. Tag your email campaigns.

Use email tags to label each version of your campaign. You can use any naming convention that works for you, such as “Version A,” “Version B,” “Test 1,” “Test 2,” etc.

3. Send your email campaigns.

Send each version of your email campaign to a different segment of your audience. For example, you could send Version A to one group of subscribers and Version B to another group of subscribers.

4. Track your email campaigns.

Monitor the performance of each version of your email campaign by tracking the email tags. You can use your email service provider’s reporting tools to see which version of your email campaign had a higher open rate, click-through rate, conversion rate, etc.

5. Analyze the results.

Analyze the data to determine which version of your email campaign performed better. Use the insights gained to refine your email marketing strategy and create more effective email campaigns in the future.

Overall, using email tags for A/B testing is an effective way to measure the success of your email campaigns and improve your email marketing strategy.

Reporting with the help of email tags

Email tags can be used to generate reports by assigning specific tags to different types of emails, such as sales inquiries, customer complaints, or technical support requests. 

Once the tags are assigned, they can be used to sort and organize the emails, making it easier to generate reports based on the data they contain.

To generate reports using email tags you should follow these steps:

1. Choose the tags you want to use.

Before you can start using tags to generate reports, you need to decide which tags you want to use. This will depend on the type of information you want to track and report on. Some examples of tags you might use include “Sales”, “Customer Support”, “Bug Report”, or “Feedback”.

2. Assign tags to incoming emails. 

Once you have chosen your tags, you can start assigning them to incoming emails. This can be done manually by adding a tag to the subject line or body of the email, or automatically by setting up rules in your email client.

3. Sort and filter emails by tag. 

Once your emails are tagged, you can sort and filter them by tag. This will allow you to view all emails with a specific tag in one place, making it easier to analyze the data they contain.

4. Generate reports.

Finally, you can use sorted and filtered emails to generate reports. Depending on the type of information you want to report on, you might create charts or graphs to visualize the data, or you might simply summarize the information in a written report.

By organizing your emails with tags, you can quickly and easily generate reports that provide valuable insights into your business.

Organizing email campaigns with tags

Email tags are labels or keywords that you can attach to your emails to help you sort, filter, and search them.

Use our tips on how to organize your email campaigns with tags:

1. Define your email tags.

Start by deciding on a set of tags that will be useful for your email campaigns. You could use tags to indicate:

• the purpose of the email (e.g. promotional, informational, newsletter), 
• the audience (e.g. prospects, customers, subscribers), 
• the stage of the sales funnel (e.g. awareness, consideration, conversion), 
• any other criteria that will help you categorize your emails.

2. Use consistent naming conventions. 

Make sure you have consistent naming conventions for your tags so that you can easily find and group related emails. 

For example, you could use a prefix or suffix to indicate the type of tag (e.g. “AUDIENCE: customers”, “PURPOSE: promotional”).

3. Tag your emails systematically.

When you send an email as part of your campaign, tag it immediately with the appropriate labels. You could use a color-coding system to make it easier to distinguish between different types of tags.

4. Filter and search your emails.

Use your email client’s filtering and search features to find emails with specific tags. For example, you could filter your inbox to show only emails with the “Promotional” tag, or search for emails with both the “Customers” and “Conversion” tags.

5. Analyze your email campaign performance.

Use your email tags to track the performance of your campaigns over time. You could measure metrics like open rates, click-through rates, and conversion rates for each tag to see which types of emails are resonating with your audience.

As you can see, using email tags can help you stay organized, save time, and improve the effectiveness of your email campaigns.

Wrapping Up

In 2023, using email tags in email marketing is a useful technique for improving the effectiveness of email campaigns. Email tags help to increase the relevance and personalization of email content, leading to higher open and click-through rates and ultimately, better conversion rates.

However, it’s important to use email tags thoughtfully and strategically. You should avoid over-segmenting the lists and sending too many emails to subscribers, which can lead to email fatigue and increased unsubscribe rates. Instead, make focus on creating valuable, relevant content that speaks to each segment’s unique interests and needs.