The Guide to Data Driven Email Marketing

The Guide to Data Driven Email Marketing

Data driven email marketing is more than a buzzword - it is the foundation of high-performing campaigns. When done right, it leads to smarter decisions, stronger engagement, and better ROI across your customer lifecycle.

At LINK Mobility, we believe in making data practical. In this guide, we break down the steps to help you collect, structure, and activate your data - so your email marketing becomes not just efficient, but strategic.

Step 1: Collect the Right Data for Data Driven Email Marketing

Every data driven email marketing strategy starts with smart data collection. You need accurate, relevant data to personalize and automate with confidence.

Start by integrating your systems - CRM, eCommerce platform, and your ESP (like MyLINK MarketingPlatform). The smoother the connection, the less data you lose and the more complete your customer profiles become.

Types of Data and How to Collect It

Data TypeDefinitionExamples of Collection Methods
Zero-party dataData customers voluntarily shareQuizzes, surveys, preference forms
First-party dataData collected from customer interactions with your channelsEmail clicks, page views, purchases, behavior-based tagging
Third-party dataExternal data bought or accessed from outside sourcesMeta Pixel, data partnerships (less valuable due to privacy changes)

The more you rely on zero- and first-party data, the more compliant, accurate, and personal your email marketing becomes.

Step 2: Organize and Visualize for Better Data Driven Decisions

Once collected, your email data must be organised and easy to interpret. Without structure, data creates confusion - not insight.

Many email tools offer basic analytics, but for true data driven email marketing, you may want to integrate with tools.

These tools help you:

  • Visualize performance over time

  • Understand which segments respond best

  • Get a clear overview of your email campaign effectiveness

When you can see what your data is telling you, you can act faster and more precisely.

Step 3: Analyse to Improve Your Data Driven Email Marketing

Now it is time to transform your data into strategy. The goal is to understand what drives performance - and what does not.

The metrics to check:

  • Open rate, Click-through rate (CTR), Click-to-open rate (CTOR), and Revenue per recipient (RPR)

  • Performance trends over time

  • Breakdown of results from campaigns vs. flows

  • Engagement by send day and time

  • Email type performance (promotions, updates, transactional, etc.)

  • Segment engagement by traits (e.g. interests, location, spend level)

Deep analysis helps you fine-tune your approach, ensuring your data driven email marketing strategy stays relevant and effective.

Step 4: Activate Your Data Across Campaigns and Flows

Now for the fun part - putting your insights to work. First, clean your data. Remove outdated, inaccurate, or inactive contacts. Then segment your audience to make your email marketing more relevant to every group.

Smart Segments to Use:

  • B2B vs. B2C customers

  • Location-based segments

  • Subscribers by interest or category

  • High-value customers (e.g. spent over X amount)

  • Long-term subscribers who have not purchased

Once your segments are ready, your data driven email marketing can scale more intelligently.

5 Ways to Use Data in Email Marketing

Once your data is collected, organised, and analysed, the real value comes from putting it into action. Data driven email marketing allows you to move beyond generic campaigns and start delivering messages that are timely, personal, and relevant.

Whether you are building from scratch or refining existing campaigns, these five tactics will help you turn insights into impact:

  • 1. Personalize Campaigns

    Use customer data to tailor subject lines, content, and product recommendations to match individual interests and behaviours.

  • 2. Automate Based on Behaviour

    Set up automated flows that trigger when a subscriber performs or does not perform - specific actions across your channels.

  • 3. Optimize Based on Results

    Use ongoing performance data to improve your strategy, adjusting timing, frequency, and messaging based on what delivers the strongest outcomes.

  • 4. Sync Data Across Platforms

    Connect your email platform with advertising and CRM tools to extend targeting and messaging across your full marketing ecosystem.

  • 5. Reinforce Segmentation with Real-Time Updates

    Keep your segments dynamic by continuously updating them based on live data, so your campaigns stay relevant throughout the customer journey.

The Power of Data Driven Email Marketing

If you want to stop guessing and start growing, data driven email marketing is the way forward. Following these four steps - collect, organise, analyse, and activate - puts you on the path to consistently better performance.

You do not need to be a data scientist to succeed. With a clear structure and tools like MyLINK MarketingPlatform, your business can unlock smarter targeting, deeper engagement, and measurable results - backed by the data you already have.

Did you find the article and topic interesting?

If you would like to explore the subject further, discuss ideas, or understand how it could apply to your business, we are here to continue the conversation.

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