Target my emails? But it's extra work! And I would reach fewer customers! But what if the customers who do receive the emails are much more likely to act on them? And likely to spend more? The pros might outweigh the cons.
Targeted emails refer to emails that are sent to certain individuals based on actions they have taken or specific attributes related to those actions. These reasons may include their past preferences, recent purchases or downloads, amount of last purchase and so on. Email marketing provides many opportunities to gather data about customers, and this data can be used to better target future email campaigns.
The debate is whether it is more profitable to send out mass emails to everyone on an email list or to send targeted emails to smaller segments of that list. Targeted emails consistently enjoy higher open rates and conversion rates than mass emails, but they reach a smaller number of customers.
Many organizations do not send out targeted emails because it takes additional time and resources to develop separate email campaigns that are directed at particular groups of customers. These emails are not sent to everyone, so you may perhaps miss connecting with someone who would have been interested in that email.
Targeted emails, however, are meant to filter out people who do not usually open or respond to the main email blast or those who do open but never purchase or respond to the call to action. Some companies feel that targeted email campaigns are worth it because they reach out to customers who are already active and have purchased or taken action in the past. These customers are more likely to purchase due to an email campaign than customers who have never purchased through emails.
You can also create a targeted email to be sent out to certain customers who may be interested in products related to the ones they have already bought. If you see that a large number of your customers have purchased a book by a certain author, you could send out a targeted email promotion to those customers to receive 25% off all other books by that author.
Another factor that makes targeted emails attractive to customers is that they often include exclusive deals that other customers do not have access to. Everyone likes to receive personal attention, even through email offers, and if you see that a company has sent you a private special offer you want to seize the opportunity to act on the offer.
Sending targeted emails can be highly successful. If you've only ever sent out mass email blasts to all your customers, you might consider testing a targeted email campaign. Check out customers' history. Who is active? Who is not? Who has purchased recently? Who purchases often? You have a wealth of marketing information available from emails that you have sent out in the past. Review the data and try targeting. You may just hit the bulls-eye.
