Successful marketing requires knowing your audience and putting yourself in their shoes.
Exclude customers who don’t want to be emailed
To make newsletters effective, the target audience should be studied. Create a buyer persona for your target market. Consider excluding customers who recently purchased an item at full retail value from your newsletter. As a result, your customer service teams will be less stressed.
Instead of emailing all subscribers, create targeted lists based on key statistics
Asserting that everyone is your target market is equivalent to claiming your product is unoriginal. Having highly targeted lists based on key statistics can help reduce unsubscribe rates while increasing open and click-through rates (CTR). Retail has an average open rate of 21% and a CTR of 3%, according to a 2017 report. My company launched a campaign with a 50% open rate and a 13% CTR, which is 132-425 percent higher than the industry average.
Examine customer buying habits to avoid overgeneralization
Buying a sweater for his wife for her birthday shouldn’t automatically sign him up for women’s clothing newsletters. A poorly targeted and overgeneralized marketing campaign may result in a customer unsubscribing from the company’s newsletters. Companies can still analyze purchase history and draw informed conclusions without a user-specified preference.
Consider a two-day campaign rather than a “one-day only” campaign
Not everyone checks their email’s sales and promotions tab daily, so they may miss a flash sale by a few hours. Consumers are more likely to buy if the sale period is shorter, but too short may cost you a day’s worth of revenue. A two-day campaign allows your company to re-engage customers with a “sale ends soon” reminder. In my testing, two-day sales often result in as many conversions on the second day as the first.
If you send email reminders, promote new product categories to customers
This automated upselling works well if your company has multiple product categories. If a customer has signed up for water filter reminders, recommending other products (like furnace or pool filters) in the same email often results in an upsell. Don’t be afraid to introduce them to products they might not have considered or purchased on their own.
Consider email marketing beyond the inbox
Today’s consumer demands a customized experience. Customer interaction with e-commerce environments and newsletters includes website interaction, reviews, customer service, product delivery, and overall transaction satisfaction. A total customer experience mentality is often required to run a successful campaign. A total customer experience increases customer loyalty and retention by positively influencing value perception.
Overall, remember to format marketing materials to appeal to your target audience’s preferences. While every industry is different, rethinking traditional email marketing helps keep customers at the forefront of the company’s mind.