A Direct Marketing Agency - Helping Brands Acquire and Retain Customers

A study recently published by Internet Retailer indicates that of the 300 merchants that took part in their survey in April 2007, 94.5% are building bigger opt-in lists and 64.7% are conducting more e-mail campaigns than a year ago. What was interesting though, was that only half (56.6%) of the respondents segment their e-mail lists. Why build a bigger database if you’re not going to take the time to build a relationship with the customers that have already opted in?

In Chris Baggott’s new book E-mail Marketing by the Numbers (which I highly recommend you read if you manage an e-mail program or are considering one) he stresses that “list size is not the goal – relationships that make your organization money are the appropriate goal.” Relationships come from targeting and relevance, not from frequency.” Segmentation really boils down to identifying what will keep your customers engaged. There are many ways to segment your e-mail database, but Baggott recommends these three tactics just for starters:

• Thank your “best” customers and stop asking them to do more. Show them how much they mean to you by making them part of the team (advisory boards, clubs, memberships, etc.).
• Show your best stuff to new subscribers.
• Once you’ve identified your “best” customers, look for others who share similar characteristics (“almost best”) and try to move them to the next level. This is where experimentation and testing can really pay off.