Filed in Email Marketing
Published Apr 24th, 2023
Targeted email marketing is a form of direct marketing that uses email to deliver messages to specific groups of customers or prospects, and lead generation with email marketing is becoming more popular.
It's more than just sending out an email blast to everyone on your list--it's about creating personalized messages based on the recipient's interests, demographics and preferences. This can be done through various types of data collection (such as surveys), but it also involves analyzing past purchases and behaviors to determine what type of content would be most relevant for each individual customer.
Who should use targeted email marketing? A company selling products or services online should consider using this type of marketing because it allows them to reach potential customers on their own terms without having to spend money on advertising campaigns (which may not always reach the right audience).
Benefits of Targeted Email Marketing
There are a number of benefits to targeted email marketing, including:
- Reach. You can send your message to thousands, even millions, of past and potential customers with relatively low effort.
- Relevance. Targeted emails are relevant to your audience and their interests, which means they're more likely to open and click through your messages.
- Personalization. You can use data from previous interactions with customers (such as shopping cart abandonment), website visits, and other sources to personalize the content in each message--allowing you to speak directly with each recipient on an individual level without sounding like a robot or spammer!
- Increased ROI/ROE (Return On Investment/Return On Engagement). When done correctly, targeted email marketing campaigns can improve sales conversions by up to 40% while also reducing costs associated with traditional advertising channels such as TV commercials or print ads by up 50%.
- Better CPA. Conversion rates for email marketing are typically much lower than other channels, but because of the low cost of sending email, the cost per action is generally much lower. We’ve seen CPAs that are as low as 2 to 4 percent those of social media and paid search.
Best Practices for Targeted Email Marketing
Targeted email marketing is a great way to reach your audience, but it can be expensive. Here are some tips for getting the best value and highest volume from your email marketing.
- Use opt-in lists. Your mailing list should be users who have purchased from you before, or who have explicitly asked for information from your organization.
- Include a call to action. The first step in any email marketing campaign is to make sure that you have a clear call-to-action (CTA) that directs the user to take some sort of action. If you want them to click through and visit your website, include an obvious link or button for them to do so. If you want them to sign up for something like an email list, make it easy by having a CTA at the top of each email that says "sign up now!"
- Use dynamic content and segmentation tools like Vero or MailChimp's dynamic content builder where possible so that every recipient sees personalized content based on their interests and previous interactions with your brand--this can help increase engagement rates significantly.
- Use the right tool for the job. If you want to send out emails with images or links, consider using a platform like Mailchimp or HubSpot that specializes in these features. HubSpot, in particular, is great for workflows that send event-based emails.
- Abide by the law. The USA’s CAN-SPAM Act has seven main provisions:
- Don’t use false or misleading header information, such as your “From,” “To,” “Reply-To,” and routing information.
- Don’t use deceptive subject lines.
- Identify the message as an ad.
- Tell recipients where you’re located. This means your valid physical postal address.
- Tell recipients how to opt out of receiving future email from you.
- Honor opt-out requests within 10 days.
- Monitor what others are doing on your behalf. If you're using an outside agency for your email marketing, make sure they're in compliance - you'll be the one fined, not your agency!
Conclusion
Targeted email marketing is a great way to reach potential customers, or re-engage past or existing clients. CPAs tend to be lower than other channels, meaning higher ROI. Email is a great secondary option for digital marketing campaigns, offering the perfect helper to successful paid search or social media efforts.
Read more articles about Email Marketing.