Just before Christmas we undertook an email marketing campaign on behalf of a client. It was particularly interesting because the list was split into 3 distinct target groups:
- Existing and Past Customers
- Prospects and Enquirers
- Other Contacts (including some ‘bought-in’ data)
The content of the message was similar in all cases but the outcome statistics were remarkably different:
Open Rates
Click-Through Rates
Customers: 1.4% Prospects: 0.8% Cold Targets: 0.45%
Unsubscribe Rates
Customers: 0% Prospects: 0% Cold Targets: 0.5% It’s perhaps not surprising that Customers came out on top – they are the contacts with the strongest relationship with the sender; but look, open rates nearly double and click-through rates nearly treble those of the cold targets. Yet most people thinking of email marketing look at it as a tool to target new contacts.
TIP: Your customers are out there and are keen to keep in touch with you!
