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Nearly 40% of marketers struggle to get their recipients to open, reply, or click through their emails. With an astonishing estimate of 392.5 billion daily emails projected for 2026, it’s no wonder recipients are selective or simply miss your emails. Here’s where the magic of a carefully managed email database and precise targeting comes into play.
Its success comes from the quality and relevance of your data! From ensuring your list is top-notch to strategically segmenting your audience, here are some of the best ways to finesse your email database for exceptional customer experiences.
1. PERMISSION-BASED MARKETING
46% of consumers feel like they’ve lost control of their data. This serves as a wake-up call for marketers to ensure they’re using customer data correctly, and permission-based marketing can be the solution.
Permission-based marketing is exactly as it sounds: ensures you have obtained proper consent from your subscribers to receive your emails. It cannot be stressed how important this is, as it’s essential for GDPR compliance and can stop you from contacting customers who do not want to be contacted!
The recommended permission-based marketing practices are:
Ask the reader to opt-in to receive communications from you when they sign up for your newsletter or create an account.
Following this, use your Welcome Email Program to obtain a double opt-in from your readers by asking them to re-confirm their interest in hearing from you.
2. LIST SEGMENTATION
Email list segmentation and personalization are key to providing a tailored customer experience to your customers. Segmented campaigns can lead to a 760% increase in revenue, so it’s worth the time investment to get it right!
List segmentation is the process of dividing your audience base into highly specific and targeted groups based on set characteristics or behaviors. You can segment your audience in several ways:
Profile-based segmentation (age, gender, geographic location)
Calendar-based segmentation (specific events and dates)
Behavioral-based segmentation (purchasing frequency, product or service stage, and engagement level)
Here’s how it would look in Mapp Cloud’s segmentation builder:
Segmentation Builder :
Typically, marketers conduct email segmentation based on your customer’s purchase history. You can even create segments based on your customers’ engagement levels. For example, categorizing users based on how many emails they’ve opened or clicked within a set timeframe.
PRO TIP: Split your subscribers into 4 groups: most engaged, well-engaged, semi-engaged, and least engaged. The great thing here is that once you have those groups defined, you can develop tailored email content specifically for each group!
Categorizing your customers based on their behavior lets you craft messages that speak to that specific group directly, encouraging them to convert. To go a step further, once you’ve segmented them by purchasing history, send them emails at the time they are most engaged – with Mapp’s Best Send Out Time feature.
3. PERSONALIZATION
One survey revealed that 80% of respondents were more likely to buy from brands that offer personalized offers and experiences. Personalization in email marketing builds connections and boosts engagement in your email database. Leveraging your customer data helps to create personalized and tailored messages for your audience.
Relevant content delivered at the right time, builds relationships and translates into brand loyalty. Once you have this, you’ve hit the sweet spot!
PRO TIPS: Don’t underestimate the power of personalized subject lines and in-email greetings! So, this could be “[Name], view our summer offers below!” as a subject line and then “Hey [Name]” as the greeting. The beauty of personalization lies in its simplicity. It’s so simple, yet so effective!
4. DYNAMIC CONTENT
Dynamic content amplifies personalization. To define this, it’s a customized element in an email that changes based on real-time subscriber behavior or customer data. This makes it automatically easier to deliver tailored messages to your users that “change” based on the first-party data you’ve collected (with GDPR compliance in mind), as well as purchase history and subscription status.
Here’s how it would look in practice. Let’s say that you’ve been looking at a new beauty brand you’ve come across on social media, GlowRadiance. You click on their ad and a pop-up comes on the website offering free samples if you sign up with your details and create an account. Once details are submitted, you filter through the categories on their website and browse a facial cleanser, sifting between the standalone cleanser and the bundle packs.
Now comes the welcome email. In it, you see the cleanser and the bundle pack you were clicking on presented in the email with a 20% off first purchase offer. And the rest is history!
Image: Example welcome email with dynamic content blocks
5. DATABASE MAINTENANCE
Imagine you’re throwing a party. You’ve sent the invitations and are waiting for the guests to arrive. But wait, what if half of your guests don’t arrive because their invites were lost? When it comes to your email database, that’s where regular database maintenance can save the day.
Firstly, email database maintenance will keep your email list clean. By regularly cleaning out invalid or dormant email addresses, you ensure that your messages are reaching the correct people, directly affecting your open rates. It will also help you avoid dreaded spam filters, as email providers can separate the good and the bad emails from reaching customers’ inboxes. If your database is filled with inactive or suspicious email addresses, those spam filters will begin to think your emails are spam folder-worthy!
As we mentioned earlier, if your email list is full of unengaged subscribers, it would be like throwing a party where everyone sits silently. Would be a weird situation, right? Conducting regular database maintenance will help you get rid of the subscribers who aren’t engaging with your content. Doing this will allow you to keep your unsubscribe rate low, preferably below the average of 0.24%. This allows you to focus on those who are genuinely interested, which will lead to a lively and engaged community of email subscribers.
Additionally, it will help you learn more about your subscribers. As you clean your email list, you’ll uncover valuable insights about your users, improving email segmentation.
PRO TIP: Don’t underestimate the power of regular database maintenance, as it will keep your email list clean and optimized. We recommend cleaning your email database every quarter to streamline the email segmentation process and ensure you’re reaching the right audience. Doing this helps to keep your emails out of spam folders, and only your most engaged audience will receive the emails, so expect better engagement!
6. BEST SEND-OUT TIME
You’ve spent time crafting the perfect email and want to see it perform well when it lands in people’s inboxes. Yes, the content email is important, but so is the time you send it. Focusing on the best send-out time can also give you an advantage over competitors that might not be as strategic with their email databases. Several studies have revealed that the best day of the week to send emails is Thursday, closely followed by Tuesday. But this isn’t always the case, as there isn’t a one-size-fits-all rule.
Sending emails out at the wrong time has several negative consequences: low open rates, minimal engagement, reduced deliverability, and an increased unsubscribe rate. But that’s not all. Emails sent out at the wrong times can also harm your reputation, as you may unintentionally find yourself annoying your customers. An email marketer’s worst nightmare!
But it’s not only you, the email sender, that experiences negative consequences from badly timed emails. Your audience may miss opportunities they wanted to take up because of a badly timed email, for example, a time-sensitive promotion that expires before they can use it. So, you need to ensure you have your email deliverability covered with the below practices and also analyze your data for the best send-out time.
INTRODUCING BEST SENDOUT TIME : https://youtu.be/7GNeNwip2Rk
PRO TIP: Mapp’s Best Send-Out Time feature allows you to automatically send out emails at the times when your customers are most engaged. Key metrics, from open rates to conversions, will experience a boost, leading to increased revenue. Additionally, well-timed emails show your subscribers that you understand their habits and personal preferences and result in more accurate analytics, giving you valuable insights into recipient behavior.
Utilizing the best send-out feature also allows you to better personalize emails. For example, you can send an email wishing a subscriber a happy birthday, making sure it’s sent at the best time for them on the day when they’re most likely to be engaged.
MANAGE YOUR EMAIL DATABASE WITH MAPP BEST PRACTICES SERVICES
Building an engaged and high-ROI email database requires a strategic approach. If you’re not getting the results you need, it might be time to call in the experts.
Mapp’s Professional Services team is experienced in email database management and formulating successful email segmentation strategies for clients across the globe. Whether you need assistance in campaign management or deliverability, our team of experts is here to help. Ask about Mapp’s Best Practices Services to help you segment and target your email database to increase engagement and drive conversion.
This article was first published by Mapp. Permission to use has been granted by the publisher.