Lifecycle Marketing: A More Personal Approach to Email Marketing

When was the last time you created an email and sent it out to your entire subscriber list? Last week? Lifecycle marketing offers a more personal approach to creating emails by targeting them toward customers at various stages in their relationship with your company. By segmenting your audience based on their current interest level, you can create emails designed to elicit the next logical response. Still not convinced? Take a look at how lifecycle marketing approaches these three common groups of subscribers.

Subscriber #1: The Newbie

  • Profile: This subscriber has just expressed interest in your company by signing up for your email list.
  • Email Type: Send the newbie a welcome email that makes him feel appreciated and that encourages him to engage immediately.
  • Email Goals: Encourage a first purchase, educate him about your company, promote your website, and let him know you’re glad he’s on board.
  • Email Approach: Thank him for signing up and offer him a discount off his first purchase. This is also a great time to let him know what benefits he can expect to receive as a member of your subscriber list.

Subscriber #2: The Supporter

  • Profile: This is the loyal gal who loves to shop at your store and opens every email you send.
  • Email Type: Respond to the loyalty of this customer by giving her the VIP treatment. Make her feel like a valued customer and she’ll reward you with return visits and recommendations.
  • Email Goals: Encourage increased purchasing, offer excellent customer service, and increasing loyalty
  • Email Approach: Offer sneak previews for upcoming sales, give special valued-customer discounts, target email creation based on viewing history, send abandoned cart reminders, and provide immediate customer service interactions when appropriate.

Subscriber #3: The Bystander

  • Profile: This person has been a member of your email list for a while but has no recent purchases and may fail to open or click on any of your email campaigns.
  • Email Type: Seek to win back the loyalty of this subscriber with special offers and “we miss you” messages.
  • Email Goals: Jump start re-engagement, understand her concerns, and keep her from transferring loyalty elsewhere.
  • Email Approach: Solicit comments by asking for social media involvement or survey responses, offer incentives for purchases or website visits, and seek to make her feel like a valued member of your list.

The goal of lifecycle marketing is to segment your subscriber list based on their customer behavior and then to create targeted emails that encourage greater levels of participation. eConnect Email can help you reach these goals by managing subscriber data, analyzing list metrics, and building segments based on custom criteria.