PatronManager

Yesterday I attended a Webinar
produced by one of the leading companies that helps large corporations optimize
their e-mail campaigns. Frankly, I was trolling for new ideas. What was great
about it was that it confirmed a lot of my thinking, but more importantly, it
shed light on one particular area that I think is often
overlooked. 

The topic that caught my attention
was "re-energizing your lapsed names." In other words, if you’re getting a 30%
open rate each time, over some period of time there is bound to be a segment of
your list that just doesn’t open your e-mail ever. That may not necessarily be
terrible, as some people may only want that gentle reminder in their in-box.
However, there may be a way to re-engage with those who don’t open your email.

First, of course, your e-mail system
has to enable you to segment by "non-openers over some time-frame" and then you
can mail to them. I think a survey might be the right way to address this group.
I think it might be really interesting to know why they aren’t paying much
attention to your e-mails. Or, send this group an incentive offer, and see if
that gets them to bite.

The bottom line is that you can’t
think of your list as a homogenous whole. It’s got segments, and you need to pay
attention to each of them, particularly the segment that isn’t paying any attention
to you!