My talk at Completely Email October 2014 about why we shouldn't spray and pray when email marketing. Plus a case study on using historical data to provide a very customised email, and the results of applying this technique

1. @becskr
Say no to spray and pray
Becs Rivett

2. @becskr
What is spray and pray?

3. @becskr

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S
E
E
A
T

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Stop
Emailing
Everyone
All the
Time

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There’s another way…
• Contextual relevancy
• Creating a preference centre
• Using historical data

7. @becskr
“You don’t need
lukewarm well-wishers.
You’re looking for
raging fans.”
http://rebootauthentic.com/the-sales-simplicity-series-how-not-to-spray-and-pray/

8. @becskr
I’m not an analyst…
• How much data do you
have to work with?
• Understand the
customer’s repeat
purchase cycle
• Learn about your
customers in order to
make data decisions

9. @becskr
A case study
• Email opted-in list size: 700k
• Customer purchase history: Last 12 months
• Control group size: 20%

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Purchase data
Total items sold: 792,369
Total customers with sales > 0 (minus returns) :
232,264
No of items sold per customer
• 1-2 items – 56.11% of customers
• 3-5 items – 28.34% of customers
• 6+ items – 15.55% of customers

11. @becskr
Allocating preferences
• Calculate how much of each type of product
customer has bought
• Then calculate that as a percentage of total
purchases

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Email setup

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Applying preferences
• 76-100% in one department – 6 slots
• 51%-75% in one department – 4 slots
• 26-50% in one department – 3 slots
• 0-25% in one department – 2 slots

14. @becskr
Email results
• Clicks: 0.4% higher

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Order results
• Conversions: 21% higher with preferences
• Revenue: 23% higher with preferences

16. @becskr
Don’t over-target though
11 emails over 2 weeks

17. @becskr
And it’s ok sometimes…
• Discounts
• Sales
• Occasional new products
• Season launch
• Terms and conditions changes