Do you send out the same emails to all your customers, followers or subscribers in one hit?
If you do then you may be missing out on an opportunity to build stronger customer relationships and grow your business.
The reason is that while your customers, followers or subscribers should have many common characteristic they are also likely to have some differences.
For example if you have a range of products or services you sell then you will probably find that they do not all buy exactly the same amount or type. You may also find that some of their interests are different.
Knowing this information allows you to tailor your communication, offers and information based on this knowledge.
Luckily these days there are tools and ways to get the information and keep it updated.
Customer profile
Even if you haven’t done a profile of your current customers you can always start now. Leaving the details to your memory or pieces of paper just makes building the relationship harder.
And if you do you can forget the small details that could make a big difference.
There are numerous ways to find out more about your customers, such as observing them online to get insights into their attitudes and behaviour. It is not that difficult to do.
There are a number of low cost CRM software available such as Batch Blue. The key is to look for the similarities and the main differences that you can use to strengthen the relationship.
As well it is a good idea to keep your profiles updated as they are dynamic and can change over time.
Communication
Have you ever received an email that is obviously not targeted to you? How did that make you feel?
I am guessing but probably not that special.
One thing I have noticed is the increased communication via LinkedIn. Not sure why this is happening because with LinkedIn you have the ability to segment by location or industry for example and you can see their profiles to check whether the email is relevant to them.
Taking the time to segment may seem a bother but your contacts, customers, subscribers will thank you.
If you only have their email address and send out a newsletter or campaign with software such as Aweber or Mail Chimp you can look at the results quite easily. For example you can see who reads your newsletters on a regular basis, what topics seem to be the most popular, links they click on etc.
Looking at these results over time allows you to tailor what you are sending and to whom you are sending information to improve your results.
The more you know how your segments think, feel and behave the easier it is to communicate the right messages at the right time and have a strong relationship.
What tools or ways do you use to segment?