Enhancing customer experience through staggered email sending

Personalization is key to successful email marketing

Everyone’s inboxes are overflowing with unread messages from friends, family and plenty of email lists. A typical email campaign sends emails to the entire audience at a predetermined date and time. In contrast, a staggered send involves dividing your email list into smaller segments and distributing the emails over a set period.

With this approach, each segment receives the email at different times. Not only that, you can customize the content and message of emails to each audience segment, further personalizing the customer experience.

In a world where most emails go unopened, staggered email sending offers a refreshing approach to increase the impact of your email marketing.

A multi-pronged approach to segmenting your audiences

Imagine transforming your email marketing from generic blasts into tailored conversations that resonate deeply with each of your customers. It’s possible with staggered email sending, but determining just how to segment your audience is an exercise in and of itself.

Delivra mentions staggering emails for new product releases and sales promotions. Below you’ll find a few other suggestions that are more focused on the customer than your product.

Segment based on customer needs and preferences

Define how you want to group your customers. This should relate to your customer’s behaviors, needs and preferences and should align with the types of products and services you’re marketing.

If you run a business selling hair care products for people with curly hair, you can segment your audience based on their curl type: curly, tight, coily or locs. What do you think will happen when that customer receives emails and product updates tailored to their specific hair texture?

They’ll feel more ease in the buying journey, now that you’ve saved them the step of sorting through products. They’ll learn about products they may not have been in the market for, but actually need to take care of their curls. They’ll begin to associate your company with solutions rather than unnecessary promotions.

Adapt this logic to your own business, to start tailoring your message to more timely and relevant needs.

Let customers choose how they’re segmented on your list

Build an email preference center into your email opt-in process. This gives your customers the ability to select the type of content they want to receive, from product updates, blog posts and discounts to other types of content and email campaigns you may be offering in your business.

Another way to segment by choice is to collect information like birthdays and anniversaries, which gives you the ability to send special offers or greetings around these personal milestones.

Segmenting based on customer journey

Another level of segmentation hones in on where your customer is in their buying journey. If you have behavior tracking at the customer level set up on your website, you can do things like send an email after a customer has visited a specific page on your website, viewed certain products, and so on.

One of the most common automated emails for product-based businesses is the cart abandonment email, but even this can be done using staggered email sending rather than time-based sending.

Delivra recommends behavioral based segmentation like a purchase, website visit or email open/click be sent based on the subscriber’s time zone. So not only is your customer reminded of their recent interaction with your business, they receive that reminder when they're actually available to take action.

Beyond timing your emails, knowing where customers live opens up the opportunity for you to send emails with location-specific information, such as relevant local events and meetups, updates about popup stores and more.

Track your metrics and keep customizing

As you launch campaigns, be sure to monitor engagement metrics and adjust your email marketing strategy in real-time. Beyond open rates, staggered sending can improve deeper engagement metrics like click-through rates and conversion rates. Staggered sending can also improve customer retention by demonstrating an understanding of, and respect for, the customer’s time and preferences.

For entrepreneurs eager to deepen their understanding and refine their email marketing strategies, reviewing Delivra’s article on staggered email sending is a strong start. Email can be a powerful tool for building lasting customer relationships, and Delivra’s tips provide insight on how to transform your email sending strategy from batch to personalized customer messages.