A Target Audience is defined as the group of individuals, or for email marketing purposes the specific list or segment, at which a campaign is aimed.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s the target demographic for each marketing effort.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s also who would be most likely to convert, based on each targeted email<\/a> campaign you send.<\/p>\n For example, if you owned a plumbing company, your target audience would be homeowners or landlords.<\/p>\n It\u2019s important to remember that the target audience is who is most likely to purchase your goods or services and not necessarily for whom the goods and services are intended.<\/p>\n Take, for example, a toy store. Yes, kids (of all ages) will play with the toys. However, more often than not it\u2019s parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles who are most likely to be buying the toys.<\/p>\n In our guide, What Makes a Great Email<\/em><\/a>, we discussed that content makes an email great.<\/p>\n However, subject line, email copy and a Call To Action are only half of what we said makes for great emails<\/a>.<\/p>\n Your target audience is the other part of what will make your emails great.<\/p>\n To paraphrase an old saying, greatness is in the eye of the beholder.<\/p>\n In the above examples of inbox overload, all could have been avoided had the subscribers been able to relate to the tone and content of the emails. That would have made those emails great to those users.<\/p>\n This is why it\u2019s imperative to make sure each campaign you send is directed towards the correct target audience.<\/p>\n After all, we\u2019ve all surely heard the famous John Lydgate quote, that was also famously shared by Abraham Lincoln.<\/p>\n \u2026you can\u2019t please all of the people all of the time.<\/em><\/p>\n A lot of the time, your whole contact list will not be interested in all of the emails you want to send. However, a targeted email to the right audience is far more likely to find a happy audience.<\/p>\n Are your emails being sent to the appropriate audience?<\/p>\n It\u2019s important to serve the needs and interests of each subscriber. A targeted audience means a segment of your list(s) filled with individuals who are pleased with the emails they\u2019re receiving.<\/p>\n In 2015, nearly 80% of all email marketing ROI<\/a> was a result of being sent to the correct target audience!<\/p>\n Knowing who to target with your email marketing campaigns begins with an understanding of the list segments you should be creating.<\/p>\n List segmentation does not have to be difficult.<\/p>\n It can begin with your signup form. Based on the data fields on your signup form, you can sort new subscribers from the beginning.<\/p>\n One way you can segment your list is by demographic. This includes gender, age and location. It is possible to gather this data at signup, but be mindful that you\u2019re not turning off potential email subscribers from completing your form.<\/p>\n You can also build a segmented target audience around the type of industry a subscriber is in, the size of their company or any wide range of data that you can ask for on your signup form.<\/p>\n Engagement is another opportunity for segmenting your sending email list. Find the subscribers who interact (open rates) most often with your effective emails. That could mean who is opening them a lot or even those who tend to click on links. This group comes in handy if you want to get customer feedback with a poll or survey or if you want to create a loyalty program.<\/p>\n While your most active subscribers make a great segment, the opposite is also true. Inactive subscribers are another segment you can create and target. You can target that audience with a re-engagement campaign to bring them back into the fold. Clean your list of the ones to remain inactive.<\/p>\n Your customer\u2019s purchase history is another segment you can create. When you know what goods or services they have previously purchased, you can target that audience with a automated email campaign director towards their interests.<\/p>\n Finding Your Target Audience<\/p><\/div>\n It\u2019s one thing to see how you could segment and target your audiences. Seeing examples makes more relatable:<\/p>\n You can also create targeted audiences for the subscribers who most often engage with your emails.<\/p>\n This is the audience who is most likely to open your real time emails. They might even be excited when they receive an email from you! It\u2019s a good idea to reward that level of engagement.<\/p>\n You can offer your engaged subscribers a sneak peek at new product launches. Give them early access to these products as a reward for their loyalty.<\/p>\n On the opposite end of the spectrum, you can create a targeted audience of your inactive subscribers. The easiest and most common way to target this audience is by telling them you\u2019re going to remove them from your list unless they\u2019d like to opt back in. People want what they can\u2019t have, and they\u2019ll probably start paying closer attention to your emails.<\/p>\n Purchase history also gives you the information you need to create specific target audiences. Think about any time you\u2019ve purchased something on Amazon. You\u2019ve certainly received an email after the fact that said something like this:<\/p>\n \u201cBecause you purchased Cards Against Humanity, you may also be interested in What Do You Meme? Adult Party Game.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n If your business requires recurring payments, you can also create a target audience of canceled or expired accounts. Show them how to update their credit card information with a quick video. You will likely win back lost accounts and money!<\/p>\n It is incredibly important to understand who the individuals are in each target audience.<\/p>\n One simple way to do this is by creating customer personas.<\/p>\n You can even go so far as to search Google Images and choose a photo for each target audience and the individual that will represent each persona. Consider the car they drive, places they shop and even what magazines or blogs they enjoy reading.<\/p>\n You should also turn to your reports to gain a better understanding of each target audience.<\/p>\n Your reports are another opportunity to understand your target audience with expected return on investment.<\/p>\n There, you can see the device they\u2019re opening your emails on, what time they\u2019re opening those emails and the goods or services of interest based on clicks.<\/p>\n You can learn if your target audience is on-the-go opening emails on smartphones or if they open on a computer. This will help you know your sales process should be. If it\u2019s hard for them to convert from a phone, create a process that will work on the phone and allow you to follow-up in a way that will let them actually convert later.<\/p>\n Same goes for the time your emails are being opened. Learn when your emails are being opened by your segments, and you\u2019ll know when to time your offerings. Early morning emails may get those that are opening their emails in bed (or the bathroom) every morning. If you\u2019re in a business where your sales team talks to leads on the phone, you may want to send a targeted email campaign<\/a> to those early morning openers that allows them to schedule a call or a demo later in the day when they\u2019ll be more prepared to handle it.<\/p>\n Each will give you an additional peek into the lives of your subscribers and help you know who they are as people. After all, remembering that there are people behind the email addresses you\u2019re sending to is perhaps the most important part of understanding a target audience.<\/p>\n First, you have to understand what a target audience is and why they\u2019re important and how you’re going to target them by step by step email marketing guide.<\/a><\/p>\n Armed with that knowledge, you can start creating your target audiences. That begins with the signup form and continues throughout your relationship with your subscribers.<\/p>\n Once you have segmented your list(s) into various target audiences, you can create campaigns tailored specifically to those groups of people.<\/p>\n That is what it means to send great emails.<\/p>\n What do you do to create segments and create target audiences?<\/p>\n We want to hear from you. Tell us in the comments your favorite tips for making great targeted emails.<\/p>\n This post is only one part of what goes into finding your target audience, an integral part of what makes an email great.<\/p>\n That\u2019s why we wrote a new guide called What Makes a Great Email<\/em>.<\/p>\n There you can gain a better understanding for segmenting target audiences, and you\u2019ll learn practical strategies to create them.<\/p>\n Click here to download What Makes a Great Email<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n If this post has you inspired to make a great email for your target audiences, signup for the free Benchmark Starter Plan<\/a>.<\/p>\nWhy is it important to find a Target Audience for each email you send?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
There Are No Targeted Audiences Without Proper Segmentation<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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Target Audience Examples<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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Tips for Understanding Your Target Audience<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Conclusion<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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