The world of marketing, especially digital marketing, is shifting. Third-party cookies are being phased out, the pandemic has shifted where your customers can be found, and everything is more expensive.
Acquisition email marketing is the process of using email campaigns to grow your customer base. This involves sending campaigns to permission-based emails where a third-party marketer can email their offer or service to a prospect they don’t have an existing relationship with. Ideally, these emails have been vetted to receive third-party solicitations. Acquisition email is also sometimes called “Customer Acquisition email” or “Prospect email.”
Email should still be a top priority for marketers – yes even in 2022. In 2021, there were an estimated 319.6 billion emails sent and received daily around the world. This figure is projected to increase to 376.4 billion daily emails by 2025. Email marketing has seen better click through rates than social media marketing as well, as one report shows. That’s a relief for marketers who are worried about what the transition away from cookies will mean for their lead generation, because even if Google or Facebook has stopped sending you information, you can still send out emails, and be fairly confident that if you do it right, you’ll see a nice ROI for your trouble.
With acquisition email, you can email customers directly when they need to hear from you most. Let’s say you sell home and auto insurance. With good data, and with a good acquisition email campaign, you can send emails to prospective customers when they buy a home or car and need to hear from you about discounts, deals, or vital information that can help them make their decision. If your email relates directly to their need, you’re much more likely to get a response. That’s why acquisition email goes beyond just email marketing.
“Wow, I never knew you guys were here!”
Ouch–that line means your customer was out there, wandering around, and your efforts only reached them now. It’s great to reach them, finally, but it would have been nicer to have them as a customer this whole time.
Acquisition email helps to close those gaps in brand awareness and boost your lead gen by opening up a whole new segment of customers who, for whatever reason, have missed your marketing attempts thus far. It helps you go to customers, rather than hoping the customer will come to you.
Of course, we’ve all had to work with lists of “prospective customers” who were not interested, and never were. To combat list fatigue, Data Axle might use refined targeting to connect with ideal customers. Let’s say your company sells luxury fashion. You have a mailing list to let preferred customers know early about sample sales and overstock sales. The people on the list vary, but they tend to be between 20-40, share housing with roommates or long term partners, and many have a yoga or pilates studio membership. If you have access to information for similar people (subscription to luxury brand emails, shared housing, yoga or pilates), you can reach out to people who are already interested in shopping for affordable luxury, and who meet your target demographic. When this new, prospective customer gets your email, you have a chance to offer one time deals to drive interest, vital information about your brand, or special behind the scenes access to products or experiences that will help them become loyal customers.
Acquisition email, with the right list that’s targeted to a small but passionate demographic segment, means you can actually reach out to someone you haven’t met yet, but who would like to meet you.
If you haven’t used acquisition marketing before, or if you have used it but relied on incomplete or bad data, and you still have goals to reach and KPIs to hit, acquisition marketing can give you the extra boost you need. Of course, as with anything, the trick to a successful campaign is making sure you’re aiming for the right people at the right time with the right message. That’s where Data Axle’s acquisition email team can help guide you through best practices and help you to find your best audience through effective modeling. Good modeling can help you find prospects that look like your best customers to ensure you are reaching high-value prospects. For example, if you make 70-80% of your sales by targeting 15% of your customer base because that 15% are really passionate, then you can model to make sure your acquisition campaign is reaching a targeted lookalike audience.
Acquisition email can also be cheaper than other forms of marketing, like direct mail. Postage is getting more and more expensive, the supply chain is at risk for the essential materials needed to develop and send a direct mail program, and there are only so many work-arounds. With Data Axle’s data sets we can do what we call “match and deploy,” where we take your targeted prospect list that you’re sending direct mail to, and send those same people emails as well. With a system like that, you get to see an omnichannel strategy at work. The benefit is that these additional touches come in at a lower cost than traditional direct mail. The more times your message can touch a customer where they are, the further along they get to the purchase stage of their customer’s journey. This tactic has proven to see an overall lift in campaign performance with email and direct mail working together.
Anytime your strategy diversifies channels, and reaches customers in multiple ways, your customer’s connection with your brand deepens and solidifies. Because email marketing can be so successful, reaching out to new prospects on that channel can give you a foothold in places and with people you might not have been able to reach otherwise. With the right data and the right help, your acquisition email can give your campaign the extra boost it needs to help you meet your KPIs and goals.
Did you know that Data Axle offers acquisition email services? With our deep and wide sets of quality, up to date data to drive each campaign, our acquisition email strategists can help you target the right audience and connect with them in meaningful ways.
As Content Marketing Manager, Natasia is responsible for helping strategize, produce and execute Data Axle's content. With a passion for writing and an enthusiasm for data management and technology, Natasia creates content that is designed to deliver nuggets of wisdom to help brands and individuals elevate their data governance policies. A native New Yorker, when Natasia is not at work she can be found enjoying New York’s food scene, at one of NYC’s many museums, or at one of the city’s many parks with her two teacup yorkies.