We recently read an article that talked about getting an email for concert tickets. The subject line of the email was “Korn and Disney on Ice: Princess Wishes Presale.” What do they have in common? Basically nothing. It would be like sending a message stating “The New BMW and Kia Have Arrived,” two things that have a much different target audience. If you are interested in tickets to go see one of these shows, most likely you are not interested in the other. They do not have a direct relationship to each other, and, even more likely, a very small percentage of the readers have a relationship with it themselves.

If the ticket company targeted its audience, its response would have been dramatically higher. I am assuming that most people deleted the email right away. The juxtaposition of the two items in the heading probably diminished the response immediately.

They instead, should have segmented the readers’ interests and promoted relevant events rather than pairing two things that likely don’t match. By advertising rock music concerts with the Korn presale or family events with the Disney On Ice presale to those who have an interest in either of the two, more readers would not only be interested, but may also purchase tickets for multiple events.

• Ask your customer what interests them and gear messages to that targeted group. By knowing what your audience is looking for, you can be more successful in taking steps to connect with that audience.
• Segment your visitors based on their past online and offline behavior
• Segment based on what your viewers are looking at on your website
• Use the results of different offers that you send out to segment who responds to what

Defining, segmenting, and tuning your message to the right audience will give you a higher lift rate than sending out blind messages. The most important tool you have is to understand what your audience is after and, then, finding the appropriate way to communicate your messages and approach.