Stop sending the same email to everybody
The weekly blast to the whole list feels efficient. It is the main reason pizza emails get ignored, and it quietly damages the channel for everything else.
I did it for years. Every Thursday, one email, the whole list. A deal, a photo, a button. It took half an hour to make and it always brought in some orders, so I assumed it was working.
It was working in the way that shouting in a crowded room works. A few people heard me. Most people learned to tune me out.
One list, many customers
Think about who was on that list. Regulars who ordered every week. People who had ordered once, two years earlier. Families. Students. The office that ordered lunch once a month. Somebody who had moved across the country and never unsubscribed.
All of them got the same message about the same deal. For the regulars it was a discount they did not need. For the one time customers it was a reminder of a shop they barely remembered. For the people who had moved it was noise.
What the blast costs you
Sending everything to everybody has costs that do not show up in the weekly report.
Discounts go to people who would have paid full price. People who are not interested stop opening, and email providers notice when a sender's messages are routinely ignored. Over time more of your email lands in promotions tabs or spam folders, including the messages that matter, like order confirmations and loyalty rewards.
And the customers who might have responded to something relevant never get it, because there is only ever one message.
Start with three groups
You do not need dozens of segments. Start with three.
- Regulars who have ordered several times recently. Send them news, new items and recognition. Go easy on discounts.
- Customers who ordered once or twice and have not come back. Give them a real reason to return, with an offer if needed.
- People who used to order regularly and have gone quiet. Remind them, gently, and find out if something went wrong.
Three emails a week instead of one sounds like more work. In practice it is about the same, because each email is shorter and more obvious to write when you know who is reading it.
Send less to people who are not listening
If someone has not opened anything from you in six months, stop sending them the weekly email. Try one last message, and if they do not respond, let them go. A smaller list of people who read your emails is worth more than a big list that ignores you.
I wish someone had told me this fifteen years ago. It would have saved me a lot of Thursday afternoons.
