How to send a targeted email to the right customers

Why target at all

An email to everyone is easy, and it works best when the news really is for everyone. Most offers aren't. A 20% pastry sale at one store means nothing to someone who lives near the other one. A "we've missed you" email to someone who was in yesterday is odd. Each email that doesn't fit makes the next one less likely to be opened, and more likely to be unsubscribed from.

Keeperoo already knows how each customer uses your card: when they last came in, how many stamps they have, where they stamp, and whether they have a reward waiting. A campaign uses that to send each email only to the people it is for.

Step-by-step

Step 1: Start a campaign

• Open Marketing. The Campaigns tab shows how many campaign emails you have used this month, and how your recent emails did.
• Click New campaign. It starts as a draft using your newest template with a subject. You can change the template later.
• Click the name at the top and give the campaign a name you will recognise later, such as “Pastry sale: West End regulars”.

Step 2: Choose who gets it

• The Audience step starts with Everyone. On the right, Who gets it counts your customers, takes away everyone who can’t be emailed and says why, and ends with the number who will get it.
• Narrow it down with the filters (see “The filters, and what each is good for” below). The count updates as you go.
• A preset is one click: Due a visit (last stamp 31 to 90 days ago) or Unclaimed reward.

Step 3: Combine filters for a specific group

• Filters add together: a customer has to match all of them.
• For a weekend sale at one store, this example picks recent regulars at that store. Under Last visit tick Within 7 days and 8 to 30 days, set Location to West End, and under Advanced set Stamps earned from 3, so only people who have been back a few times get it.
• Within one filter, the choices widen it: ticking two “Last visit” boxes means either one.
• Clear filters takes you back to Everyone.

Step 4: Pick the email and check it

• Click Next. On the Content step, choose the template. The subject and preview text are shown under it.
• The preview on the right uses the people in this audience, not your customers in general. Step through them with the arrows.
• To fix something, click Edit template, save it, and come back. The draft keeps your audience.

Step 5: Send now, or schedule it

• Click Next. Choose Send now, or Schedule and pick a date from the calendar and a time.
• Times are your business’s own time zone. A sale that starts Saturday morning can be scheduled to arrive before you open.
• Emails go out in small batches every few minutes, so a list takes a while to finish. The box underneath says when the first ones leave and when the last should arrive.

Step 6: Send yourself a test

• Click Next to reach Review and send. On the left is everything that is about to happen: who, how many, which email, the subject as the first person will see it, and when.
• A test is required. Click Send a test to your email address, then open the test in your inbox, ideally on your phone too. A preview can’t show what Gmail or Outlook will do to the email; your inbox can.
• If you change the email after testing, the test no longer counts and you will be asked for another.
• Anything that would stop the send is listed in red under Before you can send, with what to do about it.

Step 7: Send it

• With the test sent, the button comes alive. It says exactly what will happen, such as Schedule for 73 people.
• If there is a yellow Worth a look box, read it and tick “I’ve read these and want to go ahead”. These are warnings, not blocks, such as a send that would finish late at night.
• Click the button, check the confirmation, and confirm.
• A scheduled campaign works out who gets it again at the scheduled time, so anyone who unsubscribes or opts out before then is left out. Until then you can change the time or cancel it.

The filters, and what each is good for

The filters are about what customers do: when they visit, where, and how often. They are the same ones as on your Customers page, so a group you have looked at there can be emailed here.

Keeperoo doesn't ask customers their age or gender, so there is no filter for them. If you collect date of birth on your signup form, a birthday email is better sent one to one than as a campaign.

Who never gets a campaign email

Some customers are taken out of every campaign, whatever your filters say. The Who gets it box lists each reason with a count, so the numbers always add up:

• Haven't opted in to marketing emails. Only customers who said yes are emailed, by ticking the box at signup or by you recording it on their customer page. Customers whose answer isn't recorded are left out too. This is usually the biggest number, and it is the law, not a setting.
• No email address on file. The box lists them by name, so staff can ask for one next time they are in.
• Email address bounced or is undeliverable. Mailing a dead address again only hurts the emails that would have arrived.
• Already emailed recently. A customer who has just had one of your campaigns is skipped, so nobody gets two in a few days. Their welcome email, sign-in codes and other emails about their card don't count.
• Same address on another customer record. One email per inbox, even if a couple share an address.

Limits while you get started

• Campaign size. While Keeperoo's marketing email is new, each campaign has a size limit, lower for your very first one. If an audience is over it, the box says so in red. Narrowing the audience is usually the better email anyway.
• Monthly allowance. Your plan includes a number of campaign emails each month, shown at the top of the Campaigns tab. Stamp and reward emails don't count. If a campaign needs more than you have left, you can make the audience smaller or add an email boost there.
• Bounces. If a campaign bounces at an unusual rate, it is paused automatically and Keeperoo looks into it before it carries on. This protects the delivery of every business's email.

Ideas to get you going

After it has gone

The campaign moves to Scheduled and sending at the top of the Campaigns tab, with a progress bar while it sends. You can cancel the emails that haven't gone yet; one that has arrived can't be recalled.

Once it has finished it moves to Sent with its results, such as how many were delivered and clicked, and how many bounced or unsubscribed. The Last 30 days box adds up all your campaigns. Compare like with like: a regulars-only email should do better than an email to everyone, and if it doesn't, the offer is the thing to change.

Related guides

• How to create an email template, and copy one to make another
• Marketing consent: what it is and what the law asks of you
• What makes a successful loyalty program