Using open/click stream segmentation to engage non-responders

There are certain email campaigns that you want to ensure you get the highest engagement possible. This might be a time-sensitive offer, sign-up for an event or it might be critical information that all recipients should see.

The most effective way to ensure you increase the engagement of your email is to send a follow-up email. This means sending the same content (sometimes slightly altered) to the same list but only recipients that didn't engage (i.e. non-responders).

CONNECT provides a great way to do this using it's segmentation tool:

Update the content if necessary

When sending to non-responders, it's best practice to tell them why they are receiving the same email again. This might be a slight change to the wording of your subject line, preheader and/or main tagline in your email.

Example

An email is sent out with the subject line "We have a great deal on X"

The follow-up email subject line might be altered to say "Don't miss the great deal on X"

To do this, we recommend cloning the message you originally sent (Open it and click "Save As" at the top). Then alter the content of the cloned message.

Create a segment targeting responders

Determine what metric you will use to determine non-responders. The more common one is the "opens". This allows you to target recipients that wouldn't have read your email. Generally, if they read it and didn't respond, then they don't want the content. Sending to them again might annoy them and they will respond with a negative action like marking it as spam or unsubscribing.

To begin, navigate to the Target screen and begin creating a new segment with the following criteria:

Name the segment "DeploymentX - Responders"

Under the "Behaviour" menu on the left, drag over "Opens" into the criteria builder area

Leave the first option as "Opened"

Change the second option to the Campaign you used when deploying

Finally, select the Deployment that you wish to target

Ignore the last step (5) if you plan to send multiple deployments and want your segment to include any one that opened "Any deployment" in this campaign. This makes the segment re-usable for each deployment in that campaign.

Deployment set-up

The final step to sending to non-responders is setting up the deployment. You want to follow these instructions:

Select the same message (or new message if you changed the content)

Select the same Subscription and Recipient filters you did the first time

Under "Suppressions" select the segment you created

All of the other settings should be the same

If you were successful in your set-up, you should see the segment show up under the "Excludes" section in "Audience Details" on the review screen.

Once you have reviewed the rest of the deployment, you are ready to send to the non-responders of your email campaign.