Stand out with Location Based Email Marketing

The following post was written by Amanda Gagnon, an Education Marketing Associate at AWeber Email Marketing, whose email marketing software services make it easy for you to build your email list and stay in touch with prospects.

Your customers know it’s possible for you to find out where they are – goodness, apps on their phones even know which direction they’re facing. In order to impress them as their expectations rise, you need to provide a brand experience that’s relevant to their location.
And since InstantData provides geographic details for your subscribers, how better to create that experience than by personalizing your email marketing with location? Whether you’re a brick-and-mortar business or an online service, location-sensitive emails can delight your subscribers.

If You Have a Physical Location…

Some of your emails may only be relevant to your local subscribers, such as invitations to shows, workshops, other events, or even certain products. Inviting all your subscribers shows those who are too far to attend that you’re unaware of or unconcerned with how distant they are.

Instead, segment your list geographically and send the invitation only to subscribers within driving distance. (If you have several locations, you’ll probably want to contact the subscribers local to each of them.)

If You’re Both Online and Off…

In this case, you’ll want to take care when it’s time for a sale. Locals can be invited to in-store sales, while those too far away to make the trip could be sent an announcement of a sale and direct them to your site.

Mentioning both sales in each email provides options for locals who can’t make it to the store or distant subscribers who’ve just popped into the neighborhood, but your emphasis should certainly be different.

Whether You’re Web-Based or Not…

Even if your business doesn’t have a physical location, your subscribers do, which can help you personalize the emails they get.

If your message references the weather or contains a seasonal product offer, make sure it’s going to those in the appropriate climates (and watch the seasonal switch between the Northern and Southern hemispheres!)

Similarly, if you acknowledge a national holiday in your email, be careful to send it to those subscribers who are likely to celebrate it.

And make sure you’re cognizant of local culture. If you sell sports memorabilia, send different versions of the same email with the appropriate sports teams included for each area. If you promote indie bands, acknowledge local favorites in the various versions.

If your company has a large enough email program with subscribers in several different nations, you may even want to email in several different languages, segmenting based on geography to send the most appropriate version.

Whichever Way You Geo-Target, You’re Ahead of the Game

Most email marketers aren’t collecting demographic data to personalize with. Many are just “batch & blasting” – sending overgeneralized emails to everyone on their lists (most of whom won’t care). And many don’t realize how easy and simple personalized emailing can be.

Adjust your emails to take location into account, and you’ll really stand out.

Amanda Gagnon teaches businesses how to create more effective, profitable email campaigns. More from Amanda and AWeber via Twitter and Facebook. Want to write a post and have it featured on our blog? Email [email protected]!