As a keen supporter of small independent businesses, Etsy send me regular emails. One that came through recently was a very timely reminder of the importance of segmenting your database, and a great example of how to do it.

We all know that there are key dates in the calendar that can be highly lucrative for small businesses, but Valentines Day is one of the most emotive. Not everyone is part of a happy couple, but it’s almost impossible for Etsy (or anyone else) to know a customer’s status from their previous buying history.

It’s not rocket science, but Etsy found a solution!

I received the email below, which gave me the opportunity to opt out of all Valentines Day marketing. That’s really clever, as the last thing you want to do is alienate a previously profitable customer, just because they aren’t a fan of the romance of 14^thFebruary. 

To be fair, they may actually be a real romantic, but be averse to the commerciality of the day.

The key fact here is the Etsy didn’t try to find a work around, they came out with a clear chance for me to opt out. The tone of the email was really well pitched too; it took account of the wide range of reasons that exist that could be behind any negative response to a Valentines Day campaign.

This was what they sent:

They’re giving customers the chance to opt-out, rather than unsubscribe from Etsy marketing entirely.

How might you use the same approach?

• Do you have campaigns that some of your customers may decide they’d rather not receive?
• Perhaps you have a very mixed audience, but segmenting them on the key characteristic may be really tough with the information you’ve got so far.

Using this type of approach might work really well to help you gain extra detail and avoid losing people from your list.

Of course, in the Etsy example, I’m hoping they’ll be resetting their systems and sending something similar next year, as this is one status that can change from year to year!

If you’ve used similar techniques successfully in the past, do let us know!