This is an interesting question and I think it deserves a good debate. Sending an email isn't a very difficult task, software's such as Mailrelay make this process quite convenient and easy.
However, in fact, it requires a lot of work , planning, testing, content generation, management, etc.
It's not as easy as it sounds, in addition, the content strategies could be evolving more slowly than we wanted.
If you work for some time with email marketing campaigns, targeting your subscribers to find out who is opening the emails, who is visiting your website, is a very important strategy. With this information about who clicked on your links, but didn't buy your products or hire your services, can be a very important data for knowing who are your customers and who is only visiting the landing pages.
But the question, is it worth to generate content and send emails to these Subscribers who don't buy anything?
Would not it be better to focus on email marketing campaigns for subscribers who are also customers? Without working so hard to create content?
This way you could save your efforts, reducing the need to generate a lot of new good content.
It is tempting, isn't it?
But let's not get ahead of ourselves, What would you be missing? Before removing these subscribers from your mailing list and from your email marketing strategy, let's think about it.
First, you must check whether your subscribers are really inactive, if they don't open the newsletters, don't share the articles and messages, don't click to read more about the products, etc. In this case, it could be interesting to segment these subscribers, adding them to another group, or try to find another strategy for them.
But if they are active subscribers, even if they are not buyers, They can be very important for your company.
Why send emails to a person who doesn't buy anything?
Before continuing I think it is interesting to make a fundamental distinction between these non-buyers:
1) Subscribers who purchased a product from your company in the past (and are no longer purchasing anything)
2) Those who have never been buyers
Having these active subscribers is very good when you need to analyze your products or services.
An email campaign can give us key information about our product.
If customers were buying from you in the past, why aren't they buying anymore?
If the reason was that they were not satisfied, they would not open the newsletters, share it, or read your articles. If they are interacting with your emails, they want to receive news and information about your company.
Is it because of the price? You could try sending a discount coupon.
Maybe it was a one-time purchase, for a gift.
In any case, perhaps you could just send an email and ask directly what they need. We know that they are opening the newsletters, so it's worth trying.
The other possibility is that they have never bought a product from you. The process should also be analyzed correctly. A subscriber who doesn't buy, but shares your contents, is opening your emails, and is interacting in various ways, is a subscriber with an interesting behavior, and you should analyze and try to understand why he acts that way.
I remember a newsletter from Click and Grow, they were asked subscribers directly, at what price would you be willing to buy their products?
Make no mistake, sending an email asking this or any other questions will not force you to anything, but it could offer relevant information for your marketing strategy, especially if you want to determine which are the points you will need to improve.
Perhaps the product is very good, but the payment method or shipping process is not convincing the potential customers.
These active subscribers may be open to answer your questions.
Why I've been thinking about it?
Not because I have to send emails and therefore would be thinking to segment subscribers.
Not at all.
In this case, I received a newsletter from BuyFresco, I have been receiving their emails for a long time, although I have been a customer for a short period of time.
As I said, I get their newsletters, though I didn't purchase any other product, normally I open and read the emails.
Why?
Because the content they send is interesting, regardless of the fact that you are a customer or not. They give useful advice, information, etc. You can always take advantage of the information that they send you, even if you will not buy their products.
Therefore I keep reading their emails, even if I will not purchase their products in the near future.
And what do they get?
I can think of several things:
1) The subscriber will not forget the brand, so if at any time in the future the user needs to purchase these products, he will surely think of them, not only because the last experience was good, but because they have made efforts to keep in touch. Thus, the user could decide to purchase again, you never know when you will need to purchase a product.
2) If the company has a new product, different or complementary to the one the user purchased, they could send an email to older buyers or potential buyers, to talk about this new product, this is the best way to promote the new product.
3) Although the subscriber for any reason will not buy their products, if the user is reading their newsletters, if he has a friend or colleague who is looking for products that that company offers, surely the user would recommend the brand, which is really very important.
Even when that person is not ready to buy, the quality and amount of contents can help, as this user will remember the brand.
Important: Remember that an email is very easy to forward to a friend, therefore your subscribers can send it to their friends, if they find your newsletter interesting enough.
4) It can also be a good option, when the user needs to buy a gift. Maybe the user doesn't need this product now, but if the company maintains contact, the user will not forget the brand, and as the Initial experience was positive, it is possible that when this user is looking for ideas, for instance for a gift, he will remember the company.
5) If the content is good, although the user will not buy the products, he may share this content on social networks, and help the company to reach even more people, more potential customers, increasing brand visibility.
And certainly there are other benefits
But even without them, it would be worth creating interesting contents, even for those subscribers who don't are buying, or ever bought from your company.
It is important that your subscribers maintain interest in your brand, so that it can continue in the top of mind of the subscribers and potential customers, this is very important.
But it is important to ensure that they are active subscribers (potential customers ).
Otherwise it is not interesting for you, why should you send emails if they will not open the newsletters.
Did you ever think about these questions?
What were your conclusions?