What Are Targeted Lists and Why They Matter

As you create your marketing strategy, you will find yourself working on building messaging lists. However, it is wise to make targeted lists as you do so. Whether you need direct mailing lists, email lists, or lists for mobile marketing, creating targeted ones should improve the results of your campaigns. 

The following guide should help you create those lists and use them in a way that delivers the best results. While the following information applies to all types of lists, local businesses will typically see the best results from mobile marketing strategies. 

What are targeted lists?

Before you can start using targeted lists, you have to understand what they are. Targeted mailing lists go hand-in-hand with segmentation. You can create your list by segmenting your audience and only including those “ideal” customers.

The idea behind targeted lists is that every person has been carefully chosen because they are either more likely to convert or more likely to become a repeat customer and bring value to your business. 

Major trends influencing targeted lists – what factors to consider when segmenting 

To get the best results from your targeted lists, you want them to be as specific as possible. This means that you will have to think about which traits of your ideal customer to account for when creating the list. That will largely depend on your goals, but you will likely consider factors within several of the following major categories: 

Geographic Segmentation – This refers to things such as the location of customers. This is especially important for small, local businesses without an online presence. For example, maybe your targeted list only includes people who live within 10 miles of your store. 

Demographic Segmentation – This refers to factors and variables such as nationality, race, religion, age, gender, and income. An example would be limiting your targeted list to just women if you sell women’s clothes. 

Behavioral Segmentation – This is based on preferences, responses to, uses of, or knowledge of a product. For example, maybe your targeted list only includes people who have previously purchased a product from you. 

Psychographic Segmentation – This includes things such as hobbies, lifestyle, and personalities. An example would be a camping store targeting people who enjoy the outdoors. 

The following list includes metrics from all of these categories. You may want to include some, all, or most of them. 

• Location
• Age
• Gender
• Income
• Occupation
• Relationship status 
• Hobbies
• Preferences
• Interests
• Social media presence
• Past interactions with your company 

The individual pieces of targeted lists – what to do to create a successful targeted list

Creating a targeted list should not be done without thinking about it. Remember that a targeted list will boost your customer satisfaction and conversions when done correctly. But for that to happen, you have to be sure to follow the most important steps as you create it. 

Have a clear marketing strategy

Before you can even start creating a targeted list, make sure you have a clear marketing strategy. This should include factors such as what products or services you sell and what sets you apart from the competition. 

Choose the right segmentation metrics

As mentioned above, there are numerous factors that you can consider while segmenting your audience to create a targeted list. But you need to choose the right metrics to use. This will depend on your goals and marketing strategy as well as your “ideal” or most loyal customer base. 

Create personas

If you aren’t sure what segmentation metrics to look at, create targeted personas for your marketing campaigns. These are fictional samples of ideal customers based on actual data. The process of creating them will show you what your typical or ideal customer looks like. They make all aspects of marketing, including emotional advertising, easier. 

Look at your current customer data

To figure out which segmentation metrics to use, you should look at your current data on customers. If you don’t already, get in the habit of asking some basic questions when new customers sign up and opt in to receive messages. You can also get more information via surveys. 

Gather data and analytics

As with any other part of your marketing strategy, you constantly want to evaluate and improve your targeted lists. The best way to do this is with data. This is much easier to do with mobile and email lists than with direct mail, as most programs have built-in analytics. You can easily track metrics like open rates, click rates, and response rates via the built-in marketing tools from your platform. It gets more complicated to track data from direct mail lists, but it is still possible. For example, you can ask people how they heard about an offer. 

Provide value

One of the most significant benefits of targeted lists is that you can give customers the content they want to engage with, adding value to their lives. Make sure to do so as you create your strategy. For example, offer how-to tips or host workshops relevant to your company. 

Targeted lists vs. non-targeted lists – pros and cons of targeted lists 

There are a few clear distinctions when comparing targeted lists with traditional non-targeted lists. 

To start, non-targeted lists will be more extensive and easier to create. That is because a non-targeted list has almost no requirements; you just want genuine contact information on it. 

By contrast, a targeted list will only include people with specific traits. That means that you will have to put more time into creating the list and ensuring that only those who should be on it are included. 

However, that extra work pays off thanks to the long list of benefits associated with targeted lists compared to other types. 

Deliver relevant content 

Targeting or segmenting your audience lets you deliver more relevant content to your subscribers. That is important for several reasons. To start, it shows an element of personalization, which is something that buyers want from brands. 

Sending more relevant content also means that people are less likely to get annoyed or feel that you send too many messages. After all, if they think the content is valuable and relevant, they will appreciate it. 

Fewer unsubscribes 

That leads to another advantage of targeted lists over non-targeted ones: the fact that you don’t have to take a one-size-fits-all approach. While that type of approach is easy, it leads to poor results and is likely to result in many unsubscribes. After all, they will receive many irrelevant messages.

Build client relationships 

Using targeted email marketing lists also lets you build relationships with customers. This goes back to the idea of personalization. Essentially, segmenting lets you show clients that you care about what makes them an individual. They will see that your company views them as people and not numbers. That should improve the customer experience. 

Improved loyalty 

A good customer experience leads to increased loyalty, another advantage. That is crucial for future income and customer retention. Loyal customers are also more likely to leave positive reviews and refer people to your company. 

Improved engagement, response, and conversions

All of the above factors contribute to the fact that targeted direct mailing lists will improve the response rate, overall engagement, and conversion rate. 

Boost your ROI

Whether you are discussing targeted phone lists or lists for mobile marketing or email, improving conversion means that you get a better ROI. To maximize your ROI, follow the other recommendations in our SMS marketing guide. 

Save money

Targeted mailing lists will save you money. After all, you aren’t wasting valuable time or resources to reach people who are unlikely to convert. 

Conclusion: Why you should care about targeted lists 

Using targeted lists lets you ensure that the content you send to customers, whether via SMS marketing, email marketing, phone, or even direct mail, is highly relevant. That improves customer loyalty as well as conversions. 

Software like Podium makes it easy to create targeted lists for your marketing campaigns, allowing you to take advantage of their benefits.