It can be a difficult decision as to what to do with your customers who only occasionally buy products but when they do they buy big. Email marketing is all about identifying opportunities but the one thing you are told time and again is to look after your emails lists.

It is a balancing act, but one that is made easier by the effectiveness of email marketing software. It will allow you to ensure your high value customers do not wander off to your rivals. At the same time it will allow you to realise their full potential without them being tempted by the unsubscribe button.

One way is to place all your customers with similar purchasing history on one email list, in this case a useful name would be gold as it will encourage you to treasure it. You can then work out your strategy to secure them.

With all email marketing you should work out what triggers their purchases. For those on your gold email list it might be an annual event, a specification change sufficient for it to be financially worthwhile or, that most exciting reason, a change in the demand of fashion. However, do not wait for it to happen.

Some time before you anticipate them being ready to buy the big product, send them an offer they can’t refuse. Make it something that will be of value to their current product but will also fit perfectly with what you want to be their next purchase. Take the opportunity to emphasise the features of the new product to excite their anticipation and make them hungry.

Emphasise that the offer is as a reward for their loyalty. Even if they see it as a logical ploy for any company engaged in email marketing, it does not stop it being true.

The way to ensure you do not irritate those on your gold email list is to make the offer genuine and a bit of a bargain. When it comes time for them to replace the nicely expensive product your offer will be fresh in their mind.

Efficient and effective email marketing is all about realising a customer’s potential without taking risks.