Segment by interest - the amazon approach

I am impressed with Amazon.com and their e-marketing strategies. In the last six months, I've noticed that about 2 weeks after I make a purchase, I'll receive an email from Amazon.com with language like - "as a shopper of baby toys, we want to let you know about the following toys/sales/items that we thought might be of interest to you." The items they promote in the email are typically varied in price point - many of which are at or above the price point of my last purchase. I'd say I click from those emails through to a product about 50% of the time and make a purchase about 20% of the time. As I make more purchases, I receive more targeted emails.

Why can't we apply a similar strategy to our asks? Segment your audience by topics they've clicked to learn more about in the past. Yes, that will require laying some groundwork - sending informational emails, tracking clicks, and storing that information for each potential donor - but the return on investment would be high. Not only would you have a better chance of engaging your donors and securing a gift, but you would also start to build a more robust profile of each donor. A better understanding of who your donors are will allow you to build more effective appeals electronically, by mail and by phone.

This personalized marketing approach is something we should be considering to segment and target constituents online.