What is Batch-and-blast marketing?

Batch-and-blast marketing is the practice of sending identical marketing messages to an entire database at once, without segmentation or personalisation.

How it works: A company sends the same email, SMS, or push notification to all subscribers simultaneously, regardless of their preferences, behaviour, or purchase history.

Example: A fashion retailer sends 100,000 emails with “20% OFF EVERYTHING!” to their entire list—whether someone last bought men’s shoes, women’s dresses, or has never made a purchase.

Why it fails:

• Recipients get irrelevant offers
• Customers feel like a number in a database
• According to SAP Emarsys’s 2025 Customer Loyalty Index, 23% of consumers say batch-and-blast marketing actively damages their brand loyalty
• Low engagement rates and high unsubscribe rates

The opposite: Personalised marketing Segmentation based on behaviour, preferences, and timing: “Hi Sarah, we noticed you viewed running shoes yesterday. Here’s 15% off the Nike pair in your cart.”

Real example: Generic: “Summer sale—50% off!” Personalised: “Your favourite brand, Patagonia, just dropped new hiking gear. Here’s early access.”

Batch-and-blast is shouting the same message through a megaphone at a crowd. Personalisation is having individual conversations.