Segmenting email by location for multi-site venues

Why this matters for your venue

Running a multi-site hospitality or retail operation means managing distinct local audiences under one brand. Sending a generic email blast to your entire database - promoting a special at your London venue to guests who only visit your Manchester site - guarantees high unsubscribe rates and low engagement. The cost of irrelevant email is not just a lower open rate; it is the permanent loss of a direct line to a guest. By segmenting your email marketing by location, you ensure every message is relevant to the recipient's local venue, driving repeat visits, increasing revenue per send, and protecting your opt-in list.

The approach

Location-based segmentation isolates your database into cohorts based on the specific venue a guest visited. Instead of guessing a guest's local site based on their home address, you use verified visit data. This means when you run a promotion, you only send it to guests who have physically been to the relevant location. This approach requires clean, reliable data collection at the point of visit, rather than relying on manual data entry or broad geographic assumptions. For more on the product, see the Product overview.

How to do it with your guest WiFi

The fundamental differentiator of using Purple Engage over generic email tools like Mailchimp or Klaviyo is how the list is built. Generic tools require you to manually import lists or rely on website sign-ups. Purple builds the list automatically from conscious-choice opt-ins when guests log into your venue's Guest WiFi. To learn more about data capture, see Guest WiFi.

When a guest authenticates onto the network, Purple captures their verified email address and tags their profile with the exact venue location, time, and date of the visit. This is first-party data, collected in compliance with GDPR. Because Purple integrates directly with enterprise hardware like Cisco Meraki, HPE Aruba, and Ruckus, the location tag is perfectly accurate. You do not need to ask the guest which venue is their local; the network tells you.

What to send, and when

With location data automatically tagged to each guest profile, you can deploy highly targeted campaigns.

1. Local Events and Menus: Send updates about new menu items or live music exclusively to guests who have visited that specific site.
2. Lapsed Visitor Reactivation: Identify guests who have visited a specific venue three times but have not returned in 60 days. Send them a targeted incentive to return to that exact location.
3. New Site Openings: When opening a new venue, identify guests who have visited your other sites and live within a specific radius of the new location, inviting them to the launch.

Measuring what works

Success in location-based segmentation is measured by physical return visits, not just email open rates. Because Purple tracks both the email send and the subsequent physical visit (when the guest's device reconnects to the Guest WiFi), you can measure the exact revenue generated by a campaign. Track the return rate of segmented campaigns versus generic blasts. You will typically see higher engagement and a clear uplift in lifetime value from guests receiving location-specific offers. For more comparisons, read The best email marketing software for restaurants, compared.

Where to start

1. Audit your current list: Identify how many contacts in your database have a verified location attached.
2. Enable location tagging: Ensure your Guest WiFi portal is configured to automatically tag new sign-ups with their venue location.
3. Build your first segment: Create a segment for guests who have visited one specific venue in the last 30 days.
4. Deploy a test campaign: Send a location-specific offer to this segment and compare the engagement and return visit rate against your baseline.

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