How many times have you received an email with a powerful subject that prompts you to open it, only to roll your eyes at the content? Probably at least several times a month. Like every other endeavor, holding people’s attention requires a bit more than getting it. That’s why email segmentation is important for businesses. Whether you’re at the point where you’re still wondering “what does email list segmentation mean?” or already implementing advanced segmentation techniques, this blog post is here to help you out!
These segmentation techniques will allow you to split your client list and email subscribers into smaller, more targeted segments. Essentially, all you have to do is divide your email segments based on set criteria and send emails to these groups. With segmented campaigns, you get to stay away from the spam folder and boost your CTR rates.
On paper, this sounds pretty straightforward. In reality, most business owners know that there’s a little bit more to it. In this blog post, we’ll start by understanding why email segmentation is something you can’t afford to overlook. Then, we’ll tackle the main email segmentation benefits and the impact segmentation could have on your business. Afterward, implement the email segmentation techniques we’ll discuss below to ensure your emails get opened AND READ by your recipients.
A successful business needs customers. To get these customers, you’ve got to have a good product or service and be able to convince them to get it from you.
Benefits of Segmenting Your Email Marketing Campaign
Stay Relevant
You need your email subscribers to want to engage meaningfully with your email communication. This is why email segmentation is important. As it turns out, relevant content results in relevant engagements. Of course, the question on your mind is, how are you going to know what they are likely to be open to? Simple – apportion your emails to select clients based on a segmented email list.
Hit the Unsubscribe Button…
…said no content creator ever. And this applies to all business owners too! The people on your email list WANTED to be there. Sending the right amount of emails is just as important as sending the right email to the right people.
This is another great way email segmentation will come in handy – helping you optimize your email list. That way, you know who you should send emails to frequently and who would rather get just the occasional newsletter.
Get a Return On Investment
Email marketing packs quite to the punch. This digital marketing technique has a median ROI that is four times higher than any other technique. Now, before you start figuring out whether to close with best regards or sincerely, note that statistics like this, while true, are not exactly cut and dried. You’d actually have to leverage this tool before you can enjoy these returns.
As it turns out, email segmentation accounts for a rather significant portion of this ROI. Ultimately, streamlining your email marketing through segmentation is key to ensuring you get your desired ROI.
Now, let’s take a look at some of the most effective email segmentation techniques!
5 Email Marketing Segmentation Techniques
The Good Old Q&A
Ah, yes, the trustee question and answer session. It doesn’t have to be complicated. Simply ask your email subscribers what they’re interested in. You could create a list of topics and ask them to pick which ones they want to hear about.
Most people are going to choose to avoid clogging their mailbox with information that is irrelevant to them. Then you can create an email list based on this information. Easy-Peasy.
To collect data for this, you could use questionnaires or surveys. For emails, you should test to see if your audience prefers long-form emails or short and engaging ones. This way you can even re-engage people that haven’t interacted in a long time with your emails!
The Power of Email Reports
Email reports from tracking software like ActiveCampaign will provide you with accurate information that is invaluable in determining the results of your email marketing strategy. You can start with finding out what emails were opened, who opened what, and what the conversion rates are, and then you can move to an even more complex analysis.
A quality tracking software should provide you with information such as engagement reports, campaign comparisons, click-through rates, and for your convenience, on-the-go tracking!
You are Where You Live
Another smart email segmentation technique is to capitalize on the geographical influences location has on people. This works great for businesses where location affects purchasing decisions of customers. You can also use this tool to optimize your time-based emails when you have customers in different time zones.
For instance, if your business deals in winter coats, sending information on these to people in Florida might not yield as much fruit as much as it would if you sent it to people in Alaska. Of course, this example is assuming your business deals with clients in every part of the country. But this would work just as well if yours is a local business.
Use an Email Marketing Service
The use of marketing automation software is a great tactic you could implement to make this entire process seamless. With the right email segmentation platform, you can categorize customers by set criteria such as ‘interested’ or ‘not interested’ depending on what action they take after receiving a mail from you. In such cases, it’d be a great idea to segment by customer activity. You can send further emails to interested parties and separate emails to re-engage the others.
There are several software packages that you could use as email segmentation platforms. To take advantage of this email segmentation technique, you must find a segmentation platform that checks all your boxes. What you’re looking for is an email service provider that automates and simplifies the segmentation process for you.
Create targeted opt-in forms, send them to the proper segments, and add customers to the right lists with the right email marketing service.
Use Your Sales Funnel
Sending the same email to a person at the top of the funnel and a person at the bottom would be an exercise in futility. If you do so, while some people receive the perfect information, others feel either pressurized or confused.
A far better practice would be to tailor these emails to the recipient based on their level. For instance, a brand new subscriber would rather get a feel of your brand through a welcome email than be bombarded with “last chance to shop this item” mails. Meanwhile, for someone who’s already shopping but has left items in their cart for some time, a quick reminder would be appreciated. Take things a step further and throw in a special offer.
Hey, we’ve all got a little freeloader spirit in us. Just keep your eye on the goal – conversion!
We’ve done our research, there are several segmentation techniques you could implement to divide up your email list, but these five are guaranteed to make sure you succeed.
Would you like to discuss segmenting your email list so you can enjoy those email segmentation benefits? Reach out to us at Profitable Media. We’ve got several great ideas to revamp your email list for increased conversions!
