While email marketing is the most cost-effective and result-oriented channel to convert your target audience, there are better approaches than batch-blasting the same message to your entire email list. To maximize the ROI of your campaigns, you need to segment your email list. It leads to focused groups based on specific criteria. Outcome? You can send more targeted and personalized messages that resonate with your audience.
According to a study by DMA, email segmentation can lead to a 760% increase in email revenue. This statistic alone is enough to highlight the importance of email list segmentation. Some popular headers for email list segmentation include social interests, demographics, location, language, browsing behavior, purchase patterns, and more. Segmenting increases the relevance of your messages, leading to higher click-through rates and, ultimately, more conversions.
In addition to higher revenue, successful businesses have reported other engagement benefits of email list segmentation. For example, a case study by eConsultancy found that online retailer, ASOS, saw a 300% increase in click-through rates after segmenting their email list based on purchase history. A report by HubSpot revealed that the software company Moz increased email open rates by 110% by segmenting their email list based on engagement level.
Segment by Demographics
Demographics is the most obvious metric, but we had to emphasize it. Data on users’ age, gender, profession, position, and income provide direct insight into their preferences. It needs to be ideally acquired as zero-party data during the sign-up process (website forms) – the more granular your data, the more effectively you can segment your users.
Of course, every data point is not necessary for every brand or industry. If you offer B2B tools for businesses, you’d care a lot more about users’ industry, employer, and designation than, say, if you were marketing an ecommerce brand. Figuring out which metrics would make the most impact on your business is Step 1 in the segmentation exercise.
Segment by sign-up source
In other words, what got a user to sign up? If someone signed up from an email offering a discount to new users, it’s safe to say they have moderate to high purchase intent. If a user browsed your product catalog and signed up via a link on your website, it’s also fair to make the same conclusion. Such “purchase intent” segments will help you create a custom email campaign that’s sure to yield good results.
Segment by behavior
You have each user’s entire purchase history with your brand. The data can help you answer questions about user preferences and patterns of browsing and buying, and forecast probable future behavior.
For example, who are people buying specific products as holiday gifts? Do they focus on particular products/product categories/website sections? Answers to such queries will help you create tailored, personalized content that users will engage with in good faith.
You should also keep your eyes on what customers perhaps considered buying (compared two or more similar products or added to the cart but did not buy). You need to follow through with a simple cart recovery email campaign.
Segment by engagement
You would obviously treat high-engagement users differently from those that just browse. The former are more lucrative prospects, and more amenable to suggestions to convert them to customers. They should receive emails that align with such intent, such as exclusive deals, limited-time offers, etc.
For example, if someone looks at the same product three times a week, it’s safe to say that they have more than average interest. Consequently, they should get an email that offers them the product at a discounted price or free shipping. It would be best to keep remarketing to them – reminding them about replenishment (in the case of consumables) or showing them cross-sell products that might pique their interest in the long run.
Segment by location
Segmenting folks by where they live is a great way to procure data for personalization. It is especially true for businesses that must, by nature, have location as a critical parameter – travel agencies, airlines, car rental companies, home and garden, seasonal services, etc.
But, even businesses without a primary focus on location can utilize this data in effective campaigns. For example, if you’re hosting an event in Tallahassee, you can send an email offering registration to Florida folks located a short drive away. Similarly, if a region-specific event is approaching (such as the Boston Marathon), you can offer sale prices, discounts, and coupons to the people of that region.
Geographical data also helps you achieve the following:
– Send emails at the optimal times for all time zones.
– Adjust the local time of events based on location.
– Provide area-specific travel directions to the venue.
Segment by interest
At the core of all email marketing campaigns (all marketing campaigns, really) is a single goal: figure out what customers like and give them more of it.
Segmenting folks by their interests and preferences lets you achieve the above – you don’t waste people’s time and attention by promoting items they wouldn’t buy in a million years. You redirect effort and resources to showcasing products to people who like them.
Develop a deeper understanding of users’ interests by studying their browsing and purchase patterns. Alternatively, you could be more upfront and send an email asking users to “favorite” or “wish list” their preferred products. Of course, you’d have to incentivize them to make this effort; you could promise users that you’ll notify them first when their favorite products go on sale.
To segment is to succeed
In the age of 24×7 digital noise, you won’t get anywhere with generic messaging and minimal effort. At best, your email gets ignored or deleted. At worst, all your emails get shunted to the Spam folder by default.
You must personalize and personalize well to stand out from the horde and get people to act on your email. Tailor your emails to the recipient’s preferences – only possible if you have the proper segmentation.
If you’re curious about how to get started or optimize your existing segmentation using AI-driven strategies, why not consult?
Netcore has been recognized as “Ahead of the curve at applying AI to marketer workflow” in The Forrester Wave™: Email Marketing Service Providers Report 2022. For the second year in a row, we received the “Highest overall customer rating” as a Customers’ Choice in the 2022 Gartner Peer Insights “Voice of the Customer” Report.
Most importantly, we send over 20 billion emails a month on behalf of 6500+ businesses across 40 countries – so we’re constantly analyzing data, optimizing tactics, and pushing for the highest achievable goals in email ecosystems.
Connect with us, and let’s explore how to better engage with all your customers, no matter what they like and where they come from.
