Emails remain one of the most potent channels brands use in reaching their clients. About 81% of small businesses use email as their primary customer acquisition channel and this figure will only go up in the coming years. Despite this, there is still a strong possibility of brands and small businesses overwhelming their customers with unnecessary emails and losing good leads. I mean, how many times have you unsubscribed from newsletters because they just were not relevant to you or they were flooding your inbox? I bet the answer would be a couple of times. Email segmentation solves this in a very simple and straightforward way.
What is email segmentation?
Now, imagine Jess, a fashion designer wants to send her limited spring collection to her email audience. Based on the past purchase history, she can optimise her emails to be sent only to her past clients who purchased spring collections instead of sending them to all subscribers. This works better for Jess because clients who are interested in Winter collections do not need to see what she is offering for Spring. Only those interested in Spring collections will see it based on that segmentation.
Email segmentation is dividing email subscribers into smaller groups based on their demographic, interest, purchase history and how they have interacted with your emails previously. Through segmentation, you can send very personalised emails that your subscribers would like.
Why is email segmentation important?
Segmenting your emails helps you put the right messaging in front of the right people. In the case of Jess, she can easily send discount coupons and announce sales to the Spring segment of her audience. Email Segmentation when done right leads to increased open and click rates, a lot more conversions, and increased reputation and better results from your emails. When your customers get relevant content through segmentation, they will get a unique experience tailored to their needs and are more likely to say yes to you. If you are wondering how you can start segmenting your emails, here are 8 best practices to get you started.
Tips for email list generation:
1. Subscriber demographics
Demographics simply means distinct characteristics used to identify a population such as age, race, income level, and gender among others. When marketing to your customers, demographic plays a crucial role in helping you segment them into groups and give them the right messaging.
A good example of gender-based segmentation is sending International Women’s Day messages to your female audience. In this case, we both know it helps enormously to have a personalized message go straight to your female customers instead of all your customers.
How about segmentation based on location? That also works amazingly well. Segment your users according to their countries and you can send some pretty enticing independence day discounts to them. The more data you have about who your customers are, the better it is for you to separate them into more detailed segments. You can find subtle ways of letting your customers trust you enough to divulge some personal data to you for a better brand experience for them in return.
Demographic data offers you the flexibility of experimenting with your audience by sending highly targeted offers to your customers thereby increasing your chances of conversion significantly.
Email segmentation is dividing email subscribers into smaller groups based on their demographic, interest, purchase history and how they have interacted with your emails previously. Through segmentation, you can send very personalised emails that your subscribers would like.
2. New subscribers
Segmentation based on new subscribers is one I would advise every business owner to have. New subscribers are often interested in your product. They have been on your website or social media channels and have successfully entered your sales funnel. From this point onwards, it is your job to make sure they convert into paying customers.
Create a segment for them and tell them why your product is the best for their needs. Start with a welcome message followed by some tips on how to use your product as well as some reviews of your happy customers. Be creative in your approach and present a compelling case of why they should move forward with your products. Remember, getting them into the funnel is half the job done, now use a clever segmentation strategy to get them to make that purchase.
Craft a well-structured email automated sequence for your new subscriber’s segment and tweak it as you get feedback from them. This will make sure you are not leaving any new customers unattended.
3. Engaged users
You can segment users based on their engagement rates with your past emails. Look out for open and click rates. Most email marketing providers like tinyEmail give you detailed analytics on the customers who are most interactive with your content. Pay special attention to them and send them more of what they liked and interacted with.
If a group of subscribers keep clicking on your blog articles in your newsletter, segment them and send them relevant articles. If another group is interested in fashion trends, segment them and send the latest fashion trends to their inbox. This is a simple segmentation strategy always works because your customers are getting exactly what is relevant to them.
4. Purchase History
There is a wealth of opportunities in segmenting your customers by their purchase history. Get creative with your emails to this particular segment. You can recommend similar products that they can add to their most recent purchase. Notice that a lot of clients are buying a product, you can add it as your best seller in your newsletter to get even more sales. You can even ask for feedback on specific products from only buyers of that product so a random subscriber is not being asked to review a lawnmower when they do not even have a lawn.
Segmentation can also be done based on the purchase amount of your clients. Now, this is an interesting one. Take a look at your customer purchase data and you may realize that certain customers purchase items in a price range. It could be a one-off purchase or a consistent purchase. Segment them based on their purchase amounts to entice them to purchase items within their price range.
5. Purchase Frequency
Purchase frequency can be used to segment users based on the last time they purchased from your store. Segment users based on how long ago they made a purchase. You can try 90, 60 and 30 days segmentation since the last purchase and send relevant messaging to each segment. You can also create a different segment for frequent buyers and target them with more personalized messages. Offer early releases or beta options to frequent buyers to make them feel special. 90-day segment subscribers can be sent a message reminding them to visit your website again after 3 months. I believe you get the drift.
6. Membership Renewals
If you offer a subscription-based service, then it will be a good idea to segment your users based on their subscription dates and behaviors. For instance, you can segment all free trial users and remind them to buy your product or service before the trial expires. You can also segment members who have subscribed to your most expensive subscription and offer them exclusive VIP discounts ahead of their renewal dates. The possibilities are endless if you think about it.
7. Customer Reviews
Have you ever been left a review, good or bad, that you felt impacted your business? We can all relate. Segmenting subscribers based on reviews helps manage your business’ reputation effectively and pretty much lets you know who is satisfied with your services and who is not. It’s essentially a gold mine of data telling you who to thank and who to apologize to.
Segment subscribers based on positive and negative reviews. You can even add reviews that are stuck in the middle if you want to be very detailed. Positive reviews should attract more positive messages about why your brand is the best. Give them referral codes to share with their friends or offer them affiliate marketing partnerships.
For subscribers who are not satisfied with your service, you can offer replacements, refunds, discounts or programs to enhance their experience with your brand.
8. Milestone Celebrations
Let’s say May 2022 will be 5 years since you launched your brand. Why not segment all the users who joined in May 2017, the month you started, and especially thank them for being with you since you started and being your first customers? This is a classic example of how to use segmentation for milestone celebrations.
On a personal level, you can wish customers a happy birthday or send a greeting for some special occasion in their lives. You would earn your customers’ trust and they would be excited that you thought of them.
Wrapping it up
Segmentation provides you with creative ways to experiment with your data and slice your subscribers into powerful subgroups that you can target with messages that resonate with them. Make use of these tips and let me know if they work for you.
