Getting Started with Email Segmentation: A How-To Guide
You must have learned how important email personalisation is. But have you learned about segmentation? Email segmentation is the right approach to email personalisation. Because this factor has the potential to trigger users. In many instances, we have seen that email segmentation can improve your conversion rates. That's because you effectively target specific consumers, offering them exactly what they want. Saying that, let’s learn about email segmentation and how to use it.
What is Email Segmentation?
Email segmentation is a marketing strategy. It divides email recipients into smaller, targeted groups, giving you the groundwork to create email notifications. Segments are based on characteristics, user behaviours, or preferences. The goal is to offer users personalised content and messaging based on segmentation. This boosts engagement, open rates, click-through rates, and conversions.
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What Steps are Required for Email Segmentation?
Collecting data for segmentation can be your easiest task. Because there is no hard-and-fast rule for it. The data you need for list segmentation is quite basic, such as who your ideal audience is, where they are, what they like, their time zones, etc.
1. Demographics:
The demographics of your audience are their general characteristics, such as their age, gender, location, company profile, or income level. Many of these can be easily collected from a sign-up form. However, do not overwhelm them by asking for too much information, this can scare them. Rather, identify the details you need for your listing and add them to your sign-up form.
2. Purchase history:
Looking into users’ purchase histories can give you better opportunities for sending email notifications. This history can tell you about their preferences. This allows you to send targeted email campaigns that align with their preferences and interests.
For instance, if a segment of customers frequently buys hiking gear, you can send them emails featuring new hiking products, accessories, or related content. Follow these details to identify similar products and send recommendations.
3. Personal Interest:
Segmenting based on personal interests involves tailoring your email content to align with the specific hobbies, preferences, or activities that your subscribers are passionate about. This approach helps you connect with your audience on a more personal level, making your emails more engaging and relevant.
For instance, if you run an online bookstore, you could create segments for readers interested in different genres like fiction, mystery, romance, or science fiction. This way, you can send targeted book recommendations that cater to their individual preferences.
4. Geographics:
It involves dividing your email list based on the geographical location of your subscribers. This is particularly useful for businesses with physical locations or those offering location-specific deals and events.
For instance, if you have a retail chain with stores in different cities, you can create segments for each city and send out promotions or event invitations specific to each location. Geographical segmentation ensures that your recipients receive information that is relevant and applicable to their region.
If you’re using Notifly, you can easily collect geographical data of your consumers and segment emails accordingly.
5. Abandoned carts
Sounds odd? Abandoned shopping is one of the least used approaches for segmentation. But it’s an opportunity to understand your consumers. According to the Baynard Institute, the average abandoned cart rate is 69.99%, but why?
The reason could be any of these:
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Better price on another website
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Extra charges that make users let go of deals, such as shipping fees
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Gift options on a competitor’s website
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Wish list for the future
That’s also a 69.99% opportunity for sending personalised emails. You can send follow-up email reminders that their added items are still available for purchase.
6. Engagement Level:
Segmentation based on how actively recipients engage with your emails (highly engaged, moderately engaged, or lowly engaged) allows you to tailor content for varying levels of interest.
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Highly Engaged: Regularly open emails, click links, and actively interact; dedicated and interested subscribers.
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Moderately Engaged: Engage but less consistently; room to deepen connection.
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Lowly Engaged: Rarely open or interact; re-engagement strategies might be needed.
7. Lifecycle Stage:
Segmentation based on where subscribers are in their relationship with your brand (new leads, engaged customers, lapsed customers), enabling targeted communication according to their needs and journey stage.
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New Subscribers/Leads: Recent additions to your list, needing introductory content for brand familiarity.
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Engaged Customers: Active buyers, open to loyalty rewards and personalised recommendations.
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Lapsed Customers: Past buyers have been inactive for a while, requiring re-engagement efforts.
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Prospects: Interested subscribers, who are not yet customers, could use detailed information and special offers.
What’s the Essence?
Email marketing is like mixing art and science. Crafting interesting emails is important, but using data is what really makes a difference. Email segmentation is a way to group people based on their interests, and it helps make emails more engaging. It's the mix of creativity and data that makes email campaigns work well. If you have been sending mass emails and getting no results,you know why.
