Everything begins with this when it comes to email marketing. A Message for the Right People. You might be able to target a lot of people with one fell swoop, but not all subscribers are the same. So this is where list segmentation comes in. This is done by sending to a segment of the entire email list in an attempt to provide more relevance around content that should be better received for greater engagement and output. Read on as I give you a good understanding of the importance of list segmentation in context with your bulk email campaigns and some actionable steps to segment lists correctly.
What is List Segmentation?
For simplicity, segmentation is dividing your email list into smaller targeted groups on the basis of some criteria. Such criteria can be demographic (the same as in email purchase history and behavioral activities of mobile users) or things like preference or level of activity. Instead of sending out generic “one-size-fits-all” emails, segmentation allows for personalized messages that are tailored to the interests of particular groups.
Need for List Segmentation in Bulk Email Campaigns
Now while bulk email campaigns do work to reach a broad audience, if you are not informed with list segmentation, then definitely your content would be irrelevant, and maybe opened by some or action taken over it might only lead from none worse as unsubscribe or reported spam. List segmentation is so important for these reasons:
- More Relevant Emails: Segmentation emails are more relevant to recipients because, over time, they begin targeting your interests, needs, or behavior. This then translates to more open rates, CTRs, and engagement as a whole.
- Personalized Emails: Personalization in an email certainly means far more than just the names of your recipients. Through segmentation, you are able to create emails that can be more interactive and personal by means of sending custom content types, offerings, or calls-to-action (CTAs) specific for each common interest or solution.
- Higher Conversion: The more emails that are relevant to the person receiving them can only mean higher conversion, be it purchase, sign-up for a webinar, source download, etc. This in turn leads to an infinitely better ROI.
- Reduces Unsubscribe Rates: The high volume of unsubscriptions is because of irrelevant content. It's just one example of how segmentation can help you target the right message to subscriber expectations and eventually reduce your opt-out rates.
- Improved Deliverability: ESPs use engagement to determine where your emails should be placed, in the inbox or spam. Segmented emails engage and please recipients at high rates, which makes your deliverability score even better.
Segmenting Your Email List
In bulk email campaigns, segmenting your email list can occur in several ways. Here's how you can do it:
- Collect the Proper Information: In order for your list to be segmented, you need data on who is subscribing. This comprises all the basic details like age, gender, and location, as well as behavioral information including purchase history on your site. That information you will receive from sign-up forms, surveys, and tracking tools.
- Segmentation Identification: With the insights you have gained, determine which segments are most affected by your different targeting emails. Some of the typical segmentation criteria are:
- Demographic: Age, sex, location, and income.
- Behavioral: Transaction history, current behavior.
- Psychographic: Interests, hobbies, and lifestyle preferences.
- Types: Active/inactive subscribers, frequent openers, recent purchasers.
- Personalization of Content: Any email content must be personalized, including specific product recommendations, location-based offers, and interest- and behavior-driven content.
- Dynamic Content: Personalization that lets you create one email template and have the content blocks adjust themselves based on recipient list segments (dynamic). This also makes it much simpler to send personalized emails without writing multiple versions of the same email.
- Test & Optimize: Like any other marketing tactic, you should test out your segmentation efforts and evaluate the results. It also allows you to test how one audience group performs compared to another and is an excellent way to continually improve your messaging as well as increase conversions.
Effective List Segmentation Examples
A few powerful examples of list segmentation:
- E-commerce Example: An e-commerce company segments their list by purchase history. You might have one category of customers who bought electronics and another for people buying clothes. The brand will then send customers personalized emails with product recommendations, promotions, and related content for all the purchases each cohort made.
- Event Organizer: An event organizer will segment their list by location and interest in event marketing. Attendees can include registrants from prior conferences who receive early-bird registration promotions or new attendees wooed through personalized session invites.
- SaaS Company: A SaaS company might split its email list based on user behavior, with new subscribers getting onboarded and longtime users that no longer log in receiving re-engagement campaigns.
Conclusion
One of the best tricks to jump-start your mass email campaign with good results is definitely segmentation of the list. This would increase engagement rates and conversions and help to foster better relationships with your email list. In this digital era, the virtual world has turned into a war zone with two or more competitors existing in the same space offering similar products and solutions, so segmenting your email lists is not a luxury; it is mandatory for any successful email marketing strategy.
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