Do you want to increase your email deliverability and open rates, improve your click-through rates, and decrease unsubscribe rates? Then email segmentation is the solution.
Email segmentation can dramatically improve the effectiveness of your email marketing campaigns.
In this guide, you’ll learn how to segment an email list and gain a huge advantage over your competitors.
What is email segmentation?
Email segmentation is the practice of dividing subscribers into groups or segments based on specific characteristics, such as demographics, interests, or behavior. This allows for more personalized and targeted email campaigns, which significantly increases conversions.
The difference between using targeting or not is like the difference between a shotgun blast and a sniper blast. The former fires blindly in the hope that a few pellets will hit, while the latter tracks, aims and hits with precision.
You want your marketing campaign to be as precise as possible so that the right message reaches the right people at the right time. To achieve this, email segmentation is a must.
Ways to segment an email list
There are no hard and fast rules about what information you can use to segment a list. Any data associated with an email address can be used to create a segment. Segmentation is usually based on demographic or behavioral data.
Demographic segmentation
Demographics include any personal characteristics of your customers: age, gender, city, occupation, salary, etc. These are the most basic segments and help group customers without digging into purchasing patterns or behavior.
Although demographic segmentation seems basic, it can be very useful. For example, for a restaurant, it makes more sense to segment by age when advertising discounts for seniors.
Some examples of demographic segmentation:
- Gender: Sometimes it’s helpful to segment by gender. For example, Jose sells jewelry and accessories for everyone, but traditionally men may need a discount code during the holidays.
- Location: Branch can send local offers based on the user’s location, helping to create value.
- Job Title: An intern and a CTO use products differently, so they shouldn’t receive the same message.
- Type of organization: A local business has different needs than a multinational company, so messages must be adapted to these contexts.
- Preferences: You can segment by directly asking customers about their interests, such as a favorite sports team.
Behavioral segmentation
Once you understand who uses or buys your product, try to find out why and how they do it. This data allows you to send relevant emails based on customer behavior.
- What they buy: Purchase history tells you what products they may be interested in in the future.
- What they consider buying: If they add products to their wishlist, you can send them notifications about new releases or discounts.
- Where they shop: Some customers prefer to shop in-store, others online. Tailor your offers based on their preferred shopping channel.
- What they click on: Clicks reveal what they’re most interested in, allowing you to send more relevant emails.
Segmentation by life cycle stage
Another effective way to segment is by the stage they are in within the buying life cycle. Here are some examples:
- Awareness: New users may benefit from emails that include tutorials or educational videos.
- Consideration: Those considering a purchase might be provided with case studies or comparisons to competing products.
- Purchase: Subscribers close to a purchase don’t need as many marketing emails.
- Retention: Existing customers can benefit from tutorials on how to get the most out of their purchases.
- Promotion: Loyal customers may be interested in referral programs or exclusive communities.
Abandoned cart segmentation
Abandoned cart emails deserve their own segment. These emails are highly personalized and contain specific products that the customer left in their cart. Although this segment is large, it is only used for this type of email.
Email segmentation improves the relevance of your messages and optimizes conversion rates by targeting the right people with the right content.
Benefits of segmenting an email list
Why is segmentation important in email marketing?
Email list segmentation offers numerous benefits for both the sender and the recipient. Here are some of the key advantages:
- Increased Sales: Ultimately, all of the above benefits lead to the most important advantage: increased sales. By sending the right message to the right people at the right time, you are more likely to see a positive impact on your bottom line.
- Increased relevance: By segmenting your list, you can send more targeted and relevant content to a specific group of subscribers. This relevance can lead to higher engagement rates as the content resonates better with recipients.
- Improved open and click rates: Segmented email campaigns have higher open and click rates than non-segmented campaigns. This is because the content is tailored to the interests and needs of the segment.
- Better conversion rates: With more relevant content, recipients are more likely to take the desired action, whether that’s making a purchase, registering for a webinar, or following a call to action (CTA).
- Decreased unsubscribe rates: People are less likely to unsubscribe when emails are relevant. Segmentation ensures that you aren’t sending the same generic message to everyone, which can be off-putting for many subscribers.
- Improved customer retention: Personalized and relevant emails can improve customer satisfaction and loyalty. Customers feel valued when they receive content that matches their interests and behaviors.
- Efficient use of resources: By focusing on the segments most likely to convert, you can allocate your marketing resources more efficiently, ensuring you’re investing time and money in the most interested parties.
- A/B Testing and Optimization: Segmentation allows you to test different strategies with different groups to see what works best. This can help you optimize your overall email marketing strategy.
- Better data and insights: Targeted email campaigns can provide valuable data on the preferences and behaviors of different groups within your audience. This information can guide future marketing and content creation strategies.
- Regulatory Compliance: With data protection regulations like GDPR, it’s important to send emails that are relevant and desired by recipients. Segmentation helps ensure compliance by targeting only those who are most likely to be interested in your content.
