Do you segment your email lists? In other words, do you divide your lists into groups which are specifically appropriate for them?
Separating your email list subscribers into different segments of your audience is a practice which most marketers recommend.
For instance, if someone has signed up for a free ebook aimed at writing a book, they should be kept in a similar flow of content. You wouldn’t immediately start sending them material pertaining to weight loss.
When subscribers sign up to your email list, they will receive appropriate emails. Not the same emails as people who are in another targeted sequence. Thus, segmentation allows you to better market and communicate with your new potential customers and readers.
Most lists are organized based on three different factors: demographics, location, behavior, and interests.
Depending on your niche and marketing goals, you may need to organize them differently. However, the most popular way to figure your segmentation is to observe their online behavior.
Once they are opted-in to your campaign, readers are then divided based on how they interact with you and your content. Do they open more often than others? Do they click-through links frequently?
If so, it would be good to put them on a different path from those who are less likely to open or click-through your emails. They clearly are interested in your products and information.
There are three main reasons list segmentation is an important step in your email marketing process:
Segmentation Allows You to Send More Targeted Information
Most businesses will have more than one buyer’s persona, which means not every email you send needs to go to every lead or customer on your list. It also means you likely have more than one goal in mind when it comes to email marketing.
Segmenting allows you to pick certain keywords or information in order to organize and better target your customers with different key pieces of content.
For example, readers who have bought your products are more likely to get content about the products they purchased or new products to try. On the other hand, new subscribers who have not purchased a product, will be reading content on why the products benefit their life. Or perhaps information about you and your business, getting to know you better.
By observing the behavior of these new customers, you can also get to know them better. Here you could add surveys or questions to increase your understanding of these new people.
Segmentation helps you to increase overall conversions
List segmentation better targets your readers, which allows you to communicate more effectively. When you understand which point of the buyers’ journey they are on, then you have a better chance of making sales.
Segmentation improves your engagement and your reputation
Understanding your audience and communicating with them appropriately are keys to increasing your conversions and running successful email campaigns. Better communication provides more value to your customers. As you send appropriate material, you are further building your reputation and improving your engagement—two important metrics for creating a sustainable business.
The bottom line is this: the reason for list segmentation is to ensure the right emails are being sent to the right people.
With that in mind, it’s easy to see that with segmentation you are setting yourself up for greater success in achieving your email marketing goals.
Though it can require some thought and action, segmentation is worth the extra effort.
You’ll be glad that you took the time.
