What is Email Marketing Segmentation?
Email marketing segmentation is a powerful strategy used to send a consistent message to a group of people who have similar characteristics.
For example, if you own an ice cream shop, you can target different groups of people that are interested in ice cream with the same email message tailored for each group.
In this way, your messaging might be slightly different to appeal to each specific audience while still promoting your brand and product.
Why Should You Segment Your Email List?
Email marketing segmentation is highly effective for a variety of reasons.
It’s the most preferred method of communication among consumers, and it’s also one of the easiest to track results from.
You don't want to send out the same thing to everyone on your list, you need to begin building a relationship with your audience and understand what will resonate with them.
Segmentation is one of the most powerful ways to do this.
The reasons for segmenting your list are five-fold:
- Increased open rates
- More focused communication
- Higher conversion rates
- More direct communication with audience members
- Decreased cost per click/email blast
What Are Email Segmentation Techniques For Marketers?
Segmentation is a key component in marketing. It's the process of dividing and distinguishing target markets based on specific characteristics (demographics, psychographics, geographic locations).
Email marketing segmentation allows marketers to target more relevant groups of customers, leading to more open and click through rates. However, marketers are still having difficulty determining which segments provide the best results.
The best segmentation strategies provide insights into consumer behavior that can help you identify new opportunities for your business.
Top segmentation techniques that marketers use to carve out a distinct audience focus:
- Demographic Segmentation
- Geographic Segmentation
- Psychographic Segmentation
- Behavioral Segmentation
- New Subscribers
- Website Activity
- Business Industry
Demographic Segmentation For Email Marketing Segmentation
Demographic segmentation helps you target your audience on the basis of age, gender, profession, location and income level.
Demographic segmentation is a proven way to increase your open rates, click through rates, and ultimately sales. It's also one of the easiest forms of marketing to create because it's automated.
Geographic Segmentation For Email Marketing Segmentation
In general terms, geographic segmentation is used by companies that sell products or services specific to a certain community, state, region, country or group of countries.
Let’s say you are hosting local events like a seminar, you can segment your audience based on their location and send invites to those living in and around that area to both increase leads & catch their interest.
Psychographic Segmentation For Email Marketing Segmentation
Psychographic segmentation is also used for email marketing. It basically analyzes personality types, lifestyle choices or other nonspecific factors that influence people's decision making process.
Psychographic segmentation is a strategy used by marketers to understand how different groups of people are likely to respond to their messaging.
It’s a really useful approach for email marketing because it allows you to create multiple segments based on personality and personal interests.
It’s also very effective at targeting the right kind of person with the right kind of message, leading to higher engagement and sales.
Psychographic segmentation divides consumers up into groups based on their attitudes, values and lifestyles. The best part? Psychographics are incredibly easy to measure, making them a great option for businesses who want a highly-targeted message.
Behavioral Segmentation For Email Marketing Segmentation
Behavioral segmentation is a form of data and customer profiling that identifies and differentiates customers based on their actions and/or preferences. Behavioral segmentation enables companies to target specific groups of customers with more relevant product offerings, thus increasing the likelihood of customer retention and loyalty.
Behavioral segmentation allows to divide consumers according to the: Use Price Sensitivity Loyalty Buyer readiness
New Subscribers For Email Marketing Segmentation
When someone subscribes to your email list, it’s important that you create a sense of familiarity as soon as possible.
The more comfortable your subscribers feel, the more likely they are to engage further with your brand.
Like with most aspects of creating an effective email marketing strategy , it’s imperative that you keep your subscribers at the forefront of everything you do.
After all, they're the reason why you're creating content in the first place.
Take a look at the below example from Appsumo. When you subscribe to their website, they send you a welcome email and offer you 10% off of your first order from them.
Past Purchases For Email Marketing Segmentation
Another easy way to optimize targeting is by segmenting customers by the products they have bought before.
When you analyze the purchase patterns of your email list customers, you can upsell or cross-sell additional products or services that complement their purchase.
Previous purchasing patterns can be used to predict customer purchasing habits in the future.
This allows for more effective marketing campaigns, which will entice customers into buying specific products.
By using the data collected from past purchases and your customer's email information, you can send out targeted emails to customers who might be interested in a new product.
Website activity For Email Marketing Segmentation
Keeping track of website behavior is another simple way to get more information about visitors’ interests.
You can use Google Analytics or any other free tool to get details about where your audience comes from, how long they stay on your site, what pages they visit and much more.
People who enjoy looking at your product pages may be interested in a deal. Send them an email highlighting some of your most popular products and hottest deals.
Industry of The Business For Email Marketing Segmentation
If you want to appeal to your email subscribers’ business needs, segment them based on what industry they are in.
For example, if your subscribers are in the retail industry, consider providing tips about how to keep up with trends or avoid competition.
By segmenting your email subscribers based on their industry, you can provide them with content specifically targeted to help them get ahead from their competitors.
Cart Abandonment For Email Marketing Segmentation
All business’ nightmares are cart abandonment. Cart abandonment is a major problem for all online retailers, regardless of how big a company is.
Even the most optimized and perfectly designed eCommerce stores see items left in the carts each and every day.
There are many reasons customers leave the checkout process without completing their purchase.
Whether they forgot to log in, left to do research on another item, or simply changed their mind about purchasing the item, there is a way you can get them to come back and complete the purchase.
Sending them a friendly email to remind them about the items they left in their cart will help ensure that they complete the purchase.
Email Marketing Segmentation For E-commerce
Segmentation is one of the most powerful tools in email marketing. It allows you to target the right customers with the right message, at the right time. But it can also be a nightmare if not done correctly.
For e-commerce businesses, it's especially important to leverage the power of segmentation and personalization.
If you have an ecommerce business, you can use these mentioned top segmentation techniques (Demographic, Geographic, Psychographic, Behavioral, New Subscribers, Website Activity, Business Industry) along with:
Sales Funnel Segmentation For Ecommerce
Segment your sales funnel based on the buyer's stage in the buying cycle.
An effective way to segment a sales funnel is by using buyer personas. Buyer personas are fictional characters created to represent different types of buyers who might be interested in your product or service.
They are not real people, but they possess traits that are common among most potential customers.
With the right marketing strategy, you can turn an uninterested web browsing customer into a converted brand-loyal shopper.
To do so, you'll need to be able to identify where a customer is in the sales funnel and craft a compelling email that will convert them.
- Define your target audience
- Find out what they're interested in
- Find out which social media platforms they use most frequently
- Create content that is relevant and interesting for them
In general there are 3 stages of the funnel:
- Top of the Funnel (ToFu)
- Middle of the Funnel (MoFu)
- Bottom of the Funnel (BoFu)
There are a couple of different ways to segment customers.
You can also try to break down your customers into consumers and businesses.
Consumers will be the consumers who have a need or want that they want to fulfill through a purchase, then there is the business customer who has a need or want for their company to be fulfilled by purchasing something from you.
After you have broken it down by consumer and business customers you can further segment them by how advanced they are in the sales funnel.
Email Marketing Segmentation For B2B Businesses
Email marketing is a tried and true method of communication for B2B companies. But in order to make the most of your email list, you'll need to get creative with segmentation.
Segmentation is where you can do some really exciting things with emails. It allows you to tailor the content and design of the message based on who will be receiving it.
If you have an B2B business, you can use these mentioned top segmentation techniques (Demographic, Geographic, Psychographic, Behavioral, New Subscribers, Website Activity, Business Industry) along with:
Survey/Feedback Segmentation For B2B Businesses
Survey and feedback segmentation is one of the most powerful ways to deliver a more targeted message to your customer base.
A mistake that many brands make is failing to be personal, and failing to recognize that their clients are individuals with unique wants and needs.
According to the survey and feedback results, you can make better judgments about your customers.
For instance, you can send out a survey about a product or service review.
According to results, you can segment your customers for your next email about your new launch or a discount on the same/similar product.
Engagement History Segmentation For B2B Businesses
Engagement history segmentation is used by B2B (business-to-business) companies to gather information about their customers' behavior related to engagement.
It is important for both B2B and B2C businesses, as it helps them understand whether the customer will be receptive to future marketing messages.
By using engagement history segmentation, B2B marketers can gain insight into the buying process of their prospects and how they consume content.
This information helps businesses market toward their prospects at different stages of the sales funnel, increasing conversions and revenue generation.
Segment your customers based on their engagements by defining if, let’s say, first-time customers, or loyal customers.
Based on your results, you can send dedicated emails to your prospects based on their segments.
Email Marketing Segmentation For Small Businesses
Email marketing is a great way for small businesses to communicate with customers and create relationships. However, it can be difficult to find the best way to use email marketing for your business.
Whether you're running a small business or a large enterprise, email marketing can be one of your most powerful marketing tools.
Done right, it can increase your conversion rate and help you reach more customers
Marketers who use segmented campaigns note as much as a 760% increase in revenue.
For small businesses, email marketing segmentation is essential for growing customer relationships, building trust and loyalty, and increasing sales.
Email Marketing Segmentation For Beginners
Email marketing is one of the most effective ways to grow your business. But, with so many options available it can be hard to choose.
What's more, when you are just starting out it can seem like overkill to go over the top with advanced segmentation techniques.
You don’t have to worry. You can implement all the techniques mentioned in that article.
Since you are new in the industry, the one thing you have to do more may be A/B testing.
A/B testing is a great way to determine whether an email campaign will be effective.
This works best when the design of your emails is simple and easy to understand. You should always use plain text in your emails, as well as large fonts for easy reading.
It's important not to overwhelm people with extra information or graphics; instead, try taking it back to basics and seeing what sticks!
Wrap things up
This guide is designed to help you master email marketing segmentation. It's easy to see why the practice has become so popular in recent years.
Segmenting your customers allows you to communicate with them, which will eventually lead to better conversion rates. If there are any questions about the points covered in this guide, please leave a comment below! :)
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