By The title of this post may seem a little harsh, but it’s guaranteed to be true.
If you, as an email marketer, aren’t making use of segmentation within your emails, your campaigns won’t be as successful as they could be—and your competitors who are using segmentation are certain to be achieving better results.
The fact is, email list segmentation is crucially important. Giving you the power to tailor your emails based on a wide variety of your list’s characteristics, preferences and history, segmenting your email list allows for laser-targeted marketing you simply won’t achieve with any other method.
So, if you’re new to the concept of segmentation and want to learn more, read on to discover some of the best ways to segment your list and precisely how each one can achieve unparalleled results.
1. Age
Whilst this may seem obvious, the power of age is surprisingly underestimated. After all, would you talk to someone in their early 20s in the same manner as someone in their 40s? Probably not—and it’s essential your email content reflects this.
Tailoring your content to reflect the culture of the subscriber’s age is guaranteed to resonate more powerfully. Better still, by establishing the ages of your list, you’re able to automatically remove addresses of people who don’t fit into the bracket of your target audience.
For example, if your ideal customer is a parent in their 40s, there’s not much point sending emails to teenage subscribers—they’re simply not the correct audience. And, because of this, they’re highly unlikely to convert anyway.
An incredibly powerful form of segmentation that will not only allow you to tailor the content of your emails but your email list itself, establishing age is certain to produce benefits.
2. Previous Purchases
If a number of your list members have previously bought from you in the past, you can definitely use this to your advantage.
By segmenting your list based on past purchases, you’re able to identify which products they like—and follow with upsell emails introducing them to new products they’re highly likely to be interested by.
And, if you include personalized images into this form of segmentation too, you’re guaranteed to make each receiving subscriber feel special; like you’ve taken the time to identify new products they’d enjoy specifically for them.
In fact, email segmentation and personalization were hailed as the most effective email marketing strategies of 2017. So, by combining the two, you’re certain to get the results you’re looking for!
3. Business Type
If you sell on a B2B basis, segmenting your list based on business type is guaranteed to not only increase results—but improve your reputation with the businesses you’re targeting.
It’s no secret that different business types have different needs. An e-commerce company will naturally operate in an entirely different way to a not-for-profit organization, so it’s essential your email content takes into account the individual needs of each business type you’re selling to.
A ‘one size fits all’ approach definitely won’t work when it comes to B2B marketing, and segmenting your list taking this into consideration will stand you in good stead.
4. Education
In a similar manner to the earlier point of age, education level is also an important factor to consider when segmenting your list.
The vocabulary and general level of discussion you’d hear when listening to conversations between degree-educated people is likely to be different than those who know little about the particular topic that’s being discussed.
So, by establishing how educated list members are about your brand or specific subject matters you include in emails, you’re able to tailor your content to speak to them at exactly the right level. Not only will this make your content far more engaging for the audience, but will also ensure the right levels of vocabulary, language and general subject matter are appropriate for those reading it.
5. Cart abandonment
Whilst a whole other topic within itself, cart abandonment simply couldn’t be ignored when focusing on segmentation.
If you’re running an e-commerce site, having a cart abandonment strategy in place is essential to ensure you get the most out of your sales potential. So, by segmenting your list based on those who’ve added items to their cart but not checked out, you’re able to send cart abandonment emails accordingly to ensure you have the best chance of making that all-important sale.
In fact, it’s estimated that the average cart abandonment rate is a shocking 70%, making this form of segmentation perhaps the most important of all in the e-commerce market.
If you didn’t know much about email segmentation before, you certainly do now!
Undeniably important and giving you the power to make your email marketing strategy more targeted than ever, implementing segmentation is certain to be one of the most beneficial strategies you ever use.