Your Ultimate Guide to Email Segmentation: Transforming Your Digital Marketing Approach
Unlock the Full Potential of Your Email Campaigns with Expert Strategies and Insights.
Email segmentation is a strategy few business owners take advantage of. Probably because they don’t know how to do it or they’re unclear of the massive benefits it produces.
From learning how to segment your email list to knowing if it’s working, this article covers everything you need to know about email segmentation.
This comprehensive guide covers:
Email Segmentation 101: What You Need to Know
Benefits of Email Segmentation for Your Business
How to Segment Your Email List
Measuring the Success of Your Email Segmentation
Leveraging Expert Copywriting in Email Segmentation
Are you ready to level up your online presence with a strategic digital marketing plan?
Schedule a free 30-minute call with me today.
As a copywriter, I write compelling, targeted content that speaks directly to your ideal audience. After our call, I guarantee you’ll walk away with fresh ideas and actionable changes designed to elevate your online marketing strategy and drive results.
Are you ready to transform your email marketing? It all begins by segmenting your subscribers.
Email Segmentation 101: What You Need to Know
Email segmentation divides your email subscribers into small sections based on certain criteria. It’s one of the most powerful things you can do with your email marketing campaigns.
Without segmentation, your messages are generic, standardized, and impersonal. Here's a secret: Your customers don't want to feel like their needs, struggles, and obstacles are a 'one size fits all' solution.
Your readers want so much more than that.
74% of online customers say they get frustrated with content that’s generic and doesn’t align with their interests. (1)
Segmenting your email list lets you speak in a specific, direct, and customized way to your audience’s needs.
Segment your subscribers into categories based on:
Demographics such as age, gender, and location
Interests and preferences
Website activity and browsing behavior
Where they are on the buyer journey
Past purchases and abandoned carts
You can even categorize your list based on occupation, homeownership, and education.
A better understanding of your audience’s desires and preferences lets you recommend products or services designed to meet their needs. Referencing past purchases lets you suggest your newer products and services.
With a clear picture of who your subscribers are, your content becomes focused on what they want to read about. Not just what you think they want.
In today's digital marketing world, segmentation is an underused asset that has huge rewards in your marketing efforts. Break through the noise in your subscriber’s email inbox with messages that speak directly to them.
Let’s say you’re a family law attorney with a robust email list.
You send out your generic newsletter consistently. But you’re not seeing any engagement or any conversions from your emails.
If you take a minute to look over your subscribers, you’ll find plenty of subgroups.
For example, some clients need a divorce attorney and others are involved in child custody disputes. You even notice a large number of subscribers are interested in adoption.
How different will your messaging and content be now that you know exactly who you’re talking to and what their needs are?
That’s why segmenting your email list is so powerful. It lets you dial in your messaging which in turn dials in your marketing. Pretty amazing.
Later we’ll go over in more detail how you go about segmenting. But let’s continue talking about the power of segmenting.
Benefits of Email Segmentation for Your Business.
Better Results.
Tailored messaging opens the door for you to connect with your target audience. As the connection grows, these potential customers begin to know, trust, and like you.
When people know, trust and like you, they happily open your emails. They’re excited to click on your links because they know you’ve got helpful solutions. Emails help nurture relationships and build confidence in your subscribers to choose your services when needed.
2. Better Customer Experiences.
Segmenting your list enhances the buyer journey by delivering tailored email experiences.
Consider a subscriber who downloads your guide on ‘Understanding Your Rights in a Divorce.’ By categorizing them into a ‘divorce needs’ segment, you can then send targeted emails offering valuable divorce tips, showcasing your services, and sharing testimonials.
Each email sent after the initial opt-in is crafted specifically to meet their needs and stage in the buyer journey. Gently nudging them closer to scheduling a free consultation with you.
3. Better Resource Efficiency.
Sorting out your email list and better understanding your subscribers' needs makes more efficient use of your resources.
Let’s continue with the example above. As a family law attorney, your ideal client is someone in the early stages of seeking a divorce lawyer.
After segmenting your subscribers, you find that 30% perfectly fits that description. Now, your goal is to create engaging emails, blogs, and content that directly appeals to these subscribers.
Focusing your time and resources on the people most likely to seek your services ensures your marketing efforts are worth it.
4. Better Return on Investment (ROI).
It all comes down to a better ROI.
Tailoring your messaging with content that speaks directly to your reader's needs and pain points increases your ROI.
Email campaigns are the most effective marketing strategy, with a $36 return for every $1 spent. (2) Segmenting your subscribers can increase your revenue by 760%. (3)
The point is: Your audience wants more than generic messaging.
Stand out in a crowded inbox with emails that are relevant and personal. Taking the time to get to know your audience increases engagement and builds a rapport with your readers. And it can differentiate your business from your competitors.
Where should you start when segmenting your audience?
How to Segment Your Email List.
Begin by gathering information about your subscribers. Then, group or tag them accordingly. Use this insight to send emails tailored to their needs and interests.
Segmenting your subscribers can feel overwhelming depending on how large your list is, the industry you are in, and who your ideal customer is.
I touched on a few categories you can use when dividing your subscribers. A few more include:
Language or ethnic background
Type of business
The type of lead magnet used
Family structure
Content interests
Here are five best practices when segmenting your email list.
Decide the Right Tool to Use.
Just as every business is unique, so are the tools available.
When choosing an email marketing tool a few things to consider include:
What kinds of emails do you want to send?
Write out your must-have features
Do you work with a marketing team?
Ask colleagues or other professionals about the tools they use
Start out using the free plan and see what works and doesn’t. Don’t be afraid to switch to another tool if need be.
2. Keep It Simple.
Don’t overcomplicate or overwhelm yourself with this project.
Find a few segments that are most appropriate for your list. While you may not know everyone on your email list, you can divide based on some generic descriptions. Such as age, location, industry, and purchase history.
If you’re having trouble finding appropriate tags, consider using some of these:
Level of engagement (or lack thereof)
Actions taken, such as downloading a guide or attending a webinar
Feedback, surveys, or other direct response
As you continue to refine your subscriber list, you can create new tags that apply to your audience.
3. Restructure Data Collection.
Use your opt-in form as a way to collect useful information about your new subscriber.
An opt-in usually asks for your name and email address. But adding demographic details, specific interests, or asking how they found your website provides you with more information about your subscriber.
You can even offer options for how often they’d like to receive emails and what topics they’d like to read about.
4. Track Patterns.
Get to know how your subscribers interact with your emails by tracking metrics.
Important metrics to track include:
Open rates
Click-through rates
Conversion rates
Bounce rates
Unsubscribe rates
These numbers tell you which subscribers are engaging with your content, and those who rarely open your emails. Knowing this information lets you clarify your messaging or try different email subject lines, send times, or body copy.
More on this a little later.
5. Survey Subscribers.
Who better to get feedback from than your subscribers?
Get beyond the basic info (age, gender, geographic location). Use surveys to learn about your subscriber's pain points, interests, obstacles, and goals. You can even ask them how often they want to hear from you.
Your survey should give you answers to the following questions:
Who are your subscribers?
What are their wants and needs?
In what ways do they interact with your products and services?
If you have trouble getting your readers to respond, include an incentive such as a promo code or freebie.
6. Monitor Your Social Media Channels.
Social media lets you analyze your follower's interactions and engagements. Helping you better understand their interests and pain points.
Start practicing social media listening skills.
This involves monitoring your social media channels for any discussion of your brand, competition, trending topics, and keywords related to your brand.
Benefits of social media listening include:
Identifies opportunities
Improves customer satisfaction
Refines what keywords you use
Reveals industry trends
Generates leads
Opportunities for collaboration
Builds customer relationships
Social media listening tells you exactly how your customers feel about your brand, what their struggles are, and what they are looking for from you.
And the best part is you get all this valuable information in real-time.
Now that you’ve got a tagged and sorted subscriber list, let’s unpack how you start tracking your emails.
Measuring the Success of Email Segmentation.
Email marketing takes time to perfect.
It involves:
Rewriting your messaging
Improving your subject lines
A/B testing
And making sure each email is optimized for engagement.
Even experienced copywriters track metrics to gauge the success of their email marketing campaigns.
Metrics, just like Facebook algorithms, are always changing. Staying up to date with these changes is important.
Keep the goal of your email campaign in mind when tracking metrics. For example, is your campaign focused on increasing subscriber engagement or driving traffic to your website?
Basic metrics every email marketer should keep track of include:
Open Rates.
This is the number of email subscribers who opened your email.
Open Rate = Number of emails opened ÷ Number of subscribers X 100.
Open rates provide insights on:
Subject line effectiveness
Engagement levels
Email deliverability
Valuable content
They also tell you how well you’ve segmented your subscribers. High open rates reveal which groups are most receptive to your emails. With this knowledge, you can tailor your messaging to specific audiences.
Open rates vary based on your industry, but a good benchmark is around 20%.
2. Click Through Rate (CTR).
CTR tracks how many of your subscribers clicked on the links you included in your email.
CTR = Number of people who clicked a link ÷ Number of emails delivered X 100.
It’s important not to overcount clicks. For example, if someone clicks twice on the same link in your email, it counts as one click, not two.
CTR provides insights on:
If you’re using the right keywords
Whether or not your ads are working
How well your email copy is doing
The average CTR across most industries is 2.91%. Similar to open rates, CTR varies based on industry.
3. Conversion Rate.
Conversion rate measures how many people clicked on your link, and then followed through with your call to action.
For example, if your email included a link to a free webinar sign-up page, the CTR is the number of people who clicked that link. And then of those people who clicked, your conversion rate is the number of people who signed up for your webinar.
Conversion Rate = Total number of people who took the call to action ÷ Number of emails sent to subscribers X 100.
This number reveals your return on investment.
Try and improve your conversion rate with one of the following strategies:
Segment your email list and audience
Write compelling email content
Clarify your call to action
Improve your subject line
Redefine your email marketing goals
A decent conversion rate is 2-5%.
4. Bounce Rate.
A bounce rate tracks how many of your subscribers didn’t receive your email. Hence, the email bounced.
Bounce Rate = Total number of bounced emails ÷ Total number of emails sent X 100.
There are two kinds of bounces: hard and soft. Hard bounces track permanent issues with the email address. Soft bounces track temporary issues.
A bounce rate lets you know the quality of your subscribers. If you have a high bounce rate, your email list isn’t great. Maybe people are signing up with old or fake emails.
While you can’t completely solve the bounce rate problem, there are a few ways to safeguard your email list. A few include:
Scrub your email list with a deliverability tool
Edit your email database for emails ending in “.co” or “.con”
Only send to people who have opted-in to your email list
Be consistent with your email schedule
Require a double opt-in
Be sure to use a high-quality email platform for your marketing campaigns.
5. Unsubscribers.
All email providers tell you the number of people who’ve unsubscribed. It’s typically located on the main dashboard of your email marketing metrics page.
While a large number of unsubscribers can feel defeating, I’m here to tell you that’s ok.
Not everyone is your ideal customer. Having someone unsubscribe is better for your metrics rather than negatively affecting your open, click-through, and conversion rates.
The ultimate goal should be to have an email list of subscribers who are interested, engaged, and appreciative of your emails.
Give your subscribers a clear opportunity to unsubscribe if what you offer doesn’t meet their needs.
Leveraging Expert Copywriting in Email Segmentation.
You might have an impressive email list. But are you using it wisely and strategically?
While segmenting your list of subscribers is important, the success of your email campaigns usually depends on the quality of your copy.
As a professional copywriter, I help you elevate your email marketing strategy by crafting compelling content that boosts engagement and conversions.
Are you ready to unlock the full potential of your email marketing campaigns?
Schedule a free 30-minute Discovery Call today.
Learn how to captivate your audience like never before. I’ll give you simple strategies to improve your messaging for optimal results.
Together we can make your emails work harder for your business.
Resources.
(1) Campaign Monitor
(2) Constant Contact
(3) Campaign Monitor
You might also like…
