One of the greatest challenges email marketers face today is making sure they deliver the right message to the right people at the right time.
Customers are demanding a more personalized experience. For instance, if your product trial is coming to an end, you’d expect to receive an email about your next steps. If your email is delivered when a customer needs it and offers relevant content, you’ll see increased performance.
Data shows that segmented emails really work. More than 75% of email ROI comes from segmented campaigns.
What is email segmentation?
Before you jump in to create your email segments, you need to collect data about your contacts. The more information you know about your customers, the better you’ll be able to separate them into groups and personalize their email experience.
You can collect data from email signup forms. However, most of the forms you use will ask for minimal information to increase the chances your visitors will provide their information, so another great way to gather data is by tracking behavioral and transaction trends.
Building your segmented list
Once you have your data, you can then determine the best way to create a segmented campaign that will resonate with your audience.
There are a number of possibilities that you can use to group your contacts. Some companies who are more experienced with email segmentation might group their contacts by specific buying habits, device type, or even amount they spend. You can also see noticeable results by segmenting your contacts by demographics, location, and the length of time that your contacts have been on your lists.
You’ll notice that your email lists will include fewer contacts, but these contacts may be more engaged if they are grouped correctly.
How to measure the success of your segmentation in email marketing
There are a few ways to determine if your email segmentation is working. The first is to look at your email open rates. If you are sending your message to the right people, you should see a rise in the percentage of your list that opens your email. However, it’s also important to keep in mind that your subject line also plays a big role in open rates.
You should also look at your click-through rates for your emails. If you are truly offering a personalized message to your segmented list with relevant content, you’ll see more clicks in comparison to sending to a more broad audience.
Finally, check your unsubscribe rates. If you are seeing a higher-than-usual number of contacts unsubscribing from your emails, it could be an indication that there is a problem with how you segmented your list.
Does it really matter?
Running a successful email marketing campaign without email segmentation is extremely difficult. You can always send out generic emails to all of your contacts, but everyone in your list is at a different stage of the buyer’s journey, so your email will only be relevant to a handful of them.
When you segment your emails, you are delivering a more personalized message, and this tactic is proven to deliver results.
Marketers say segmented campaigns can return a 760% increase in revenue.
What now?
Keeping this information in mind, you should evaluate your current email marketing strategy to determine where segmentation could benefit you. If you’re new to this strategy, you don’t have to start big. Consider something simple, like a segmenting your new contacts with a welcome email and campaign. You’ll soon notice that this tactic will help you improve performance and convert more leads into customers.