The Power of Segmentation in Email Marketing
Generic blast emails seem easy - simply bulk send the same message to your entire list for maximum reach. But this spray-and-pray approach virtually guarantees low engagement and conversions.
Why? Because subscribers are not a monolith. Their individual differences make one-size-fits-all emails seem irrelevant. Effective segmentation strategies slice through demographic, behavioral and preference data to group similar contacts. Messages tailored to each cluster's needs then spark higher response.
Segmenting requires more upfront work to understand and organize audiences. But doing so pays off through elevated open rates, click-throughs, lower opt-outs, increased revenue and greater subscriber satisfaction.
In this guide, we'll explore types of email segmentation, strategies for implementation, real-world success stories, and tips for maximizing ROI through targeted audience grouping.
Types of Segmentation: Demographic, Behavioral and More
👉 Demographic - Age, gender, location, education level and more. Great for broad grouping.
👉 Behavioral - Email opens, clicks, site activity, purchases, interests and more. Reveals email engagement patterns.
👉 Technographic - Devices, browsers, operating systems. Useful for technical compatibility.
👉 Psychographic - Values, personalities and other attributes. More qualitative but powerful.
👉 Predictive - Uses AI and machine learning to model likely interests and behaviors.
👉 Contextual – Current events, browsing history, recent purchases inform real-time segmentation.
Layering multiple inputs helps split general segments into more nuanced subgroups. This hyper-targeting ensures maximum relevance.
Implementing Segmentation: Strategies and Tools
✅ Goal-setting - What actions do you want subscribers to take after reading emails?
✅ Data analysis - Which existing subscriber attributes and behaviors correlate to success on those goals?
✅ Audience grouping - Divide contacts into segments based on the high-impact attributes identified.
✅ Message personalization - Craft targeted content and calls to action tailored to each group's needs.
✅ Ongoing iteration - Keep observing performance indicators to refine and add new segments over time.
Robust email service providers (ESPs) like MailChimp and ConvertKit make segmentation easy through dedicated workflows and automations. Tags divide contacts based on traits, triggers deploy emails when users meet segment criteria, and bulk editing personalizes message content by group.
But optimizing the human side through thoughtful audience clustering and messaging aligned to each group’s needs makes the biggest impact.
Success Stories of Segmentation
❗Netflix - Segments users by favorite genres, languages, watching habits and more to serve hyper-personalized recommendations promoting relevant titles. This drives their famed sticky engagement.
❗Nike - Athlete subgroups receive targeted product offers based on expressed interests like running, basketball etc. They also get personalized fitness content and training tips via email to build brand affinity.
❗Amazon - Abandoned cart and browse abandonment triggers deliver tailored promotions and recommendations matching user browsing histories. The result - recovered revenue from millions of lost sales opportunities.
❗Purple Carrot - Vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free and lower calorie meal kit options, each with tailored promotional email recipes and content. Allows subscribers to self-select the best-fit plan.
❗Spotify - Users receive "Discover Weekly" playlists populated with artists similar to those they already stream, introducing them to relevant new music to expand engagement.
❗Etsy - Segmenting users by past purchase categories, price tiers, and behaviors like favoriting items enables extremely pinpointed product suggestions via email.
Used strategically, segmentation accelerated growth for these brands by making sure audiences get value from emails. Matching the right message and offer to the individual situation triggers desired actions.
Maximizing ROI with Targeted Emails
👉 Start with the most impactful one or two core segments like past purchasers, engaged subscribers, or high-affinity niches before getting more advanced.
👉 Personalize more than just names - tailor content, tone, formatting and creative to each group.
👉Remember demographic data has limitations - behavioral and predictive signals better indicate intent.
👉 Continuously tweak and add new segments. Don't set and forget.
👉 Use segments to direct one-to-one messages at scale by sending each subscriber a version catered to them.
👉 Let segmentation inform both email and wider business strategy around positioning and product development.
With smarter audience clustering and tailored engagement, it's possible to have your segmentation cake and eat it too by actually reducing workload over time. The data demonstrates targeting subscribers where they're at, rather than where you hope they'll be, is the key to maximizing email program ROI. Start slicing and send your way to higher response.
Hey👋, Thanks for diving into this article! Hope you found it handy. If you're curious about email marketing, we've got another article you might like. Check it out! - Crafting Irresistible Email Subject Lines!
