Did you know that email segmentation is one of the most effective strategies for increasing your email marketing open, click and conversion rates? According to research from Mailchimp, segmented emails are 14.31% more likely to be opened and 100.95% more likely to be clicked than unsegmented emails.
But what is email segmentation? And how do you do it efficiently and practically? In this article, we’ll answer these and other questions about this topic, which is so important to the success of your email marketing campaigns. Check it out!
What is email segmentation?
Email segmentation is the process of dividing your contact list into smaller groups based on specific criteria, such as demographics, behavior, preferences, interests, purchase history, funnel stage, and more. The goal is to send more personalized, relevant and appropriate messages to each segment, increasing the likelihood of engagement and conversion of your leads and customers.
Why segment your list?
Email segmentation brings several benefits to your business, including:
- Improving the user experience: By receiving emails that meet their needs, expectations and preferences, users feel more valued, satisfied and loyal to your brand.
- Increase content relevance: By sending emails that are relevant to the context, time, and profile of each segment, you increase the chances of engaging, curiosity, and action from your audience.
- Reduce bounce rate: By avoiding generic, bulk and unwanted emails, you reduce the risk of irritating, annoying and alienating your contacts, who may unsubscribe, mark you as spam or ignore your emails.
- Optimize email marketing ROI: By sending more assertive, targeted and effective emails, you improve the return on investment of your email marketing campaigns, generating more traffic, leads, sales and revenue for your business.
How do I segment my mailing list?
To segment your email list, you need to follow a few steps:
- Define your goals: Before you segment your list, you need to be clear about your email marketing goals, such as raising awareness, educating the market, generating leads, nurturing relationships, selling products, building customer loyalty, etc. Your goals will guide the segmentation criteria you use, as well as the type, format and tone of your emails.
- Collect and analyze data: To segment your list, you need to collect and analyze data from your contacts, which can come from a variety of sources, including registration forms, satisfaction surveys, browsing history, analytics tools, CRM, and more. The data can be of various types, such as demographic (age, gender, location, etc.), behavioral (clicks, opens, purchases, etc.), psychographic (interests, hobbies, values, etc.), or situational (occasions, seasonality, events, etc.).
- Choosing Segmentation Criteria: Based on your goals and the data you have collected, you can choose the segmentation criteria that best fits your email marketing strategy. For example, if your goal is to sell more products, you can segment your list by purchase history, purchase frequency, average purchase value, most purchased products, etc. If your goal is to nurture leads, you can segment your list by funnel stage, interest level, lead score, etc.
- Create the segments: With the segmentation criteria defined, you can create the segments of your list using an email marketing tool that allows this functionality. You can create as many segments as you want, but remember that they need to be large enough to be worth the effort and small enough to be distinct and specific. You can also create subsegments, which are segments within segments, to further increase the precision and personalization of your emails.
- Send the emails: With the segments created, you can send the emails to each of them, tailoring the content, design, language, and call to action to the characteristics, needs, and expectations of each group. You can also test different versions of emails for each segment using A/B testing techniques to see which performs best and optimize your results.
Tips for segmenting your mailing list
Here are some tips to help you segment your list efficiently and practically:
- Start with the basics: If you’re just beginning to segment your list, you don’t need to worry about creating very complex and sophisticated segments. You can start with the basics, using simple, easy-to-obtain criteria such as name, email address, location, etc. Over time, you can refine your segments by adding more criteria and data.
- Keep your list current: Email segmentation is a dynamic process, not a static one. This means you should keep your list current by removing inactive, duplicate or invalid contacts and adding new contacts that fit your segments. You should also monitor your contacts’ behavior and preferences and adjust your segments as they change. Try an email verification tool and validate your list!
- Use email marketing automation: To make the email segmentation process easier and faster, you can use email marketing automation, a technology that allows you to send automated, personalized emails to your contacts based on predefined triggers and conditions. For example, you could send a welcome email to a new contact who has subscribed to your list, a birthday email to a contact who has turned a year older, a referral email to a contact who has purchased a product from your store, and so on.
Ideas for increasing open rates with compelling subject lines
One of the most important factors in successful email segmentation is the subject line, the text that appears in the user’s inbox and has the power to capture their attention and interest or not. According to Campaign Monitor research, 47% of users decide to open an email based on the subject line alone.
So to increase the open rate of your targeted emails, you need to create compelling subject lines that are able to capture the curiosity, emotion and action of your audience. Here are some ideas on how to do that:
- Use numbers and lists: Numbers and lists are elements that attract users’ attention because they convey the idea of clarity, objectivity and practicality. For example, you can use subject lines such as “7 Tips to Increase Your Sales,” “3 Steps to Create a Successful Blog,” “10 Email Marketing Mistakes to Avoid,” etc.
- Ask questions: Questions are a way to engage users because they make them curious, thoughtful, and involved. For example, you can use subject lines such as “Do you know the secret to email marketing success?”, “Are you making these mistakes in your email marketing?”, “Want to learn how to segment your email list in 5 minutes?”, etc.
- Use emoticons: Emoticons are symbols that express emotions, feelings and reactions and can make your subject lines more fun, creative and human. For example, you can use subject lines like “🎁 You won’t believe what I have for you,” “😍 You’ll fall in love with these email segmentation tips,” “😱 You’re losing money by not segmenting your email list,” etc.
- Create Urgency and Scarcity: Urgency and scarcity are mental triggers that influence user behavior by making them feel like they need to act quickly before they miss out on a unique or valuable opportunity. For example, you can use subject lines such as “Last chance: Take advantage of this incredible offer before it runs out”, “Hurry: You only have access to this exclusive content today”, “Don’t waste time: Secure your place on this unmissable course now”, etc.
- Personalize: Personalization is a way to show that you know and care about your audience, and that you’re not sending generic, mass emails. For example, you can use subject lines like “Hi, [name], I have a special tip for you,” “[name], you’ll love this new feature I’ve prepared for you,” “[name], I know what you need to segment your mailing list,” etc.
How do I analyze the results of email segmentation?
To know if email segmentation is working and delivering the results you expect, you need to analyze the metrics and performance indicators of your email marketing campaigns. Some of the most important metrics you should monitor are
- Open rate: This is the percentage of users who opened your emails out of the total number of emails sent. This metric indicates the level of interest and curiosity your audience has in your emails and can be influenced by the quality of your subject line, the time and frequency of sending, your brand reputation, etc.
- Click-through rate: This is the percentage of users who clicked on a link or button in your emails out of the total number of emails opened. This metric indicates the level of engagement and action your audience takes with your emails and can be influenced by the relevance of your content, the design and usability of your emails, the clarity and attractiveness of your call to action, etc.
- Conversion Rate: This is the percentage of users who took the desired action after clicking on your emails out of the total number of emails sent. This metric indicates the effectiveness and response rate of your emails and can be influenced by the quality of your offer, the alignment between your email and your landing page, the ease and security of the conversion process, etc.
- Bounce Rate: This is the percentage of emails that were not delivered to users out of the total number of emails sent. This metric indicates the quality and hygiene of your email list and can be affected by factors such as invalid, non-existent or incorrect email addresses, full inboxes, spam filters, etc.
- Unsubscribe Rate: This is the percentage of users who have unsubscribed from your list as a percentage of the total number of emails sent. This metric indicates your audience’s level of satisfaction and loyalty to your emails, and can be influenced by factors such as excessive or insufficient sending frequency, irrelevant or unwanted content, lack of transparency or permission, etc.
To analyze these and other metrics, you can use email marketing tools that provide reports and dashboards with data and graphs from your campaigns. You can also compare the results of your different segments to see which ones are the most profitable, the most engaged, the most satisfied, etc. Based on these analyses, you can make decisions to improve, optimize and refine your email segmentation strategies.
Bottom Line
Email segmentation is one of the most effective strategies for increasing your email marketing open, click and conversion rates. By segmenting your contact list into smaller groups based on specific criteria, you can send more personalized, relevant and appropriate messages to each segment, increasing the likelihood that your leads and customers will engage and convert.
In this article, you learned what email segmentation is, why you should segment your email list, how to segment your email list, tips for segmenting your email list, ideas for increasing open rates with compelling subject lines, how to analyze the results of email segmentation, and frequently asked questions about email segmentation.
We hope you’ve found this article useful and insightful, and that you can apply the tips and ideas we’ve shared here to your next email marketing campaigns. If you enjoyed this article, please share it with your friends and colleagues and leave a comment below. Thanks for reading this article about email segmentation, and see you next time! 👋
