Key takeaways
- Segmenting your email list tailors content so subscribers receive messages relevant to their interests, increasing opens, clicks and engagement.
- Segmenting can improve click rates substantially. It can raise click rates by almost 60%.
- Separate subscribers into at least two groups (ready-to-buy vs. future prospects) and send different cadences: frequent, conversion-focused messages to the first, casual, brand-building messages to the second.
- Targeted emails create a sense of personal investment, driving immediate opens and stronger audience relationships that aid conversion.
- Track open rates, click rates and conversion rates to judge segmentation impact and avoid over-mailing groups that prefer a lighter touch.
Introduction
It’s been said before and it will undoubtedly be said again: email marketing is especially fantastic thanks to it’s customization options. This holds true from both the marketer and the reader perspective. As a marketer, for example, you can create a dynamic email marketing campaign scaled perfectly to suit your business needs. Did you know that you can do the same when it comes to your readers? Instead of sending the same emails to everyone on your list, why not consider segmenting your subscribers? Let’s talk about some of the most important reasons you should consider segmenting your email list.
Segmenting Improves Click Rate
One of the most daunting prospects about running an email marketing campaign is the idea that recipients won’t even open the email. You’ve worked hard on creating great content for your subscribers – but what can you do to ensure that they read it? One of the best things you can do to increase open rates as well as click rates is segmenting your list. This can improve you click rates alone by almost 60%!
Segmenting Encourages Reader Engagement
Even beyond simply opening up your email, readers have to take time out of their day to actually read it and interact with it. While this is the ultimate goal, it can also be a difficult one to attain. Many readers simply don’t have the time to spend reading emails that aren’t either absolutely vital to their lives or – at the very least – incredibly interesting. That’s why sending targeted emails is so important.
Do you remember those “one size fits all” pieces of clothing that used to be popular a few decades ago? They were, invariably, tiny pieces of fabric that only a select few could wear well. To achieve the best look, you had to take the time to go shopping for an outfit that was actually made to fit your particular size. Your email campaign should follow this same principle. Not everyone is going to be equally interested in the same content – in fact, some of the content won’t even be relevant to various groups of people. By segmenting your email campaign, you’re essentially ensuring that individuals receive information that is relevant to their interests and needs. This encourages reader engagement and increases your chances of developing a repeat opens.
Segmenting Creates Excitement
By taking the time to segment your subscribers and more finely hone your content delivery, what you’re really doing is encouraging readers to open your email immediately. This is vital for a few different reasons. The most important reason is that readers who don’t open your email right away are likely to forget to do so later. This means that your carefully crafted message could end up in the trash. That’s the last thing we want, right? That’s another reason why segmenting your list is so important. Delivering content that seems handcrafted especially for a particular reader creates the sense that your business is personally invested in them. Everyone likes to receive attention, and email subscribers are no different. Segmenting your email list can ultimately lead to improved relationships with your audience – and that’s a great way to convert customers and improve future open rates.
Segmenting Helps Customer Conversion Rates
Another important reason to consider segmenting your email list is that doing so can help increase your conversion rate. You might think that you already know how given what we’ve discussed above, but I actually have an entirely different reason for your consideration. In general, there are a two kinds of subscribers. The first group is comprised of individuals who already know they definitely want to use your service or product. The second is comprised of individuals who don’t need your product or service yet, but are subscribing because they might in the future.
By determining the difference between these two groups and using email segmentation, you can essentially send a different campaign to each one. This is helpful because the first group is actively interested in your brand. Sending them frequent emails is more likely to help your chances of conversion than hurt them. The second group, however, might see frequent emails as the sign of a business being a bit too aggressive. They’ll probably respond better to a more casual campaign that keeps your brand on their mind, but doesn’t hit them with targeted sales materials all the time.
Even beyond what we’ve discussed above, there are a plethora of reasons to segment your email list. The idea of starting the process might be daunting, but the rewards are worth the effort.
FAQ
Email list segmentation means grouping subscribers so they receive different, targeted emails rather than the same message. It matters because targeted content is more relevant to recipients, which increases open and click rates, encourages engagement and builds stronger relationships that help conversion.
Segmenting your list can improve click rates by almost 60%. Segmentation is also linked to higher open rates and overall engagement.
Segmenting delivers content that’s relevant to each group’s interests and needs, so recipients are more likely to spend time reading and interacting with the message. One-size-fits-all emails can be compared to ill-fitting clothes to illustrate why relevance boosts engagement and repeat opens.
When emails feel handcrafted for a recipient, they create the impression the business is personally invested in them. That perceived personalization encourages subscribers to open immediately rather than forgetting the message later, improving chances the content is read rather than discarded.
You should use at least two segments: subscribers who already want your product/service and subscribers who may need it in the future. Send frequent, conversion-focused emails to the first group and a more casual, brand-maintaining campaign to the second so you don’t come across as too aggressive.
Monitor open rates, click rates and conversion rates. Open and click rates are immediate indicators of engagement and conversion rate is a key business outcome of effective segmentation.
Emailing prospective-but-not-yet-interested subscribers too often can make your business appear aggressive. Those subscribers typically respond better to a lighter, casual campaign rather than frequent sales messages.
