Put your subscribers into customer groups
My last point leads to the next one: not all your customers are the same.
Put them into groups based on a number of factors related to their status as a customer as opposed to general factors such as their age and location.
For example, new customers shouldn’t be getting the same emails as people who subscribed over a year ago.
A great way to start communicating with your new subscribers is by creating a series of actionable drip campaigns.
If you put all your customers into one group, you won’t make as much money from them. Here’s what I mean.
Your customers who spend the least amount of money shouldn’t be getting emailed about your most expensive products. Instead, send them promotions that entice them to spend a little bit more or shop more frequently.
That’s why segmenting your subscribers based on spending is an effective strategy.
Targeted emails based on this type of segmentation yield an average of an additional $14 in sales per subscriber.
Some of you may have nearly 10,000 or more subscribers on your email lists.
So do the math. These additional profits will add up quickly.
Send birthday emails
As we’ve seen throughout this guide, age is a great way to segment your subscribers for a number of reasons.
But you can do even more with that information if you have it.
It may sound cheesy, but sending birthday promotions to your subscribers can go a long way. You can take advantage of their birthdays more than just once a year.
Take a look at how The Hook Up uses this strategy to send an email on its subscribers’ half birthdays:
This personalized content is extremely relevant to the recipient.
It’s unique to each subscriber. Discounted dinner for being a half-year older? Sign me up.
You can even start birthday promotional messages early.
For example, let’s say your email lists are segmented by birthday months. Everyone who has a birthday in November can receive a message in October about getting ready for their birthday with a new pair of shoes or something along those lines.
Obviously, you’ll tailor the message accordingly based on your business, but you understand what I mean.
Start small
Right now, some of you might not be segmenting your subscribers at all. Don’t get overwhelmed and bite off more than you can chew when you start.
Research shows that half of businesses aren’t segmenting email lists. So you shouldn’t be too alarmed yet.
Don’t try to come up with dozens of different lists right away.
Start by trying to segment your existing subscribers. Send a poll to the people on your email list about their interests, and group them accordingly.
Change your current landing page to get more information from new subscribers.
You need to walk before you can run. Starting slow will help you make sure you get things right.
The last thing you want to do is put people on the wrong list. That strategy will backfire because your content will be more irrelevant to them than ever before.
Conclusion
Segmenting your subscribers is the key to email marketing success.
If you learn how to segment your customers accordingly, your marketing content will be more relevant. As a result, fewer people will unsubscribe from your list, and your email campaigns will be more profitable.
Encourage your customers to create a profile. Just don’t force them to give you too much personal information.
On sign-up, let your customers customize the type of content they want to receive.
Use a double opt-in landing strategy to make sure people actually want to be on your email marketing list.
Segment subscribers based on engagement, browsing history, and previous purchases.
Understand the difference between your B2C and B2B clients. Your B2B lists should be even more specific.
Group your customers based on spending habits.
If you’re new to email segmentation strategies, start small. Focus on the basics before you try more complex tactics.
Ultimately, this will help you deliver relevant marketing content to all your subscribers.
How is your brand segmenting subscribers on your email lists?
To get more subscribers, some websites have a default setting during the checkout process to join their email lists.
But the customer doesn’t realize they’re going to get bombarded with marketing emails just because they wanted to buy something.
While I don’t have a problem with this strategy overall, it needs to be implemented with a double opt-in to complete the signup process.
Your content won’t be relevant if it’s being delivered to people who subscribed by accident. Double opt-ins help ensure that subscribers actually want to receive marketing messages from your business.
The easiest way to implement a double opt-in verification message is with a welcome email:
Once a new subscriber confirms they want to be on your email list, you can segment them based on the factors I previously discussed and will continue to cover moving forward.
If a customer doesn’t complete the process, don’t send them emails unless it’s related to their order.
Segment based on engagement
Another way to segment your subscribers is based on how they responded to previous emails you sent.
You should be tracking actions such as:
- opens
- clicks
- conversions
Then, you can segment your subscribers accordingly based on their behavior.
For example, someone who never opened an email could potentially get a similar promotion in the future. Whereas a subscriber who already opened that message shouldn’t receive it again. It’s irrelevant to that person.
This tactic will help you improve your open rates and other metrics due to your segmentation strategy.
Segmenting based on engagement is another way to take advantage of your customer profiles, which I discussed earlier.
When someone browses on your website while logged in to their customer profile, you can access that information and segment them based on their browsing behavior, purchase history, and the frequency with which they visit your site.
Someone who is on your site weekly shouldn’t get an email saying “we miss you.”
That type of message is only relevant to subscribers who have been inactive for several months.
Understand the needs of your B2B clients
Segmenting email subscribers is extremely important for B2B companies. It’s a great way to improve your overall B2B marketing strategy.
Those of you who operate a B2C and B2B company should have those two categories segmented, at the very least. But you should take that one step further on the B2B end.
Your B2B lists should be even more specific than your B2C lists.
The number one factor contributing to B2B marketing success in the previous year was creating higher quality and more efficient content:
Understand who will be receiving these emails.
You can segment these lists based on a job title. Company owners who have more buying power and final decision-making should not get the same messages that a warehouse manager would.
Segment your B2B lists based on industry, company size, and marketing budget.
Your clients that spend $50,000 a year on your products and services shouldn’t be getting the same marketing content as B2B clients that spend $5,000 annually.
Put your subscribers into customer groups
My last point leads to the next one: not all your customers are the same.
Put them into groups based on a number of factors related to their status as a customer as opposed to general factors such as their age and location.
For example, new customers shouldn’t be getting the same emails as people who subscribed over a year ago.
A great way to start communicating with your new subscribers is by creating a series of actionable drip campaigns.
If you put all your customers into one group, you won’t make as much money from them. Here’s what I mean.
Your customers who spend the least amount of money shouldn’t be getting emailed about your most expensive products. Instead, send them promotions that entice them to spend a little bit more or shop more frequently.
That’s why segmenting your subscribers based on spending is an effective strategy.
Targeted emails based on this type of segmentation yield an average of an additional $14 in sales per subscriber.
Some of you may have nearly 10,000 or more subscribers on your email lists.
So do the math. These additional profits will add up quickly.
Send birthday emails
As we’ve seen throughout this guide, age is a great way to segment your subscribers for a number of reasons.
But you can do even more with that information if you have it.
It may sound cheesy, but sending birthday promotions to your subscribers can go a long way. You can take advantage of their birthdays more than just once a year.
Take a look at how The Hook Up uses this strategy to send an email on its subscribers’ half birthdays:
This personalized content is extremely relevant to the recipient.
It’s unique to each subscriber. Discounted dinner for being a half-year older? Sign me up.
You can even start birthday promotional messages early.
For example, let’s say your email lists are segmented by birthday months. Everyone who has a birthday in November can receive a message in October about getting ready for their birthday with a new pair of shoes or something along those lines.
Obviously, you’ll tailor the message accordingly based on your business, but you understand what I mean.
Start small
Right now, some of you might not be segmenting your subscribers at all. Don’t get overwhelmed and bite off more than you can chew when you start.
Research shows that half of businesses aren’t segmenting email lists. So you shouldn’t be too alarmed yet.
Don’t try to come up with dozens of different lists right away.
Start by trying to segment your existing subscribers. Send a poll to the people on your email list about their interests, and group them accordingly.
Change your current landing page to get more information from new subscribers.
You need to walk before you can run. Starting slow will help you make sure you get things right.
The last thing you want to do is put people on the wrong list. That strategy will backfire because your content will be more irrelevant to them than ever before.
Conclusion
Segmenting your subscribers is the key to email marketing success.
If you learn how to segment your customers accordingly, your marketing content will be more relevant. As a result, fewer people will unsubscribe from your list, and your email campaigns will be more profitable.
Encourage your customers to create a profile. Just don’t force them to give you too much personal information.
On sign-up, let your customers customize the type of content they want to receive.
Use a double opt-in landing strategy to make sure people actually want to be on your email marketing list.
Segment subscribers based on engagement, browsing history, and previous purchases.
Understand the difference between your B2C and B2B clients. Your B2B lists should be even more specific.
Group your customers based on spending habits.
If you’re new to email segmentation strategies, start small. Focus on the basics before you try more complex tactics.
Ultimately, this will help you deliver relevant marketing content to all your subscribers.
How is your brand segmenting subscribers on your email lists?