Susan Gilbert — June 28, 2018 — June 28, 2018
Use Email Segmenting to Improve Your Marketing and Communication
Have your click-thru and open rates been on the decline? You might be missing out on valuable prospects if you are not sending your email marketing messages out to specific and targeted list.
According to Wordstream email is the third most influential source of information for B2B. And Leighton Interactive reports that segmentation will continue to be an effective tool now and in the future.
In order to attract an interested lead you need to specifically cater to a particular group of subscribers with remarkable content that they have already expressed interest in.
Automations for specific lists from your website and other marketing campaigns are not only more relevant, but these emails also save your business from wasting valuable time and help build better relationships with your subscribers. A personalized approach that includes valuable promotions can go a long way in encouraging someone to make a purchase.
In each phase of segmenting your lists you are honing in on the specific pain points of your leads by focusing on the “why” of signing up in the first place. According to marketing expert, Neil Patel, the “batch and blast” approach yields very little results. As you can see in the chart below, the more specific the approach the better the outcome:
If you provide something of interest and assistance to your subscribers and customers with added value for them your emails will not forgotten. This can happen in several different ways:
- New product and feature announcements to those who have not yet made a purchase
- A video or personalized look at how your business operates
- Tips and tricks the subscriber may have missed online from your brand
- A discount code for previous customers who have not bought anything for a while
- Friendly reminders on what subscribers might be missing
These are all great opportunities you can use to transform a visitor into a prospect and after gaining their trust in a targeted message that appeals specifically to their needs and desires.
How to Create a Segmented Email Campaign
If you use any of the major email services such as Aweber, MailChimp, ConverKit, ect. then you may already have an autoresponder in place. In order to make this more effective you will want to recreate this according to each list that you may have. If you are just starting at building up your list plan ahead of time to segment now in order to to save more time later. Here’s a few ways to make this more simple:
1 – Use a keyword ‘tag’ for the type of list generated
In your email client you will want to create a ‘tag’ according to the links clicked on from your website or advertising campaigns. If you are using Aweber they now offer a Click Automation system, which segments your subscribers according to their interests. The goal is to send your messages to a very select group instead of all of your lists in order to generate more interest.
2 – Give current customers and subscribers a reason to stay
Show your subscribers that your business is interested in learning more about their specific needs with targeted questions — in return for their answers offer them with a free eBook, report, tips, ect.
Incentives increase open rates with the reward of adding something of value that your audience can really use. Once they have tried what you have the offer they will be more likely to return for a full purchase.
3 – Hook the reader with a great headline
Test out your subject lines before you create a campaign with a good headline analyzer. The more broad or common the title the more likely your message will be deleted and not even be read. The best types of headlines appeal to the reader’s emotions right away and provide them a reason to open your email. Here are a few creative uses to follow from Hubspot:
- Use conversational worlds like, “Uh-oh” that don’t sell directly
- Include humor
- On occasion use emojis to capture their attention
- Create a sense of urgency such as something that will expire soon
- Peak the reader’s curiosity
- Write something that is intriguing
- Appeal to a specific problem such as affordability
- Provide a warning
4 – Set up follow up emails for each segmented list
Remind your subscribers what they opted into and why. I usually schedule my follow up emails to go out ever second or third day for the first week — with that said you should schedule according to your own emailing agenda. It’s important not to send too many messages to your prospects and overwhelm them with information.
5 – Refer to a specific product or service interest
Send out related information and tips in regards to what your subscribers have signed up for. Ask the reader’s opinion or feedback on what they liked or didn’t, and how your business can better meet their needs. Not only can you remind the reader about your company, but you can write better messages specifically tailored to them through their specific communication.
Email segmentation in your marketing campaigns can greatly improve your open and click-thru rates, and later on conversions. Measure which of your lists are responding the most to your messages so that you can improve your approach and reach them where they are at.
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