Over 65% of marketing professionals used customized subject lines in their marketing campaigns. Well, do you know that personalized content brings in an engagement rate as high as 75%, and this also increases conversion rates?
How does a business customize an email message so that it hits the correct spot for the recipients? More importantly, how does a business even know when and in what way to personalize email communication so that they appeal to different customers?
That's where email list segmentation comes in. Email segmentation helps businesses to break massive, clunky email lists into smaller pieces and target the right people in those. They define each segment according to shared values.
The purpose? To gain engagements, conversions, and higher ROI. Besides, not all businesses do that - there are some companies which buy email lists for a quick approach. So here's how it happens.
In this article, we’ll be taking a look at:
Let’s go ahead and jump right into it.
Email segmentation is one of the practices involved in marketing. It holds an easily straightforward, though highly decisive factor, for any email marketing campaign. The business usually breaks down its email list into a number of divisions based on various factors or specific criteria.
This practice lets the business send personalized emails to the subscribers. No two subscribers are alike, so a personalized message can grab that interest and translate it into the conversion you need. A 2024 report by Forbes confirms this, stating:
"80% of people more likely to make a purchase from a personalized email"
In email list segmentation, a business isolates the email addresses on the said list based on different characteristics. For instance, it may isolate the email addresses of individuals who are more than 25 years old and then consider another sub-list of those whose age is more than 25 but reside in a specific locality.
There are several possible criteria that a business can use in order to segment lists, such as:
No two customers are alike. But they might share two or more common factors such as the place, their income, or even their interest level in the company's products or services.
Knowing the various types of email list segments makes the team create more targeted marketing campaigns. Consequently, the business reaches and engages prospects more effectively.
The first type of email list segment is based on the target audience’s professional background. So for example, if a business is offering B2B IT services, its content for IT managers will be different than what’s sent to HR professionals.
Then, we have segments based on job titles. This refers to the job titles of subscribers in the email list. This helps when a business is offering something highly relevant for professionals at specific employment levels. Like experienced senior executives or young IT specialists, for example.
This is also where the business can leverage cold emailing to new leads. Furthermore, using dedicated email lists like those at BookYourData may significantly improve the success rates as well.
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This section of the emailing list classifies based on the location of the target audience. For example, if a business offers local promotions, then it will target locals within the local area. If a business has international offers or discount rates, it will target subscribers from other locations.
Company size segmentation can also enable a business to craft custom messages. A small-size company-at a different operational stage-will have different needs than a large corporation.
One of the practices that experts are known to adopt in splitting their email lists is by guide web behavior. This allows them to showcase the subscribers that exhibit better engagement than the rest. For instance, a specific segment might have page visits, time spent on the website, or product views 50-100% more.
Furthermore, an organization can further subdivide their email lists based on purchase history according to the audience. Of course, such email lists should still be in line with international data protection laws.
A segment based on the purchase history will tell you about the previous purchases done by the subscriber, hence the business can send offers and messages of relevance to them.
When talking about the law, it's very vital to remember these factors, especially when you are deciding between choices such as "free email lists" or buying one.
What is the stage of the buyer's journey of the subscriber? Does the prospect reach to the top of the sales funnel and attain the awareness level? Or, is the prospect a repeat customer at the bottom of the sales funnel, showing loyalty? Such email divisions also help in reaching to the specific needs of the subscribers.
This feature of email marketing is evident and states that email segmentation is also quite crucial in any email marketing campaign. It not only defines different types of customer segments but also helps gather relevant information about them. So, why is this important? Because email segmentation leads to some of the benefits mentioned as follows:
Since segmentation enables a business to send customer-by-customer tailored messages, it can increase engagement rates greatly and lead to more conversions. Forbes also adds that personalized emails-possible through segmentation -can increase the open rates up to 26%. That way an email list could be worth more than its original cost, similar to the ones at BookYourData where multiple dedicated list types are available to clients.
As a firm is sending relevant and customized messages that satisfy the needs of the receiver, it naturally increases the level of satisfaction. Assume a customer wants to ensure his grocery cart is prepared well in advance and accepts an order in time. The next thing he knows, he just had a timely personalized email around his habitual date of reorder with a coupon for free delivery.
Segmentation also prevents unwanted messaging. Indeed, segmentation also helps marketing professionals find out the right frequency of emailing certain audience groups.
Compared to generic email campaigns, segmented ones can yield more favorable outcomes. Why? It encourages targeted messaging that increases the possibility of engaging others which promotes open rates and click-through rates.
Another way in which segmentation comes into hand is by increasing deliverability rates which, in this case, indicates that messages are indeed being read by the target audience with the help of personalization, and, therefore, increased engagements.
With relevant messaging which ultimately adds to the engagement rates, the consumers will be in a better position to feel associated and loyal with any business.
More to this, an organization may discover much information about its target population through email list segmentation. Including, which customers are likely to make a buy? Which subscribers actually make use of the subscription? What is the conversion rate?
Today, we observe that in 2018 only 31% of businesses have used basic email segmentation. It could be a much higher number considering the number of companies that have realized the potential of personalized messaging and that segmented marketing efforts play an important role in this.
So, on paper, segmentation looks complicated. The good thing is that if you approach this systematically, doing email list segmentation doesn't have to be complicated at all. In fact, doing so will help not just in delivering relevant messages to the target audience but contribute to a better ROI too.
The business needs to know what it wants to gain from the email marketing campaigns- higher engagement, tighter customer relationships, sales? That helps guide segmentation practices.
After doing the goal-based analysis, a business collects relevant and ethical data from subscribers by segmenting their e-mail list. Moreover, they can search for e-mails based on name, location, and other variables.
Then, a business needs to define appropriate criteria. For example, choosing an audience that has made a successful purchase in the past and sending promotional offers to it.
Going forward, the company must evaluate the email list to identify audience segments based on the selection criteria .
Utilizing email marketing tools, like those at BookYourData, in this step can have a dramatic impact. They can assist through automation and then generate the preferred segments.
Next, the company starts producing segments from existing email lists and available data.
Finally, after the email list segmentation is done the marketing team can now continue with developing content strategies that should be tailored uniquely to ensure that the objectives and ideas they noted at the onset are achieved. They will choose the appropriate content type and proper or large font size, among others, for recipients to be engaged.
Before email list segmentation, it is important to know what makes the “target audience” of a business. It is easy to start segmenting the list when a business knows the age, location, preferences, and interests of its ideal buyers.
One way to identify a target audience quickly and efficiently is by creating buyer personas. It could be based on interests, purchasing habits, and demographics.
Again, the location of subscribers plays a vital role in email marketing campaigns. It helps send regional promotions to the right audience to increase engagement.
Sometimes, businesses overlook demographic segments while overvaluing other criteria. However, segmenting based on factors like gender and age can also help with customized content marketing.
Through segmentation, the business can also highlight the most loyal customers. It could be through key metrics like the highest purchases, or more valued purchases.
Nearly 1.7 billion people are using smartphones to read and send emails. To a business, that means creating mobile-friendly email content with other interactive emails.
It also begs the question, how does a business find out what proportion of its target audience is using smartphones to view their emails? That’s something only relevant data collection efforts can help with.
It’s very helpful to begin by analyzing the purchase history. Since it indicates the buying behavior, this data can help segment based on past transactions.
One way to segment based on location is to use online shopping carts and zip codes. This information, when collected ethically, also helps with identifying purchasing patterns.
It doesn’t end when the business has created email list segments. Keeping an up-to-date and detailed email database can help in the future.
During their buyer’s journey, subscribers go through different stages of the sales funnel. Using that data, a business can create list segments based on their position in the sales funnel. That way, strategies like cold email outreach become more effective.
In its July 2024 Report, HubSpot shared that email segmentation can lead to 30% more opens than unsegmented emails. In fact, it can also lead to a potential 50% increase in click-throughs.
Considering the latest statistics, it’s easier to understand why email list segmentation is important - and effective. It allows a business to get a better understanding of its target audience, all the way from preferences and interests to demographic information.
Using that information - ethically - a business can create engaging and relevant content to share with its audience. The content matches the audience’s needs and interests. Thus, driving engagement and sales.
Email list segmentation is an effective strategy to improve the results of email marketing campaigns. Segmentation allows a business to create target groups (i.e., its audience). That way, it can tailor highly relevant email messages that appeal to the recipients.
And, that’s what leads to higher email engagement and a potential boost in conversion rates because the business has a better idea of its customers’ interests and preferences. To do that, businesses can also leverage email marketing tools to automate certain processes while gathering useful data to improve future campaigns.
Yes, it is common to segment email lists based on subscriber behavior. Many businesses create segmented email lists based on how the subscribers interact with different touchpoints: websites, emails, landing pages, and so on.
The most helpful way to automate email segmentation is through paid email marketing tools. There are software solutions that offer segmentation features. Once the user sets up specific rules, the software automatically segments the email list based on the behaviors and interactions with subscribers.
It is a tool that marketers use to collect information regarding subscribers. The goal of these segmentation surveys is to learn about the preferences and needs of subscribers.
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