Are you sending your generic email marketing campaigns to your entire database? If so, then you may actually be doing more harm than good. Segmentation allows you to send to right email to the right recipients at the right time.
What is segmentation?
Segmentation is the act of dividing a big entity into its different parts based on a set of criteria. Most marketers are familiar with market segmentation which is the act of dividing a broad target market into subsets of consumers, businesses, or countries that have, or are perceived to have common needs, interests, and priorities. The aim of segmentation is to allow marketers to be able to target different groups in the most effective way possible.
With segmentation, you can change the production of email marketing campaigns into a more specific and logical process. Email segmentation helps you to take your emails from a “one-to-many” approach to more of a “one-to-one,” personalised communication.
Why is segmentation important?
- Your customers aren’t all the same
People are not the same and they have different needs at different times. One size doesn’t fit all. Segmenting your list will help you put people in groups with individuals that have the same characteristics as them. This will allow you to send them messages that are more specific to their characteristics.
Think about it this way, let’s say you are a plumbing company. Let’s say that your list of customers includes landlords that own large apartment complexes and single-family homes. The emails that you send to the landlords should be different from the ones you send to single-family homes. Without segmentation, you will find yourself sending the same message to everyone, which probably not work. - Your contacts are at different points in the sales cycle
Here’s another reality: email databases are made up of contacts who are at varying stages of interaction with your business. Some of the people are just getting their first smartphone and they need to know about the basics, while others are seasoned smartphone users who just need tips and tricks. Sending those two groups the same email will not help. People that are at different points in the sales cycle need a different type of information. - Encourages you to learn more about your customers
So often your email database is made up of only email addresses and names. When you use segmentation you create a focus on finding out more about your customers so that you can target them better. This not only helps with your segmentation strategy but helps you build better and stronger relationships with your customers. Suddenly you don’t just think of a customer as an unknown email address but rather has a person who prefers certain products and likes being emailed on a Tuesday.
- You will have a better reputation
Think about a company that always sends you irrelevant emails versus the one that always sends you irrelevant emails. Which one do you like best? Which one has the best reputation? Which one do you trust more? This might seem very obvious but sending people the right emails can improve your reputation. - You will see better results
I saved the best and obvious one for last. Sending emails to a segmented list will show better results compared to sending emails to a generic list. Just take a look at the following data from the Lyris Annual Email Optimizer Report. When asked to indicate their top three results, 39% of marketers who segmented their email lists experienced higher open rates, 28% experienced lower unsubscribe rates, and 24% experienced better deliverability and greater revenue. And as you can see, the list goes on.
- Your customers aren’t all the same
At TouchBasePro we believe that segmentation is one of the most important email tools you should be mastering. If you’d like us to assist you with your segmentation, please get in touch. We’d love to chat! 🙂