Revisiting Email Segmentation in 2019

Before you take a deep dive into email segmentation, you’ll have to consider the following:

• When is the last time you assessed your target audience/subscribers? If your email engagement has been consistently decreasing, it’s time to reconsider your segmentation strategy. Your subscriber base growth is essential, but it is equally important to continually charm and delight your subscribers to reach maximum engagement.

• Do you have the team and technological resources to support more email segmentation efforts?

• Are your marketing and sales teams aligned so both sides can offer insights on your target audience/subscriber base? Are both teams working with design to create optimal and high impact emails?

Ways to Redefine Email Segmentation

Content Buy-In

How did your subscribers come in contact with your brand? How’d you catch their interest? The content that enticed them to opt in can be a telltale sign of the type of material they continuously seek, where they are in the sales funnel, and the products that fit their needs set. Creating a profile for your subscribers and compiling information based on behavioral tracking can help you habitually deliver amazing content throughout the buyer’s journey.

• Using content buy-in as a segmentation strategy helps not only your marketing team but also your bottom line as your marketing portfolio becomes more diverse and reliable.

Abandoned cart/form

Let’s face it: sometimes your audience gets distracted, isn’t sure about a purchase, or forgets. A quick fix is for your brand to jump in with a timely follow-up email. Make it engaging or offer an incentive to continue to shop. Subscribers may harbor dissonance because they are price sensitive or searching similar brands. Differentiate your brand through voice, creative/branding, and unique offerings. Nasty Gal, a clothing brand, developed an excellent triggered email series for subscribers who left items in their cart. Each email uses different assets but reminds the subscriber to finish the purchase using a unique combination of information, including the benefits of shopping with the brand (expedited shipping, a discount), the image and the link of the abandoned item, and recommendations based on user behavior.

Satisfaction level

No matter how great your brand is, there will always be some dissatisfied subscribers/consumers, but how can you use this to your advantage? Customer satisfaction surveys are standard, but using this data to segment your subscribers is critical. Here’s a simple way to break down your audience based on satisfaction:

• Dissenters or Runaways – These are subscribers who are highly dissatisfied and previously had a negative experience with your brand. They don’t actively/positively engage or respond to your outreach. These subscribers need a reintroduction to your brand. The following emails can revive a positive relationship with your audience: an apology email (with an incentive specific to their user behavior), discount emails, and emails highlighting your brand’s social responsibility/community engagement. Emails like these humanize your brand and show you care.

• Moderates – These are subscribers who are on the fence. They may enjoy your brand, but there’s not enough differentiation to stop them from making a switch if enticed. Moderates need a little push to fall in love with your brand, so sending emails including your company’s mission and vision, social responsibility efforts, discounts, and user-generated content/reviews/highly-rated products will help.

• Brand Advocates – These are subscribers who are fans of your brand and positively spread the word on social media and other communication channels. It’s your responsibility to keep them enchanted; don’t become complacent with your communications strategy. Brand advocates desire emails that express your brand’s appreciation for them and their loyalty and have special, personalized offers. Frequently say thanks and reward their advocacy.

Did you learn anything new? Do these email segmentation strategies seem right for your brand? We’d love to share all the great behaviorally-segmented communications we’ve developed for our clients, or maybe even create some just for you!