5 Tips for Better Email Audience Segmentation (Infographic)

By Jessica Bennett

There is a constant struggle for attention when it comes to customer email inboxes. We get bombarded with hundreds of emails each day. As the result, it’s getting harder and harder to stand out and get a response using email marketing. So how do you get through and capture your customer attention despite the fact that you’re competing with hundreds of other similar messages on a daily basis?

What is Market Segmentation?

Customer segmentation is the process by which email marketers separate email subscribers into smaller groups to better target them and design emails specifically created for users based on their individual characteristics. Segmented emails generate much higher results than regular generic emails because they offer something these smaller targeted groups or segments of people are particularly interested in. It’s been showing that email open rates of the segmented marketing campaigns that use audience segmentation are much higher than regular generic non-segmented campaigns.

How to Apply Segmentation Strategy

There many simple ways you can segment your email list when you run the marketing email campaign. You can segment your list by geography, demographics, interests, activities, values, and behavioral differences. By segmenting your main email list into smaller groups you can treat people differently and provide more value by offering information specifically targeted to these individuals and small groups.

Market Segmentation Examples

Meet Burt: He’s 32 years old, lives in Omaha, loves muscle cars, hates spinach, and unabashedly collects Frisbees. In other words, Burt is a person with unique desires, motivations, and perspectives, all based on his personal history, just like every single consumer you’ll encounter. The more clearly you can speak to Burt as an individual, the more likely you’ll be able to build a rapport and earn his loyalty, which might just result in his becoming a lifelong customer. Creating that type of customer connection is the Holy Grail every marketer seeks, and one of the best ways to personalize your communication with customers and prospects is through email list segmentation.

Quick Email Segmentation Refresher

You are a savvy marketer. You already know about the “spray-and-pray” method of email marketing, which entails sending out a generic and uninspiring email to your entire audience, and you also know that method just doesn’t cut it when the average person wades through 90 emails a day. The solution is email list segmentation.

Jordie van Rijn of EmailMonday sums it up best by explaining email segmentation as “the art of thinking in groups.” By dividing your email list subscribers into groups or “segments” based on a shared attribute, you can directly speak to that group’s unique priorities, needs, and desires. If you own a small chain of pet supply stores, emailing everyone on your list announcing a sale on aquariums would likely be irrelevant to the majority of recipients, since only a portion of your list actually owns fish. In a best-case scenario, your email would be ignored. Worst case? You’ll be flagged as spam and will see a drop in the number of subscribers.

With one simple tweak, you can dramatically improve the performance of that email. When customers subscribe to your email list, ask them what pet(s) they have and segment the list by an animal. Now you can send your big aquarium sale email only to the customers who would be most interested and likely to convert.

Welcome to email segmentation in a nutshell. If you are just starting out with email segmentation, check out this great introductory course. If you already know a thing or two about email marketing segmentation and want to improve your email segmentation strategies, let’s look at five different email segmentation best practices.

Other Email Segmentation Resources:

• 30 Ways to Slice Your Email Database for Better Email List Segmentation (Source: Hubspot)
• How to Use Email Segmentation to Increase Your Conversion Rate  (Neil Patel)
• 10 Quick and Easy Email Marketing Segmentation Strategies to Try Today ( KissMetrics)
• The Beginner’s Guide to Email Segmentation & Personalization ( CXL )
• Effects of List Segmentation on Email Marketing Stats ( Mailchimp )
• Getting Smart With Email Marketing Segmentation  ( EmailMonday )
• 50 Smart Ways to Segment Your Email List Like a Pro ( OptinMonster )

Check out this  infographic by Salesforce: 5 Tips for Better Email Audience Segmentation