How to Segment Your Email List: Best Practices and Strategies

Importance of Email List Segmentation

Email marketing is one of the primary strategies for sales and marketing outreach and the fundamental for any email marketing strategy is an email list.

Email lists or email databases collected from the target audience will be vast and businesses cannot use the same email lists for all of their marketing campaigns.
Every email marketing campaign will have an objective. For instance, some email marketing campaigns can be implemented for lead generation, engagement, announcement of new products/services, retargeting, etc. Hence, the email list or the email database needs extensive segmentation that aligns with the objective of marketing campaigns.

Let us read about email list segmentation in detail, exploring its benefits and types

What is Email List Segmentation?

Email list segmentation refers to segregating the email database based on specific criterion including demographics, purchase behavior, online behavior, interests & preferences, etc. (Email list segmentation criteria can be customized and depends on the objective and goals of the email marketing campaigns).

Email marketing list segmentation is carried out when the product/services of an organization best suits the specific type of target audience.

Benefits of Email List Segmentation

Let us read more about how email marketing list segmentation enhances the effectiveness of email marketing campaigns.

1. Targeted and Personalized Marketing

B2B and B2C businesses will have a vast amount of database collected for each product/service. Not every customer will be interested in every output of the company and here the need for personalization arises.

Gone are the days when organizations leveraged email database lists for generalized promotions. Now, the target audience expects a personalized approach in email marketing campaigns that reflects their interests and preferences. Hence email list segmentation is one of the fundamental criteria that facilitate a targeted and personalized approach to email marketing,

2. Increases Click-Through Rates and Open Rates

One of the challenging aspects of email marketing is to make your audience click on the email. Many of the promotional emails land up in the trash with little to no engagement rate and conversions because the audience does not find the messaging relevant.

With email list segmentation, businesses can understand what are their audience preferences, and interests about a specific product/service. Classify the audience based on location, age, gender, occupation, interests, online behavior, purchase behavior, etc. With these email classifications, businesses can tailor messages that are relevant to audience interests which automatically increases click-through rates and email open rates.

3. Increase in Conversions

Email list segmentation is an effective way to address the pain points and challenges of each buyer persona. When the target audience finds emails that are relevant to their needs and requirements, they are more likely to open and engage the email. Also, recommending products, and discounts, reminding them of the abandoned cart, and engaging them through educative information allows the audience to connect with a brand.

When the target audience reads an email, they engage and connect with the brand leading to an increase in conversions

4. An Effective Way to Engage and Retain Customers

Establishing an online presence is the crucial way for businesses to get connected with the majority of their customers and every customer finds an alternative brand for their needs. This has resulted in increased competition among the brands to engage and retain their target audience.

Email marketing is an effective way for targeted and personalized marketing. Hence proper email list segmentation helps email marketers craft a relevant message for each customer segment. This builds engagement with the customers and helps to retain their target audience.

5. Improves ROI

As discussed above, segmented email lists help to increase open rates and click-through rates, builds engagement, increases conversions, and retain customers. Thus segmenting email lists is the proven way of targeted and personalized email marketing that helps in improving ROI.

Types of Email List Segmentation

Email list segmentation can be done in numerous ways. It typically depends on various factors like the type of product, service, marketing campaign, the intent of the campaign, goals and objectives of the email campaign, etc.

How to segment your email list

Businesses can segment their email lists into multiple sub-criterions according to their marketing strategy. However, below are some proven ways to segment the email lists that help in effective email marketing campaigns.

1. Socio-demographic Segmentation

Consider segmenting your email lists based on demographics. Demographic targeting includes Gender, Age, Income, Marital Status, Occupation, Ethnicity, Education, Family Size, etc.

2. Psychographic Segmentation

Psychographic segmentation is based on the personality traits and attitudes of the consumer that may influence their buying decisions. Psychographics includes factors like interests, hobbies, lifestyle, personality, opinions, social class, values, etc.

3. Geographic Segmentation

Geographic email list segmentation is based on the geographical boundaries of the target audience.
Geographic segmentation includes Urban, Rural, Metropolitan, District, Region, Community, Climate, Population Density, Time Zone, Language Preference, etc.

4. Behavioral Segmentation

Behavioral email list segmentation of the audience refers to classifying and grouping the audience based on their purchasing behaviors.

Segment the email lists as per their behaviors which include brand interactions, purchasing and spending patterns, customer loyalty, feedback and reviews about products, browsing patterns, etc.

5. Pain Points and Challenges

Divide your email list based on the pain points and challenges of your target audience. Consider each challenge as a criterion, and segment your target audience accordingly. This helps in highly-targeted and personalized email marketing.

6. Subscribed and Unsubscribed

Segment your email list based on the new subscriber, subscribers from a very long time, and unsubscribed target audience. This helps in targeting each type of audience with specific messages to engage them rightly.

7. Engagement with a Specific Product, Survey, or a Link

Segment email lists based on the customer’s engagement. Analyze your previous marketing campaigns about a specific product or a service. Measure the engagement through metrics, analyze the customer behavior, and segment your email list accordingly.

Conclusion

The effectiveness of email marketing campaigns lies in effective email list segmentation. Segmenting email lists caters to the personalization expectations and needs of modern-day consumers which ultimately leads to enhanced customer satisfaction.

Although segmenting email lists can be a daunting task, many of the b2b businesses purchase segmented email lists from authorized vendors. Buying segmented email lists from vendors not only helps to save time and resources but also impacts the effectiveness of email marketing campaigns.

Additional Read : Personalization in Email marketing