What is email segmentation and why it is important in your email marketing efforts?

Why is email segmentation not only a good idea, but essential to your digital marketing campaign?

Well, quite simply put a single email campaign that is sent to your entire email database could do your brand more harm than good.  With the advancement of email marketing campaigns there is no doubt that email segmentation is vitally important to the success of your campaign.

Dividing your email list into segments based on certain characteristics and demographics will give your email more chance of not only being opened, but actually being read.  Every marketer is desperate to avoid the ‘spam’ folder.

To learn the technique of email segmentation it’s a good idea to complete a digital marketing course where you will learn all the tips of being a successful email marketer.

Avoid putting your subscribers in one basket

The point of creating interesting and an informative email marketing campaign is the get the right message to the right reader.  Otherwise your mail will get lost in the avalanche of mails that are delivered to an inbox.

It’s crucial not to put all your subscribers in the same category, and this is where email segmentation is an incredible tool.

It’s about being relevant

All the people on your email database will each have different likes and dislikes, therefore it goes without saying that your email has to cater to what’s important to them.  Staying relative to your email recipient’s interests is vital and is surprisingly often over looked by marketers. 

Where to start?

If you have a long list of subscribers it can seem like a daunting task to implement an email segmentation strategy. However, once you have the basics in place, you can then delve deeper into your email segmentation plan.

It’s a good idea to first decide on your email campaign goal and once this is set you can segment your subscriber list according to your marketing objective.

Segmentation types

As you can imagine there are many categories that can be used to segment your email database, however it’s always easier to start with the basic lists, such as the following:

• Demographics – Age, gender, marital status and income are a few examples of how to segment an email list. It’s obvious that what appeals or interests a certain age group, will be of very little interest to another.
• Geographic – Segmenting based on geography is a good way to target potential customers based on where they live, local customs, local events and even the weather. This information helps you decide how to make your mail relevant to them.
• Job title – Reaching the right person within an organisation is very important. So many mails are lost in a company as its content is not relevant to the recipient.
• Social media – Targeting your subscribers that are active on social media is of great value as they may share your content.

Old or new customer groups

The message you need to get across may be totally different for a potential customer as opposed for an existing client.  An email campaign geared towards new customers will lean more towards building a solid relationship to move the buying process further along.  Established customers who are already familiar with your brand will be more interested in new products or services. 

Layering segmentation

Segmenting your email subscriber list is a great place to start, but then there’s another step you can take to further improve the odds of your mail reaching the right recipient, and that is layering segmentation.  By filtering or layering your email segmentation you are able to send extremely personalised emails.

Don’t overdo it

As with all tips and tricks for digital marketing campaigns, it’s important not to over segment your email list as you may end up omitting too many potential customers.  Often times you may want to reach a broader audience, and this is a time when over segmenting can be have a reverse effect.

There are many segmentation tools available and once you get started with email segmentation you will be able to target the right people and therefore make the most out of your digital marketing campaign.