Now that you have begun to build your list, you may eventually realize that even though your subscribers share a common interest in your product and/or service, they still have different reasons for subscribing. To better understand this situation, it will be beneficial for you to understand market segmentation.
Market Segmentation
Prior to launching your marketing efforts, you more than likely had a type of user that you were trying to reach. This type of person that you had in mind would be interested in your product and/or services because it was ultimately relevant to them and their personal situation.
This could be fulfilling a need or desire. Whatever the case may be, sub-markets exist within that overall target market.
Possible Segments
You can segment your lists according to different factors. Here are some examples:
- By Product: Let’s say that you promote baby products. You may have several segmentations within that list. There may be people who are interested in baby care items, while there is another list dedicated to furniture. Often times, these lists are generated based on past purchases or browsing activity.
- By Activity: Sometimes it pays to segment your list by grouping people by who has done a similar action. You can create lists around those who have already purchased (repeat customers), those who are potential customers (expressed interests but have not purchased anything yet), or even by those who have placed items in a cart.
Also, if you want to go a step further, you can segment by activity on your emails.
You can have lists that are as follows:
i. Opened
ii. Did not open
iii. Clicked
iv. Did not click
- By location: If you have products that may differ from location to location, it may be beneficial to segment lists accordingly.
- Job/Seniority Level: In certain instances, it may make sense to separate your subscribers according to their occupation. Are you offering informative/educational content? Different levels of seniority will require different levels of content. For instance, if you are providing marketing materials, you may send out one set of material to marketing students and beginners. You may then send out another set of material that caters to managers or those who have intermediate expertise. Then, you may send out advanced material to directors.
- Content Format: Remember when we explained the options technique? This was the technique in which you provide content in different formats that are appealing to different subscribers. You can even segment your lists according to how they consume content. For instance, some people may prefer eBooks, while others may like blog posts.
Why You Should Use Segments
The advantage of segmenting your lists is that you are able to send out more personalized, targeted content to those subscribers. The key to increasing engagement is to provide relevant content. By having your lists segmented into smaller groups, you can send out emails that are more valuable to those users.
For instance, if you sell instruments, you may have subscribers that have interests in different types. One group may be interested in keyboards, while another may be looking for guitars. By segmenting, you can send out personalized content that will peak the interest of your subscriber.
How This Impacts Your Marketing
Using the last example, if you send a guitar promotion to someone who plays the keyboard, this email will more than likely be ignored. However, if you send a personalized promotion for deals on keyboards, that subscriber would be driven to open the email as it is relevant to them.
Using segments will increase your open rate and eventually lead to more conversions. The key take away from this lesson is that you need to figure out which aspects will allow you to personalize your content in order to increase relevancy. Once you uncover which segmentation strategy is relevant to your business, you can group your subscribers and begin planning which content you will send out.