Imagine you are a budding author who just published that first novel. You step into a bookstore for your book launch. Suddenly you pause to wonder how on earth your book is going to stand out amongst the clutter of these packed bookshelves filled with famous authors. Every digital marketer, launching that the next email marketing campaign feels no different.
Everyone’s inbox, like those crowded bookshelves, is cluttered with content screaming to be consumed. The only thing that makes you pick one book or email over the other from the crowd is it sparks some relevance for you. It piques your interest and caters to a current need.
Targeted email marketing services offer you the opportunity to connect to a consumer that is potentially looking for what your email is selling. Without doubt, email is still the go-to choice for jumpstarting your marketing conversations and conversions. In the US, it is 40 times more effective than Facebook and Twitter combined.
It starts with personalization.
A well-crafted personalized emailer gives you that warm fuzzy feeling of a company that really knows you and cares about you. While not coming off as too creepy. We often think about personalization to mean catchy subject lines and including customers’ names. But the truth is, it is much more. It’s about building context.
Crafting conversations and connecting your consumer’s journey with relevant product offerings, notifications and tips and engaging them with a narrative that is much more than push marketing and contextually crafted to their experience. Content that is relevant gets them engaging with your product or service—driving those coveted conversions in the process.
Segmenting is sexy
Segmenting forms the bedrock of personalization when it comes to targeted email marketing services. While personalization is about messaging, segmenting is about identifying the right consumer for the message.
The process of segmenting your customer base into tiny groups of meaningful customers is supercritical in delivering an experience that is meaningful to them. You can start out by defining broad segments. You can then choose to have multiple sub-segments and combinations within these broad segments.
The purpose of doing this is to create multiple cohorts or groups of customers that share common characteristics, goals and who are looking for similar content. Here are a few ways to segment your audience.
Segmenting by user type
Demographic
Customizing your content based on their age, sex and the community they hail from. The basics of delivering content that appeals to interests and tonality. Because women are from Venus and men are from Mars while children just love rocketing around.
Geographic
Customizing content based on where your consumers live. Localizing your offers and services to drive local footfalls and transactions from those who literally stay closest to you. While preventing potential frustrations by eliminating people who may fall out of your service or delivery area.
Psychographic
Customize content based on your consumers’ beliefs and attitudes. Understanding your consumer’s motivations and incorporating them will give you the superpower of relevance.
Behavioural
This segment is based on expected behaviour patterns. We, humans, are creatures of habit. If for example, your audience includes pregnant mothers, you probably know the different trimester periods during which she is due for a checkup and can provide her with relevant reminders and content before and after a doctor’s visit.
Segmenting by product
Based on product purchase date
It’s always important to continue to engage with customers once the initial purchase is over. A customer treated right could turn into an advocate for future customers too. Based on a product purchase date, you can send regularly targeted mailers to check in on your customer segment to see that they are getting the best out of your product.
Based on product type
Very often, your product or service doesn’t exist as an island. It exists within an ecosystem of complementary products, accessories and services. Don’t forget to educate your customers about other product offerings from your company’s stable. Match each product type with the content needs and tonality of that segment.
Based on product usage
Also, every product should have a separate customer journey with tailored content specific to the product’s usage over time. Ensuring that the customer gets the most out of their product and doesn’t feel abandoned after the purchase.
It encourages repeat product usage, exploring product features and highlights the need for regular product servicing. Amazon does this with regular emails that teach owners of echo devices new phrases to get the most out of Alexa. Content that revolves around product usage will help build further trust in the company.
Segmenting by customer type
Potential customers
Getting prospects on board is usually the first step in any email campaign management like InboxArmy email campaign management do and most likely, the first segment you need to consider. Targeted mailers that are personalized based on need and interest stand a better chance to be opened and consumed by your potential customers.
There are several ways in which you can build or acquire lists of potential customers including asking customers to sign-up and show their interest for upcoming product launches, emailing people who have consumed similar products, or emailing interest groups.
New customers
New customers form an important target segment. They should be made to feel welcome with a welcome mailer and correspondence that outlines the ground rules and best practices when it comes to using a certain product or service. This is your honeymoon period, and it pays to pay that little bit of extra attention in the initial weeks and months when you are setting the tone and starting a narrative with your customer.
Loyal customers
Repeat customers are literally the cash cows of any business. This 20% of your mailing list is likely to account for well over 80% of your revenue. Show this target segment, extra love, with content that educates and rewards their brand loyalty with incentives and freebies.
Inactive customers
Sometimes, we all lose some of our sheep. All it takes to get your followers and past consumers back to your brand is the proper incentive and a little cajoling. Sending a well-timed automated emailer to this target segment can reignite some curiosity for your brand and its offerings. Help them fall in love and flock back to you again.
Segmenting by customer behaviour
Prior engagements
You can segment customers based on any interaction they may have had with your brand at an earlier date. Like for example, a store visit. If your business happens to have a ubiquitous glass bowl for walk-ins to drop their card or any other such list building activity for people who have previously shown interest in your brand, don’t forget to use it.
They consist of a focused segment who display brand intent and engaging with them meaningfully is so much better than trying to batch blast a generic emailer hoping it converts into a lead.
Website activity
Sometimes, you have a segment of people who have tip-toed into your brand website but not quite sealed the deal. This could be based on triggers like an abandoned shopping cart or even checking out a certain product page repeatedly on your website. A little nudge with an exciting offer in an emailer may be all you need to tip the balance in your favour where this segment is concerned.
Download history
Maybe your customers have downloaded a free e-book or white paper from your website and have signed up to your mailing list in the process. This is a highly engaged and niche segment of customers who are interested in a very specific subject matter expertise that your company is able to cater to. The download history market segment is thus one of the crème de la crèmes of email marketing segments to use.
Purchase history
Using past purchases to inform future ones is one of the oldest tricks in the books when it comes to marketing. Look for patterns in the purchase history to inform your future communications while crafting your next marketing campaign based on this segment.
Event/webinar attendance: Having a real-world event or a webinar is a perfect list building and networking activity that forms a perfect segment for communication. This is a cohort of people who have a strong community feeling that is already associated with your brand.
A targeted email marketing service is the icing on the cake
Email is still the sharp end of the sword when it comes to crafting any digital strategy. Using any or a combination of the above segments will help ensure that your personalized communications are targeted and more relevant, leading to an increase in conversions. Pick those that truly address the individual needs of your consumer for the best results.
About the Author!
Chris is the Director of InboxArmy a Professional email marketing agency that specializes in providing email marketing services from production to email automation services. He has worked directly with Fortune 500 companies, retail giants, nonprofits, SMBs and government bodies in all facets of their email marketing services and email campaign management programs since almost 2 decades. Chris’s success track record covers building email programs at competitive email marketing pricing and using data-driven strategies to turn around underperforming accounts.
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