Since its existence, email marketing has become more refined. Even if you send mass newsletters to subscribers, you can still make sure they make subscribers feel they are being spoken to on an individual level. Unfortunately, not all brands are reoriented to the new realities and instead use categories from ten years ago.
Personal service is apparent in Western subscription services, such as Birchbox, which delivers personally chosen cosmetics directly to clients’ homes.
In this article, we will talk about targeted email newsletters.
Relevance comes in first place
Email is a unique channel of communication. Unlike other channels, it is based on email subscribers’ authorization. They allow you to contact them and want to receive valuable information. Don’t be confused: value is not something that you can offer, but what the subscriber wants to hear. To make your email as relevant as possible, you need to divide your subscribers list into segments.
How do you segment email lists?
There are many different variants of segmentation, but we will look at the most effective.
- By sex
One of the most common types of demographic segmentation is gender segmentation. The first and most obvious way is to divide your list and send email newsletters with men’s and women’s goods separately.
This approach can be extended to looking at the issue from the perspective of how women and men approach the process of shopping.
Econsultancy conducted research into the problems that shoppers are faced with. It turned out that a key problem for women is the lack of consultants’ assistance, and for men, it is the difficulty in finding parking close to the exit. It can be concluded that for women the quality of customer service is the most important in the shopping process, but for men, the ultimate goal is the purchase. As for email newsletters, make them laconic for men, and oriented on customer care for women.
Here is a good example of the two cosmetic newsletters. The essence of the first is «Good shave gel – buy it!» and the second is «Good face care + detailed description + instruction + price + addresses of shops + contact phone number + Customer service button » to communicate with the consultant.
E-Tailing research confirms the differences in perceptions of personalized recommendations between men and women. Buyers prefer personalized recommendations because they are convenient, save time and help to make the right choice. At the same time, 71% of women rely on convenience and 42% of men expect recommendations based on previous purchases to make the right decision.
- By geography
Before segmenting by geography, understand why you need to. Such segmentation approaches only networks, like restaurants for example.
How do you segment by geography? Firstly, you can personalize the subject line by the location. This is the most effective way of personalization. Secondly, you can build your email strategy based on geotargeting. For example, a network of «Red Lobster» restaurants creates newsletters based on the location that has been specified in the registration.
- By age
One more variant of demographic segmentation is by age. There are also differences in the approach for shopping processes. For example, 32% of young people aged from 18 to 24 are ready to use discount codes, while 42% of users aged from 55 to 64 prefer to make purchases that are based on personalized recommendations.
Do you analyze visitors’ activity on the site (search history or purchases)? If you don’t, it’s time to start now.
Behavioral segmentation
The simplest thing you can do is to divide your list into such segments.
Prepare the email newsletter for each segment. For example, for those who never bought, send a discount coupon; for those who have bought once, send an email stating: «please leave a review of the service» + recommendations based on previous purchases; and for inactive subscribers, send an email reactivation.
How do you collect the information for segmenting your email list?
The first way to collect the information is through the subscription form. You will kill your conversion by adding more than two fields in the subscription form. It’s adequate to learn only the email address, name and sex of the subscribers. Here is a good example of such a subscription:
Another way to collect information is through various surveys in subscription form or in member area.
You can also use a form on your website to collect information (pay attention to how the restaurant «RedLobster» fills their membership profile: a free dessert, a surprise for your birthday in exchange for information, etc.).
You have just learned all the basic ideas for segmentation. Each of your customers has a unique background, set of interests, and level of experience with your brand, so don’t send all of them the same emails. Instead, use list segmentation; it’s easy to personalize your message based on the recipient’s interests, demographic information, and purchase history.
Loading...
