What is email segmentation?
Email segmentation (here’s our ultimate guide) refers to, in email marketing, when you separate your list into segments based on different interests, behaviors, or personas and then market to each segment based upon those differing interests, behaviors, or personas. Put a bit more simply, email segmentation is when you send different people in your audience content relevant to their specific interests or situation. You do that by splitting your entire email list up into groups (segments), often based on trackable behaviors that each subscriber within a segment took (signing up from a specific CTA, clicking on a certain email, or buying a specific product, for instance).
With a segmented list, email marketers can send more relevant content to their audience and by so doing, increase engagement, conversion, and build a better long term relationship with their subscribers.
Why is email segmentation important?
Email segmentation is one of the most important parts of an email marketing strategy. Not only does it allow you to send content that your audience is actually interested in (making for a better relationship and healthier email marketing metrics), but it also allows you to make each different cohort or buying persona within your email list more pertinent offers. You might offer specific discounts to one segment, and an exclusive coupon to another, increasing your conversion rate and driving revenue for your business.
When you send your audience the content and offers that they want to see from your emails, open rate, click-through rate, and overall ROI improve. It’s just good marketing.
Note: When researching email segmentation, it’s important to understand that just because a subscriber is in a segment now doesn’t mean they’ll be in it forever. That is to say, segments are fluid and sometimes temporary. For instance, a subscriber who goes into your abandoned cart email sequence is in that segment for a time, but only until they complete their purchase. Some subscribers might be skeptical and unready to purchase, but then move into the position of a loyal customer. This means that it’s important to create an up-to-date email segmentation process which supports the fluidity of human interest and behaviors.
Here’s a helpful guide which covers the how-to of creating and utilizing different email segmentations.