Of all the tools marketers have at their disposal, marketing emails are among the most effective, especially if you use them to their fullest potential. So how do you do that?
Well, you probably know that making attention-grabbing calls-to-action give your emails a purpose. After all, you’ve got to give your recipients something to do and offer them value, whether that’s reading your top blog posts or using a coupon you’ve sent along.
But the next step is getting those carefully crafted CTA’s into the right inboxes. Enter segmentation, stage left.
Segmentation might sound like yet another task to figure out how to do. Luckily, we’ve done the thinking for you.
Collect Data
The easiest way to collect customer data is to simply ask for it.
Crazy, right?
Create something customers will value (eBooks, checklists, consultations, you name it), and trade it to potential clients for their information. Ask for these things in a form, and make sure that the fields ask for information that you need.
BUT only include the most helpful items to keep the form from getting too long. (You should always ask for a name to personalize emails, by the way.) Here are some idea. For starters, ask for the customer’s:
- Name
- Industry
- Level of seniority
These information needs depend heavily on your business, and there’s no one-size-fits-all answer. You can also look at past metrics and identify any patterns that might point to an opportunity for segmentation.
Divide Contacts into Lists
Build the list. Then destroy it.
Cut it into smaller pieces.
Based on the information fields clients completed (previous section, in case you skipped it), you should be able to make lists based on the segments you’ve identified. Start with just one segment per contact first. Then you can create content and CTA’s that appeal to the customers within this segment. Write blogs that appeal to their interests and link to them in the email. Offer a promo code for a sale and link to your ecommerce site. Answer questions or share landing page offers.
You get the idea.
Just make sure to have one CTA–or two at the very most–and make it stand out. Keeping the email design clean and uncluttered will help.
Evaluate and Refine
Now for the fun part: watch the results roll in.
Track your results by open rate, click through rate and any email related purchases.
No doubt some segments will perform better than others, and that’s ok. You’ve gained valuable insight from this first pass and you can now change segments or divide up a certain segment even further. Eventually, you’ll build rapport and see prospects go deeper into the sales funnel.
Email segmentation can look scary if you’ve never done it before, but it just takes some planning. If you follow these steps and start small, you can build your email marketing efforts into a highly effective tool for your business to gain more leads and revenue.