Segmentation is the term used by marketers to describe the activity of separating data by profile or behavior.
The reason segmentation works, is because it allows you to
target your readers with relevant content. In email marketing, an
increase in relevance can greatly affect your desired outcome.
In fact a two to five times increase in ROI of a typical broadcast is achievable through segmentation.
If you find the idea of segmentation intimidating don't worry, as you are not alone. The challenges of doing it "right" (as pledged by the marketing gurus) can be enough to make your brain swim.
Here is what you will need to start
1) You need resources to write targeted content
2) You need resources to design alternative layouts
3) You need to have enough data to correctly target your readers
4) You have to dedicate time to plan
5) You need the technology to do it right.
The truth is, you can do it in a big way or a small one. The good news is, even in a small way segmentation can be very effective.
To make it simple, let's look at the two ways you can segment your readers.
Profile segmentation:
When your mail list contains just one attribute other than first
name and email address, you can start to segment. Let's say its a
female/male attribute. Staying within the same newsletter layout, you can
provide a different welcome story or an alternative offer to increase
relevance and response.
Behavioral segmentation: When tracking click throughs per article, you can segment your readers by their behavior. For example a person clicking on an article on a certain topic is more likely to respond to an early bird offer to a related event.
In general, behavioral segmentation works better that segmentation based on profiles. To automate an immediate response, you can schedule a triggered email to go out once a link is clicked.
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