how to avoid promoting high-heels to a businessman (and other email segmentation tips)
DESCRIPTION
Email Marketing is very effective, but it's even more effective when the content of the emails is specifically targeted to appeal to subscribers based on certain criteria. The more relevant the content, the more likely it is that the subscriber will interact with it. Identifying groups of subscribers within your mailing list based on certain criteria is called Email Segmentation, and it's a great way to step up your Email Marketing efforts to boost engagement and conversion. You can also view the blog post that this SlideShare presentation is based on at http://bit.ly/1jv1n47. For more examples of standout emails and a regular dose of "email inspiration" subscribe to The Best of Email's newsletter at http://bit.ly/1iSehF7.TRANSCRIPT
What is Email Segmentation?
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The theory behind segmentation is
that if you can identify groups of
subscribers within your mailing list
based on certain criteria,
and then tailor your messages
so that they will specifically
appeal to those subscribers,
then they will be more likely to respond
favorably to those messages, boosting
your engagement and conversion rates.
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It’s basically an advanced way of
personalizing emails to individuals
within segments that you define
within your mailing list.
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So if segmentation is so great, why aren’t more email
marketers using it?
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So if segmentation is so nifty, why aren’t more
email marketers using it?
These days, most decent Email Service Provider
platforms make it pretty easy to define
segments and deploy messages to specific
groups within a mailing list, so
the “tricky” part isn’t in the technical process.
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The biggest challenge to email segmentation
is in collecting the data from subscribers that
makes it possible to classify them into
segments in the first place and then knowing
when and how to use this data effectively
to maximize subscriber engagement.
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It’s this challenge that still poses a barrier
to email segmentation for many email marketers
despite being well aware of its benefits.
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So how do you collect data for the purpose of
segmentation?
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The obvious place to collect data is during signup.
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This opportunity is lost for marketers who
offer an “email address only” signup,
but marketers who provide an email signup
form that requests a few more details about
the subscribers usually have a good base
to work from, at least on a basic level.
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As a rule, it’s best to keep the number
of details requested during signup to
a bare minimum and ask for only
what’s absolutely necessary to
perform the segmentation that’s
crucial to your business, because long
and exhaustive forms usually turn
people off from subscribing at all.
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Examples of “Detail Request” Emails
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You can always request more
details later on once you’ve had
a chance to establish trust with
your subscribers and demonstrate
that your content is valuable.
Examples of newsletter signup forms that request minimal details to allow for basic but essential segmentation: American Apparel
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Examples of newsletter signup forms that request minimal details to allow for basic but essential segmentation: Billabong
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Examples of newsletter signup forms that request minimal details to allow for basic but essential segmentation: Nerdist News
More Examples of Signup Pages
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Examples of newsletter signup forms that request minimal details to allow for basic but essential segmentation: Armani Exchange
The more data you accumulate about
your subscribers over time, the more
efficiently you will be able to identify the
various subscriber persona that make
sense to segment messages for.
Using Progressive Profiling to segment your mailing list
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Even when you don’t have a lot of data about your
subscribers, you can still segment them into
groups based on their interaction with
your emails over time (hence
“progressive” profiling).
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For example, using Email Analytics reports you can identify your
frequent openers from those who rarely open your emails, and same
goes for clicks. If you dig deeper, you can also establish which
subscribers consistently click on certain types of links in your emails.
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This allows you to create reasonably accurate segments of
subscribers based on subjects or offers that interest them,
or on their level of activity (so that they can be rewarded)
or inactivity (so that they can be re-engaged).
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According to a recent report from Experian Marketing Services, 70% of brands
did not personalize emails sent to subscribers in 2013 but most marketers (83%)
segmented their email campaign audiences by past activity data.
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This demonstrates that despite the challenges of segmentation, email marketers seem
to feel comfortable using progressive profiling to segment their mailing lists, most likely
because it doesn’t rely on information provided by the subscribers themselves.
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What type of data should you collect for the purpose
of segmentation?
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The data that makes sense for one
company to segment by may not
necessarily be relevant for another,
so deciding what criteria is important
for segmentation purposes should really
be based on YOUR specific business
requirements and email program’s goals.
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If your business caters for a niche audience (or several niche
audiences) then obviously you should request details that are
relevant for YOUR segmentation purposes.
For example, if you own a pet store, it would make sense for
you to ask your subscribers during signup what type of pet
they own so that you don’t bombard certain subscribers with
dog food promotions when they in fact own goldfish (etc.)
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Being able to refer to a subscriber by his first name
isn’t really a form of segmentation, but it is about as
basic as you can get with personalization in email.
So for those email marketers who see segmentation
as “the deep end of the pool” but feel like they’re
still wading around with inflatable armbands, the
“first name” detail is a gentle way to inch further
towards the deep end.
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Also, from the subscriber’s point of view, it’s nicer
to be greeted with “Hi %first name%” than “Dear
Valued Customer” because it feel as though the
sender is talking to him or her as an actual person
and not to just another anonymous subscriber on
a mailing list.
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Any retailer who sells products that are
relevant to either men or women must be
able to distinguish between his female and
male email subscribers.
Knowing the subscriber’s sex is precisely
the thing that can prevent an email featuring
a promotion on high-heel shoes from ever
reaching a businessman who would prefer
a promotion for neckties and vice versa.
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That’s not to say that some women may not
be interested in certain items on behalf of
the men in their lives or that men won’t on
occasion be on the lookout for something
for the women in their lives, but knowing
how to package these items properly for the
right audience (like this nice example from
ModCloth) is key to getting the desirable
reaction and not an “unsubscribe” as a
result of repeatedly irrelevant offers.
Sender: ModCloth (click on the image to view the full newsletter)
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Knowing which country your subscribers are
from can help sharpen your messaging so
that you’re not sending certain people
content that’s irrelevant to them.
It also helps you review the performance of
your emails based on the geographical
location of your subscribers.
For example, if you can see from ongoing
analysis that your French subscribers are
particularly engaged with your emails (even
if you hadn’t intended it), you might decide
to tailor a promotion specifically for your
French audience in order to maximize sales.
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If your catalogue includes many types of products or services, then knowing exactly what interests
each subscriber can help you customize emails with messaging that will be particularly relevant to
them. The more your subscribers feel that your content is relevant to them, the higher the likelihood
that they will engage with your emails.
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1. Sending Birthday Emails helps
to endear your brand to a subscriber
by making him feel warm & fuzzy that
you “remembered” this special day and
took the trouble to send a birthday
greeting, or better yet – some
sort of birthday gift.
2. Classifying your subscribers
into age brackets can help you target
certain messages for maximum relevance.
You can even use different language to appeal
to different age brackets. For example, you
might have something to offer that’s
particularly relevant for college students
but not really for anyone else, or for
people of retirement age and
no one else (etc.) 3. In some cases,
marketers must verify
that subscribers are over
a certain age in order
to send them emails.
There are three main reasons why knowing your subscribers’ birthday is helpful:
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This one’s also a no-brainer if you have easy
access to this data. Pioneered famously by
Amazon and now widely used by many other
online retail giants (although not always
effectively), the idea is to send people relevant
content based on their recent purchases.
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The smart way to segment based on purchase history is to consider the
type of items that were purchased and then send targeted offers (in a
timely and respectful frequency) about complementary items. For example:
2. Or if someone just
bought a new bed, you
could send them an
email offering bed
linen options.
1. If someone just purchased
an airline ticket for a vacation or
business trip, there’s no need to sell
him another vacation or business trip
so soon after this purchase, but it would
make sense to send an email with
hotel recommendations or
local attractions.
3. Or, if someone just
download a whitepaper on email
marketing, you could send them
an email recommending other
whitepapers that may be
of interest.
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The “hottest” time to strike a
shopper with an additional
relevant offer is at checkout time
or just after the purchase, but
only as long as the offer makes
sense, otherwise it’s just plain
pushy and annoying.
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TO SUM UP: Segmentation isn’t always necessary for
every email you send, but if you identify situations
where tailoring messages for certain subscribers
would boost their relevance significantly and you
have access to data that allowed you to create the
necessary segments in your mailing list, then it
would be a missed opportunity not to do so.
This presentation was created by Noya Lizor,
Head Honcho at The Best of Email, a hub for showcasing
standout emails by marketers who are “getting email right”.
Visit www.thebestofemail.com to learn more about: