Welcome to Vol.6 of Email Advice in Your Inbox!

Hi again, friend! As always, we're so happy to have you here. I hope you're ready to cram your brain full of email knowledge 🧠
 

Here's what you can expect this week
 

• The top 6 ways to segment your email list for better engagement
   

• Some nifty (free) tools to help you become a better email marketer.
   

• A quick word from this week's sponsor
   

• The top 3 marketers to follow on LinkedIn this week.
   

• The fun stuff: The most relatable work email faux pas
   

Let's learn more about email marketing! 🚀
 

6 Ways to segment your email list for better engagement

As a marketer, especially in email, the word segmentation will have popped up at least once a day. I'd almost be willing to put money on that fact.

You're always told to segment your email database, right? But, have you ever stopped to ask why?

Email marketing list segmentation is essentially the process of dividing an email list into smaller, targeted groups based on specific characteristics or behaviours.

The trick to "dividing" is often hidden in the reasons why we segment an audience in the first place.

Let's kick off with a quick round-up of why email segmentation matters and discuss a few practical ways you can segment your email list. 

Your audience is not all the same

Yes, this is obvious, but why? Simple. We all have unique preferences, interests, and needs.

This means that sending the same communication to folks with different expectations leads to an audience whose attention you don't fully have.

By creating content tailored to these varying expectations, you'll be able to keep readers more engaged and coming back to read future emails you send.
 

Your audience is at different stages of the customer lifecycle

When engaging with an email audience, some people will have interacted with your business or content at various points in time.

Ask yourself this: Have they all taken the same actions? Very likely not. So why segment for this?

By identifying where they are in this lifecycle, you can tailor content to people who are just learning about you, have become fans, have spent money, or have even stopped spending money and are ghosting you.

This is where segmentation can be used to send them content that gets them to the stage you want them at.
 

You'll make more money from your emails

This is the most important one, isn't it?

Why? Well, why else are you sending email campaigns? If your emails are sent with no end goal in mind then you're either wasting money or are simply way too nice.

By serving the right audience, with the right content, at the right time, you'll make money happen.
 

Now that you have a fair idea of why we segment our email audience, let's look at a few practical tips about ways to segment your list.

Demographic Segmentation

At the initial stages of your email marketing strategy, using demographic data to categorise your subscribers is probably a logical starting point.

Example of this information includes:

• Age
• Gender preference
• Location
• Occupation

You've likely obtained this information from where your subscribers are signing up and who you're able to reach.

Demographic segmentation gives you a broad understanding of your audience and helps you align your content a little more to the generic preferences inferred about these groups of individuals.
 

Behavioural Segmentation

As your subscribers start interacting with your brand or business, utilising behavioural segmentation helps you to group them based on their actions and levels of engagement.

Examples include actions and behaviours such as:

• Website activity
• Email opens & clicks
• Link and article clicks
• Purchase history and frequency

By understanding how subscribers interact with you, you'll be able to group list members based on what you'd like them to do next.
 

Lifecycle Stage Segmentation

As subscribers progress through their journey with your business, you're going to want to adapt your email communication to their lifecycle stage and where they are in their buying journey with your business.

You have various opportunities here to segment your list into categories such as:

• New leads or prospects (non-profitable customers)
• Active customers and repeat buyers (profitable customers)
• Loyalty and VIP customers (highly profitable customers.

These segments provide you with opportunities to tailor specific communication to move clients along their journey with your business by simply using email marketing tactics.

For example, new leads may require nurturing emails to familiarise themselves with your brand, while active or loyal customers might appreciate exclusive offers and loyalty rewards.

This infographic contains a few e-commerce email examples that you can use at various stages of a customer's lifetime with your brand:

Personalisation Based on Interests

As you gather more data about your subscribers, your opportunities lie in the segments you create around customer interests and preferences.

Finding this out can be a challenge, but with the right incentives, you could utilise tools such as:

• Email preference centres
• Clicks in email campaigns
• Past customer interactions

This will allow you to create content that aligns with their interests, builds stronger connections and increases the likelihood of conversion.
 

Segmentation for Re-engagement

For subscribers who have become inactive, which is quite common (no, you're not the only one getting ghosted 👻), you'll want to look to employ re-engagement campaigns to win them back.

Segment this group separately and send compelling emails that entice them to rekindle their interest in your brand. These include emails such as:

• Exclusive promotions
• Product updates
• Breakup emails
• Personal check-ins

This segment can also be based on email engagement, such as opens and clicks, so keep this in mind.
 

Geographical Segmentation

With globalisation and the success of e-commerce, Geographical segmentation is being used less and less.

That said, there are still opportunities within countless industries. This form of segmentation can be particularly valuable if your business caters to a diverse audience with varying regional preferences and needs.

Localised content and offers can create a stronger sense of relevance and improve engagement, so don't sleep on this segment just yet.
 

Where to begin

As you can now see, there are a multitude of options for segmenting your email list. Where to start? Just begin!

Begin with the information you have and decide what you can do to learn more about your audience as soon as possible. 

Once you know who you're speaking to and what makes them tick, you can adapt your strategy to suit their needs and bolster your engagement for a long time to come. 💌

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Email resources of the week

Some cool tools and tips to help you become a better email marketer

Who to follow this week?

As always, any email expert knows that you can always learn. The best way to do so? Learn from other experts!

Here are 3 marketing experts to follow this week

Some more (email) fun to make your day better

Is it just me or do you also tend to overuse exclamation marks in work emails?

This is one example of many in this hilarious list of relatable work-email faux pas.

There are over 100 examples of netiquette fatigue as well as accidents including wrong attachments, unfortunate typos, and email avoidance. Worth the time!

Prepare to relate and dive in

These emails are proudly made possible by

Africa's best email service agency and email marketing platform

Before you go! Did you miss our discussion?

I had the privilege of talking at GetResponse's LinkedIn Live event around Email Marketing and AI a few weeks ago, and what an interesting chat!

In the company of some world-class marketers, I got to discuss the impact of AI in email marketing, the positives and the negatives.

I won't give too much away, but if you'd like to give our discussion a listen, you can click here or hit the event image below.

Happy listening! 

Before I go! Remember, I help businesses and content creators, just like you, win at email. How? Here are three ways I can help:

Get the guide! We've spent 200+ hours compiling over 250 pages covering everything you need to launch and win at email. Find out more here. 

Get email help! I help businesses improve and grow their email marketing. Book your free email platform audit here.

Get expert service! I've partnered with the best to help take your email to the next level. Find out more here.

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