If you are new to email marketing, it may prove difficult to get your target audience to notice you. That’s because most people leave their emails unopened while they surf other social media channels for entertainment and offers.

Also, there are also too many marketing emails competing for their attention. From promotions, offers, and deals, these marketing mails are tailored to get people to part with their money.

So how can you stand out in the sea of countless mails? How do you ensure that your targets open your mail and take the action you want them to?

By using segmentation and personalization of your email marketing.

In this post, we will discuss what segmented and personalized email marketing is. We will also tell you why they are a very crucial part of your email marketing strategy.

Ready to learn more? Let’s get right into it.

What is Email Segmentation and Why is it Important?

Email segmentation has to do with the division of your email recipients or subscribers into smaller groups based on certain criteria. These criteria include common interests, behaviors, geographic location, purchase history, demographics, etc.

Using the criteria above, you can create email lists for different segments instead of sending the same thing to all your subscribers. By segmenting your audience, you are able to deliver offers that are relevant to each group. That way, you can meet the specific needs of each subscriber, which means there is a higher chance that they will pay attention to your offer.

Irrelevant emails are a sure way to turn your readers into unengaged contacts. If you send them repeatedly, you will succeed in getting them to unsubscribe.

To keep your subscribers engaged, you must include email segmentation into your email marketing strategy. When you segment your audience, you can then send personalized emails that address their specific needs and wants. Personalized emails make your customers feel as though you are addressing them privately and specifically. It gets their attention.

Consistently sending personalized mails will also increase your conversions and help you retain your customers. Not only that, your mails will have higher open rates and click-throughs. This can mean lower spam reports and unsubscribe rates.

Another advantage of this is that more of your emails land in inboxes over spam folders.

But how can you explore email segmentation to optimize your marketing strategy?

How to Optimize Your Marketing Strategy Using Segmented and Personalized Email Marketing

There are different ways that you can use email segmentation in your emails to personalize them. Here are some tips to help you segment your audience and optimize your email marketing performance.

#1. Segment Your Audience

The first thing to do as an email marketer is to make a collection of general segments. You can do this by using the explicit data of your customers, like gender, age, and location.

You can also segment your audience based on their marketing preferences. Look out for preferences such as their favorite products, interests, etc.

You can use forms to collect the data you need. With website forms you can get demographic information about your contacts. Collect info like company name, organization type, job title, income, age, marital status, geographic location, education level and gender.

With that insight, you can easily provide personalized experiences for your audience.

#2. Send Personalized Messaging

Email marketing allows you to customize content. This is one of the greatest features of email marketing.

When your emails include your customer’s first name in the subject line, you will catch their attention and have a higher click-through rate. You can start by sending a welcome mail with an eye-catching subject. There, you can provide different links and content recommendations to point them towards information or offers they might be interested in.

The more links the user clicks, the more they engage with you and the more information you can learn about them. That way, you can discover their needs and help to develop strong relationships.

You can use the corporate and behavioral information about your audience to include details about your audience. If you have a clue about a user’s recent activity or products they’ve viewed on your site, you can use the info to remind them about services that they may be interested in.

You can also give updates about similar products or services that they may need, while building customer loyalty at the same time.

#3. Separate Your Prospects from Your Customers

It is important to separate your prospects from your returning customers and pay specific attention to both groups. Create different email lists for both with different targets. Mails to customers should be aimed at increasing retention while those to prospects should be aimed at converting them. It will also help you know how to pace the mail.

You can also create a list for those who refer other businesses and prospects to the brand. This list can focus on email campaigns soliciting referrals. With each group, ensure that you keep the communication open.

#4. Provide an Unsubscribe Link

Apart from providing useful content, another way to build credibility is to give your audience an opportunity to unsubscribe if your offer isn’t for them.

The goal of an optimized email marketing strategy is to reach a targeted audience that values your content and can be converted to customers. As such, you do not need to keep communicating with users who aren’t interested in your information. Doing so will only lead to negative reviews and your messages may be spammed.

Add an unsubscribe link that is obvious and quick to find. As they opt out of your subscription list, keep things light-hearted and friendly. You can even create a different offer for them, if the present one does not suit their specific needs. In the new offer, ensure that you cleverly insert an easy link to find, if they eventually change their minds.

Bottom Line

If you incorporate segmentation and personalized email marketing, you can now grab the attention of your subscribers and connect with them. That’s because they will open your mails and engage with them. This will keep your emails away from spam filters.

Segmenting your emails helps you ensure that the right emails get to the right people. What’s more, your campaigns will be more targeted and your emails will see better performance.

You too can increase traffic on your site and increase your conversion rates using email marketing. All you need to do is to start out the tips that we have outlined above.