Nearly everybody marketing on the internet uses email marketing to build a list, but few of them know about the benefits of list segmentation.
List segmentation is the process of filtering out certain subscribers into a new sub list based on certain behaviour such as open rates, click through rates or conversion rates. It is an excellent way of making your list perform to its optimum with clever tactics.
The average marketer sets up a web form and a series of email auto responder messages and just leaves it at that. Some take it a bit further and do regular broadcasts to keep in touch with their subscribers. Few people take the time to bother with list segmentation though.
In this article I am not going to show technical instructions on how to segment your list, instead I will talk about general strategies that you can implement.
Here are the five main segments that exist on any marketers list no matter what they are promoting.
1. New Subscribers => 2. No opens => 3. No clicks => 4. No conversions => 5. Conversions
Lets look at these list segmentation groups in more detail.
1. Brand new subscribers. People that have subscribed to your list in the last couple of weeks (or any time period that you like) are still getting to know you so it is a great idea to split your list into those that know you well and those that are fresh to your list.
These are the people that you would be broadcasting out different messages to those that have been on your list for a while. This is because you are still trying to build up credibility and trust with these people. You may be keen on offering these people more free training or asking them what challenges they are currently facing.
The whole point is to get off on the right foot with these people right from the start. First impressions are always important in real life, and it is no different in email marketing.
2. Non responsive subscribers. These are the people that have been on your list for a certain period of time, but they have never opened any of your emails. These people are not bothering to open your emails for a variety of reasons.
The idea with this segment of your list is to broadcast them a message with a strong subject line or heading that creates interest or curiosity so that they start opening your emails and hopefully like what they see.
3. Opens but no clicks. The next group of people have been opening your emails but not clicking on your links. For a variety of reasons these people are happy to open your emails but are not motivated to click your links.
In this situation you should be looking at improving the body of your email with more compelling sales copy. You may need to keep your emails shorter as most people these days have a very short attention span, and if they see a big long email they could not be bothered reading it.
Keep the body of your emails short, direct and to the point remembering that the whole purpose here is to sell the click and nothing else. So for this segment of your list your messages would be really concentrating on improving the body of the email.
4. Opens, clicks but no conversions. This segment of your list is showing interest in what you are offering them but are backing out at the last minute. For some reason they don't like your landing page.
For this segment you need to be writing better sales copy on your landing pages. Again your sales copy may be too long or just plain boring. Keep your landing page simple with an appealing headline, a sub headline, a short video and a button to buy. You may include text instead of a video but keep it short and make sure you feature the benefits of why the prospect should buy from you.
5. Conversions. These are the people that love your stuff and have handed over their hard earned money. You know there is a good chance of getting repeat business from these people and it is just a case of continuing to provide value and solutions to problems.
However you should not take the attitude of thinking that you don't need to improve with this segment, because everyone should be striving to do things better and to keep growing and improving. It is important that you treat these people like gold and strive to turn them into long term clients and not just short term customers.
You may want to ask these people how you could serve them better and get some great feedback to take your business to the next level. And remember you need to try to work out why those people in segments 2,3 and 4 are not moving on to the next step of your marketing funnel as well.
For more information on list segmentation I recommend you visit a great post written by Jeanne Jennings over at http://www.clickz.com/clickz/column/1695372/really-simple-email-segmentation-a-framework
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