Who wants to tackle segmenting your email list, anyway?

But I promise it’s way more exciting than you think, especially when you consider all the benefits it has for your audience. (And we like to keep our readers happy, right? Right!)

Audience segmentation boosts email engagement

Segmentation allows us to share content with the email subscribers it matters to most — and not with those who wouldn’t benefit.

Not every small segment of your audience needs its own automation. But email gives us an enormous amount of flexibility to connect deeper with your reader by sending them only the content they love.

Now, let’s get practical about email segmentation…

An example I often refer to is that of an online business owner — we’ll call him Travis — who teaches how to play guitar through online courses.

How can segmentation help Travis provide value to his readers? He would start by breaking down the process into two steps:

1. Start by assessing the different needs or interests of the audience

2. Then tailoring the messaging to speak directly to that segment of readers

But how?

How to segment your email subscribers

Before Travis can segment his readers, we need learn about his audience from a high level — but also the specifics and trends based on what they’re looking for (and therefore the solutions we can offer to each person on their individual journey).

If you’re not 100% sure what your subscribers need or don’t need, begin by asking questions. I recommend you make no assumptions, unless you have extensive experience with your audience (or even if you do).

Resource: Boost email subscriber engagement and increase conversions by using tags

1 | Learn about your email subscribers

• Ask subscribers to complete a survey in your welcome automation

• Track how they entered your email list (by the particular opt-ins or themes they’re engaging with)

• Ask where they are on a particular journey and use link clicks to see which option they selected

In Travis’s case, he has prospective students coming to his site ranging from novices who just purchased their first Takamine guitar to advanced learners looking to develop specific playing methods.

It’s easy to see that these two audiences have different needs.

Related: How to Use Audience Research to Fuel an Effective Email Marketing Strategy

2 | Identify the different needs of your email audience segments

Your advanced players do not need information on how to maintain their guitar for prime sound quality.

But ask yourself, “Why are they coming to my site? What do they want to learn, experience or purchase?”

Listen to their needs to connect with how you can best serve them.

And your novice players would be overwhelmed by the idea of power riffs (“I’m still trying to successfully play the F chord here…”).

In their case, what are THEY coming to your site to learn, experience or purchase? Are they coming for inspiration, accountability or tutorial videos?

This becomes especially helpful (like, so much easier) when you ask yourself these 2 questions while sitting down to write your emails.

In order to serve your audience well, we need to see them more than a mass of names and emails on a list. Segmentation allows us to provide what each reader needs — and avoid sending them what they don’t — as you share helpful content with them now and into the future.

Related: How to personalize email content using subscriber tags in ConvertKit

Learn about your audience to segment and serve them better

How might you segment your audience to better serve them with future emails?

Consider all of the variables that could impact what you may or may not send a segment of readers — or what message you may tailor to them, based on previous engagement with your site, brand or products.

Think about…

• Their role at work. Are they in a supporting role, or are they a leader who needs a different set of resources?

• Their responsibilities at home. Are they responsible for managing the finances and you want to make it easier to talk about money with their spouse?

• Have they purchased something from you before? Use this information to send more, related items for purchase to their inbox.

• Are they a good fit to join your membership? Or are they a lapsed member who you’d like to re-register? A campaign to these two segments may be better written as two different conversations, right?

• What’s their employment status? Do they work for a small business, a corporation or are they self-employed? What about their employment status impacts how you can help them?

• How much debt do they have (+/- $10,000, $100,000, etc)? What kind of debt do they have (student loans, consumer, private loans)? The way you suggest payoff strategies may different based on any number of variables.

There are so many ways to customize your messaging to your audience based on their needs, their lifestyle, and their engagement with your brand!

Resource: Boost email subscriber engagement and increase conversions by using tags

Basically you: “Hey audience, tell me what you want, what you really really want.”

How to implement a pivot email to segment subscribers

With a client of mine, we segmented his list through what I call a “Pivot Email.” This is when we ask the readers to “choose their own adventure.”

By segmenting his list into two, we were able to serve his email subscribers better based on their phase of either starting or growing their private practice.

One segmented automation has an average open rate of 54% and click-through rate of 10%. Clearly, the messaging resonated clearly with these subscribers. They knew the message was for THEM and they responded.

If you’re not sure exactly how you’d like to segment your list yet, the goal is to start listening and learning.

Related: How to segment new email subscribers in your welcome sequence

How can you segment your email list?

Spend two minutes brainstorming how different segments of your audience might benefit from receiving messaging specific to their needs. You could think about creating and sending a survey to your list to better learn what your audience needs!

And, if you would like my help creating a Welcome Sequence that segments your audience and provides personalized content based on their needs, book a free Discovery Call and we’ll chat!