How to Segment Your Email List - Part 2
In Part 1, we talked about how to use an initial opt-in form to segment your list.
For this series, we are using an 55+ active adult center as the example. Today, we’ll cover a few more techniques to segment your email list.
Choice of Reports from One Web Page
Another idea you can use on your main page is to offer several reports from a drop-down box. Each report would speak to a group as outlined above. Or perhaps your reports would be driven from the activities you offer, so readers could sign up for the newsletters from the golf pro, activities director, etc.
While segmenting your list by ages is one example, you may wish to further segment that list’s interests. Let’s assume that you developed a list of people 55+ who are looking for an active adult community. Here are some things they could be interested in:
Golfing
Fishing
Activity Center and Daily Activities
Maintenance Free Living
City vs. Small Town
Can you see how effective it is to have an email list of readers who are 55+, are interested in retireing to an active adult community now and whose primary interest is golf? Your emails can go into detail about who designed the course, the features, tournament activities, etc. Perhaps you can allow them to opt-in to the golf newsletter if one is available.
Can you also see how NON-EFFECTIVE that would be for someone who was primarily interested in fishing during their golden years and had no interest in golf?
That’s why we want to segment!
Creating Segmented Landing Pages
In the above examples, we’ve talked about driving traffic to one web page and then separating it into segmented lists.
A segmented list can also be developed using various opt-in pages, each related to a different area of interest or segmented group. You’ll see this done quite often with those using pay-per-click advertising.
I’ve entered “active adult community” into a search box and found these pay-per-click listings. Let’s discuss these in relation to landing pages:
Locations: Rhode Island, Florida, Arizona, Texas, New Mexico, Utah, Tennessee
Amenities: Luxury, Country Club, Golf, Boating
Lifestyle: Acreage, Escape the City, Mountains
Let’s assume my property is in Orlando, is situated on a ski-able lake, 20 minutes from the Atlantic Ocean, with an award-winning golf course on the property.
How about an ad that read…
Orlando Lakefront Retirement
Fresh and Saltwater Fishing In a
Resort 55+ Atmosphere
www.yourdomain.com
Someone who opts into this list is interested in hearing about the retirement lifestyle where (s)he can fish all day! Your email series will concentrate on fishing.
Retire on the Golf Course
Orlando 55+ Community
Unlimited Golf Fees Included!
www.yourdomain.com
In this case, you’ll feature the villas available on the golf course, tidbits on the par, golf course designer, matches held there and so forth.
The important thing is to have specific landing pages for each ad. If I click on “Orlando Lakefront Retirement”, I shoud see a guy at the community lake holding up his prize bass. Likewise, the email series they opt into should concentrate on fishing, although you’ll obviously mention all the other features and amenities.
In my next post, I’ll explore how to use an offline technique to build your online opt-in list.
Questions or comments? Post below and I’ll be sure to answer them for you.
Tags
email marketing, marketing, autoresponders
