How to Segment Your Email List
In Email Segmentation: How to Talk to Your Reader, we defined email segmentation and discussed why you might want to incorporate it in your email marketing.
Over the next few posts, I’ll share some simple ways to segment your lists and cover common segmentation categories to consider.
To quickly review, the reason for segmenting lists in the first place is to be able to speak more specifically to a particular reader - whether a prospect or customer. This generally increases response to and conversion of the products and services you promote to this list.
Here are a few ideas to get you started:
Initial Opt-In Form.
If there is an important qualifier for potential customers, you should include it in your opt-in form.
As an example, I live in Florida which is a huge retirement state. There are a number of “active adult” living centers being built here. If I were developing an opt-in list for a center, an important qualifier would be whether or not my readers were 55+; if not, they couldn’t live on my property.
Now, there may be others who are interested in my housing. There may be people who are 50-54 and are beginning to research properties. There may be the children of seniors, who are researching properties to present to their parents.
But the people who are going to put money in my pocket quickly are those who are 55+.
In my general opt-in box, I could have a drop-down box with age ranges or a check box that would be checked if someone was 55 years of age or older. Then I could broadcast a message only to this group offering them an additional product or a coupon for a free weekend at the property. They would get it by opting into a different list - one that is only available for those 55 or older.
Note: You’d want to set up your offer (such as the free weekend) to verify that they are 55+ when they redeem their coupon. For this reason it would make little sense for someone younger than 55 to opt-in.
Another way you can segment your list is from the initial information you gather at sign-up. Keep in mind that the number of opt-ins is inversely proportional to the amount of information you require from those opting in. Also, your potential subscribers don’t know you well yet, so this is not the time to ask for a lot of personal information.
Personally, I like to include zip codes (or other area designations in my forms. This is a pretty non-invasive request to which most people will comply.
On Friday, I’ll give you a few more ways to develop a segmented list. In the meantime, post your questions or comments below…we always love to hear from you!
Debbi Bressler
Email Marketing Specialist
GetResponse
Tags
email marketing, marketing, autoresponders
March 6th, 2008 at 11:47 pm
[…] Part 1, we discussed how to use an initial opt-in form to segment your list. In Part 2, we covered a few […]