Delivering an average ROI of 4,300% in 2013, email marketing is proven to be one of the most cost-effective methods of communicating with your leads. Sending out the same blanket email to your whole email database and hoping that it will relate to all of them is unrealistic.
This is why segmentation is becoming more and more of a must-have in the world of email marketing.
760% of email revenue came from segmented emails in 2013. So if you're not segmenting your email database and tailoring the content you send to those contacts, now's the time to start.
There are so many efficient ways to segment your email list that will have you reaping higher click-through rates, better deliverability, and generating more revenue from your email marketing campaigns.
Knowing where your leads are located can be seriously powerful information. If you are holding a small, free event that is based in Liverpool, it will be pretty useless sending that to your leads located in the U.S. The same goes for if your business only services a certain area, sending out offers to leads in an area that you won't service will seem unprofessional and lazy on your part.
People of all ages have access to the internet these days. This is especially effective when you're targeting a very wide age demographic. Segmenting by age allows you to adjust the messaging of your email communications to suit a more specific group of people. The more specific and targeted your emails are, the less likely it is that your emails will be marked as spam and chucked in the trash.
Just as you'd adjust your messaging for different age demographics, it's a great idea to do the same with offers based on gender, too. This comes in handy when you are boosting gender specific products or services...it's not often you'll come across a bloke who actually enjoys reading about the latest nail art trends.
If you're a B2B company, you may generate contacts from across many industries. Knowing your lead's industry will allow you to add even more personalised tweaks to your email marketing.
Perhaps your contact works in marketing, but there are a lot of roles within a marketing team. Is the the assistant, or is she manager? Both roles would differ in experience, pain points and decision-making potential.
Track the way your contacts became a lead, if they downloaded an eBook or white paper, what was this about? Use the information to send them emails catered to their interests. Send related offers, blogs and information you think they'll enjoy based on their activity and in return, watch your click through rate increase rapidly.
The stage a lead is at in the sales cycle should determine which email segment they fall under. If you don't have the information or the time to segment at an in-depth level, at the very least you should set up different lists for lease at the top, middle and bottom of your sales funnel.
Even the slightest segmentation can increase your email success rates. The list above is just a starting point, and based on the individual characterists of your industry, you'll likely discover other ways to segment too.
If you send more targeted, segmented emails to your audience, your emails are naturally more engaging, and everybody loves an engaged lead.