5-Minute Email Tips: Sending Segmented Emails
By Monica Montesa June 11, 2015
Creating content, such as emails, is a great way to connect with a mass audience.
But there’s a lot more to it than simply writing an email and hitting send.
While you may have a dozen, hundreds or even thousands of subscribers, it’s important to remember that among that list exists a variety of individuals with different needs, motivations and experiences.
As a result, this means that, sadly, not every piece of content you create will be a perfect fit for everyone.
So how can you nurture your diverse audience with content that’s relevant to every individual?
By creating segmented emails.
Why You Should Send Segmented Emails
Segmented emails are messages you send to specific subscribers in your list. They can be based on where they are in the customer journey, demographics and more. Doing so gives you the chance to send specific content that is relevant to that unique group, encouraging them to take a certain action.
Here’s an example of a scenario of when you might use a segmented email:
Let’s say you owned a bakery, and you send out an email to your entire list with a link to an updated dessert menu. Instead of just letting the one email do all the work, you might want to send an email with a coupon off their purchase to those who clicked the link. This way, you’re making a strategic effort to influence those who have already expressed interest in your product.
Creating messages that meet the specific needs of your customers can be super powerful when providing a killer customer experience.
Ideas for Segments You Can Create Today
So what are some segments you can create for your list?
Almost anything, really. But it depends on the subscriber information you asked for in your sign up form and the data provided in your email analytics (city, opens, email provider, etc.).
Here at AWeber, we use segmenting in a number of scenarios. Here’s an example of a segmented email we sent to our subscribers who opened but didn’t click the call-to-action link to register for a webinar:
But the possibilities for sending segments goes beyond sending reminder emails for webinars.
Here are some other ideas for segments you can start sending today:
Geography/Location
Sending emails based on where your subscribers live can come in handy in a lot of situations.
If you own multiple stores in different locations, for example, you might want to send emails to subscribers who live closest to each location. You can send things like exclusive shop offers, upcoming events and even advice or news from local employees.
You can also send tailored emails that speak to events that might be going on locally, different seasons, holidays and more.
If you have customers from countries all around the world, that’s a good indicator of what language they speak, so you might want to send emails in their native languages, too.
Want to start sending emails based on geography?
There are two ways of discovering where your subscribers are located.
One way is by asking your subscribers where in your sign up form. Simply add a custom field that asks for information, such as city and state. This way, every time you get a new subscriber, you’ll also get their location.
If you’re an AWeber customer, you also can find your subscribers’ general location (city, state, country) in the Reports section of your account.
Click-Throughs
Sending emails based on subscriber behavior is a great way to assist each of your customers throughout the buyer journey. Why? Because those who clicked a link in an email might want to receive further information on that topic.
Let’s go back to the bakery example. Say you send out an email with a link to a recipe for apple turnovers. You might want to send an email with additional apple-related treats sold at your store (and maybe a coupon!) to a segment of your subscribers who clicked the link.
Pro Tip: If you find that a number of subscribers aren’t clicking on any of your content, it might be time to ask what kind of content interests them.
Custom Fields
Want to learn more about your unique customers that you just can’t find in any report list?
Consider adding a couple of custom fields to your sign up form to discover your audience’s interests. When you do, you’ll get more information that can help you create more relevant content for your subscribers.
Instead of just assuming what kind of delectable desserts your subscribers will love, for example, why not ask them for their favorite dessert when they’re signing up to your email list?
With that information, it’ll be easier to create content for your diverse audience and send broadcasts to groups of individuals with similar interests. Cookie of the Week emails, anyone?
Pro Tip: Tap into your subscribers’ interests by offering exclusive content just for them!
Open Rates
Not every email you send will have an open rate of 100 percent. And that’s okay.
But that doesn’t mean you have to sit back and let the numbers remain as they are. To encourage more engagement with your subscribers, consider sending an email to the segment of subscribers who did not open your first message – and be sure to tweak the subject line!
If you find that you have many inactive subscribers (those who haven’t opened an email or clicked a link in a long time), you might want to run a reactivation campaign.
Segment All the Emails!
Okay, so you don’t have to necessarily segment every single email you send to customers. But you should start looking into ways you can include it as part of your email marketing strategy.
Are you using segmenting in any of your emails? Tell us in the comments!
Arla
6/12/2015 4:28 pmIt would be really a nice feature for AWeber to allow us to move customers to different lists in our account to make segmenting easier. Any chance of that?
Monica Montesa
6/15/2015 10:06 amHi Arla,
Thanks for your feedback! You do have a couple of options to move customers from one list in your AWeber account to another. The first option is to export the specific subscribers and import them without confirmation into a new list.
Or if you would like to filter your subscribers during the sign up process, you can set up automation rules. This way, when someone subscribes to one list, you can create a rule based on specific criteria or actions that automatically adds them to another list. (For more information on how to do this in your AWeber account, check out our Knowledge Base article).
Hope this is helpful!
– Monica
Dr Jill
6/12/2015 7:11 pmI already have AWebber and love it. But, in your 5 minute tips – Segmented emails you suggested to send a promotional email and then follow up with a coupon to those that opened the promotional email. I know how to see the open rate, but not by specific subscriber. How do I know who opened the first email to qualify them for the follow up with a coupon???
Monica Montesa
6/15/2015 10:12 amHi Dr. Jill,
I’m glad you love sending emails with AWeber!
There’s actually a really easy way to send an email to those who opened a specific broadcast email. If you click on the subject line of the message in question under “Sent Broadcasts” in the Broadcasts section of your account, it should expand with more information about that email. When that happens, you should be able to see how many people opened that message, as well as a button to send an email directly to those subscribers. From there you’ll be prompted to create a new broadcast that is already primed to be sent to people who opened the original email.
For more instructions (and screenshots) on how to do this, please check out our Knowledge Base article on the topic.
– Monica
John Flood
6/12/2015 8:49 pmNo, I am not using Segmentation. I didn’t know that your service had that capability. I will have to look and see if I can find that area. Thanks.
Giovanna Griffo
6/13/2015 1:40 amI wrote you years ago about a missing feature I would love to find in your segmentation but it is still missing.
I would really love to be able to merge different segment into one new segment. That’s why:
I send different emails (follow up and brodcast) maybe containing the same link. If I want to create a segment based on who clicked the link I have create one different segment for each type of email I sent, so, at the end, I will have multiple segment that represent the same cluster containing maybe the same subrscribers! So if I send my new email to these segment some could receive the email more than twice.
That’s why for me you segment feature it is not usefull. Will you provide, finally, the possibility to merge different segments? Thank you
Monica Montesa
6/15/2015 10:27 amHi Giovanna,
Thank you for sharing your concerns. It sounds like you are already doing a great job of sending segmented emails to your subscribers, but unfortunately there currently isn’t any way to merge different segments. We are looking into making changes to our segmenting feature, however, so your feedback is helpful as we work on those updates.
In the meantime, you might want to check out AW Pro Tools to automatically move subscribers to a new list when they click on a link as well.
– Monica
Markus K
6/13/2015 2:51 amI agree with Giovanna and Arla that there are essential options missing in the Aweber service. The ability to move subscribers from one list to another is crucial and merging would be really handy too.
To add one of my own: how about an automatic translation feature, right from the original optin? Is there no way that google translate could be used to do this? That would be a major plus point for Aweber!
Monica Montesa
6/15/2015 10:30 amHi Markus,
Thank you for sharing your feedback!
I replied to both Giovanna and Arla if you would like to see my replies to their questions. As for the automatic translation feature, are you asking for a way to have the sign up forms written in a foreign language or your email messages?
– Monica
Lex Linsen
6/15/2015 4:21 amCompletely agree with Markus, Giovanna and Arla. I would appreciate if you comment on this please. Cheers!
Wanie Mokhtar
6/16/2015 1:52 pmThanks for this usefull information.
Srikanth
6/19/2015 9:37 amHello,
thanks for sharing such info
will be useful
Thanks