Segmenting means to break something into smaller pieces or elements. When it comes to your email list, segmenting is the key to getting more responses and conversions. Why? You can tailor your emails to that one interest or type of person on your list. It’s very effective because people like reading messages that make them feel special and are more likely to respond to content and offers that resonate with them.

There are many ways to do this, but the principle stays the same. For example, MailChimp has Groups for static things like opt-in source, interests, etc. and Segments for things that can change dynamically, such as purchasing a product or interacting with your emails. ConvertKit and Infusionsoft prefer to use Tags, which are their equivalent for Groups.

So many incredible things can be done with segments, so let’s look at a few ways to start using them today!

Demographics

This is a typical way to segment your audience, but it might not be the type of segmentation that you need. For example, it might not matter if your audience is male or female for your product or service.

Location

Sometimes, you may want to segment by location. This allows you to market something based on where audiences are, in their own language, time zone, or currency if you’re running an international business.

Social Media Connections

Segmenting list members based on how you found them via social media is a great way to break up your list. MailChimp has a fantastic resource called Social Profiles which finds out social information from your subscribers based on their emails. You can then send, for example, Facebook Live announcements to people on your list that definitely are on Facebook!

Behavior

This is the best way to segment your list. When you segment your list by behavior you’ll have different groups, segments, or tags, based on the actions your audience takes. For example, if they downloaded your report about time management they will go in a group for people who downloaded that report. If they then buy something you’re promoting to that list, you’ll move them to yet another list.

Buying Cycle

Another way to segment is based on where they are in their buying cycle. Use segmenting to automatically send an upsell, invite to an exclusive group, or share related blog articles based on whatever part of the cycle they just reached.

Responsive List Members

Build a segment of your most responsive members. Do they open your emails? Do they click through to learn more? You can address them differently if you know they’re reading and put different subject lines if you know they’re not reading. You can also offer them special deals or extra information to thank them – give them the VIP treatment!

Unresponsive List Members

The other side of the coin. Want a healthy list full of excited, engaged subscribers? Then create a segment of folks who have fallen off of the wagon. Send that segment an email asking if they’re still interested and boot them out if they don’t click YES! They’re hurting the quality of your list, you’re probably paying for them when you don’t need to, and frankly, you’re probably annoying them. Best for everyone if you part ways gracefully.

Every Contact is Unique

If you can start thinking about your list members as individuals you’ll find it easier to market to them. You’ll be able to know the right message to send them and the right time to send it at any stage of their buying cycle.

List segmentation is an important part of list building. You may need to try different methods to segment your list based on surveys, the freebie they download, the items they choose to purchase, how they interact with you on social media and more.

Don’t have the time or desire to set your segments up?

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[time-restrict on=”07-31-2017″]Discounted until July 31![/time-restrict]