Email segmentation is the process of dividing your audience into different segments based on certain criteria. It’s a way to personalize your marketing messages to meet the needs and wants of individual customers. The goal is to deliver more relevant and better email content to each segment and increase engagement and conversions.
Segmentation is at the heart of email marketing and can make a big difference to your campaigns. By understanding and grouping your audience based on common characteristics,, you can tailor your messages to resonate more with each group and get higher open rates, click-through rates, and conversions.
Email Marketing Segmentation Types
There are many ways to segment your email list, and the method you choose will depend on your business, your goals, and your data. Below are some common types of email marketing segmentation.
Note that these are not mutually exclusive. To get the best results, you can and often should use multiple types of segmentation in your email marketing strategy.
Demographic Segmentation
Demographic segmentation divides your audience based on demographic information such as age, gender, income level, education level, marital status, occupation, and more. It is one of the most common types of segmentation and is often the starting point for many businesses.
Demographic segmentation can be very effective because these characteristics often map to consumer needs and wants. For example, a clothing retailer might send different emails to men and women or a university might send different messages to undergraduate and graduate students.
Geographic Segmentation
Geographic segmentation is dividing your audience based on their location. This can be as broad as country or as specific as a neighborhood. Geographic segmentation is useful for businesses with physical locations or targeting specific local markets.
For example, a restaurant might send different emails to customers in different neighborhoods or a global retailer might send different messages based on the country or region. Geographic segmentation can also be used to send messages at the right time based on the recipient’s time zone.
Behavioral Segmentation
Behavioral segmentation is dividing your audience based on their behavior, such as past purchases, website activity, email engagement and more. This is a powerful type of segmentation because you can personalise your messages based on how people interact with your business.
For example you might send different emails to customers who have purchased in the last month versus those who haven’t or to customers who have viewed a particular product on your website. Behavioral segmentation can also be used to trigger automated emails based on specific actions, such as cart abandonment emails.
Psychographic Segmentation
Psychographic segmentation is dividing your audience based on their interests, attitudes, values, lifestyle, personality traits and other psychological factors. This type of segmentation can be more difficult to implement because it requires more data and a deeper understanding of your audience.
But when done right, psychographic segmentation can be very powerful. For example a travel company might send different emails to customers who are interested in luxury travel versus budget travel or a fitness brand might send different messages to customers who are motivated by health versus appearance.
