4 Must-Have Email Marketing Segments

Everyone who’s subscribed to your email marketing list is different. Some may be people who recently signed up, while others may be people who’ve done business with you repeatedly.

This is why you need to segment your email marketing subscribers. After all, sending the same email to a first-time customer and to a lapsed customer won’t help you achieve anything substantial, right?

Do you remember the video we did recently, called “The Simplest Email Marketing Funnel”?

The four absolute must-have email marketing segments are based on these steps in the funnel. We’ll even go beyond these steps and speak a little about lapsed customers at the end.

In today’s video, we’ll get right into these four email marketing segments, as well as the 4 E’s relating to their end goals in order for you to have a better understanding on why these segments are important:

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4 Must-Have Email Marketing Segments

1. Prospects

Prospects are people who’ve recently joined your mailing list, but haven’t purchased anything from you…yet.

Our end goal is Entry: You want to enter into a nurturing and trusting relationship with your prospects and convert them into paying customers.

Encourage interaction as much as possible: ask where they found you, why they decided to sign up to your mailing list, and find out what their interests are. Knowing this information can help you build a relationship with them and learn more about how you can sell to your prospects.

For your interaction to be effective, it needs to come from both parties, so actively join the conversation by telling your prospects about your brand – how your company started, who your team is, what values you stand for and what products are available in your catalogue.

After a while, start testing the selling waters by sending personalized product recommendations based on their browsing history. Experiment with multiple offers to get them to buy their first product from you: offer discount coupons, exclusive products or buy-one-take-one deals.

Time-sensitive offers can also work. Including a real-time timer alone can increase your conversion rate by 8.6%!

2. First-time Customers

These are the people who’ve purchased from you once.

Our end goal with first-time customers is to Engage: You want to convert your first-time customers into sincerely loyal, high-spending customers who have high Customer Lifetime Values over time.

A first-time customer is 27% more likely to buy from you again; whereas a second-time customer is 54% more likely to be a repeat customer over the course of your relationship with them!

Increase your engagement with your first-time customers by up-selling, cross-selling and sending post-purchase emails inviting them to sign up to your loyalty programs. Doing so boosts your top-of-mind brand awareness and uses positive reinforcement to increase sales.

Want to know an underestimated tool that you can also use? Include your offers in your email receipts – their 10%+ click rates can be helpful if you use them effectively.

3. Repeat Customers

Repeat Customers are those who’ve purchased from you more than once. (It’s such a difficult term, right? Kidding!)

In this segment, your main aim is to Extend: You want to increase your customers’ repeat purchase rates and lengthen your mutually beneficial business relationship with them.

Aside from your cross-selling and up-selling marketing strategies, you can also introduce the concept of “VIP culture” in your company. Around 56% of consumers are more likely to participate in your programs if you give them exclusive rewards such as early access to sales, faster points accumulation in your Rewards Program or birthday gifts, among others.

You can also go the extra mile and build a one-on-one relationship with your happy customers. Encourage them to also join your referral program formally (in exchange of points, gifts or discounts) or informally (by genuinely asking leads from them). Make sure that your relationship is mutually beneficial to you and to them.

4. Lapsed or Inactive Customers

Lapsed or Inactive Customers are those who haven’t purchased on the same repeat purchase rates that your best customers have. They’re also your email subscribers who stopped engaging by not opening or not clicking on the emails you send.

Your end goal for lapsed customers is Exit: You want your lapsed or inactive customers to unsubscribe from your email list since they can lower your engagement rate and negatively affect your email deliverability.

To win back a lapsed customer, try celebrating their “anniversary” with you. One year after their first purchase from you, email them a discount coupon that they can use on their next purchase.

It also helps to use emotional selling when you try to win them back. 31% of marketers report significant profit gains when running emotional campaigns, but only 16% when rational campaigns are used. A sad emoji or a “Hey, we missed you!” may connect you with them and motivate them to check out your products again.

I hope today’s video was helpful and that you’ll be able to deal with your marketing segments successfully. Have any questions? Let us know in the comments and we’ll gladly help where we can. Cheers!

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