Have you ever visited a website that welcomes warmly but when you dig a bit deeper, it just provides repetitive content with less or no value? Even if you wanted to see the same thing and liked it, looking at it too much- repetitively and continuously would make you lose interest in it and get bored.
This is what a generic email does to the subscribers. The same emails every time in the inbox with the same content that provides less to no value. This results in ignorance of emails and loss of opportunities.
In this case study, we’ll discover how a company or a website can enhance its email marketing strategy by including personalization followed by segmentation. We’ll see how an email list is segmented to get great results which also includes open rates increasing by 14%.
The Challenge: A Mixed Email List
A digital marketing company had an email list with neither too much nor too little audience – just how much their visibility was. But the open rates of their emails were not to be proud of – a disappointing 10%.
This told that the subscribers weren’t getting any value or didn’t even bother to see the content and opportunities they might be missing. The company eventually realized that providing the same content to every subscriber is where they’re lacking.
People with different interests and needs have different things but here, they have the same solution for every kind of need – and this is where the problem is.
The Solution: Segmentation For Success
Now that the company understood the problem- same content for every user – they chose segmentation as the solution to this huge problem that kept their audience away from great content and benefits.
What Is Segementation
It’s called segmentation when you divide your audience into smaller groups according to their needs, interests, personality, location, etc. They are kept in smaller groups based on their characteristics.
The way that they did it included –
- Demographics: They collected basic information like age, gender, location, profession, etc, and created smaller groups of subscribers.
- Purchase History: They collected information and data about what they purchased in the past to understand what they prefer and need.
- Behavior On Website: They noted what pages interest the people most and what topics they are interested in and looking for.
By segmentation, the company identified its audience’s needs and preferences and got to know better which kinds of emails targeted which group. Now, they’ll be able to create targeted emails and send them to the group with relevant interest.
The Process: Emails That Are Opened
Now, suppose you’re the one who creates the subject lines, or, to make it easier for you, you choose which subject lines should go further. You are looking for tips to improve SEO on your website. Which email would you open if you see –
- Email 1 – “Amazing Offers On Flipkart To Avail Now!”
- Email 2 – “7 Tips To Boost SEO On Your Website”
We all know you’ll choose Email 2!
Here, Email 1 was generic- one size that fits all – and wasn’t related to what you were interested in and looking for. On the other hand, Email 2 was targeted to those who were website owners or a part of the SEO improvement in some way and were looking for ways to achieve the same.
Just like Email 2, the company started crafting emails that were targeted and provided a lot of value. It included –
Emails For New Subscribers
They crafted welcome emails for their new subscribers which consisted of a discount or offer that their subscribers could benefit from.
Emails For People Who Were Loyal And Supported You From the Start
They provided them with special offers no other could avail of and provided a lot of value according to their interests and preferences.
Emails For People Who Were Looking For Tips on How To Do Digital Marketing
They crafted emails that included tips for the same and even led to informative blogs and articles to provide subscribers with what they needed.
Same way, they crafted different emails for different purposes and each group of audience to fulfill their needs.
The Results: Emails Were Being Opened
The results that were yielded by just changing this one step – from generic emails to segmented emails – were impressive! How?
The open rates of the emails sent increased from 10% to 40% – 30% increase! This showed how a larger part of the audience found it worth their attention and opened it to read.
Now that more people are viewing and reading your emails, a lot of people are also clicking on the links provided within the emails. This shows how actively people are visiting your website, engaging and finding it helpful.
The increase in engagement eventually increases the sales number. People who got relevant content and email that solved their problems and liked the products/services offered by you and therefore, purchased the same.
Subscribers felt more valued and satisfied on receiving relevant emails that solved their problems, fulfilled their needs, and won their interest as well.
These achievements were made by taking just one simple step – segmentation.
The Takeaway – What Did We Learn
In this case study we got to know how important personalization is when you do email marketing. Segmentation of the email list and sending the emails to the targeted audience can improve one’s email click-through rates, open rates, and engagement and increase sales as well.
Some ways or, the key takeaways, if you’re looking to improve your email marketing strategy, this case study provides are –
- Know Your Audience: Knowing your audience is one of the crucial steps to success in email marketing. Focus on understanding your subscriber’s interests, needs, and all they want.
- Segment Like It’s The Foundation: Segmentation indeed is the foundation of a successful email marketing strategy. So, divide your audience into smaller groups according to their similar interests, needs, and preferences.
- Personalize the Content: Personalization plays a great role in attracting the audience. Craft emails and use the segmenting information to create content according to your audience’s needs and preferences.
- Keep An Eye On The Results: Sending out emails and not tracking them regularly is foolishness. So, keep an eye on the performance of your emails – monitor the metrics of your emails like open rates, click-through rates, bounce rates, etc, and edit and adjust them according to the observations.
These steps can help you transform your email marketing into a tool so powerful that it’ll boost your business to great heights’ Emails are a great way to connect to your audience, engage, and achieve your goals of the business.
Don’t forget that your subscribers are also humans and not just some email addresses. Personalize and segment all the way that they deserve and get rewarded with their attention and loyalty!