Marketing database segmentation is one of the absolute best ways to improve the response rate of your digital marketing — especially when it comes to email.
It’s tempting to create an email with a strong message and a clear call-to-action, then simply punch the “send to entire database” button. But is this effective?
MailChimp dug into the effectiveness of list segmentation from 2,000 users who sent about 11,000 segmented campaigns to almost 9 million recipients.
The result: lead segmentation produced an almost 15% boost in open and click-through rates across the sample size.
Well, that’s worth looking at, if I do say so myself! Here’s my three-minute guide to marketing database segmentation.
Step 1. Learn the capabilities of your technology
Every email provider has different means of segmentation. It’s important to get to know your system and segment accordingly.
MailChimp, for example, allows you to segment for individual campaigns, or in the creation of entire lists.
Hairball is a specialty tool offered by MailChimp that takes segmentation to a whole new level within their product.
Step 2. Map out the differences in the persona and lifecycle stages of your marketing database
Define the key differences of individuals in your marketing database. At GuavaBox, we segment all of our lists based on personas and lifecycle stages.
By collecting qualifying information from leads generated on your site, you can begin to segment your database using that data. Then, if you’re using advanced marketing software like HubSpot, you can automatically score your leads and move them through your funnel based on their lifecycle (Lead, Marketing Qualified, Sales Qualified Lead, etc). Pretty cool, huh?
Ultimately, the key is to find information that allows you to consistently segment and engage with leads on a personal level — just don’t get too specific or you’ll have trouble with step 3!
Speaking of which…
Step 3. Send emails specific to their needs!
Marketing database segmentation would be useless if you didn’t target all of the different segmented lists, so it’s important to take a step back and do your best to get inside of the head of that person.
Think about things like:
- What interests this person?
- What is the challenge this person is facing?
- How do they typically approach finding the best solution to their problems?
By hopping into their shoes, you can write more engaging copy that should get you that significant increase in click-through rates!
Step 4. Measure, then measure again
It’s great to send personalized emails to segmented lists, but it doesn’t stop there.
We believe that measurement never stops. As Peter Drucker says, “If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it.”
Don’t do “feel-good” marketing. Be sure to look at the engagement of each one of your segmented lists, A/B test if possible, and adjust based on what your audience tells you through opens, clicks, and submissions.
Take your B2B marketing efforts to the next level: