Email marketing is an important tool that e-commerce businesses can use to connect with their customers while driving sales. However, sending the same generic email to your entire email list is no longer enough.
Enter email segmentation.
By dividing your email list into smaller, targeted groups based on specific criteria, you can tailor your email content to better resonate with each group. This not only increases the likelihood of engagement and conversions but also improves the overall customer experience.
So, let’s walk through the steps to create a successful email segmentation strategy for your e-commerce business.
Step 1: Collecting Customer Data
Collecting customer data is an essential aspect of any e-commerce business strategy. It enables your e-commerce store to understand your customers, personalize your marketing to each customer, and provide better products and services. Without customer data, your e-commerce store would be left guessing about your customers’ needs, wants, and preferences. Collecting customer data helps e-commerce stores stay competitive and relevant.
There are several ways to collect customer data:
- Sign up forms
- Tracking purchase history
- Customer surveys and feedback
When collecting customer data, it’s important to store and manage it properly. Companies need to ensure that customer data is secure and comply with regulations such as the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA). The CCPA requires companies to inform customers about the data they collect, how it’s used, and who it’s shared with. Companies also need to provide customers with the option to opt out of data collection. Proper data management and compliance with regulations such as the CCPA can help build trust with customers and protect their privacy.
Step 2: Identifying Segmentation Criteria
Identifying segmentation criteria will allow you to create targeted messages that resonate with specific customer groups, leading to higher engagement and conversions.
There are several types of segmentation criteria that e-commerce businesses can use, including demographic segmentation, behavioral segmentation, and psychographic segmentation.
Demographic segmentation involves grouping customers based on age, gender, income, and other demographic factors.
Behavioral segmentation focuses on customer actions, such as purchase history, website behavior (like product views or add to carts), and email engagement.
Psychographic segmentation is based on customer personality traits, values, and lifestyles.
By using these types of segmentation criteria, e-commerce businesses can create targeted segments and deliver messaging that resonates with their customers.
For example, one of our clients has a high percentage of men purchasing their products. By using predictive analytics in Klaviyo, we were able to identify the accounts that were women. Then we could start sending this segment emails with images of women wearing belts and highlighting the favorite belts of women. This directs this segment right to products and pages that are directed to them without them having to do much work.
Step 3: Creating Segments
Creating segments is a crucial step in email marketing as it will allow your e-commerce business to send targeted messages to specific groups of customers. By segmenting your email list, your e-commerce store can improve your open rates, click-through rates, and ultimately, your conversion rates.
To create segments, you can use different segmentation criteria, such as engagement-based segmentation, product category segmentation, and nice-to-have segments.
When creating segments, you should also consider the recency of customer behavior.
Finally, there are some best practices to remember when creating segments. One is to keep segments as specific as possible, as broad segments may not deliver targeted messaging. Additionally, e-commerce businesses, like yours, should continually test segments with emails and learning. This will help you know which segments are most worthwhile.
Step 4: Developing Email Content
E-commerce businesses can take advantage of email marketing to engage with their subscribers and ultimately drive conversions. One effective way to increase open and click-through rates is by providing relevant and personalized content.
Businesses can create various types of email content to engage their subscribers, including promotions and discounts, product recommendations, and educational content. Promotions and discounts can incentivize subscribers to make a purchase by offering a discount code, free shipping, or a buy-one-get-one offer.
Product recommendations can be tailored to a subscriber’s previous purchase history or browsing behavior, which can help them discover new products they might be interested in and drive sales for the business. For instance, a kids fashion e-commerce store can highlight new arrivals to create a sense of excitement and interest in customers without providing discounts.
Educational content is also an effective way to engage subscribers and build trust with them. By providing valuable information such as how-to guides, education about product features and stories, etc. can all help your customers get more information and connect with your e-commerce business.
When creating email content, e-commerce businesses should ensure that their content is visually appealing and easy to read. Personalizing email content as much as possible is important. This means grouping customers according to their purchasing history as well as items they have viewed.
Step 5: Testing and Optimization
While email automation can be a powerful tool, it’s critical to continually test and optimize your campaigns to ensure they are effective.
To get started, consider different email tests such as subject line tests, content tests, and timing tests. When conducting tests, consider statistical significance to help determine whether a test’s results are on the right track. They might not always be what you expect.
At Stryde, we once sent an A/B test to a group of people to see which email works best. Then, after two hours, the “winning” email was sent to the rest of the group, and the open rate ended up being lower. This highlights a two-fold problem with that approach – a small sample size and also the timing of the email. To avoid these mistakes, it’s important to carefully consider your testing strategy and results and make adjustments the next time.
Creating effective email marketing campaigns requires a strategic and targeted approach. Collecting customer data, identifying segmentation criteria, creating segments, developing email content, automating email campaigns, and testing and optimization are all critical steps. By following best practices and focusing on the customer journey, e-commerce businesses can create successful email marketing campaigns that engage customers and drive conversions.
Laurel is a member of the executive team at Stryde. She’s been doing digital marketing for businesses for 10 years. Two years ago, she started set up her own ecommerce business selling baby gowns and knows the struggles of a small business owner. She loves talking about digital marketing, content, SEO, and conversion rate optimization.
