Better Segmentation Leads to Better Email Marketing
Introducing better segmentation with your very first email to a prospect could mean you positively dominate their attention and win them over in a flash.
Hi there,
It’s a good thing you were searching for automated marketing solutions on Google this week, otherwise you may never have found us (and we wouldn’t have found you!).
Chances are learning PHP, HTML, CSS and Wordpress are probably not your first choices, as you’ve got enough on your plate with running the business and all, and that’s one of three reasons why I think our Automated Closed-Loop Marketing services might be a good fit.
Here’s a story of one business like yours here in Melbourne who positively loves our services for tracking and improving not just their search optimisation results, which I know is important to you as well, but also their entire business success (which face it, is what we all really want).
I think you’ll like this.
Patrick’s business is a lot like yours in that it’s not the best at marketing itself.
They went the “easy” option and spent tens of thousands of dollars on traditional advertising like Yellow Pages because it was “the done thing”. They were even blowing exorbitant amounts on trying to get their website onto the first page of Google.
They didn’t need to.
In fact, they had made the fatal mistake of not really understanding what was happening around them. And, in doing so, were being “taken for a ride”.
My name’s Luce Chandon and I’m actually the guy who helped Patrick set up a complete automated marketing machine which now generates more than $350,000 in revenue per month.
So I figured a 90 minute walkthrough of how you can avoid the same mistakes Patrick made and benefit from what we did could well be of interest to you.
Would you have time on Thursday or the following Monday for a telephone hookup?
Looking forward to working,
– Luce
Conversion Leadership
PS: Go Gerro!”
It's an ideal world!
A perfectly calibrated email in terms of the value proposition. It demonstrates an understanding of the client, showing social proof of the success of other clients in the exact same predicament and building major rapport.
In order to do that with every email, with every new lead, you'd need a business with such tremendous value per opt-in and a research team following up on each lead and spending several hours just composing the perfect email.
Needless to say, it may be an ideal scenario – but one that can be achieve with near perfection today.
Starting with Lead Segmentation
If you want to start tailoring messages to new leads then start collecting better segmentation data right from the start.
There are several different strategies you implement:
Better Segmentation on Opt-in
This is easy but many people either don't do it or don't do it very well.
Include a multiple choice option on the front of your lead capture page, or you include a drop-down menu with whatever criterion might be most useful for you (E.g. size of the company, current revenue, main goal for using your service).
Record the responses along with the lead and use them in your decision making about which communication pieces to send and the best way to communicate with them.
Better Segmentation by Observing Click Activity
You can tailor emails as the lead continues through your follow-up campaign.
If your first 3 emails include a couple of links that imply different types of goals or interests, you can programatically send out specific extra emails to those prospects who click the links.
For example, your email may have two links - one to information on a cost-saving strategy and one one a revenue generating strategy. You would be able to discern their primary interest by the link they clicked on.
Obtaining Preferred Representation System to Attract Ideal Job Candidates
In a recruitment campaign we developed, we achieve better segmentation by attempting to uncover the preferred representational system of candidates.
By presenting the same answers to specific questions in each of the Visual, Auditory, Kinesthetic and Auditory Digital representational systems and allowing the candidate to select the one that is most appropriate to them, we are able to determine specific characteristics and customise follow-up messages that will elicit more appropriate responses.
Better Segmentation by using a Polls
Include a poll in you emails. The earlier you do this, the sooner you're able to make smarter decisions about follow-up emails.
Or, alternatively, present a poll later in the campaign to understand why the prospect didn't buy or take the desired action.
Either way, better segmentation at any stage can help direct them in a more appropriate direction with more targeted communication moving forward.
Better Segmentation by Offering "Bonuses" to Readers
Include links to white papers, videos, articles and reports and record those that have been downloaded and gain ongoing clarity about their interests. You could also used them as incentives for getting your leads to respond to your polls.
The Reality of List Segmentation
Here's the reality: most businesses, whether B2B or B2C, don't cater to just one type of customer, even if they do only sell one product or service. There is no one-size-fits-all customer, and there are usually several ideal customers for any given business.
Segmenting your list is the surefire way to improve your marketing.
In presenting some of the simpler strategies here, it's important to know that better segmentation doesn't come without its challenges.
According to Marketing Sherpa's Email 2012 Marketing Benchmark Report, 52% of marketers say they have a great need to improve email database segmentation? Well, that's probably because it's not easy.
But whoever said effective marketing was easy?
Better segmentation is evolving as a key ingredient of successful email marketing. The marketers who take advantage of it and do it well are reaping higher click-through rates, better deliverability, and generating more revenue from their email sends than their non-segmenting counterparts.
Think it might be time to consider automating your marketing?
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