Email Marketing Solutions

Have you ever received (or sent) an email that was obviously written to everyone on the list?

How did that make you feel?

Compare that with the email that made you feel like you were the ONLY recipient.

I’m guessing you connected with and were much more likely to buy from the second email.

I know that’s been my experience. 

So how can a DTC ecommerce brand with 50-100 thousands subscribers on their list send personalized emails…?

Segmentation!

Using Segments to Identify The Buyer’s Journey

If you’ve got fifty thousand subscribers on your list, there’s a pretty good chance that you’ve got people at every stage of the buyers journey represented.

From the window shoppers to the hot prospects to the first time buyers to the VIPs.

And each group needs to be treated differently. 

They each need unique messaging to move them further down the journey. (Or in the case of VIPs, to keep them there)

Segmentation is the superpower that’ll allow you to craft and send messages specifically to the hot prospect that’ll move them to make that first purchase.

Or to the first time buyer to get them to VIP status.

Here are 5 segments that EVERY ecommerce brand should be utilizing.

Segment #1 – Recently Engaged

You’re already using an engaged segment for most of your regular campaigns. Right?

…

Right?

…

Ok, I’m going to assume that you are. If you aren’t, go back and check out my post from a few weeks ago on how to make the most of your Klaviyo segments.

This segment isn’t your standard engaged segment. That segment should capture subscribers who have been engaged in the last 90ish days.

This “recently engaged” segment should look at who’s been engaged in the last 30 days.

Opens, clicks, or active on site.

This segment contains some of your hottest leads. People that are consuming your content and have your brand top of mind.

A little caveat here… if all your sending are flash sale emails, this segment loses a little bit of its power.

BUT if you’re sending value content driven emails… then these subscribers are PRIME for their first or next purchase.

I would even segment this group further into non-purchasers and prior customers. This allows you to target your message even further to focus on a FIRST purchase or a NEXT purchase.

Segment #2 – Nearly There

Let’s take our segment of hot leads and make them even HOTTER. 

Here we are looking for non-purchasers who have CLICKED a link in an email or an SMS message over the past 14 days, been on site, and have not purchased.

Leads don’t come any hotter than this.

They just need a little extra something to get over that final hurdle.

Send this group objection handling emails, customer testimonials, product features, and special deals.

And even better, you could potentially automate this after you’ve created and tested some campaign emails and found which ones have the biggest impact.

Segment #3 – VIP

We all want to feel like a VIP.

But how are you making your actual VIP’s feel special?

Create a segment of customers who have purchased multiple times (more than the average order number) and have spent more than 3x the AOV.

These are customers that love your brand. They are your best customers.

Let’s treat them as such.

Early Access to deals, product drops, or limited releases.

VIP only deals or product drops

Special perks for referrals or customer testimonials

Special messages just because

If you want your VIPs to stick around and continue spending, treat them like VIPs.

You may not be able to comp a hotel room or a dinner like they do in Vegas, but you can find creative ways to make your most valuable customers feel special.

Segment #4 – Almost VIP

If we are going to make a big deal about our VIPs… let’s see how many people we can get on that segment.

Your almost VIP segment should be anyone who has made multiple small AOV purchases or anyone who’s made one very large purchase (2x AOV or more.)

Encourage this group to come back and make another purchase, or to increase AOV on their next purchase.

Side note – this is another segment that we could break up even further. Maybe you want to have an Almost VIP segment for multiple purchases with low AOV and another one for single, high AOV purchases. 

Same rule applies – the further you segment, the more personalized your messages can be.

Give these customers a peak at what it means to be a VIP. What are the perks that they are missing out on? What does the special VIP club look like?

Increase that FOMO as much as possible.

Segment #5 – Re-engage Potential

Life gets busy, and sometimes we lose interest in something that we were engaged with.

The same thing happens with your subscribers.

What if you could identify when an engaged subscriber has gone cold and send them a personalized message to re-engaged them?

Well, if you set up your segment correctly you can.

Here we don’t want to focus on all of our unengaged subscribers. John who signed up just to get the 10% off discount code and have never opened another email…

Let him be. Go ahead and suppress him if you haven’t already. He’s not going to start opening your emails all of the sudden.

But Susan, who was an engaged subscriber for months and maybe even made a purchase? If she stops opening your emails, there’s a good chance you can re-engage her if you play your cards right.

For these emails, your subject line is of the utmost importance. This is an area that you should A/B test over and over again until you find a subject line that just GRABS their attention.

And just like your nearly there segment, this is one that you can automate once you’ve found a series of emails that convert. 

But to start, I would focus on sending one email a month (maybe two) to these subscribers who have gone cold. 

Even if you don’t re-engaged a lot of subscribers at first… continue testing, tweaking, and optimizing. It’ll pay off in the long run

Summary – TL;DR

If you skimmed here, I take no offense. Here’s what you missed

>Segment 1 – Recently Engaged

• Not your standard engaged segment
• Engaged with email over the last 30 days
• Great opportunity to connect with people who are connecting with your email

>Segment 2 – Nearly There

• Segment of non-purchasers
• Engaged with email or SMS in last 14 days AND has been on site
• Opportunity to get HOT leads to make that first purchase

>Segment 3 – VIP

• Either has made more purchases than average and has spent more than 3x AOV over all time
• Best customers – make them feel special
• What makes your VIP list special?

>Segment 4 – Almost VIP

• Could be multiple purchases with low AOV or one big purchase (potential to separate into two segments)
• Provide incentives to increase AOV or to purchase again
• Show them what life looks like for your VIPs

>Segment 5 – Re-Engage Potential

• Ignore the people who have signed up and NEVER engaged
• Look for people who were engaged previously and have recently become disengaged
• Try to re-engaged before they go cold

What Should YOU do Next?

1. Follow me on LinkedIn for daily email tips and what’s working now
2. Leave a like or a comment on this post to let me know what you thought. What segments would you add?
3. If you need someone to build out a high-performing welcome flow for your brand or business, send me an email at ben@henkenmarketing.com or fill out this form and I’ll be in touch.