6 ways segementation improves email results

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6 ways segmentation improves email results

Email can be an effective marketing tool. You can use it to create timely and meaningful messages to members. Rather than sending generic content to large swaths of folks and hoping it appeals to everyone, email lends itself well to personalization and customized communication. In reality, many agencies and busy marketers don’t devote the effort necessary to leverage segmentation to craft individualized communications via email. The payback of spending the extra resources to do this on the front-end of each project can be significant.

Here are some of the biggest benefits of thoughtfully segmenting your email list:

• 1. Increases open rates: If the message doesn’t grab the member right away, they will usually trash or archive an email without even opening it. That decision is typically made based solely off the subject line.  More targeted content equals more relevant subject lines, which help your emails survive the purge.
  2. Increases click-through rates: If you’ve made it past the first hurtle and the member reads your email, an inviting call to action will get the click through. If your target member is an affluent boomer living in an upscale neighborhood, your lending offer might be a lease for a luxury SUV. If the member is a young, urban professional an EV loan that includes the cost of a home charging station is more likely to get a response.
  3. Increases conversion rates: The closer we are to a goal, the more our motivations and efforts increase, it's known as the goal gradient effect. Coined by behaviorist Clark Hull in 1932, the Goal Gradient Effect states that as people get closer to a reward, they speed up their behavior to get to their goal faster. If your landing page is also targeted to the member the likelihood of that initial email converting into a sale skyrockets at this stage.
  4. Decreases unsubscribe: You want to grow your target lists, not shrink them. Sending too many irrelevant emails drives people to opt out of your emails altogether to reduce noise in their inbox. 
  5. Increases Member affinity: People like to do business with companies that understand and care about them. By using segmentation to make truly relevant offers you are showing members you know them and that you care enough to take the time to engage with them about things that are important in their world. Over time this effort will pay the huge divide of deep member engagement.
  6. Keeps you out of spam filters: Even if someone doesn't click to unsubscribe after one too many irrelevant emails, their inbox may flag your attempts as spam. Segmented communications help keep you out of spam filter oblivion.

   Nobody likes generic messages; they're unhelpful and a detrimental to your brand. More emails translate into better value for the member, which translates to more value for your credit union.