One of my clients is a pretty decent-sized e-commerce company.
They have a big email list and a big customer list.
In fact, they’ve grown to the point where it’s no longer practical for a small team of people to handle everything.
A point where the small things start to make a big difference in sales.
So they’ve started working with a variety of agencies to handle different aspects of the business.
One for traffic, one for store optimization, one for email design and delivery, etc.
I was on a call this week and one of the co-owners of the company was talking email strategy and he said something that I think is important for all company owners (regardless of size or sales volume) to keep in mind…
He said:
Gone are the days of just sending out one broadcast email to the whole list.
Now, I put that as a quote, even though it may or may not be exact. More of a paraphrase.
But anyway…
The point is this: you have customers on your list.
Some have purchased once.
Some are raving fans.
Some haven’t purchased yet but are curious.
Some purchased 30-60-90 days ago.
Some abandoned cart.
You get the point.
Do you send all these different people the exact same marketing message?
NO!
I mean, maybe, if you have a big sale or whatever, but the way you communicate with them on a regular (daily) basis is not going to be the same.
Plus you want to treat your best customers like they’re actually your best customers.
So what’s the answer?
List segmentation!
You need to be dividing your customer list up so that people get emails and are put into automations that match where they happen to be in their customer journey with you.
How to do it…
If this is your first stab at this, it doesn’t need to be anything earth-shattering.
Head into your email service provider of choice (preferably one that is integrated with your store) and come up with a few segments and create tags for them.
How you do this is up to you, but a few suggestions might be:
- VIP Customers
- 1-time purchasers
- Cart abandon
There can be plenty more, but it really depends on your business and the nature of your products.
But whatever you do, figure out how to divide up your customer base so you can communicate with them in the manner most appropriate.
The next step should be obvious…
Set up email automation that markets to them based on their segment.
Then kick back and watch the money roll in.
If you want help with any of this, from segmentation ideas to email sequences, drop me a line.
We can discuss your situation and see what makes the most sense for you.
Thanks for reading and let me know your thoughts in the comments!
