Email List Segmentation

Courtomer Training

2012

Why should we segment our email list?

• We currently mail 2.5 million emails every day to subscribers who have not bought a product or service and have been on our files for over 365 days. This represents 64% of our email transmissions.

• Email inbox clutter is a real concern in our industry.

• This affects our deliverability to major ISPs• Segmentation allows us to consider the

customer experience and deliver the correct message to the customer at the correct time.

How does list segmentation work?

• DM List segments– Hotline– Active subscribers– Expires– Masterfile– More segments

• Buying history ($$$)• Demographics (age,

gender)

• Note: in traditional direct mail list rentals contain only proven buyers

• Email list segments– Active Subscribers (email

subscriber who has an active subscription to a service purchased through e-letter)

– Recently Expired Subscribers (history of purchase through e-letter – not currently active)

– Email readers - Non buyers• Non buyers new to file <90• Non buyers 90-180 days• Non buyers >180 days

• More Segments– Time Zones – Suppress cancels– Multi-buyers– Supplement buyers– Report buyers– ISP provider- video

Consider ways to treat segments differently

• Non buyer newly acquired 0-90 days– Gauntlet series– Suppress third party ads (for how long?)– Suppress bundles and possibly too many high

priced products (for how long?)– If you have a good gauntlet series suppress

regular emails for 7 to 10 days

Non Buyer 90-180 days

• Step up push for higher priced products

• Step up cross promotion

• Consider when to implement “was I wrong about you” gauntlet

Non buyer >180 days

• Consider moving to weekend (or weekly wrap up) addition

• Deactivate subscriber• One reason to deactivate non buyers is that

some of these subscribers will reactivate through a new Google campaign or coming back to site but our system will not recognize this action

• Consider allowing more aggressive cross promotions to other free email or third party advertisers

• Make deals with other Agora affiliates

Active Subscriber

• Active subscribers have an active subscription to a service purchased through the e-letter.

• These are the best prospects for higher priced services and bundled products.

• Consider suppressing third party adds or free offers. Recognize the value in these names.

• Important note… these names should be A/B split in all online testing.

Recently Inactive

• Recently Inactive subscribers do not have a current subscription but have purchased a product or expired from a subscription within the prior 12 months

• Subscribers who have purchased but are not currently active - you may not want to deactivate these subscribers

• Exit Gauntlet or a “How can we get you back” promo at a lower price• Consider weekend (or weekly wrap up) addition• Look at buying history – promote front end products, cross promote

affiliate products.• Create a separate segment in product testing. Strong promos

should work well.

Older Inactive

• Older Inactive subscribers do not have a current subscription but have purchased a product or expired from a subscription more than 12 months ago

• Do Exit Gauntlet – offer a lower price for the product (mainly Front End)

• Consider weekend (or weekly wrap up) addition• Consider deactivating. • Strong cross promotion to other free and paid

offers first.

Using segments in product testing

• You should segment free email list into several categories when running any promotions to your list.

• First – active buyers

• Second – inactive buyers

• NTF – subscriber added within 0-90days

• Everyone else