- December 5, 2018 -

About ten years ago, Google shut down my Adwords account without any warning. Total wipe-out.

Suddenly my traffic evaporated...POOF.

Just like that. And just like a ton of other Internet marketers.

So I scrambled to get more traffic from other places until I got my account back in good standing…and got certified with Google Adwords as an expert.

Being out of the loop has never been a place I like to be.

But…the #1 most important thing I did (has nothing to do with Adwords) was to do a far better job of using my existing email list.

That major tweak worked wonders.

Here’s the thing, people...

You CANNOT relentlessly hammer people with email and expect any positive results.

The way most people use email, it’s not long before they’ve killed off their list. Most people who were in my situation back then murdered their email list out of utter desperation.

You work hard to build your list. Why burn it out? There’s a better way.

...and it's right in your own back yard.

And you don’t have to buy a single click from Google or Facebook to do it.

You don’t have to spend a penny on advertising.

...you might not realize that right under your nose is a gold mine.

...you might not realize that you can get 3X more profit from your very own email list by properly caring for the people on that list.

...by laser targeting their exact needs and interests.

Here are 10 creative ways to segment your existing list and avoid list FATIGUE...

...besides the obvious age, gender, geography:

1. Job description

Most likely your email list includes a conglomeration of different job titles – office personnel, salespeople, business owners, consultants, managers, customer service, accountants…the list goes on. Talk to them differently.

2. Purchase interests

You can pretty well figure out someone’s purchase tendencies from their past buying history or you can just…ask. Linking to surveys in an email before the holidays can inject some creativity with a "Wish-List" theme.

3. Buying frequency

Take a page from Starbuck, North Face, and Amazon Prime's playbook and offer a loyalty program to decrease the time between purchases.

4. Purchase cycle

Do your customers come to you on a weekly, monthly, quarterly, yearly basis? Maybe they only need you at a certain time of year – a landscaper might see more sales in spring and fall, for example. Segment your list so you can be there right when they need you.

5. Engagement level

Just because someone converts on an offer (for example, they registered and attended a webinar) doesn’t mean the event held their interest.

Segment your list by emailing webinar attendees who stayed engaged for 45 minutes or more with a one specific offer to help move them along the sales cycle…while those who dropped off under 10 minutes might receive a different offer like a feedback survey to find out what specifically caused them to lose interest.

6. Stage in the sales cycle

The stage a lead is at in the sales cycle should determine which email segment they fall in. At the very least, set up separate lead nurturing tracks for those at the top of your sales funnel, in the middle of your sales funnel, and at the bottom of the sales funnel.

7. Referring customers

Consider creating a list segment for customers who repeatedly refer new business your way. These are your biggest advocates and should receive emails targeted towards loyalty programs…or even a trial for new products or service you’re releasing to get honest feedback before a full release.

8. In-Store VS. Online Store Visitors

If you have both a brick-and-mortar location as well as a website, segment your list based on where your customers like to do their shopping. You can hand out incentives to attend in-store events to customers who give you foot traffic…while those who frequent your online store might receive offers that can only be redeemed online.

9. Shopping cart abandonment

Over 50% of shopping carts are abandoned prior to purchase. Dang! If you have an eCommerce presence, an abandoned shopping cart email sequence is NOT and option.

And finally...

10. Email when someone unsubscribes

I know…I know. Once someone unsubscribes, you can’t email them anymore. But you can send an automatic task email to yourself to give them a call and find out why they unsubscribed. It’s what I do…and more often than not, they become paying customers.

Or you can just let us do all this stuff.

Later,

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