🧠 Your Segmentation Might Suck..

Welcome back to the 31st edition of the Nord Media newsletter.

Before we get started – Is there anything specific you’re wanting to learn about? Let me know, as always I appreciate all of you who reply each week and share feedback with me.

Every business, regardless of your industry or niche, has the same goal:

Sending the right message to the right person at the right time.

But this can get quite tricky to navigate.

Think about your own circle of friends.

Sure, you all may have similar interests and collective ideas.

But ultimately, each person is their own individual with different interests, habits, and needs.

It’s the same for your customers.

A message that profoundly resonates with one person probably won’t hit the same for the next. 

So, sending out mass emails is too generic of a strategy.

How do you fix this?

Email segmentation.

Email segmentation is dividing an email list into distinct groups based on specific criteria to send more targeted and relevant messages.

The more relevant the message, the more your audience will resonate.

Here’s a full breakdown of how to implement email segmentation into your strategy:

The Core Fundamentals

When done right, email marketing segmentation will help you to send more personalized messages and increase engagement.

Segment based on:

• Demographics: Age, gender, location, income, etc.

• Behavioral Data: Use actions taken by subscribers, like email opens, clicks, website visits, and purchase history.

• Purchase History: Separate based on customer lifecycle stages, like first-time buyers vs. repeat buyers.

• Engagement Level: Group by engagement, such as active subscribers, inactive subscribers, or highly engaged.

• Psychographics: Interests, preferences, and attitudes

A few common mistakes to avoid:

• Over-Segmentation: This can lead to diluted messaging and increased complexity.

• Under-Segmentation: Failing to segment sufficiently can result in generic messages that don’t resonate with any particular group.

• Ignoring Data: Not using available data effectively to create meaningful segments.

• Static Segments: Using fixed segments without updating them as customer behavior or preferences change.

• Neglecting Re-engagement: Not having a strategy for inactive or less engaged segments.

 🚀 This Week’s Service Highlight 👉 More Staffing

In the fast-paced world of eCom, efficient business operations are key to success. That’s where More Staffing comes in. They specialize in connecting DTC companies with exceptional Filipino remote talents skilled in supply chain, marketing, and finance, helping you streamline operations, reduce costs, and scale—without the overhead of an in-house team.

More Staffing offers access to skilled remote professionals in supply chain, marketing and finance, capable of handling everything from vendor management and logistics coordination to financial analysis and marketing strategy.. Whether you need support with inventory management, improving vendor relationships, managing budgets, or driving your marketing efforts, their talent can enhance your operations—at up to 60% lower costs compared to U.S.-based staff."

Whether you’re scaling your brand or optimizing existing operations, More Staffing is your trusted partner in hiring top-tier supply chain professionals or any e-commerce talents. As a Nord Media reader, you can use code “KN10” to get 10% off your first hire! Want to learn more about what they offer? Book a discovery call here and check out their free upcoming webinar on DTC Supply Chain here → Learn More

Approaching Initial Audience Segmentation

Initial segmentation should balance simplicity with relevance. 

Start with broader categories that still deliver value without being overly complicated. 

As you gain more insights, you can refine and create more specific segments over time. 

Keep it manageable while focusing on what drives the most impact.

For Basic Segmentation:

• 30 / 60 / 90 Day Engaged: Has opened or clicked an email in x days

• Buyers vs. Non-Buyers: This is the simplest form and useful for campaigns focused on converting non-buyers or upselling to buyers.

• Lifecycle Stages: Segment based on customer journey stages (e.g., new leads, first-time buyers, repeat buyers).

For Deeper Segmentation:

• Recency of Purchase: Segment based on the timing of recent purchases (30, 60, 90, 180 days).

• Viewed / Engaged: what they've viewed on the website or purchased to target them with products in the categories they're interested in

• Frequency of Purchase: Segment based on how often they buy (first-time, second-time, frequent buyers).

• Monetary Value: Segment by spending habits (e.g., high-value customers vs. low-value customers).

If your business has products that are frequently bought together, create a segment for customers who bought one but not the other. 

For example, if products are part of a series or collection, focus on those who own some but not all of it.

You can also use "compounding qualifications." 

So, if a customer left items in their cart before a store-wide sale, send a targeted email with the subject line: "Is your cart on sale?" 

This works especially well for people who abandoned their cart in the last few months but didn’t complete the purchase, and we've seen 5-10x higher conversions from these emails compared to a general site-wide campaign.

For customers who shop more frequently or spend more than average, offer them special bundles. 

This could be by segmenting groups like 30-day buyers, 60-day buyers, or first-time buyers, allowing you to send personalized messages that match their specific buying behavior.

Adjusting Strategy and Messaging

Depending on your customer’s loyalty, you'll want to adjust your messaging to ensure it's relevant and impactful.

This helps you build stronger connections with your audience and encourages them to take action. 

First-Time Buyers:

Strategy: Focus on onboarding and nurturing.

Messaging: Welcome series, product education, and encouragement to make repeat purchases.

Repeat Buyers:

Strategy: Build loyalty and encourage higher spend.

Messaging: Exclusive offers, rewards programs, and personalized recommendations based on past purchases.

Inactives:

Strategy: Re-engagement campaigns to win back interest.

Messaging: Special offers, surveys to understand their disinterest, and updates on new products or services.

High-Value Customers:

Strategy: Reward and retain.

Messaging: VIP offers, early access to new products, and exclusive content.

The goal is to enhance customer loyalty and increase their lifetime value.

How to Implement: Case Study

We worked with an eCommerce brand to segment their audience and drive both conversion and loyalty. 

Here's a breakdown of our approach and results:

Initial Approach: We segmented their email list into distinct groups:

• New subscribers

• Recent purchasers (30 days)

• Lapsed purchasers (60-90 days)

• High-value repeat customers

Impact:

• Deliverability: By sending targeted emails to engaged segments, we improved deliverability and reduced the risk of spam complaints.

• Performance: Tailoring content to each segment’s interests and behaviors led to higher open rates and click-through rates. High-value customers, for example, received exclusive offers, which boosted conversion rates by 25%.

• Profitability: The brand saw a 35% increase in revenue from re-engagement campaigns aimed at lapsed purchasers and a 20% uplift in average order value from high-value customers, resulting in a stronger ROI overall.

By delivering the right message to the right audience at the right time, they saw significant improvements in both customer engagement and profitability.

Particl’s Guide to Crushing BFCM in 2024 👇

BFCM is one of the most important sales periods for eCom brands, but a lot of brands aren’t sure how to prepare, forecast and what the best strategies have been and will be this year. I’ve been using Particl’s eCom database to look back at data from BFCM 2021, 2022, and 2023 to get a better handle of what our brands could and should expect moving into BFCM this year. 

Why do I think it’s so valuable to review and what’s included?

👉 When does BFCM start and when should you start?
👉 What discounting strategies were most effective?
👉 Top trends heading into BFCM 2024?
👉 Industry leading insights from top brands year over year.
👉 + Much much more

Download the free guide today and get all the information you need to make 2024 your best BFCM year to date. 

Closing Thoughts and Key Takeaways:

The point of email segmentation is to build stronger connections with your customers by understanding what makes them tick.

Blasting out emails isn’t enough. You must create conversations that matter to each individual person on your list. 

When you do so successfully, it shows in your engagement and sales.

A few key takeaways:

Relevance is Key: The more personalized and relevant your messaging, the more likely your audience will engage and convert.

Start Simple: Begin with basic segmentation and refine as you gather more data. Don't overcomplicate it from the start.

Targeted Campaigns Yield Higher ROI: Tailored campaigns for specific customer groups—like lapsed purchasers or high-value customers—deliver better results than broad, generic emails.

Don’t Forget Re-engagement: Implement strategies to bring inactive customers back with compelling offers or reminders.

Loyalty Pays Off: Reward your high-value customers with VIP offers and exclusive content to increase lifetime value.

Segmentation is an ongoing process, but when done correctly, it becomes a major driver of profitability and customer satisfaction. 

The more you understand your audience, the better your emails—and your results—will be.

Want to learn from me or connect on other platforms? 👇
 LinkedIn • Instagram • Twitter 

Thank you for reading! I appreciate you.
Sincerely,
Kody