Segmentation and personalization: what they are and how to apply them in trigger campaigns
To increase the effectiveness of email campaigns, various strategies can be employed. One option is to use segmentation and personalization. In this article, we will provide definitions of these concepts, list the benefits of these approaches, and explain how to apply them in your marketing campaign.
Segmentation and personalization are different concepts. To avoid confusion, let's define each one.
For example, personalization may include using the customer's name, surname, mentioning recent purchases, offering products based on their history, and so on.
If we compare these two methods, personalization is more «individual» than segmentation.
With segmentation, all customers included in the mailing receive the same content.
Personalization, however, creates unique content for each recipient based on previously collected customer data.
Both segmentation and personalization make your marketing campaign «warm». If a «cold» campaign leaves subscribers feeling like they've received another mass email, a «warm» one shows that their preferences are genuinely taken into account.
Applying these approaches can:
- increase customer loyalty;
- boost audience engagement;
- improve conversion rates;
- retain customers;
- gather feedback.
In recent years, expectations from companies have grown. More and more customers want to see a thoughtful approach to emails and a commitment to addressing their needs. Implementing segmentation and personalization strategies in email campaigns is the most effective way to meet user expectations.
The essence of this approach is to show that your subscribers are so important to you that you are willing to invest time in gathering information about them. You respect their time and trust and will not send them uninteresting or spammy content.
The simplest segmentation methods based on gender or loyalty program status no longer impress customers: these methods have been used for a long time and have become commonplace. To make your email truly personalized, it's necessary to avoid obvious approaches like «blue for men» and «pink for women».
The mistake of assuming that popular products and services will suit all subscribers. The popularity of a product indicates that it is bought more often than others, but not necessarily liked by all customers. A product that sells well may be acceptable in terms of price, more frequently stocked in stores, or more actively advertised.
To make content personalized, it's important to consider the specific preferences of individual buyers rather than all customers in general.
There are two challenging aspects here: generic recommendations and insufficient knowledge about the buyer.
Generic recommendations are based on categories like «new users — selection of popular items» or «returning customers - items based on shopping cart history». It's possible to segment customers even at the initial stage: we'll explain how to implement such a case using our platform below. In turn, for existing customers, products can be recommended based not only on purchase history but also on viewed pages, email opens, and traffic.
The problem of insufficient knowledge about customers is related to generic recommendations. To gather more data, A/B/n testing can be conducted, traffic sources can be analyzed, and social proof can be used for different buyers.
You can send personalized email campaigns using our platform. For example, it could be a triggered campaign sending a personalized template congratulating the user on registering for a course. Let's explain in detail how to implement this case.
Leave it without setting up:
Specify the database and select the desired variable from the drop-down list.
Click OK. After that the variable will be automatically inserted into the body of the e-mail:
- Specify the event type «Profile fields update». Optionally select the waiting time.
- Select the database.
- Specify the name of the field to be changed. Condition is «Changed».
Save the campaign. Now, when the information about the course is specified in the profile card, the trigger campaign will be launched and a letter with congratulations will be sent to the user's e-mail.