Blog

Market segmentation is a handy technique that allows you to speak more directly to your audience by dividing them into groups based on interest or demographics. It enables you to personalize your approach by sending subscribers the type of content they are interested in without limiting the scope of content you are able to send. For some businesses this is par for the course due to their unique range of products and services. For others, however, this is an evolutionary step in marketing; taking the process one step further to achieve greater proficiency. 

At this stage in the game, I’m rather prone to assuming that you’ve all done this to some extent already. If not, get in your time machine, go back and figure out the most logical and beneficial way to do so, and then return to the present and keep reading this blog. Every company or service provider can think of ways based on demographics, interactivity, geography, and interest range that their subscribers differ. All you need to do is create those lists and then customize your content for those readers. A great side benefit is that it’s a good way to personalize your content without seeming like some creepy name-knower. I’d much appreciate an email that says “Oh hey, you like gardening!” than one that’s inserted “Mel” into every possible place to make it sound like I am being directly addressed.

An alternative title for this blog might be “Avoiding Multiple Calls to Action” because that’s what I want to talk about today. When you send out an email newsletter with numerous divergent subject matters, you are dividing the attention of the reader and muddling the point of your missive. Instead of doing this obviously terrible thing, try a little technique called “divide and conquer.” Or, you know, whatever clever thing you like to call it wherein you stick to one call to action per newsletter and send the most relevant CTA to each of your subscriber groups. And yes, this can mean multiple newsletters. If you’re super-duper lucky, you might find that you have created multiple newsletters that apply to multiple subscriber groups, and now you’re off the hook for coming up with content for the next newsletter!

How serious should you take the multiple-CTA? Very seriously. Do you want readers to read your latest article AND then check out your latest and greatest invention? Separate newsletters. Are you hoping to entice users with a coupon AND sign them up for an in-office appointment? Separate newsletters. The only way to combine such CTAs and have this work in your favor is to literally combine them. Take this survey and we’ll give you a free gizmo! Download our new whitepaper and get a free consultation! (In other words: if you’re offering a reward per action, you can do this. Otherwise, spread out the goodies.)

“But Mel,” you might say, “surely our readers are not feather-brained fowl incapable of reading articles on multiple topics and following up on more than one CTA. Surely they will love all the useful content I provided and like me even more if I have a lot to offer them.” To this I will say: yes, but is there any difference in the attention span of a feather-brained fowl and a really busy person? You’re not doing this because your readers aren’t capable; you are making their lives easier with this action, just as you do when you provide them solutions to pain points via your products and services.

What does this look like in action? 
Option 1: Come up with unique CTAs for each of your subscriber groups.

Option 2: Create levels of your CTA, such as one for regular customers, one for new customers, and one for potential customers.

Option 3: Send out newsletters with timing that is unique to each of your subscriber groups. 

Option 4: Use this as an opportunity to do some a/b testing by trying different CTAs on different subscriber groups.