Why Segment Member Emails?
When it comes to your membership organisation, one-size-fits-all email marketing is a thing of the past. Your members might share common goals, but their journeys, preferences, and engagement levels vary greatly. If you’re treating every recipient the same, you’re missing out on valuable opportunities to connect and engage. In fact, by segmenting your email lists and crafting personalised messages, you can boost your click-through rates by 14% and drive better conversions.
In this blog, we’ll explore 28 powerful ways to segment your membership emails to make sure each message hits the mark with your audience. Let’s dive in!
28 Example Membership Email Segments
1. Demographics
Understanding demographic data helps you tailor your communications based on factors like age, gender, location, occupation, income level, and language preferences. This segmentation ensures that your messages resonate with the specific characteristics of your members.
2. Membership Status
Segmenting by membership status allows you to differentiate between current, lapsed, prospective, and other member categories. This helps in crafting targeted messages aimed at retaining current members, re-engaging lapsed members, and converting prospects into new members.
3. General Engagement Level
Grouping members based on their engagement levels helps you tailor your communication strategies. Highly engaged members might receive invitations to exclusive events, while less engaged members might benefit from re-engagement campaigns or incentives.
4. Email engagement
All email marketing systems can record email engagement, so it’s possible to (and you should) create segments based on who is opening all, just some, or hardly any of your emails… AND those clicking your CTAs. For example, sending new communications to your engaged recipients first will not only build your reputation, but also help you test and refine the effectiveness of your content.
5. Interests and Preferences
Understanding members’ interests and communication preferences enables you to send relevant content and offers. This segmentation ensures that members receive information that aligns with their specific interests and how they prefer to receive it.
6. Behavioural Data
Using behavioural data such as website interactions, event attendance, and purchase history allows you to create targeted campaigns. This helps in delivering personalised content and promotions that reflect members’ specific behaviours and actions.
7. Member Type
Segmenting by member type (e.g., individual, corporate, student, senior) allows you to send tailored messages that address the unique needs and interests of each member category.
8. Subscription Level
If your organisation has different membership tiers or subscription plans, segmenting by subscription level allows you to provide targeted messaging and benefits that correspond to each level.
9. Lifecycle Stage
Segmenting by lifecycle stage (e.g., new members, long-term members, at-risk members) helps in creating targeted campaigns for each stage of the member journey, from onboarding to retention and reactivation.
10. Geographic Location
Tailoring messages based on geographic location allows you to provide relevant updates, news, and events that are specific to members in different regions or countries.
11. Communication Preferences
Segmenting by communication preferences ensures that members receive messages in the format and frequency that they prefer, helping to improve engagement and reduce opt-outs.
12. Member Advocacy
Identifying and segmenting member advocates or potential advocates allows you to nurture these relationships and leverage their influence within the organisation.
13. Membership Renewal Cycle
Segmenting members based on their membership renewal cycle helps in sending timely reminders and incentives to renew, reducing churn and improving retention rates.
14. Past Interactions
Segmenting based on past interactions such as event attendance or donations allows you to send follow-up messages and targeted campaigns based on their previous engagement with the organisation.
15. Content Engagement
Using data on members’ engagement with previous content helps in sending personalised messages that reflect their interests and preferences, improving overall engagement rates.
16. Survey Responses
Segmenting based on survey responses allows you to send targeted messages and follow-ups based on members’ feedback and interests, enhancing their overall experience with the organisation.
17. Product Activity
Recording how often your email recipients are engaging with your products or services helps you understand their stage in the customer journey and how to communicate appropriately. For example, are they: a new customer; an active or occasional user; inactive; or a non-converting customer?
18. Email Types
Recipients respond to transactional and marketing emails differently, so it’s important that the list structure includes segments based on the types of email you are sending – for example, joiner packs, eNewsletters, offers, reminders and product updates. Getting this structure in place from the start will significantly improve the usefulness of the preference centre.
19. Device Preference
Segmenting your members based on their preferred device for accessing emails—whether it’s desktop, mobile, or tablet—allows you to optimise email design and content for better readability and engagement. Understanding device preferences helps in creating a seamless user experience, ensuring that your emails are visually appealing and functionally effective across different platforms.
20. Referral Source
Tracking how members found out about your organisation (e.g., through a friend, online search, event) can help in understanding their initial engagement and tailoring follow-up messages. Identifying which referral sources are most effective allows you to focus your marketing efforts on the channels that yield the highest engagement and conversion rates.
21. Event Interest
Members are more likely to attend events that align with their interests, leading to higher event participation and success. Personalised event invitations and content improve the overall member experience, fostering a stronger sense of community and loyalty. Providing event information that matches members’ preferences increases their engagement and satisfaction, making them feel valued and understood.
22. Profession/Industry
For organisations with a diverse membership base, understanding members’ professions or industries can help in providing industry-specific updates or content. Tailored resources and information can help members advance in their careers by keeping them informed about the latest trends, best practices, and opportunities within their industry.
23. Sponsorship/Partnership Interest
Targeted outreach to potential sponsors and partners can lead to increased financial support for events, projects, and other organisational needs. Focus your efforts on members who are already interested in sponsorship or partnerships, increasing the likelihood of successful collaborations.
24. Special Occasions
Segmenting your members based on special occasions, such as birthdays, membership anniversaries, or other significant dates, allows you to personalise your communications and make your members feel valued and appreciated. Recognising these milestones can strengthen member relationships, enhance engagement, and boost retention rates.
25. Preferred Payment Method
For organisations with paid memberships, understanding preferred payment methods can help in crafting renewal messages.
26. Content Format Preferences
Members are more likely to engage with emails that contain content in their preferred format. For instance, video enthusiasts might spend more time watching an embedded video, while others may prefer reading detailed articles. Do they prefer video, text, infographics, etc.?
27. Personas
Segmenting by personas involves creating detailed profiles of your members based on common characteristics, behaviours, and needs. Each persona represents a distinct segment of your membership base, allowing you to tailor your marketing efforts to resonate with different types of members more effectively.
28. Needs and Pain Points
By understanding and addressing the unique issues each persona faces, you can offer tailored solutions that resonate deeply with your members, fostering stronger relationships and higher engagement. Providing content that directly addresses members’ specific challenges makes your communications more relevant and valuable to them.
How to Choose Which Segments to Use
Choosing which email segments to use depends on your specific goals, resources, and the characteristics of your membership base. Here’s a structured approach to help you decide:
1. Align Segments with Organisational Goals
Member Engagement: If your primary goal is to increase engagement, segments like email engagement, general engagement level, and interests/preferences are crucial.
Member Recruitment: For acquiring new members, segments like demographics, interests, and referral source are valuable.
Member Retention: To retain existing members, consider segments like membership status, lifecycle stage, renewal cycle, and past interactions.
Personalisation: If you aim to provide highly personalised content, behavioural data, interests/preferences, and demographics are essential.
[Dig Deeper] 25 Membership Organisational Goals [+How to Choose Them]
2. Understand Your Audience
Review your member database to understand the demographic makeup, engagement levels, interests, and past behaviours of your members.
3. Prioritise Segments Based on Impact
High Impact: Start with segments that are likely to have a significant impact on your email campaign performance, such as email engagement, membership status, and interests.
Medium Impact: Consider segments like geographic location, member type, and lifecycle stage.
Low Impact: Segments like special occasions, preferred payment method, and content format preferences may have lower immediate impact but can still be valuable.
4. Consider Technical Feasibility
Ensure that your email marketing system can handle the segmentation criteria you choose. For example, segmenting by email engagement and behavioural data often requires robust tracking and integration capabilities.
5. Resource Allocation
Assess your team’s capacity to create and manage segmented campaigns. More segments mean more content creation and monitoring efforts.
6. Think Big. Start Small!
Start with a few key segments and gradually expand based on performance insights. A/B testing can help validate the impact of different segments.
Can’t decide? Here’s my Top Five Segments!
If I had to choose just 5 ways to segment emails for your membership organisation, I would select the following segments based on their potential impact on engagement, retention, and relevance:
1. Email Engagement
Why: Segmenting based on email engagement allows you to prioritise highly engaged members, which can significantly improve open rates and overall engagement metrics. It helps you deliver new communications to your most responsive audience first, which can build your reputation and refine the effectiveness of your content.
Impact: Higher open rates, click-through rates, and improved sender reputation.
2. Membership Status
Why: Segmenting by membership status enables you to tailor your messages based on whether members are current, lapsed, prospective, or other member categories. This allows for targeted messaging aimed at retaining current members, re-engaging lapsed members, and converting prospects into new members.
Impact: Improved retention rates, increased renewals, and higher conversion rates for prospects.
3. Interests and Preferences
Why: Understanding members’ interests and communication preferences ensures that you can send relevant content and offers. This segmentation helps in delivering personalised messages that align with members’ specific interests and how they prefer to receive information.
Impact: Higher engagement rates, reduced opt-outs, and increased satisfaction among members.
4. Lifecycle Stage
Why: Segmenting by lifecycle stage (e.g., new members, long-term members, at-risk members) allows you to create targeted campaigns for each stage of the member journey. This includes onboarding, retention, and reactivation strategies that are tailored to the specific needs of members at different stages.
Impact: Improved member onboarding, reduced churn, and increased member loyalty.
5. Geographic Location
Why: Tailoring messages based on geographic location allows you to provide relevant updates, news, and events that are specific to members in different regions or countries. This ensures that your communications resonate with local contexts and needs.
Impact: Increased attendance at local events, higher engagement with regional updates, and improved relevance of communications.
Over to you!
Segmenting your email lists is not just a strategic advantage but a necessity in today’s personalised marketing landscape. By understanding and leveraging the diverse characteristics of your members, you can deliver more relevant, engaging, and valuable communications. This tailored approach not only enhances member engagement and satisfaction but also significantly boosts your organisation’s reputation and effectiveness.
Remember, segmentation isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution. Start small, focus on segments that align with your organisational goals, and continuously refine your approach based on performance insights. By prioritising segments like email engagement, membership status, and lifecycle stage, you can create impactful campaigns that resonate with your members’ needs and preferences.
Incorporating these strategies into your email marketing efforts will lead to higher click-through rates, increased conversions, and ultimately, a stronger, more connected membership base. So, take the leap into segmentation, and watch your member engagement soar!
