Too often email marketers try to go from one end of the segmentation spectrum (blast away) to the other end (micro-segmentation). This extreme swing often bogs them down and, even if they are able to pull it off, often doesn't yield better results than a simple, macro segmentation approach. After all, most marketing teams are stretched thin and stressed out in today's crazy economy.
In my new byline in iMedia Connection, I offer a sane approach to segmentation that revolves around:
- Understanding the true barriers to implementing your marketing strategy and choose the strategies with the best benefit-to-barrier ratios.
- Pursuing strategies that use objective data for all of your customers rather than subjective (self-reported) or incomplete information.
- Implementing the strategy in a graduated approach (simple to complex, broader to narrower, general to specific).
