For the past five years at Infusionsoft, I’ve spoken to tens of thousands of entrepreneurs via phone, Webinars, and live seminars about the concept of list segmentation. It’s the foundation of a solid marketing program & strategy. Unfortunately, the ability to slice and dice your list to accurately keep track of customers and prospects, where they came, what their interests are (and everything in-between) is impossible for most.
The tools available to entrepreneurs just haven’t empowered them to do list segmentation or experience the incredible results when you can send laser-focused communications to a specific segment (i.e. prospects who joined my list within the last six months, downloaded a free report, registered for at least one of the past three Webinars, and have green eyes).
List segmentation is something only big companies used to be able to pull off with massive data warehouses, data mining resources, and database marketing specialists and probably millions invested in powerful CRM. But, even the big boys screw up sometimes. Before taking a look at the following direct-mail promotion from a reputable magazine – TIME, keep in mind that I’m a young, (extremely handsome 
), thirty-something:
TIME Magazine Offer, Untimely.
When I first saw the offer, I couldn’t stop laughing (my wife laughed even harder). But, I’m sure there are many who may have been offended by this failure in list segmentation. Consider the impact of a segmentation mix-up in your business. What if you sent a massively-discounted promotion to your list and mistakenly sent the promotion to previous full-price buyers. I’ve heard real-case scenarios of segmentation problems like this many times – it’s not fun for the customers or business owners.
So, what are the lessons learned?
- List segmentation is both an art and a science and you’re bound to screw up. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do it.
- Find ways to make list segmentation a reality in your business. (I know of a tool that will do this for you - automatically )
- Once you’ve segmented, be sure to periodically check the integrity of your segments and sub-lists to avoid segmentation blunders.
- Be sure to take advantage of your work — don’t continue to send generic communications to the masses. Target, target, target.
While we’re on the topic of list segmentation, examine flyers, ads and emails you receive from companies. Are they trying to target you based on your interest, previous buying activity (or lack thereof); could you apply these basic principles to your business? Joe Manna wrote about 13 Ways to Segment and Target Your List, and explores the possible ways to narrow your list into smaller segments.
[Photo by Shi Yali on Flickr]
