Segmenting Lesson #1: Let's start at the very beginning.

I don't like the summer. Yes, that's a strong statement.

In fact, all I've been doing this weekend as we experience record-breaking heat (with humidex, around 108 degrees which for us Canadians, is brutal) is researching a trip to Iceland I'd like to take next year and perhaps never return.

I recently made that statement on one of my social platforms and I got two reactions.

The first was utter shock and awe.

"Holly, how can you even say that?"

"Holly, can we even be friends anymore?"

The other, more frequent statement was:

"Yes! You are my people!"

"Yes! Bring on winter. Dark nights and cozy days."

And do you know who I chatted with the most in my DMs? The people who hate summer and love winter. They're definitely my people.

Kind of like how when you segment your list based on likes, you get a much stronger response on your call to action because you're talking to 'your people'.

Segmentation isn't something you can consider any longer. With reader's inboxes crammed full of newsletters fighting for some airtime, it's mandatory that you start segmenting.

For the ENTIRE summer, that's all we're going to focus on. Quick, actionable segmenting tips.

So let's start with the basics. This is my base level 2-segment strategy. And yes, it's the very beginning. The Sound of Music is easily my favourite musical and so if you're now plagued with Do-Re-Mi on repeat, you're welcome and welcome to my world. The soundtrack of my life is usually from a Broadway musical.

Step One: Divide your list into 2 segments.

Segment A - have opened or clicked ANY email.

Segment B - have never opened ANY email.

Step Two: Exclude Segment B from your next email.

Step Three: Wait 24 hours and assess your metrics against any previous email.

Is the open rate higher? Is the click rate higher? Is there no difference? What do you see?

Step Four: Create a Google Sheet or similar to track these metrics.

Just write down when you sent the email, what segment it went to, what subject line you used and your open and click rate. This is your new baseline and the ONLY baseline you're ever going to care about. Forget about industry standards. Your standards live here now.

Step Five: Duplicate the email and send it to Segment B using the same subject line. (This won't always be the strategy but to get an accurate baseline, we need apples to apples.)

Step Six: Repeat the metric tracking for this email.

Step Seven: Analyze what the data is telling you and strategize.

It's likely the data will be telling you Segment A performed better than Segment B. Now, moving forward you treat these two segments differently. Next week, we'll talk about how you're going to treat them differently.

Until then, happy segmenting and let me know what your data is telling you! I'd love to hear it.

Holly

Course Highlights

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Hi! I'm Holly from Holly Darling HQ.

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