Segmenting Email Lists for Targeted Sales Campaigns

If you’re segmenting based on engagement, you’re already behind. Everyone does 30/60/90 day engagement windows. It’s not advanced. It’s basic hygiene. Here’s the real segmentation play most marketers miss: Segment by intent signals, not just opens/clicks. Examples: • Viewed shipping/returns policy? ➝ Hit with reassurance focused CTA • Time on product page > 30 seconds? ➝ Trigger a cart based reminder • Opened 5+ product emails but never clicked? ➝ Try plain text emails with a customer story • AOV based segments - low priced vs high priced ➝ show them the right products • FAQ viewers ➝ Give them more trust • Recent abandon carts/checkouts ➝ Leverage their interests • Time since they opted in for a coupon ➝ Remind them about it • Time since last purchase ➝ Show them complimentary products The list goes on and on... THEN add your engagement for best deliverability Engagement ≠ intent. Intent = actual buying behavior. Stop treating every click the same. Treat the reason behind the click differently.

I've audited 65 Klaviyo accounts in the last 6 months. All of them can improve this with their campaigns: Segmentation. Who you reach, and who you choose not to reach, will make or break your success marketing to email subscribers. Most accounts had varying degrees of these issues: ↳ "Oversegmenting" Narrowing recipients down to groups that are too small and actually not reaching users that may otherwise likely engage with a message. I've seen tens of thousands of users, and in some cases higher, in single accounts that had not been sent any message in the prior 6 months, but did have any prior engagement flags where I'd otherwise recommend not sending to them. ↳ Ignoring Key Exclusion Groups Soft bounced in the last 30 days, but still able to receive messaging? Or 3 times ever? That's a common segment we recommend excluding. But, most don't segment these users, or anyone at all in some cases. ↳ Enriching User Profiles with Zero Party Data, But Not Using It If you've been following me at all recently, you've probably seen my posts about success our clients have had with list growth and conversion by asking people about why they are shopping and using that in messages. We've seen a lot of instances of brands collecting information, but then not using it at all. ↳ Sending to Recent Purchasers Big one -- Only 1 or 2 of the accounts I've reviewed were excluding recent purchasers across most campaigns. The far majority, however, were not. Generally, there isn't much of a need to try to market a product to users that just purchased something within the last 7 days, for example, and still even have a package in transit. Include them on product launches or key sales if you have to. Break some email admin habits with the above and you'll make more money before changing anything else to your send cadence, design, content, flows, etc.

If you are writing sales messaging that could apply to anybody in your TAM, you're writing sales copy that nobody gives AF about. OUCH! I know that might be hard to hear, but here's the hack to better segment your TAM in 2025. ➡️ The harsh truth is that Founders who take a "boil the ocean" approach to selling in will fail. Here's how you can get better results in 3 steps: Step 1 - Move your focus from everybody who *could* possibly buy from you to the group of folks who are most likely to buy now, buy at a high price point, and later renew or be a referral source. Step 2 - From that much smaller group of accounts, create segments. These are not the traditional segments that help your organize your territories. These are segments that help you speak the language of a deep sub-set of prospects. I suggest at least 5 layers of segmentation blending firmographic data, signals, and contact-level data. EXAMPLE: You sell production line automation software. You believe your ICP is: US-based supply chain executives in manufacturing organizations with at least 1k employees. Great start, but it's time to add 5+ layers of segmentation before you can create a message that matters. Segment 1: Midwest "Manufacturing Belt" only Segment 2: Chief Supply Chain Officers only Segment 3: Machinery manufacturing only Segment 4: 50,000 to 100,000 employees Segment 5: New CFO hired in the past year Now you are only speaking to the CSCO or a sub-industry working in the region where you have the strongest social proof. By tightening the employee range you know they have a big enough problem to solve (+ can pick the best name drops) and a new CFO signals an openness to (re)explore cost-saving software. Step 3 - Use this process to launch dozens of micro-campaigns that speak to specific sub-sets of your territory because you've created enough segmentation to be 99% sure your copy will be RELEVANT to them. This is THE only way I've found to personalize at scale. I love teaching orgs how to better segment their accounts and create segment-specific value props. I call it #ValueBasedSegmentation ➡️ The result is: - Highly relevant copy - Emails that can be fully automated - High CTRs/replies without tedious personalization 📌 How do you personalize at scale?

Most of us think we have a clear ICP. But when you look at the pipeline? It’s a wild mix of company sizes, industries, and personas — all getting the same campaigns & pitch. 3. Some deals move fast. Others stall for months. 2. Some channels print money. Others burn cash. 1. Some personas love the product. Others ghost after a demo. This isn’t a sales problem. It’s a segmentation problem. If we don’t know who our best-fit customers are, we’re running blind. Here’s how I segment 👇 Side note: Get the spreadsheet template along with step-by-step guide from my newsletter. Click the link in my profile to get a copy. 📌 Step 1: Pull Closed-Won Deals Your best customers leave clues — follow them. - Pull closed-won deals from the last 6-12 months. - Grab key data: Job titles, company size, industry, ACV, deal cycle. - Clean up your CRM (because it’s always messy). Why? Real data > gut feelings. Sell to who’s already buying. 🔍 Step 2: Enrich Your Data CRM data alone won’t cut it. Use Clay to enrich contacts (seniority, decision-making power). Pro Tip: Integrate Keyplay to your CRM have accurate industry tags added to your account. Add growth signals (hiring, funding, ad spend). Think of it as turning an old map into GPS with live traffic. 📊 Step 3: Find Your Winning Segments Look for patterns in your best deals: - Which industries & company sizes close the fastest? - What roles drive decisions? - Which channels bring in high-ACV deals? Example: Demos from Marketing VPs at Mid-market Dental SaaS = High ACV & 2x faster close rate. When they come from Paid Channel, the sales cycles are longer compared to when they come organically. Once you see the patterns, targeting becomes easy. ❌ Step 4: Learn from Closed-Lost Deals Your losses reveal what’s broken. - Pull & enrich closed-lost deals. - Identify why deals fell through — wrong fit? Wrong persona? Budget? - Which channels did these closed lost deals come from? - Compare all of these with your closed won patterns. Red flags to watch: - High demo volume, low conversion → Fix qualification/messaging. - Some industries never close → Stop targeting them. - Prospects ghost post-demo → Value prop isn’t landing. 📈 Step 5: Prioritize, Cut, Scale Put your segments into a 2x2 matrix: - High demo volume, high conversion → Scale this segment fast. - High demo volume, low conversion → Fix qualification/messaging. - Low demo volume, high conversion → See if it makes sense to prioritize based on if you have enough time, money, and people. - Low demo volume, low conversion → Stop wasting effort. Why? More focus = more predictable pipeline 🚀 👆Link to the template along with the full guide in my latest newsletter. Grab it by clicking on the link in my profile.