5 ways to take advantage of Shopify’s segmentation tool

It is super easy to treat your email subscribers as if they are all alike, designing a mass email newsletter and sending it to all without a second thought. 

Of course, they aren’t all the same. Here’s what you should be doing: segmentation. As in, classifying customers into groups with similar characteristics, so that you can tailor messages for them. 

Consumers want personalization. A McKinsey study found that 71% expect it, and 76% are frustrated when it’s non-existent.

‍Shopify’s customer segment tool does the heavy lifting by providing Segment Templates. The five segmentation strategies outlined below are a great start, and a small representation of the possibilities.

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Engage first-time customers

What are you doing to keep your first-time customers coming back?

Capitalize on their initial trust in you with special content made just for them.

We like how BetterBrand promotes its subscription program by listing out all of its perks. 

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If you want to go beyond the five segments highlighted here, download our Advanced Shopify Segmentation Playbook. Access and save 13 ready-to-use segments to your Shopify account.

Engage high-value customers

How you define a high-value customer is your call. Maybe it’s customers who rack up high-dollar sales. Or maybe it’s those who have made a minimum number of purchases.

Whatever the definition, send an exclusive email that expresses your gratitude from time to time. You could offer a discount on high-end products or give first dibs on a limited-run product drop. 

Carved, for instance, grants early VIP access for Black Friday. A custom, unique discount code reassures that this sale isn’t for everyone. 

You can also target based on how much a subscriber is expected to buy in the future, based on past activity. Shopify has a “predicted spend” segmentation tool that separates subscribers into high, medium, and low tiers.

Many segments rely on behavioral data. See what other ways you can use behavioral targeting in email marketing.

Re-engage lapsed customers

Plenty of reports show it’s much cheaper to retain customers than acquire new ones. That’s why it’s integral to re-engage those who haven’t purchased in a while with a winback campaign. 

For example, let's say you have a segment of customers who bought only during Black Friday/Cyber Monday. You could email them an early-bird sale or free gift to entice them to shop again. 

The example below from Aillea takes a common, broad approach with a simple subject line: We’ve missed you. It encourages recipients to check out the new collection with clear calls to action organized by category. 

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Get more tips for improving your customer retention strategy with email marketing.

Target purchase behavior

Think of your product catalog. You can use every product as a launching point.

We see this as a “you bought this, you might like this” approach. Maybe you’re debuting a new product related to an existing one or making an upgrade. Use a product launch email to target those who bought the original product 

Cross-selling also fits within this targeting technique. Laird Superfood does this well. 

Target a specific location

You probably have subscribers across zip codes and time zones. The segment builder in Shopify allows you to create groups based on a customer’s country of residence, state or province. You can even pinpoint by city. 

You don’t want an Australian subscriber, lounging by the pool during their January summer, to receive a newsletter about a winter jacket sale. Target by location to avoid such a situation and, more importantly, send relevant information.

For instance, CAMP’s announcement of a new site is most pertinent to people living in the Boston area or subscribers living within a few hours’ drive.        

Jump into segments with Seguno

There’s nothing wrong with sending newsletters to your entire list. But sometimes a specific class of subscribers — VIPs, the silent contacts, you name it — merit a message targeted just for them. 

Dig into segments. It’s not as tough as you think, and Seguno Email makes it even easier. 

Because Seguno runs inside Shopify, segmentation doesn’t require extra tools. You can:  

• Pull Shopify segments directly into Seguno emails
• Segment by email engagement 
• Automatically remail newsletters only to engaged customers

Segment based on the categories that make sense to your brand. Seguno is ready to help if you need it.