In a recent sales training webinar, we discussed email drip marketing, and part of that process is segmenting your email list. This is an important step as it will allow you to tailor the content and timing of your emails according to the different groups that make up your email list, enabling you to optimize your results.

Here are some ways to consider segmenting your email drip marketing list.

1. Suspects
The first segment that you can break out can be labeled as suspects. These contacts might fit with what you have to offer, but you have never spoken with them, and they likely do not know who you are.

A good example of a group of suspects that might end up in your email marketing list is a list of target contacts that you purchased or downloaded somewhere. Regardless of how much you paid for this list or how qualified you have been told they are if you have not interacted with them in any way and if they have not directly opted in, then you need to be aware of this and factor this in when strategizing how you are going to communicate with them.

2. Prospects
The next step up from suspects is a category of prospects. These are target contacts with whom we have interacted in some way. It could be that we exchanged emails with them, spoke to them briefly on the phone, or maybe the target contact opted in on our website or a landing page.

What would be ideal is if something took place during one of the initial interactions that would allow you to promote a suspect to a prospect. For example, we might speak with the target contact on the phone in a cold call and ask them a couple of questions to determine if there might be a fit.

3. Clients / Customers
You will want to separate your clients or customers from your email drip marketing list. Even though they are purchasing from you or have purchased from you in the past, continuing to send them drip marketing emails is still beneficial.

Although the emails you send to a customer can often be different from what you would send to a prospect, segmenting this group in your email list can lead to improved results.

4. Referral Partners
You may want to include a segment for referral partners in your email marketing list. These are contacts who would likely never purchase from you but could refer business to you. It is very important to use email drip marketing with these contacts so that you stay fresh in their minds, improving the probability that they think of you when a referral opportunity presents itself.