Before you can build a successful email campaign, a marketing plan or any marketing campaign for that matter, it’s important to define your target audience.
Understanding your target audiences – a specific group of consumers grouped by behavioral and demographic attributes – helps fine-tune your messaging and increases engagement with strategies like B2C emails and email marketing.
But instead of sending out mass emails to your customers and website visitors hoping they will buy something, try a more personalized approach for your target audiences with audience segmentation.
It’s the best way to cut above the email inbox noise and help your brand create loyal customers. And your peers agree. In 2023, 4 out of 5 marketers said they personalize emails with profile data and 64% personalize them by segment.
In this blog, we’re going to show you seven types of audiences you can create in your next email marketing campaign and how to deliver timely, targeted messages to target audiences.
How to Use Market Research to Identify Your Audiences
Identifying your target market shapes how you speak to your target audience, but both focus on segmenting customers into groups to make well-informed business decisions. A well-defined business strategy is crucial in guiding these efforts.
Here’s a few tips on how to conduct your market research.
- Demographic data. Uncovering the basics like age, location, and income, is a great place to start with market research. Dig deeper into psychographics, asking questions like, What keeps my audience up at night? The combination of these details help paint a picture of your buyer.
- Focus groups. Kick it old school and gather potential customers to pick their brains about pain points, needs and wants, and how they perceive your brand. It’s a great exercise to configure the nuances and nitty gritty details of your buyer personas.
- Competitor research. There’s no shame in keeping tabs on the competition. In fact, you should. Analyze their marketing strategies, target audience, and positioning. Look out for their winning and losing areas of opportunity to get ahead.
- Social media platforms and online communities. Chances are your audience is talking about what they like and don’t like on social media and in online communities with their peers. Do some sleuthing to listen in on their conversations, noting what platforms they use and what content they’re creating or consuming to improve your email marketing campaigns.
Remember, your audience is constantly evolving. Conduct market research on an ongoing basis to refine and adjust your strategies to align to their changing needs and desires.
Why Audience Segmentation is Key in B2C Email Marketing
According to Statista, in 2020, approximately 306 billion emails were sent and received every day worldwide, with this figure projected to increase to over 376 billion daily emails in 2025.
That’s a lot of emails and a lot of competition for your target market’s attention. This figure underscores the continued importance of audience segmentation to make your B2C email marketing strategy effective.
When you collect behavioral and demographic information, like employment, marital status, gender, shopping activity, subscription preferences, or browser history, you can use this data to identify specific audiences.
Create segmented audience lists from these categories to send ultra-personalized emails that target consumers with the right message at the right time.
Doing so can result in a number of improvements, including higher conversion rates, better ROI and customer retention, and ultimately, more customized email campaigns.
7 Types of Audiences to Create in Your Next B2C Email Campaign
Let’s go into more detail on what types of audiences can create to make your email campaigns excel. Understanding these audiences is a key aspect of business to consumer marketing.
1. New Subscribers or First-time Customers
Subscribers and first-time customers are precious, and understanding their customer behavior is crucial for keeping them engaged. These are folks who have already shown interest in your product, so you want to show your appreciation and keep them engaged.
Automated welcome emails are a great way to introduce your brand, share important links, and promote product offerings to these fresh new audiences. In fact, more than 8 out of 10 people will open a welcome email, generating 4x as many opens and 10x as many clicks as other email types.
Example:
Online clothing retailers can send a welcome email offering a 10% discount to first-time customers. Link to trending products or related products from their purchase to encourage customer retention.
2. Repeat Customers
Consider rolling out the red carpet for customers who have made multiple purchases. Identify and segment them into a stand-alone email marketing campaign that rewards their behavior.
Try offering them loyalty rewards, exclusive offers, or personalized recommendations based on their past purchases. Each of these tactics show your investment in their business and encourage customers to come back again and again.
Example:
If you have an identity resolution tag, like the Untitled ID Tag from customer data platform Untitled, you can build audience segments that target repeat purchasers from specific collection pages they have viewed.
So, as an online beauty store, you can send a personalized email campaign to this list of page-specific customers featuring related products based on their purchase history. If they purchased two lipstick shades after visiting the lipstick product page, but not more, send them an email with additional options.
3. Cart Abandoners
We’ve all had a full shopping cart sitting for months in an abandoned browser tab. But we never pull the trigger. However, abandoned carts are a wonderful email marketing opportunity for B2C businesses, converting 3x more than other automated emails.
Create a list of those that have added items to their cart but didn’t complete the purchase. Send them reminder emails with custom messaging and special offers that highlight your brand’s personality and entices them to return.
Example:
An electronics retailer sends a reminder email to potential buyers with the subject line, “Your cart’s feeling a bit low on battery…” with a 10% limited-time discount code.
4. Inactive Customers or Subscribers
Targeting existing customers or inactive subscribers who have ghosted you is another way to reinvigorate their interest with email marketing.
Send a re-engagement campaign with can’t-miss promotions or tug on their heartstrings with a “We Miss You” message. Who can resist!
Example:
When you run a fitness gym, sometimes once motivated customers disappear for a while. Offer a special membership discount or promote new classes or schedules to entice their return.
5. Seasonal Shoppers
Sometimes shoppers only show their faces during seasonal times of year, but that doesn’t mean they’re any less valuable.
Try segmenting your email marketing audience based on seasonal buying patterns or specific holidays, like Thanksgiving or Christmas. Pitch them time-sensitive offers and new or returning items that align with the purchase cycle during pivotal times of the year.
Example:
A home decor store can send seasonal campaigns around holiday times with new or best-selling return items, giving product recommendations and limited-time discounts.
6. Prospective or Potential Customers
Don’t let potential customers go without a fight. Retarget shoppers using customer data or dig into further market research to target prospective buyers who have shown interest but haven’t purchased. These are hot leads after all!
You can even uncover hidden visitors using an identity resolution tool. Collect this list of anonymous website visitors across key product pages and send them an educational email or product comparison to peak their interest and drive conversions.
Example:
A vitamin and supplement company sends an email explaining the benefits of their best-selling products to people who visited their website landing pages but didn’t purchase.
7. Audience Based on Interests and Behaviors
Tapping into user behavior and interests is another way to niche-down your target audience. A well-developed digital marketing strategy can help you effectively utilize this data. Segment audiences based on their website interaction points, buying preferences, or specific interests like sports enthusiasts or tech lovers.
B2C marketers can use Google Analytics 4 and other analytical tools, like website visitor tracking software, to study website traffic and visitor behavior to craft personalized email content based on these insights.
Example:
A sports brand could use the Path Exploration report in Google Analytics 4 to see how different audience segments navigate your site. Create a segment based on users who viewed 3+ pages in the “Football” category and call them “Football Enthusiasts.” Send them an email with football-related product recommendations and tips on how to use them.
Examples of Successful B2C Email Campaigns
Utilizing Identity Resolution through Untitled
Toadfish Outfitters is an eCommerce brand that specializes in sustainable and innovative outdoor and kitchen products. The CMO, Thor Rhodin, focuses on retargeting potential customers who did not make it to checkout. A key channel for this marketer is email retargeting through Klaviyo, because it keeps their costs and returns in line as a cheaper advertising medium.
Having emails through Untitled’s ID Tag feature gives him the necessary data to convert users that hit the website through paid marketing channels, while not increasing the overall marketing costs, as Klaviyo is not specifically a paid channel.
As long as the ROAS is positive, the tool is a valuable asset for the Toadfish marketing mix, allowing them to market to new customers and upsell historical customers as Toadfish develops new product lines and collections.
Toadfish results after implementing Untitled:
- Klaviyo ROAS using Untitled ID Tag: 6.8X
- Attributions insights and unique visitor information on hidden shoppers and net new shoppers
- Lookalikes expanded due to 60% of visitors being identified
- Total Spend: $2,500 / month
Conclusion
Audience segmentation is the secret weapon to power your B2C email campaigns and stand out against the competition. By tailoring your message to unique audience groups, you’re creating long-term relationships with customers that will return the favor in the form of repeat purchases and customer loyalty.
Ready to create your next email marketing campaign with confidence? Book a demo of Untitled to unlock hidden website visitors and retarget them into paying customers.
