Why does one email to everyone underperform?
Because the list is not one audience. A person who bought last week does not need to be told who you are. A person who bought two years ago has probably forgotten. A person who signed up for a discount and never used it needs a reason, and a different one again. The single email that speaks to all three speaks to none of them, and the click rate shows it. Segmentation is the plain fix: say the right thing to each group, and say less to the people who do not need to hear from you this month, which protects your deliverability too.
Which three segments come first?
| Segment | The rule | What they get |
|---|---|---|
| Recent customers | Bought in the last 90 days | Help getting the most from what they bought, what goes with it, a reason to come back once |
| Lapsed customers | Bought before, nothing in the last 6 to 12 months | A reason to return: what is new since, a welcome-back offer, a reminder of why they chose you |
| Signed up, never bought | On the list 30 days or more, no order | Proof: reviews, the best seller, the question people ask before their first purchase |
A fourth segment, people who have not clicked anything in six months, is the one you send less to, and eventually stop. Mailchimp and Klaviyo both build these from rules in a few clicks once the shop is connected, and the rules keep the segments current without anyone maintaining a spreadsheet.
What does segmenting one send earn? (example figures)
An Adelaide homewares shop has 6,000 people on its list. The monthly email usually goes to everyone.
| One email to all 6,000 | Three emails to three segments | |
|---|---|---|
| Recent customers (1,100) | Click rate 2.4 percent, 144 clicks, 19 orders, $1,520 at an $80 average | A "goes with what you bought" email: 4.8 percent, 53 clicks, 11 orders |
| Lapsed customers (2,300) | A "new since you were here" email with a welcome-back code: 3.1 percent, 71 clicks, 14 orders | |
| Signed up, never bought (2,600) | The best seller and three reviews: 2.2 percent, 57 clicks, 9 orders | |
| Total | 19 orders, $1,520 | 34 orders, $2,720 |
Three emails took three hours to write instead of one. The extra two hours earned $1,200 on that send, and the lapsed segment, which the single email had been quietly boring for a year, became the largest source of orders.
How much segmentation is too much?
More than you can write for. Ten segments with one generic email each are worse than three with a real one each. Segment by the thing that changes what you would say: purchase recency, what they bought, whether they are a customer at all. Age, suburb and gender rarely change the message for an owner-led business and are the segments people build first because the tool offers them.
What does Cora do with segments?
CoraVision does not read your email tool, so segments live in Mailchimp or Klaviyo, where Mabel and Kai, their specialists in CoraVersity, teach the rules and walk you through building them on your own screen when an email tactic is in your action plan. Once Google Analytics 4 is connected, CoraVision reads the visits and purchases that arrive from email every night, so the orders each segment produced show up in the numbers Cora reads, and a strategy built on repeat customers can be judged on the returning ones.
Questions
How many segments should a small business have?
Three to start: recent customers, lapsed customers, and people who signed up but never bought. Each gets a different message because each needs a different thing from you. More segments than you can write for is a list of names, not a plan.
Where does the data for segments come from?
From your shop or booking system connected to the email tool. Shopify to Klaviyo, Square or WooCommerce to Mailchimp: the connection sends orders across, and the segments update themselves. Without a connection, you can still segment by what people clicked.
Is a segment the same as a tag?
A tag is a label you put on a person. A segment is a rule that collects people, such as "bought in the last 90 days". Tags are manual and go stale; segments built on rules keep themselves current.