How to create segment on Dotdigital

Dotdigital segments are a powerful feature within the Dotdigital Engagement Cloud platform, designed to help businesses organize and target their customer data effectively. These segments allow users to group their contacts based on specific criteria such as demographics, behavior, purchase history, and engagement levels. Creating segments in Dotdigital Engagement Cloud (formerly known as Dotmailer) allows you to target specific groups of contacts with tailored content.

What is Dotdigital?

Dotdigital is a one-stop shop for businesses looking to up their marketing game through automation and customer engagement.

What does Dotdigital do?

• Email Marketing: Create targeted and personalized email campaigns to reach your customers with the right message at the right time.
• Marketing Automation: Automate repetitive tasks and send triggered emails based on customer behavior, increasing efficiency and relevance.
• Customer Engagement: Go beyond email with features like SMS marketing and personalized website experiences to keep your customers engaged across channels.
• Data & Analytics: Gain valuable insights into customer behavior and campaign performance to optimize your marketing efforts.

Who can benefit from Dotdigital?

• Small and Medium Businesses (SMBs): Easy-to-use platform with features specifically designed for growing businesses.
• E-commerce Businesses: Drive sales with targeted email campaigns, cart abandonment reminders, and personalized product recommendations.
• Marketing Agencies: Manage multiple client campaigns efficiently with Dotdigital’s centralized platform.

Why are segments important in email marketing?

• Increased Relevancy: Segmented emails address each group’s specific needs and interests. This makes your emails more relatable and engaging, leading to higher CTR and open rates.
• Improved Customer Experience: People appreciate receiving emails that feel tailored to them. Segmentation shows you understand their preferences and builds stronger customer relationships.
• Boosted Engagement: Relevant emails are more likely to grab attention and spark action. Segmentation can lead to increased website traffic, higher conversion rates, and, ultimately, more sales.
• Reduced Unsubscribes: Nobody likes irrelevant emails cluttering their inbox. Segmentation helps ensure your subscribers receive content they’re interested in, reducing the chance of them unsubscribing.
• Smarter Targeting: Segmentation allows you to focus your marketing efforts on the most promising segments. This helps you allocate resources in a better way and maximize your return on investment (ROI).

Here’s how you can create a segment in Dotdigital Engagement Cloud:

1. Log in to Your Dotdigital Account:

• Log in to your Dotdigital Engagement Cloud account.

2. Navigate to Segments:

•  In the navigation menu, look for the “Segments” option. Click on it to access the segment’s management area.

3. Create a New Segment:

• Click the “Create Segment” button or a similar option to start creating a new segment.

4. Define Segment Criteria:

• Give your segment a name to identify it.
• Define the criteria for your segment.
• Dotdigital offers various conditions and rules for segmenting your contacts.
• You can segment based on contact attributes, purchase behavior, and engagement history, and more.

5. Add Conditions and Rules:

• Depending on your chosen criteria, you’ll need to add conditions and rules that define who should be included in the segment.
• For example, you might segment contacts based on their location, product interests, or engagement with previous campaigns.

6. Preview and Save the Segment:

• After setting up the conditions and rules, you can preview the segment to see the contacts who meet the criteria.
• Dotdigital typically offers a preview feature that shows you a sample of contacts in the segment.
• If everything looks good, proceed to save the segment.

7. Use the Segment in Campaigns:

•  Once you’ve created the segment, you can use it when setting up your email campaigns, automation workflows, and other marketing activities.

8. Automate and Use the Segment:

• You can also use the created segment in automated workflows to send targeted content based on the segment’s criteria.

What are some advanced segmentation strategies for optimizing email campaigns?

1. RFM Model for Targeted Re-engagement

The RFM (Recency, Frequency, Monetary) model goes beyond just purchase history. It analyzes three key aspects of customer behavior:

• Recency: How recently a consumer made a purchase.
• Frequency: How often they purchase.
• Monetary Value: The total amount they spend.

Dotdigital has built-in FRM modeling too, through which you can segment your customers. This allows you to:

• Target lapsed customers: Send win-back campaigns to re-engage customers who have not purchased recently.
• Reward loyal customers: Offer your high-value customers exclusive
•  deals or early access to new products.
• Nurture potential high-value customers: Identify frequent buyers who spend less and personalize campaigns to encourage them to spend more.

2. Behavioral Segmentation for Hyper-Personalization

Beyond purchases, look at how subscribers interact with your emails. Dotdigital allows you to segment based on the following:

• Click-through rates: Identify users who click on specific links in your emails and tailor future campaigns based on their interests.
• Website behavior: Segment users based on the pages they visit on your website to send highly relevant product recommendations.
• Email engagement: Reward users who consistently open and engage with your emails with exclusive content or early access offers.

This hyper-personalization boosts engagement and makes your brand feel like it truly understands each customer’s needs.

3. Predictive Analytics for Future Behavior

Dotdigital leverages AI to predict future customer behavior. This allows you to:

• Target potential churn: Identify customers at risk of churning and send personalized campaigns with incentives to keep them engaged.
• Proactive upselling and cross-selling: Recommend products based on a customer’s past purchases and predicted future needs.
• Trigger automated birthday or anniversary emails: Schedule personalized messages based on predicted milestones to create a special touch.

By anticipating customer behavior, you can proactively address their needs and create a more seamless customer journey.

4. Combine Strategies for Maximum Impact

Don’t use these strategies in isolation! The real power lies in combining them.  For example, segment high-value customers (RFM) who have not opened your recent emails (behavioral) and send a win-back campaign with a special discount.

How can you measure the success of the segmented email campaigns?

Dotdigital provides a wealth of data to measure campaign performance. Focus on metrics relevant to your campaign goals, but some key KPIs include:

• Open Rates: The percentage of recipients who open your email. A higher open rate for segmented campaigns indicates your targeting is effective.
• Click-Through Rates (CTRs): The percentage of receivers who click on a link in your email. Segmented emails should see higher CTRs as the content is more relevant.
• Conversion Rates: The percentage of receivers who take a desired action (e.g., purchase, sign-up). Segmentation often leads to higher conversion rates as the message resonates more deeply.
• Unsubscribe Rates: The percentage of receivers who unsubscribe from your list. Ideally, segmented campaigns with relevant content should see lower unsubscribe rates.

Using Dotdigital’s Analytics:

Dotdigital’s user-friendly interface allows you to track these KPIs for each segmented campaign easily. You can:

• Compare segment performance: See how different segments performed side-by-side to identify which ones resonate most with your audience.
• Drill down into specific segments: Analyze each segment’s open rates, CTRs, and conversion rates to gain deeper insights.
• Track trends over time: Monitor how your KPIs change over multiple campaigns to identify patterns and areas for improvement.

By creating and utilizing segments, businesses can deliver highly personalized and relevant marketing campaigns, increasing the chances of engaging their audience and driving conversions. Dotdigital segments empower marketers to tailor their messaging, making it a valuable tool for optimizing email marketing, SMS campaigns, and other communication strategies to achieve better results and enhance customer experiences. If you’re using a more recent version of Dotdigital Engagement Cloud, there might be slight differences in the steps or interface. I recommend referring to Dotdigital’s official documentation or help resources for the most accurate and up-to-date instructions.