How to Fix Email Deliverability Through Segmentation and Personalisation
Email marketing can be a powerful tool for driving revenue, but here’s the harsh reality: if your emails aren’t reaching inboxes, it doesn’t matter how good your copy is, how enticing your offers are, or how perfect your timing is. It all comes down to deliverability—whether your emails are actually getting seen.
One of the most effective ways to improve deliverability is through segmentation and personalisation. In this article, we’ll explain exactly how these two strategies work and give you practical steps you can take to fix your deliverability issues.
We’ll also show you how one UK-based lingerie brand managed to turn around their email performance using these techniques, boosting their revenue and engagement. But don’t worry, this article isn’t an advert, disguised as a case study, disguised as a valuable post - it’s packed with useful information you can apply to your own email marketing right now.
Why Your Emails Aren’t Being Seen
First, let’s quickly cover what we mean by “email deliverability.” It’s the measure of how many of your emails actually make it to your subscribers' inboxes. If your emails are going to spam or simply getting lost in the void, your deliverability is poor - and so are your chances of converting subscribers into customers.
So, what causes deliverability issues?
One major culprit is sending too many irrelevant emails. When people get emails that don’t interest them, they ignore them. This leads to low engagement rates, and inbox providers like Gmail and Outlook start to take notice. If they see that your emails are being ignored or marked as spam, they’ll stop showing your emails in the inbox, which means fewer opens, clicks, and sales.
This is where segmentation and personalisation come in.
Segmentation is The Key to Sending Relevant Emails
Segmentation is simply the process of dividing your email list into smaller, more specific groups. Not every subscriber on your list is the same, so you shouldn’t treat them all the same.
For example, some people might have just made their first purchase, while others have been loyal customers for years. Some might be interested in certain products, while others have no use for them. By segmenting your list based on these differences, you can send emails that are more relevant to each group, which leads to higher engagement - and better deliverability.
How We Used Segmentation to Solve the Problem
We worked with a fast-growing UK lingerie brand that was sending the same emails to their entire database. They were sending a lot of campaigns, but their revenue from email marketing was declining. Why? Because their messages weren’t relevant to most of their audience, and their engagement rates were plummeting.
We helped them break down their audience into segments, focusing on things like:
Purchase history: New customers vs. repeat buyers.
Engagement: Active subscribers vs. inactive ones.
Preferences: Which products they were most interested in.
By tailoring emails to these segments, we could send targeted, relevant messages. This led to more opens, more clicks, and more sales - all because the content was relevant to the recipient.
Making Your Emails Feel Personal
Segmentation helps you figure out who to send your emails to, but personalisation takes it a step further by ensuring what you send feels tailor-made for them. Personalisation can be as simple as addressing someone by their first name in the subject line, or as advanced as recommending products based on their browsing history or past purchases.
The key is to make your emails feel less like mass marketing and more like one-to-one communication. When people feel like an email is just for them, they’re more likely to engage with it.
Personalisation in Action
Once we segmented the lingerie brand’s audience, we personalised the content within each segment. For example:
New customers received a “welcome” email series with product recommendations based on their initial purchase.
Repeat buyers got offers for matching sets or new arrivals that complemented their past purchases.
Inactive customers received re-engagement emails offering special discounts or exclusive content to encourage them to return.
The result? More people opened, clicked, and bought from these emails, and their overall deliverability shot up. When people engage with your emails, inbox providers see this as a positive sign and are more likely to show future emails in the inbox rather than the spam folder.
Practical Tips for Fixing Your Deliverability with Segmentation and Personalisation
You don’t need to run a huge brand to benefit from these strategies. Here are some practical steps you can take to improve your deliverability by focusing on segmentation and personalisation:
Start with Segmentation
Break your audience down into smaller, more relevant groups. Even basic segmentation can make a big difference, such as:
New vs. repeat customers.
Active vs. inactive subscribers.
Product interest or category preference.
Use tools like Klaviyo to automate your segmentation process based on customer behaviour and engagement.
Personalise Your Content
Address people by their name and include relevant information based on their past interactions.
Use dynamic content that changes depending on who is receiving the email. For example, you can show different products to different customer segments based on their preferences or purchase history.
Make sure your offers are tailored - don’t send the same 10% off code to everyone. Instead, offer something relevant to each segment.
Monitor Your Engagement Metrics
Keep an eye on your open rates, click-through rates, and conversion rates. These metrics will give you an idea of how well your emails are performing and whether your segmentation and personalisation efforts are paying off.
If you notice drops in engagement, it’s a sign that you need to re-evaluate your segmentation or personalisation efforts.
Re-Engage Your Inactive Subscribers
Don’t ignore the people who haven’t opened your emails in months. Instead, create a re-engagement campaign specifically designed to win them back. Offer them something special - whether it’s a discount, exclusive content, or a personalised offer based on their past behaviour.
Other Factors to Consider
While segmentation and personalisation are incredibly effective for improving deliverability, there are other technical factors that can impact your success. Things like email list hygiene (removing inactive subscribers), domain authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC), and avoiding spammy content all play a role.
However, those topics deserve articles of their own, and it’s worth diving deeper into them if you’re serious about improving your email performance.
Fixing Deliverability Starts with Relevance
The bottom line? If your emails aren’t getting opened or clicked, they’re not relevant to your audience. By focusing on segmentation and personalisation, you can send more relevant content that your subscribers actually want to engage with. And when engagement goes up, so does deliverability.
The lingerie brand we worked with saw 5x growth in revenue from email marketing within just four months, re-engaged 80% of their inactive customers, and increased new customer acquisition by 30%. And they did it by simply sending the right emails to the right people.
You can achieve similar results by applying these same principles to your email marketing strategy. So, start segmenting, get personal, and watch your deliverability improve.