Q: All the talk about segmentation is well and good, but when you produce a newsletter for a niche field, and people sign up for it to find out about news in the field, segmenting it down further seems just wrong to me.
A: The bigger your list, the more valuable segmentation is. Nonetheless, even with smaller lists, segmentation can be useful. Should you be sending the same exact email to your power users (those who open and click on your every email) as you send to your inactives (those who haven't opened anything from you in six months)? Should every person on your list get a call to action about a local issue in Maine, or just those in the area? Should members get the same content as freeloaders? Even small differences (in content, tone, packaging) can return big results.
