5 Advantages of Using Tags to Organize Your Email Marketing

A successful email list comes from strategically organizing it with tags and segmentation.

In my last article, I shared the top 5 reasons why I love and recommend ConvertKit for email marketing. (If you missed the article, you can read it here: 5 Reasons Why I Recommend ConvertKit for Your Email Marketing).

However, those five reasons are not going to make much of a difference if you do not have an email list that is organized and segmented well. This is where the power of Convertkit’s automation system comes into play with their tags and segmentation.

Segmenting an email list can be the key difference between a list that converts and one that lacks engagement, resulting in low open rates.

Simply speaking, segmentation is the organization of your email list subscribers based on different types of criteria.

Before we get into the advantages of segmenting your email list, let’s take a quick look at the definitions of a tag and a segment, as used in ConvertKit.

What is a tag?

According to the definition provided by ConvertKit, “tags help you organize your subscribers in meaningful ways.” Tags are a way to group your subscribers based on an interest, purchase, behaviour, etc. You can think of tags as a way to label your subscriber based on a specific type of criteria.

Most other email marketing platforms offer the option to tag your subscribers, but they may use a different name. For example, in Mailerlite tags are referred to as groups.

What is a segment?

Segments are a way to further organize and group your tags. Think of segments as a folder filled with tags that are defined by certain criteria.

For example, if you have a separate tag for each product or course you offer, you can create a segment called Products or Courses and include all of the individual product or course tags within that one segment.

Now that we have a better understanding of the definition of tags and segments, let’s take a closer look at why it is important to organize your email list using tags and segments.

5 advantages to using tags to organize your email list:

1. Create a more personable experience for your subscribers. Have you ever received an email that was irrelevant to you? What did you do with that email? Chances are you either ignored it, deleted it or unsubscribed from receiving additional emails. By using tags and segmentation, you can send targeted emails to your subscribers based on the direct interest they have shown in a specific topic. Sending them dedicated content creates a personable experience for your subscribers because you are showing an interest in their life and their chosen pursuits.
2. Understand your subscribers better. When you organize and segment your email list, you learn what your subscribers like and are interested in, and therefore are able to send them content that is relevant to them. This is content that they look forward to receiving, all because you are getting to know and understand them better. If you are sending content that they find boring or irrelevant they will stop opening and engaging with your emails.
3. Increases your open rates. Having a large number of subscribers on your email list doesn’t mean a lot if your subscribers aren’t opening your emails. By segmenting your list, you can customize your emails and subject lines by appealing to the interests of specific subscriber groups. This helps to continue to keep your emails relevant to all of your subscribers and keep those open rates high.
4. Decreases your unsubscribe rates. Similar to increasing your open rates, by segmenting your emails you help to keep your unsubscribe rate to a minimum. When you send an email that someone is interested in, they don’t have any reason to unsubscribe. For example, if you email your whole list regarding an upcoming special promotion that not all your subscribers may be interested in, you risk losing them as a subscriber.
5. Encourages higher conversion rates. When you start targeting your emails to specific groups within your email list, there is a much higher likelihood that those receiving these emails will be engaged in the content and be ready to take action. By using tags to send an email to those who you know are interested in learning about an upcoming sale (or have previously expressed interest in a course), you are sending relevant information they are likely to respond to.

There are many other advantages to using tags to better organize and engage with your email list. The important thing is to not be intimidated but to simply start organizing your list.

Stay tuned for my next article where I will go into more detail on the many different ways you can successfully segment your list to provide a better experience for your subscribers.

If you are not using tags to their full advantage, book a quick teatime chat with Natashia to see how you can fully optimize tags and segmentation in your email marketing.