Why email segments decay and how to fix it

I've run hundreds of email account audits, and I always see the same mistakes. Here are the "5 Deadly Sins" that are killing your email performance – and how to fix them. MISTAKE #1: TOO MUCH EMAIL VOLUME When it comes to email marketing, engagement is far more important than list size. Sending too many emails can overwhelm your subscribers, leading to lower engagement rates, increased unsubscribes, and damage to your sender reputation. This turns into a “boy who cried wolf” scenario, where too much volume results in your messages getting ignored or sent to SPAM. THE FIX: Focus on quality over quantity. Prioritize sending valuable content at a steady cadence rather than hitting an arbitrary volume target. MISTAKE #2: NOT SEGMENTING YOUR AUDIENCE If you’re still sending “email blasts” in 2024, you’re gonna have a bad time. Sending the same email to your entire list without considering a subscriber’s unique needs or interests is a recipe for terrible engagements, sales, and unsubscribe rates. THE FIX: Segment your list based on demographics,interests, or behaviors. Send hyper-personalized content to maximize relevance and improve conversion rates. MISTAKE #3: WEAK OR MISLEADING SUBJECT LINES Using vague, spammy, or clickbaity subject lines is an absolute no-no. If your subject line is unclear, it’s not getting opened. If it makes a promise that your content doesn’t deliver on, your subscribers will lose trust, killing your future engagement metrics. THE FIX: Craft subject lines that are both clear and compelling. Set expectations for what’s inside and make sure the email content follows through on that claim. MISTAKE #4: IGNORING MOBILE OPTIMIZATION Current estimates suggest that around 60% of website visits take place on mobile devices. Similarly, studies have shown that around 40-60% of email opens happen on mobile. So, why do so many brands invest thousands in mobile optimization for their SITE, and almost nothing in optimizing their EMAILS? THE FIX: Use responsive email templates that adjust to any screen size, and always test how your emails look on mobile before sending. MISTAKE #5: FAILING TO ANALYZE PERFORMANCE For many brands, email marketing is an item on a to-do list that just needs checked off. If you’re not running a post-send analysis to determine what’s working and what’s not, you are absolutely leaving money on the table. THE FIX: Analyze your email marketing metrics on a monthly basis to understand what’s working and use that to drive further experimentation and optimization. I see these mistakes in every single account I audit – and it KILLS me. Get these low cost, high impact opportunities dialed in and you’ll dramatically improve your results.

Most "dead" email subscribers aren't actually dead. They're just waiting for the right message. I keep seeing the same pattern across accounts: Brands obsessing over active customers but ignoring a honeypot of inactive subscribers. The 3 segments most brands completely ignore? 1\. Vanished Fans: People who used to open every email but suddenly stopped engaging months ago. People get tired of being hammered with the same content. Start a "we miss you" campaign acknowledging their absence with a completely different content approach. 2\. Old Cart Abandoners: Everyone targets recent cart abandoners. Nobody targets people who abandoned carts months ago.  Target 90+ day abandoners with "Still thinking about it?" A lot can change in 3 months. Maybe they now have the money to spend... or their pain point has gotten worse. You don't know until you reach out. 3\. Single-Purchase Veterans: Customers who bought once more than 6 months ago but never came back. Most brands just keep sending them the same tired newsletter. These people already trust you enough to give you money once. A friendly "we miss you" email with a little perk can work wonders. What's funny is how little effort it takes to set these up in Klaviyo.  Too many marketers still chase the same active 20% of their list with endless promotions. While we watch brands triple their email revenue overnight by finally messaging "dead" segments the right way.

Most senders jump straight to “fixing” email issues without figuring out what broke in the first place. That’s a mistake… one that slows your resolution time and can drag in people who don’t need to be involved (yet, anyway). The reality in most cases is that deliverability issues can be a cocktail of causes. So before you fire off your re-engagement campaigns or start rewriting all your copy, stop and ask yourself: 💌 When did this start? Trace it back to the actual drop, not when you noticed it. In some cases, you step off a cliff. Other times, it’s a slow decline that actually started months ago. Get your goggles out and trace the timeline. 💌 Where is it happening?  Are all mailbox providers affected, or just one? Scope matters. For example, Gmail is very heavily focused on user engagement, so if your open rates are 2% at Gmail while they’re +30% at other top destinations you send to, you’ve likely hit the spam folder. You can now turn your attention toward recipient reactions (spam complaints, opens, clicks, unsubscribes). But if Microsoft is bouncing everything in sight, you’ll want to look more closely at authentication, blocklists, and IP reputation. 💌 What changed upstream? Sure, it could be your ESP or the mailbox provider. But 9 times out of 10, that call is coming from inside the house. So, take a good look around to see if anything (and I mean anything) may have changed on your side. Did you: - Launch a new campaign that got a different reaction? - Add a new segment or acquisition source? - Did you change frequency?  - Switch platforms or mess with DNS? You can’t fix what you don’t understand, and even a small change can ripple downstream. So put down the duct tape. and diagnose first! I break down the full diagnostic process on my Send It Right blog. Check it out if you want to turn a crisis into a blip (or need to convince your boss you’re not just guessing). If this already sounds painful and you want help troubleshooting, hit me up. Sometimes a 20-minute chat beats a 5,000-word rabbit hole (even though I looooove a good deliverability rabbit hole). 💌

Checked my spam folder yesterday and found SO MANY DTC brands that used to be in my promotions tab. Even found double opt-in messages in there. Seems like Google/Yahoo updates are working hard to protect consumers from receiving unwanted messages 👏 For us, email marketers that means taking time to update our sending strategies and tighten the engaged segments. If segmentation was not your top priority before, it definitely should be now! Segmentation allows you to target people based on their intent, their interests, the stage of their customer journey, demographics, location and more. Some basic tips: 1. Check your flow filters. Make sure that people are not receiving your Browse, Cart and Checkout Abandonment flows all at the same time. Think about whether people in your Welcome or Thank You flows need to receive your email campaigns. 2. Make sure to send to your Engaged Segment only. And remember, Open Rates are not the true indication of engagement. 3. Send relevant content. Engaged segment is great, but imagine how many different customer personas are there! You have VIPs, prospects, one-time buyers, low AOV, high AOV, and discount shoppers - they all resonate with a different message. So take the time to really look at your audience and craft compelling offers for them. 4. Send more text-based emails. It is not a secret that text-based emails tend to land in the inboxes more frequently than the image based. So utilize that knowledge, especially if you need to fix your reputation among inbox providers. Plain text emails have the power to stand out among the other promotions tab messages and feel much more personal than the image-based sent-to-everyone flashy email. 5. Clean your list and set up proper exclusion segments. Remove spam trap accounts, unengaged, chronic bouncers, and those who have long story of not opening. What else will you add here?

CLIENT: How can we do some housekeeping so we're not wasting money on unengaged subscribers? ME: Well, it all comes down to building these 3 unengaged list segments: 👉 General Unengaged Subscribers The parameters for this varies by brand, but this segment consists of people who: → Received 10-20 emails over all time, AND → (Optional) Haven't engaged with your website in 180-365 days, AND → Haven't opened or clicked an email in 180-365 days, AND → Have never purchased Purpose of segment: ✅ Run this segment through a Sunset Flow. ✅ Exclude this list from campaigns except for sales, promos, or important announcements 👉 Never Opened/Clicked Email No one ever talks about this segment. If you build a big enough list, you're bound to have people who will NEVER open your emails. This segment consists of people who: → Received 15-30 emails over all time, AND → Have never opened or clicked an email over all time Purpose of segment: ✅ Exclude this list from all campaigns. ✅ Suppress anyone who enters the segment. 👉 Churned/At-Risk Customers All customers will expire or churn out at some point. But some can be recovered and brought back to rebuy. This segment consists of people who: → Placed an order at least once, AND → Haven't engaged with the website/emails in 60-180 days, AND → Haven't placed an order in 90-365 days Purpose of segment: ✅ Occasionally email segment (1-2x/month) to recover potentially lost customers ✅ Exclude this list from campaigns except for sales, promos, or important announcements Housekeeping and list cleaning start with segmentation. Getting rid of subscribers is like pruning a tree; Cutting away dead/stuck-out branches helps the list grow stronger and healthier. Build out these 3 segments and you'll grow your list effectively.

Poor email deliverability creates an invisible wall between you and your customers. We see this scenario play out too often: → A marketing team creates amazing content → The brand sends it out → Emails go to spam or bounce → Sales opportunities vanish That’s why you *must* make email deliverability your top priority. Here’s how: ↓ 1. Track key metrics daily Leverage your ESP to monitor: → Unsubscribe rates → Bounces → Domain health When numbers spike, find out why— Was it a specific campaign? A particular segment? Pinpoint the issue and fix it. 2. Segment strategically Ditch the “one size fits all” approach— Break your list into targeted groups: → New subscribers → Frequent buyers → People who browse but don’t buy → Fans of certain products → Engagement tracks based on varying levels of engagement …then write emails that fit each one. A skincare brand we work with split their list by skin type— Oily skin folks got different product recs than dry skin types… …and opens jumped 25% in just one month. 3. Keep your list clean Get rid of… → People who never open emails → Emails that bounce → Inactive contacts A small, engaged list beats a big, quiet one— This helps you avoid the dreaded Gmail promotions tab (once you get in, it’s hard to get out!). 4. Make it personal Use what you know about each subscriber to… → Recommend products they’ll like → Send emails when they’re likely to read → Create content based on their likes and needs Make your emails feel like they’re just for them. These elements work together: → Segmentation boosts relevance → Monitoring catches issues early → A clean list helps emails get through → Personal touches keep people reading The goal isn't more emails— It’s *better* emails that actually get in the hands of consumers when they are most likely to buy Quality content + the right consumers + engaged readers… …that's the formula for turning emails into revenue.

Is Your Dealership Email Marketing Driving Off a Cliff? Shocking Stats That Blew Me Away  • 30% of your email list goes bad EVERY YEAR  • 10%+ bad emails = Less than 44% delivered  • 2.5% of emails decay MONTHLY What This Means for Your Dealership 1. You're wasting time and money on undelivered messages 2. Your brand reputation is taking a hit 3. Potential customers are slipping through your fingers The Solution to Fix Your Issue Get all your data in a system you own. Then, run monthly data cleaning because it isn't just good hygiene—it's VITAL for deliverability. Ask Yourself When was the last time you scrubbed your email list? Take Action At Your Dealership Don't let outdated data derail your marketing. Clean your list, boost deliverability, and accelerate your sales. #QoreAI #DealershipMarketing #EmailStrategy #AutoSales