Related Posts
Podcasts
Your team builds out “smart” email segments based on user behaviour, job titles, maybe even engagement history. You send campaigns tailored to each slice of your audience. You’re doing everything right… right?
And yet, your open rates are still weak. Unsubscribes keep creeping up. And worst of all, your best leads are going cold.
Here’s the truth: most brands are segmenting by what they think matters. Not by what the subscriber actually wants to hear about.
That’s where traditional segmentation falls apart and where smarter email strategy begins.
You don’t need fancier data models or deeper behavioural analysis.
You need to stop guessing and start asking.
As someone who’s seen brands send thousands of emails and watched their engagement flatline despite “doing it all,” I can tell you, the fix isn’t more complexity.
It’s giving your audience control.
In this article, you’ll learn the key difference between behaviour-based segmentation and interest-based subscription types, and how to implement the latter in a way that boosts trust, increases engagement, and actually respects your subscribers’ time.
And before we get started, big shoutout to one of our HubSpot Specialists, Richie Dharma, for helping this article come to life.
The Traditional Segmentation Trap
Most brands think they’re segmenting their email list the smart way.
They look at behaviours, like which pages someone visited, which emails they opened, or what they clicked on.
Some go a step further and segment by job title, industry, or company size. A few use lead scoring models or CRM integrations to get even more granular.
And don’t get me wrong, this is all useful data.
But here’s where it falls apart: just because someone clicks on a link once doesn’t mean they want a steady stream of content about that topic. Just because someone is a CMO doesn’t mean they want to read about the same things as every other CMO.
Segmentation, when it’s based only on observed behaviour or demographic labels, is guesswork. Educated guesswork, sure, but still guesswork.
It assumes that you know better than your subscriber what they care about. And that assumption is exactly what causes disengagement over time.
You send what you think is relevant.
They open less and less.
Eventually, they unsubscribe… or worse, they stay subscribed but mentally tune out.
This is the trap.
You’re doing “personalisation” without actually involving the person.
Common Email Nurturing Mistakes (And How to Do it Properly)
Why Email Segmentation Fails
Here’s the uncomfortable truth: your segmentation might look impressive on paper, but if it’s based only on what you’ve observed, you’re still speaking into the void.
Your subscribers are tuning out and it’s not because they don’t care about your brand. It’s because they don’t care about everything your brand talks about.
Just like you probably don’t want daily emails from your favourite news site about every single category they cover, your audience doesn’t want to hear about every new product, insight, or event you publish.
Plain Text Emails vs HTML Emails: Which is Better?
They want relevance on their terms.
That’s why behaviour-based segmentation has limits:
- Behaviour isn’t intent. Just because someone reads one article on a topic doesn’t mean they want more like it.
- Demographics don’t equal interests. A title or industry doesn’t tell you what someone actually wants to hear about.
- Timing is everything. Someone may have cared about that topic a month ago, but not now.
And when your emails don’t feel relevant, they start to feel like noise. Even if you’re “technically” personalising them.
The end result?
- Open rates drop.
- Unsubscribes rise.
- And trust erodes, email by email.
The good news? There’s a better way, and it starts by flipping the script.
Email Subscription Types & Why This Works Better (aka Preference Centres)
Here’s a radical idea: instead of trying to guess what your subscribers care about, just ask them.
That’s what email subscription types do. Also known as a preference centre, this lets your audience choose exactly what kind of content they want from you, and how often they want it.
Think of it like the content categories on a news site.
You might subscribe to:
- Product Updates
- Industry Insights
- Event Invitations
- Exclusive Offers
- Or just a monthly roundup, instead of weekly emails
Now imagine giving your subscribers that same power. You’re not reducing the number of emails you send, you’re simply sending smarter, more welcome ones.
Why this works better:
- It respects their time. You’re not forcing them to filter through stuff they don’t care about.
- It builds trust. You’re showing you actually listen and that makes people more likely to engage.
- It increases engagement. People want to open emails they’ve chosen to receive.
- It reduces unsubscribes. Someone may not want all your emails — but that doesn’t mean they want none.
Email subscription types shift the power dynamic. Instead of controlling the conversation, you’re co-creating it.
And that shift, from push to permission, is exactly what modern email marketing needs.
How to Implement Email Segmentation Without Overcomplicating Things
Adding email subscription types doesn’t mean rebuilding your email strategy from scratch. In fact, the most effective preference centres are simple.
Here’s how to do it, without overengineering the whole thing.
1. Choose 3–5 Clear Categories
Start by identifying the main “themes” of your content. Don’t overwhelm people with a long list — aim for clarity and simplicity.
Examples:
- Updates & Offers
- New Product Announcements
- Thought Leadership & Industry Insights
- Events & Webinars
- Monthly Highlights
Pro tip: Think like a subscriber. If they only wanted one email a month, which category would matter most to them?
2. Give Them the Choice at the Right Moment
Introduce subscription options:
- On your sign-up forms
- In your welcome email
- On a dedicated preference centre page (linked in the footer of every email)
Make it clear they can change their preferences anytime and show them it’s normal to only want certain types of content.
3. Map Email Campaigns to Subscription Types
Behind the scenes, tag your campaigns based on the categories you’ve created.
So when you send a new campaign, it only goes to people who said they wanted it.
4. Re-engagement? Use It As a Reset Moment
If someone’s gone cold, don’t just ask, “Are you still interested?”
Instead, ask them to update their preferences — and make it clear they can stay subscribed on their terms.
5. Track Engagement Per Category
Don’t just track overall open or click rates. Look at which categories perform best. That’s the real gold — and it’ll help you refine your content strategy based on what your audience actually values.
This isn’t about sending fewer emails, it’s about sending better ones. The kind your audience actually looks forward to.
And when you give people control over what they hear from you, they’re far more likely to keep listening.
So, What’s Next?
You don’t need to send more emails. You need to send the right ones.
Most brands fall into the trap of guessing what their audience wants — and call it segmentation. But the real magic happens when you stop guessing and let your subscribers choose for themselves.
Give them that choice, and you’ll earn something far more valuable than a click: trust.
Next, learn how to empower your email marketing efforts with this complete email marketing automation guide.
