Genre segmentation is one of the highest-value email marketing moves for a book store. A reader who primarily buys thrillers does not want a weekly newsletter dominated by romance recommendations, and sending mixed genre emails dilutes your relevance for everyone. The challenge for a new store is that you have not collected that information yet. Here is how to build genre data into your list from the beginning.
Ask at the Point of Signup
The most direct method is to ask your subscribers their reading preferences in your signup form. This does not mean a long survey — a single optional field or a set of checkboxes asking "What genres do you enjoy?" is enough. Email platforms like Klaviyo, Omnisend, and Mailchimp all support checkbox or dropdown fields that map directly to tags or segments.
Offering a small incentive for completing the field (a discount code, a free reading guide PDF, early access to new arrivals) meaningfully increases the completion rate.
Keep the genre list manageable. Five to seven broad categories work better than twenty — Romance, Thriller/Mystery, Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Self-Help/Personal Development, History/Non-Fiction, Children's/YA, and Business/Finance covers most readers without overwhelming the form.
Use a Welcome Email Quiz
If you prefer a minimal signup form, you can collect genre data in your welcome email sequence. After someone subscribes, send an immediate welcome email that includes one clear call to action: "Tell us what you read so we can send you the right recommendations." A simple linked survey (Google Forms, Typeform, or your email platform's built-in survey) with three to five questions about genre preference, reading frequency, and format (paperback vs. digital) gives you segmentation data within 24–48 hours of someone joining your list.
Infer From Purchase Behavior
Once you have a few orders through your BooksCloud store, purchase behavior becomes the most reliable segmentation signal of all. A subscriber who has bought three thriller titles does not need to fill out a form — they have already told you what they read. Set up automated tagging in your email platform that applies a genre tag whenever a customer buys from a specific collection.
Shopify + Klaviyo integration makes this straightforward: when a customer purchases a product tagged "thriller" in Shopify, Klaviyo can automatically apply a "Thriller Reader" tag to their email profile.
Retroactively Segment an Existing List
If you already have a list with no genre data, send a single "reader preferences" email asking subscribers to self-select their interests. Frame it as improving their experience ("We want to send you fewer emails that waste your time and more of what you actually want to read"). A direct, honest ask to an engaged list typically sees 20–40% completion rates.
Genre segmentation does not have to be perfect to be useful. Even rough segments — "fiction readers" vs. "non-fiction readers" — let you send more relevant campaigns that improve open rates and reduce unsubscribes from day one.
Install BooksCloud free → https://apps.shopify.com/bookscloud