As a marketeer, you’ll probably have already been told that audience segmentation is an absolute must. But what exactly is it, and why is it so important in building an effective marketing strategy?
To put it simply, audience segmentation is the process of dividing your customers into groups depending on different characteristics, so that products, services, and communications can be tailored to meet their needs. Every customer is unique, and different customer groups will have different needs and characteristics that influence what they are interested in, what grabs their attention and of course, what they act on. By segmenting your audiences based on these characteristics, you’ll be able to get more of a feel for what their needs are and how is best to target them.
Here are some of the ways you can segment your customers:
Demographic segmentation
- Age
- Gender
- Family status
- Education
- Occupation
- Income
Geographic segmentation
- Location (where they live or work)
Psychographics segmentation
- Attitudes
- Aspirations
- Values
Behavioural segmentation
- Purchasing habits
- Engagement habits
- Usage habits (products or services)
- Spending habits
- Benefits sought
What are the benefits of segmenting your customers?
1. More targeted messaging
Segmenting your audience will allow you to target specific groups based on in-depth data such as their purchase habits, browsing history, interaction with your brand and their preferred methods of communication. Using Intilery means that once you have developed a strategy and determined your audience groups, you can use our email and SMS builders to craft your campaigns, or even create bespoke customer journeys for each audience.
Below are some examples of ways you could target your audience…
Create campaigns for different stages in the funnel
An audience members behaviour will change as they move the different stages of the Buyer’s Journey, creating campaigns to meet their needs at every stage in the funnel can be achieved through dynamic audiences.
Target customers with the strongest purchase intent
It’s important to target those who engage most with your product, you can filter your dynamic audience so that it will automatically update to show you the most relevant customers.
Develop relevant campaign content
Analyse what products or areas of your website seem to be trending with your audience and create relevant content relating to said area to send out. You could create a few campaigns that cover different topics/products, that can then be sent out to audiences that are engaging with the trending areas.
2. Communications are better received
When you speak to everyone, you speak to no one, so taking a more tailored approach to your messaging will prove far more effective. With this, you’ll be able to communicate the value of your product or service more effectively in a way that really speaks to your customers, via their preferred channels. More tailored communications will also lead to better engagement, whether that’s higher click through rates on emails or an increased social media engagement. Ultimately, you’ll see that customers are spending longer on your website and an increase in the number of pages they visit, you can also expect to see a higher number of returning visitors.
