What brands out there cite the entire population as their target audience? That was supposed to be a rhetorical question but, if you had an answer, something is clearly wrong. The thing is, not everyone will like you all of the time. Therefore, it’s fantastical for brands to think they will be able to sell their product to everyone and build brand loyalty. The only way to do that is to market to the audiences that your product has the most value. Enter audience segmentation.
If you really want to grow a successful brand, then you need to send the right message to the right people. That’s not just your overall target audience but the different groups within that audience. With audience segmentation, you can build a stronger connection with consumers, which gives you a better chance of building brand loyalty. But what is audience segmentation, and how can you use it to reach your goal? The answers are here.
What is Audience Segmentation?
Audience segmentation, also known as customer segmentation, is the process of grouping people together based on shared characteristics. There are a number of different ways to carry this out.
- Demographic segmentation: based on attributes such as age and gender.
- Behavioral segmentation: based on actions.
- Psychographic segmentation: based on perceptions, interests, and mindsets.
- Geographic segmentation: based on location.
What are the Benefits of Audience Segmentation?
Audience segmentation does take a bit of work so, of course, you will want to know what you get in return. Here are the main benefits of audience segmentation.
- A bigger increase in conversion
Marketing campaigns and promotions can cost big bucks. You don’t want to waste that money sending the wrong message to the wrong people. Providing key information to the people that will most value your product will increase the likelihood of them making a purchase.
- Increased customer retention
Audience segmentation not only brings in the customers but keeps them, too. Think of your email marketing. Thousands of people with different demographics. If you send the same message to the same people all the time, there will be a big chunk of people you just don’t get. Push them to the limit and they will eventually unsubscribe or, worse, find a brand that does get them.
- Higher engagement
There is nothing worse than launching a social media campaign and waiting for the engagement to roll in. However, if you target the right people with the right message, they will be more likely to positively react — and more quickly, too.
- Helps you stay relevant
Competition today is rife, and people’s attitudes and beliefs are constantly changing. You need to keep up with them and make sure you are sharing the right values with the right people. Consumers will feel you are growing with them and will enjoy your comfortable, unobtrusive relationship.
Brands That Have Used Audience Segmentation and How it Helped
Okay, audience segmentation can talk the talk, but can it walk the walk? Here are some marketing professionals that have used audience segmentation and reaped the rewards.
“Audience segmentation is a great way to see an increase in engagement. We decided to segment because we wanted to focus on the different types of clients we have, and our center of influence. We used audience segmentation to provide information on how our services can be used by the people most likely to share this information. It benefited our business by attracting more referral business!”
Catherine Way, Marketing Manager at Prime Plus Mortgages
“Audience segmentation allows us to put relevant marketing in front of different user personas without wasting resources. The biggest catalyst for us was when we realized some of our customers were using our product completely opposite to traditional users (trying to conceive vs trying to avoid conception). We always knew of our different buying personas but this was a big awakening for us in terms of getting out segmentation correct. Now we use website triggers + automation + interviews/feedback to influence our segmentation and corresponding messaging.”
Quincy Smith, SEO Manager at Mira
“When you segment out your audiences you are able to create a rapport and trust because you are talking to them directly about what they want to hear, not what you feel like talking about. You can segment based on revenue, products purchased, services booked, and date of purchase. Then use anyone, or even a combination of these segments to create a higher level of engagement and therefore conversion. For example in my craft business, I segment by craft and offer extra free tutorials based on each craft they are interested in.”
Tracy Smith, Owner, The Good Yarn
How to Get Data on Audience Segmentations
Segmenting your audiences is all well and good, but how do you know that it is making a positive impact on your brand? Here are some tools you can use to get data.
Google Analytics
With Google Analytics, you can isolate sections of your data and use them as the basis for different audiences. These can be based on different audiences you ran targeted campaigns or tests for. However, keep in mind that segmentation might be limited with Google Analytics, where it is easier to focus more on behavioral segmentation, i.e. people who have abandoned their cart.
Latana
Latana is a brand tracking tool that tracks how different audiences perceive a brand. With Latina, you can build custom audience segmentations and track the exact audience important to your brand — meaning it is easier to be flexible in the types of segmentation you set up. In addition, it is possible to track audience segmentation for competitors.
Hubspot
With Hubspot, it is easy to segment your customers into different static and active contact lists, as well as set up contact scoring to use lists to segment your contacts and customers. It is also possible for users to enable event-based segmentation, which is helpful in marketing an event only to the people who will be interested.
Final Thoughts
The bottom line? Audience segmentation is a necessity. Not only can it help with sales and retention, but it is also a key tactic for overtaking the competition in an oversaturated industry. And audience segmentation doesn’t have to be difficult. There are heaps of tools on the market that can help you identify, track, and market to different segments. What are you waiting for? Latana is a Berlin-based company. Backed by machine learning technology, Latina Brand Tracking helps brands make better marketing decisions by delivering scalable brand management insights
