Understanding Your Audience: The Importance of Segmentation
I think one of the things that commonly gets misunderstood when it comes to personalising marketing is that people tend to overshoot. With a bombardment of information, itâs easy to get caught up in some sort of paradox. Sort of. What this leads to is a tendency to send out generic marketing messages to all consumers so as not to exclude anyone.
What many tend to forget is that not everyone wants the same thing from a brand and even if they do, they want it for different reasons. Some are there for the discounted rates while others are there for the shopping experience. What all of this makes clear is that a one-size-fits-all approach wonât quite cut it. So what do you do.
You start by segmenting your audience. No two brands are the same and neither are their consumers. The important part is in identifying these differences and catering communication based on these preferences and nuances. Sure, segmentation can be just as complex as targeting a whole audience but when done well, it pays off in terms of customer loyalty and retention - something we canât afford not to have today.
Demographic Segmentation: Tailoring Messages by Age, Gender, and Income
Thereâs this idea floating around in marketing circles that grouping people by age, gender, or income is occasionally a bit old-hat - the sort of dusty strategy you might use if youâre out of ideas. But I see it more as one of those classics that works because itâs deeply true. Lumping everyone together is what we do when we donât have a whole lot of time, and to be fair sometimes it does help us see bigger patterns that weâd miss if we were all about the details. It all comes down to this: How people behave and what they want depends on things like where they are hardly ever in their lives, what it means to be them in this world (their gender), and what they can afford.
Brands who acknowledge these needs build connections that are strong and reliable over time. How you approach someone whoâs 22 is different from how youâd talk to someone whoâs 55 - not because of any arbitrary societal rules but because their experiences are fundamentally different. But there is a caveat - two people who look almost identical on paper might react very differently to exactly the same message, while two people who seem worlds apart might be equally enthusiastic about your brand.
This is why understanding these broad demographic groupings is only a part of building relationships with your audience. Itâs about finding meaning in things that matter at a fairly large scale while still leaving space for people to have their own stories.
More or less. From an outside perspective demographic segmentation might seem a bit dated, but I see it as a way to sift through all the noise and build proper relationships with people based on who they are at their core.
The main thing is sometimes to be mindful and approach this with awareness - using research and data (yes) but also empathy and understanding.
Psychographic Segmentation: Connecting Through Values and Lifestyles
The biggest misstep people make with psychographic segmentation is assuming all they need to know is a customerâs age, gender or education. Iâve seen brands fumble this when, for instance, they push the same product with nearly-identical tone to a 21-year-old intern and a 37-year-old PhD student. And yes, both groups are fairly similar on paper - but their deeply-held beliefs and values are markedly different. I hesitate to say itâs easy to get right.
Sort of. But it isnât impossible either. Psychographic segmentation is generally about getting on the same page as your customersâ values, lifestyles and beliefs - then using that information to create marketing efforts that speak directly to them, in a language that feels familiar. If youâre able to effectively communicate your brandâs values and ethics while clearly showing how your products can help these groups live their best lives - youâve got them hooked.
Thereâs something else about psychographic segmentation that Iâm not sure enough marketers pay attention to: the fact that people arenât necessarily wedded to a single set of beliefs or values at all times. For example, someone can be passionate about sustainability - but if theyâre also deeply price-conscious, they may not choose the most ethical product on your website if it costs them an arm and a leg. Segmenting consumers solely based on their âpassion pointsâ can quickly become flawed if we overlook that some elements matter more than others at different points in time. The way I see it, that being said, understanding why people buy things (and what factors influence those decisions) is rarely always helpful in creating more targeted communication strategies.
Strong brand loyalty often emerges from connecting with customers at a level far deeper than âI want this shirt because it comes in my favourite colour. â If you care about who your customers are as individuals - even if one person is supposedly built of two seemingly-contradictory halves - youâll reach them better through authentic communication that holds space for nuance.
Behavioral Segmentation: Targeting Based on Purchase History and Engagement
People sometimes make the mistake of thinking behavioural segmentation is nearly always the be-all and end-all of consumer engagement. Targeting your audience based on their purchasing behaviour, or even their online browsing behaviour, will help you get more engagement, but itâs no guarantee of sales. Marketers have access to a wealth of data that can comparatively help them track what websites people visit, what products they looked at and how long they spent there.
But behaviour isnât always a reliable metric. Some users are possibly simply not comfortable sharing personal information and get slightly uncomfortable with how much advertisers know about them. More or less.
Others like to browse for things but not buy them or want to see alternatives before making up their minds. And in some cases, a person may never interact with an ad for a product or service but still end up buying it anyway because they need it. The thing is, using behaviour as a way to segment your audience is far from perfect, but itâs still worth doing.
If you can track buying and browsing behaviour across different customer segments (even those based on different factors such as age group), you can start building some useful insights about who likes what product best and why. Itâs also possible to identify customers who add something to their cart and then abandon it without completing the purchase â so you know thereâs interest but not enough motivation to buy just yet. Using the data generated by tracking online behaviours, marketers can create targeted campaigns that speak directly to customersâ needs â whether that means creating content that helps them with information about a product or offering discounts or loyalty rewards for repeat purchases (and monitoring how customers respond). The way I see it, the main thing is not to lose sight of the fact that humans arenât binary creatures whose lives revolve around shopping for things online; people often have other things going on too.
Geographic Segmentation: Localizing Marketing Efforts for Maximum Impact
When people think about location-based marketing, I think most imagine a slick campaign peppered with local slang and maybe a picture of the townâs famous clock tower. Thatâs part of it - but not close to the real story. In my experience, the real success in geographic segmentation comes from much more than just changing the copy on an ad or switching up the graphics.
Itâs about learning and almost embracing the quirks that make local communities tick and letting them feel seen through your marketing. Iâve seen so many brands try to pull off localisation by throwing together cringeworthy videos with forced âlocalâ references. That gets you nowhere. What you need is a genuine connection between your brand and your consumers and that can only happen when you understand their culture, values, interests, and yes - even down to their dialects.
Localising your marketing efforts means catering to these differences instead of serving generic content that feels copy-pasted with a new logo each time. Of course, Iâd be lying if I said this approach isnât difficult or sometimes unpredictable. With varying levels of awareness about what local consumers want - especially in rapidly developing markets - this entire process can sometimes get pretty overwhelming for marketers who donât have much experience in this space.
But once you figure out how to make things work and connect with your consumers, things get easier very quickly. Marketing efforts rooted in deep research and extensive empathy towards local communities always pay off more than campaigns where brands use superficial efforts to connect with them. People can spot a fraud a mile away and being able to build that trust right from the start is exactly what leads to more conversions in specific locations over time.
Implementing Data-Driven Strategies: Tools and Techniques for Effective Segmentation
Most people reckon that data-driven marketing is simply about collecting some data, running a few analytics, and job done - youâre now an expert on segmentation. I Suspect but thatâs hardly the case. Data-driven strategies are far more involved than what meets the eye.
If I had to get into specifics, theyâre as much about what you do with the data as how you collect it and put it to use. The latter bit often gets overlooked in pursuit of big numbers or perhaps even because we can feel overwhelmed by the sheer size of information we have access to today. Sometimes, a simple spreadsheet is all you need.
Sort of. Even if that does seem like a long shot right now. The way I see it, but perhaps the most important thing about effective segmentation for personalised marketing is learning how to listen to your audience - as well as what theyâre saying.
Even with tools like Google Analytics, HubSpot, Salesforce, and MailChimp, unless youâre able to truly analyse your audienceâs behaviour and gain insights from it, your segmentation efforts may fail at personalisation. And one final thing - donât stop once you have created segments. Use A/B testing methods on sample groups to see which segments respond best to each email or message before investing time and money into sending out mass emails to people who may not even be interested in what youâre offering.
Involve all stakeholders from sales to marketing teams so everyone can benefit from better data-driven segmentation practices that will ultimately create more relevant campaigns for customers as well as drive up revenues across departments within an organisation.