Customer segmentation is a hot topic today as businesses want to be more efficient in controlling the cost of customer acquisition. So, what is customer segmentation?

Customer segmentation is all about identifying how you can maximize profits from your customer base. It’s about creating specific segments or categories of customers across a variety of data points so that you can create marketing campaigns that target each category’s specific pain point.

There are Three Types of Customer Segmentation

1 Priority Segmentation

The simplest route when building customer segments is to use existing, widely available demographics data like company and industry size. Start small, and then keep associating more data to your original segments to create highly targeted groups for your sales, marketing, and support teams.

2 Needs-based Segmentation

When you have data on customer conversations and interactions with your business, you know which customers are looking for specific features in your software product to solve their needs. You can conduct primary research on those needs to identify groups most likely to buy from you.

3 Value-based Segmentation

This is a relatively simple approach that is often underestimated.  Here you create segments based on potential value that you can derive from individual customers, based on their interactions with your business at any touchpoint.

A good and simple way to get started is to analyze your product line and segment your customers based on what they purchased. This is called a product focused segmentation. This is often used by businesses as a way to upsell products and services to your customers. Another efficient approach is to segment new leads based on their timing. Here you are evaluating engagement with new prospects then separating them into lists for specific follow up activity.  Segment examples would be hot leads – those making a decision in 30 days; warm leads – three to six month out; and cold leads – those not making a decision for six months or longer.  Your marketing efforts should be different for each category or segment.

Many companies utilize automated programs such as CRM software to segment their customers and prospects. If the software has a built-in e mail marketing capability you can then create and send marketing templates targeted at each specific segment. To learn more about customer segmentation visit https://commence.com/software-features/customer-segmentation-software/

About the Author:

Commence Corporation, manufacturers of Commence CRM, has taken a leadership position in this area.  Commence CRM offers customer segmentation tools and a bulk e-mail marketing capability with built in automation that enables you to set up your marketing programs for the entire year. For companies that may not have marketing expertise on board, Commence also offers a service where their staff will design and distribute e-mail marketing campaigns for their customers. It is an all-in-one service for customer segmentation and marketing.