In this post we will take a closer look at what personalization and segmentation actually are.
These are without a doubt two concepts you have already heard about, but for many their meaning might be somewhat more peripheral. This post is dedicated to these very concepts and their importance for marketing.
Let us start with a short definition:
- Segmentation: A division of your customers based on characteristics set by the company itself.
- Personalization: The adaptation of ads, messages, emails etc. that are relevant for the individual customer and their needs.
Why is segmentation important?
Within marketing, segmentation is an essential aspect, as it contributes to more targeted and personalized marketing, which in the end can lead to more customers and increased revenue.
By segmenting your target groups, you can use your resources more wisely by specifying which groups should be presented with which ads, emails etc., to ensure that it is always relevant content that meets consumers.
In this way, no effort is wasted on reaching groups who may not be interested or who do not belong to a segment the company is otherwise addressing.
How do you segment?
The segmentation process differs from company to company and depends entirely on what you can offer as well as what your goals are. Generally, there are some classic criteria you can segment by, such as gender, behavior, age, place of residence, and so on.
This information is necessary to create tailored experiences for customers, who will feel they are met by a company that captures their interest and pays attention to their needs.
Segmentation and personalization require data
To be able to create and apply specific segmentation that helps build personalized user experiences, data is required.
Who visits your website, and how were they led there? Do the visitors show a particular type of behavior on your website? When did this happen, and where were they located when they visited your site?
An analysis of this type of data will help your company sharpen its marketing, and it will be possible to create relevant user experiences that take your customers’ interests and needs into account.
The segmentation process and the related analysis can, for example, take place in Google Analytics based on the criteria you set up, which make sense for your company’s marketing.
Get an overview of the tools I often use for marketing here.
What do you gain from personalization?
Personalization comes as a result of proper segmentation, where target groups are well-defined and can be used to tailor marketing to show content that resonates with them.
With more personal marketing, the target group will sense that the brand reaches out to them, listens to their needs, and creates personalized user experiences. This could, for example, be content tailored to the audience’s interests, based on previous purchases, geographic location, and so forth.
In other words, it provides a unique experience for each customer and will ultimately help strengthen the target group’s loyalty to the brand.
From groundbreaking phenomenon to expected feature
In recent years, the personalization of ads has truly evolved and created new opportunities for marketing.
Relevant ads and a unique consumer experience have over time become an integrated feature in marketing, and many experts point out that consumers now actually expect to be met with personalized ads that relate to them and their behavior.
For example, if a customer has just ordered a product online, it is often expected that shortly afterwards an email will appear in their inbox with other relevant products they are also likely to be interested in.
Read more about how you can become skilled at email marketing in my guide here.
It used to be completely unheard of that an email could address a customer directly, for instance by using their first name in the subject line. Over time, however, this has become an expected feature, along with many other personalization initiatives that increase customer satisfaction and, in the end, give a greater chance of conversion.
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