Nashville web design has the best marketers and we know that reaching customers isn’t simply a one-size-fits-all solution. It’s personal. When you look around and listen for it, everyone is talking about creating a connection. And that’s true in business too. We’ve found that there is no better way to get more personal with your e-commerce business than customer segmentation.
According to SearchSalesforce, customer segmentation is “the practice of dividing a customer base into groups of individuals that are similar in specific ways relevant to marketing.”
In other words, it’s dividing your customers (and potential customers) into groups so you can communicate with them more personally, which allows you to market your products more effectively. There are a lot of ways to divy up your customers. Our Nashville web design team uses Google Analytics to first get the data and then to divide it up. The most common categories that customers are divided into are demographics, geography, psychographic characteristics, and behavioral habits.
Once you divide your customers into groups, you can use the data to serve your audiences better and connect more deeply. This will help you grow your online business. Let’s take a closer look at why every online business owner today needs to use customer segmentation:
You can deliver more personalized messaging
Imaging a retailer emailing their customers a sales email about their new Christmas product line. The email has three women at the top wearing scarfs, hats, and big sweaters. The subject line and opening heading are about Skipping to the Beat of the Holidays. The problem is half of the folks receiving that email might be men. And that message won’t translate positively to some men. Let’s discuss how we can fix this.
Segmenting allows you to collect a ton of useful data on your customers. As discussed earlier, our Nashville web design group knows it’s all about connections and personalization. With segmentation, you’re able to learn helpful details about their buying habits and preferences. From there, you can deliver messages that meet your customers exactly where they are.
With this type of personalized marketing, you serve your customers with what they’re likely to purchase. And cut out the wasted time and cost. Everybody wins. You make more sales and your customers learn about (and purchase) products that align with their needs and wants.
You can purposefully expand to other markets
Segmenting your customers also allows you to make more informed decisions when growing into specific markets. Do you have a certain demographic of people that is most likely to spend money on a product? You can start a campaign that targets this group.
On the other hand, are you spending a hefty amount of marketing dollars on a group of people that simply isn’t likely to spend much money on your products? It’s probably time to reassess your strategy. John Warrillow has a great, indepth book called “Drilling for Gold” that dives deep into small business. He discusses how we often market to the wrong people based on general assumptions and how costly it can be. When you know your customers’ behaviors, you can adjust your marketing strategy as you grow into new markets.
You can improve customer retention
It is far cheaper to sell to an existing customer than to obtain a new one. What it take to retain a customer? At Nashville web design we know tha tretaining customers means facilitating an ongoing relationship with them. With more data, you can stay connected to your customers in a more helpful way. For example, if somebody just bought hiking boots on your site, you can follow-up with an email about hiking socks you offer or great places to hike in their area.
You can even use valuable customer data to create better product pages. As you build up a track record with your customers, they’ll be more likely to turn to you for their needs. Be sure to ask customers for feedback and take note of specific trends. This give and take is the key that will grow your business.
One strategy that we’ve used with some of our customers in Nashville is to segment customers based on product purchases that will need an upsell or add on more than once. For example, a customer who purchases a paint sprayer will often need paint refills. Someone purchasing a growler will often need more beer. Purchasing anything that ties to another product can be a good way to increase retention and repeat business. Of course, you could also go with a subscription model but many products don’t lend itself to that very easily.
There are many benefits to segmenting your customers into groups. We’ve discussed creating a personalized connection with them, using the information you gather to expanding into flanker markets, and improving customer retention. Gathering the data and dynamically segmenting your customers often happens on your website and requires a skilled web developer like we offer at our Nashville web design company. More importantly, knowing what to do with the data and how to do it is something we’ve been working on for years. Helping businesses grow starts with that connection so we’re here to help connect with you and help you reach your goals.
Do you want to learn more about how to segment your customers and how segmentation can work to make your business more profitable? Schedule a free consultation with us! We won’t make it salesly and aim to give as much value as possible because we want to see great companies deliver great results.