What I learned about segmenting customers

“Be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength lies.” — Mother Teresa

Divide your customers

Throughout the past five years working with startups, I did not pay too much attention to my customers. I mean, ok I would look over the database to see how many users we had or how they use our app, but I didn’t pay attention to what kind of users we had, who they were, how they thought, or how they communicated…

How did I discover that it’s important to know your customers? By trying to speak with them and failing. When I tried to reach out, I realized that my blanketed cold email: “Hey, thank you for using… can we have a chat?”, were ignored. Most of the users deleted the email without even opening it. And I thought, “How can I make them at least open my email?”

I started to learn who my customers were by dividing them into groups by gender, app activity, paying or non-paying, location. I then created custom emails for each category, for example, if a country had a national holiday I might send a personalized holiday-themed email, or if they are active on the app I can send them an email with some special offers, or if they are paying customers I can send them an email with a discount. Once you know your users, there are many options for communication.

Responsiveness

Did they respond? Yes, of course, the response rate grew with 40–50%. This route is obviously more time consuming than a blanketed email, but the results are worth it. By doing this I was able to make connections with my customers, I had a new image of my clients, and I could send them more personal emails and make an increased connection. Most importantly, I was able to grow my startup based on user interaction and feedback.

Make your segmentation

Make a sketch of your current and ideal users. Create a few different sketches of your customers and shape your marketing approach from there. It can even help you shape your user experience.

Some general criteria for segmentation:

- spending

- gender

- where they live

- age

- socio-economic group

From there, you can go into more detailed categories and create special content for them. By creating specific content for a group you are showing your interest in them. It allows you to create a bond with your customers that will last for a long time. When you get personal with your customers they will pay more attention to your app and they will feel important to you, as they should be.

Moving forward

There are a lot of great articles on segmentation — like this one by Andrew Ford — Vice President, Marketing & Communications at Pitney Bowes about why segmentation is good and how to use segmentation to attract acquire your customers.

From Market Segments to Strategic Segments: Who are our valued customers?; Which customers are unhappy with current offerings in the industry?; Is the target large enough to meet our sales objectives?; What is our value proposition?; Does it fit the needs of customers we are trying to serve?; What benefits are we delivering?; Can we deliver and earn a profit?”

The new era of customer interaction it’s here. The more saturated the market comes, the more personal we must be we our clients. Treat your customers as your friends, not just as entities paying your bills.

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