Hit your targets: Using data segmentation to increase your bottom line.

Targeted Marketing, in its most simplistic definition, is all about getting the right message to the right people, however we all know that achieving this is much more complex. Narrowing down your target, crafting your content and then manipulating your data is not a simple process. When it comes to email marketing, although it may be easier to broadcast your message out to your entire database and hope that the more people who are exposed to it, the more conversions you will get, this may actually hinder your brand perception among contacts that have no interest in the message. If you send every communication to your entire database, a large number of your contacts may get annoyed from receiving irrelevant information and choose to unsubscribe. Alternatively, when you send relevant content to contacts based on their areas of interest, geographic location and demographic variables, the probability of engagement and therefore conversion increases drastically. A targeted strategy will also reduce the level of contacts that unsubscribe. Targeting the appropriate audience and consequently increasing your bottom line can be accomplished through database segmentation.

How to segment your database:

Although it can be a daunting task, when you are equipped with the right tools, the process becomes efficient and that feeling of being overwhelmed dissipates. Many digital marketing platforms now offer segmentation functionality which are easy to use and can be as simple as specifying one or multiple conditions and clicking a button to generate a list. These conditions can be based upon any information or data points that you have gathered on your contacts as well as their interactions with your previous marketing efforts. For example, to target consumers interested in a specific offering, you can create a segment of contacts who have visited a related page of your website within a specified time period. To gauge interest based on whether they have interacted with previous campaigns, create a segment of contacts that have opened and clicked a link in an associated email or completed a landing page to gather more information. You can target contacts based on any number of criteria. To send these interested contacts more relevant information about the offering based on their geographic location or family status, simply specify another condition. A marketing application, such as itracMarketer, collects the data and then makes it easy for you to use.

Aside from collected data, there is valuable information that can be calculated or inferred and used for segmentation. How warm your leads are and where they are in sales process can also determine what type of content is relevant. A warm lead that is sale ready does not want information that they have already seen when they were a brand new lead at the beginning of the sales cycle. Keep in mind that a capable marketing platform will allow you to automatically score and categorize leads based on their behaviour. This information can be used alongside the collected data for highly targeted communications.

What you will achieve:

The result of segmenting your database for targeted campaigns leads to relevant communications to your contacts and therefore a higher probability of engagement. An engaged consumer is one that will purchase your product(s) and spread positive word of mouth, two actions that generate revenue and grow your business. According to the EmailStatCenter.com’s information on Segmentation, “Segmented email campaigns get 14.72% more opens than non-segmented campaigns.” and “Segmented email campaigns get 62.84% more clicks than non-segmented campaigns.”

The facts are there and the concept just makes sense. Get the right message to the right people and increase your bottom line.