4 Reasons Why You Should Segment Your Audience
Every marketer in their heart of hearts knows they should segment their audiences. When you don't segment your audiences it can feel like you're screaming into a megaphone from the top of a building to people passing by...with their headphones in. That was an awkward simile to say, you should put the megaphone down, get off the roof and start speaking to people who want to be spoken to.I'm going to break down four reasons why you should segment your audiences without the use of metaphors, similes, analogies, or puns. (Prepare yourself for the shortest TIV blog of all time.)
You have multiple audiences
When you take the time to really dive into your customer data you'll soon discover that you do have multiple audiences. Your email audience is different from your social media audience, which is usually different from your in-store traffic, which is usually different from your online traffic. These four simple audience segmentations will vary in age, gender, income, geography, and interests.In addition to how people interact with your brand, what if you sell multiple products? Then you really need to segment your audience. Clothing stores are a perfect example. Most stores have a ton of options for people with different styles and levels of sensitivity to price. Some of your customers only shop when there is a sale or some of your customers only shop when new styles hit the shelves. It's important to know which audience is which and how to best interact with these people so they are continuously fed the content they want.
Increases engagement
When you segment your audience, you begin to feed them content that they want to receive. Thus your engagement with your customers' increases...dramatically. I'm not talking specifically about social media either. The clothing store, Express, does a phenomenal job of segmenting their email lists. I am an Express rewards member and there are only two styles of shirts I buy from Express and absolutely nothing else. I buy their slim fit work shirts and their polo Ts.When I receive an email from Express about new clothing, styles, and sales I only receive information about slim fit work shirts and polo Ts. They have me figured out and because of this my engagement with their brand increases, I never see clothing or styles I'm not interested in. I am properly segmented into the "dudes who buy the ugly slim fit work shirt and polo Ts when they are on sale" category.
Reduces unsubscribes
Because Express only sends me content I want to see, I haven't unsubscribed from their emails, I haven't canceled my rewards program and I jump on deals as they come around. As long as they continue to send me sales on the shirts I buy I'll continue to be a part of their program.
Reduces abandonment rate
This is always a big one in the e-commerce world. When I do find a sale and a shirt or two I simply cannot live without, I almost always click-through and purchase. Feeding content to the proper audiences does wonders for your abandonment rate, which will generally equal an increase in sales.It's time to put your nose to the grindstone (the ban on metaphors, similes, analogies, and puns didn't last long) and segment your audiences. Dive deeply into your data, your customers, and your products. Find what each audience wants to see and hear, and by doing so you'll increase engagement, reduce unsubscribes and reduce abandonment rate.