Segmentation is Full Steam Ahead in 2020 January 07, 2020, | Posted by erin

Free Quote

Call Now

Newsletter Sign Up

Sign Up

Company Cookbook

View Now

One of the cornerstones of good email marketing strategy for several years now has been segmentation. Breaking down your audience into multiple sub-groups based on different factors such as demographics, geography, and other variables just makes good sense: the concerns that a mother of two is reacting to will always be different from those of a single twenty-something man with no kids, and both of those groups will have different priorities from a 65-year-old man with grandchildren. Site Impact has talked a lot about segmentation, but 2020 is poised to see a whole new level of strategy around the tool. It’s a good idea to take a look at what trends will keep you competitive in the months to come.

 

Refined segmentation focuses on behavior

Segmentation initially was based on simple public records information: age, geography, median income, and so on. However, as more sophisticated methods of data collection have become available, segmentation had become more detailed, taking into account interests, viewing habits, and more. The new trend in segmentation is behaviorally driven, with the focus on individual habits in audiences. Powerful platforms, including social media, give marketers the ability to track prospects not just across a brand’s site, but all over the internet--and even, in some cases, in real life as well, providing a wealth of information. Focusing on your audience members’ behavior gives you the ability to respond to their concerns in a timely fashion, including offering discounts or freebies (such as free shipping) at exactly the right point to get the conversion. Email marketing is increasingly becoming about an individual experience--and focusing on behaviors across platforms will give you the key to accomplishing that.

 

More powerful tracking = more powerful data

While data collection and privacy are major concerns facing the marketing industry as a whole--with states and countries enacting new consumer protection laws in response to data raids by bad actors--the fact remains that data drives the industry, and new tools for collecting data are constantly evolving. One of the new methods include the creative use of UTM parameters--simple tags at the end of URLs that allow much more sophisticated tracking. Cookies are also becoming a more complex tool, and anonymized data and tracking abilities are growing as a feature that brands can use to learn about consumer behavior on the internet, whether on computers or mobile devices. As mentioned before, social platforms also provide a great deal of data, and that isn’t going away any time soon. The marketers that understand these developing capabilities are the ones that are going to benefit the most.

 

Segmentation is becoming more and more granular, and in 2020 all of the predictions point to a level beyond what even the wildest predictions were for the burgeoning function when it first launched. By putting efforts into better tracking, and increasingly focusing on behaviors as the driver of segments, brands can beef up their email marketing and stay competitive. Contact Site Impact to hear how we can help your efforts to always get to the next level.