In the previous marketing funnel phase, we considered the process of sorting through the mass of enquiries that your organisation receives on a daily basis and extracting those that qualify as viable leads.
The Segmentation stage entails refining and organising these qualified leads into distinct groups based on shared characteristics or preferences. Effective lead segmentation allows you to tailor your messaging to address specific needs and interests within that segment, ultimately enhancing engagement and the probability of conversion.
To illustrate, imagine organising a hiking expedition and grouping participants based on their experience level and preferences. Perhaps some hikers want a slower, more scenic hike, while others want to test their endurance with a more challenging route. The Segmentation stage mirrors this approach by categorising leads into segments based on demographic, behavioural or firmographic attributes.
In the next marketing funnel phase, we will discuss how to welcome new leads in an engaging manner and set the tone for a lasting relationship.
Key benefits of the effective Segmentation stage
Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) can help organisations set targets for effectively segmenting their leads based on specific criteria. Objectives aimed at the creation of targeted lead segments or improving segmentation accuracy will deliver more personalised and relevant marketing efforts. Key Results, such as achieving a certain level of segmentation completeness, provide quantifiable measures of successfully achieving the objective.
Objective
✓ Enhance the lead segmentation process to deliver personalised communication and offerings.
Key Results
✓ Achieve a 20% increase in email open rates through targeted segmentation and messaging.
✓ Improve lead engagement rates by 15% through personalised content delivery.
✓ Increase conversion rates by 10% via tailored offerings and promotions.
The opportunity is in the obstacle
Every stage of the marketing journey has its own unique obstacles. Addressing the obstacles in the segmentation phase offers you the opportunity to enhance the relevance and effectiveness of your marketing efforts, leading to higher engagement, conversion rates and customer satisfaction.
In our experience, these obstacles tend to fall into one of the following categories:
Processes
Lack of clear segmentation criteria can lead to ineffective categorisation of leads.
Tools & technologies
Limited CRM capabilities prevent dynamic, automated lead segmentation.
Resources
Insufficient manpower for manual segmentation could cause delays and inaccuracies.
Hidden [psychological] obstacles
Sales teams may be reluctant to adopt segment-specific messaging.
Segmentation may sound great in theory, but how exactly does it set you up for successful conversion? Inspired Business Design’s systematic approach aligns enquiries with relevant solutions, indicates probability scores, groups similar leads and assigns them to progress pipelines and welcome lists. This systematic segmentation enhances targeting precision and enables personalised communication that resonates with each segment.
7 essential components to implement in the Segmentation stage
1) Align Enquiries with Solutions
Match each enquiry with the specific products or services that align with the prospect’s expressed needs or interests.
2) Indicate Enquiry Probability
Assess and assign a probability lead score to each enquiry based on various factors, indicating the likelihood of conversion.
3) Group Similar Enquiries
Categorise and cluster enquiries with similar characteristics to facilitate targeted and personalised communication.
4) Assign Enquiry to Progress Pipeline
Place enquiries into appropriate stages of the sales or conversion pipeline based on their readiness to move forward.
5) Assign Enquiry to a Welcome List
Designate enquiries to a list for targeted welcome messages or introductory communications.
6) Prepare Enquiry List to Send Welcome Message
Organise and finalise a list of enquiries to receive welcome messages, ensuring a coordinated outreach to new prospects.
7) Performance Reporting
Record and report on the performance of each component. Monitor the reporting dashboard and check for warning signals that may indicate a drop-off in performance at a specific stage of the process.
Investing resources in the segmentation stage enables your organisation to deliver more targeted and personalised communications, enhancing engagement and conversion rates.
Allocating Resources for Growth
Here are a few resources that may be helpful during this phase:
Challenges and Opportunities
During this stage, qualified leads are segmented into similar groups based on preferences and criteria. There are valuable opportunities here to tailor communication to specific audience segments, but challenges include ensuring the accuracy and continued relevance of your segmentation strategies.
Challenge 1: Inability to adapt segmentation to changing customer behaviours
Opportunity: Develop real-time segmentation models
Static segmentation models can quickly become outdated in rapidly changing markets. Developing real-time segmentation models that continuously update based on the latest customer data and behaviours ensures that your segmentation remains relevant and effective, allowing for more agile and responsive marketing strategies.
Challenge 2: Lack of actionable insights from segmentation data
Opportunity: Implement advanced analytics and visualisation tools
Having segmented data is only valuable if it leads to actionable insights. By implementing advanced analytics and visualisation tools, you can transform complex segmentation data into clear, actionable insights. This enables marketing and sales teams to quickly understand segment characteristics and develop targeted strategies.
Challenge 3: Difficulty in integrating offline and online customer data for segmentation
Opportunity: Create a unified customer data platform
Many businesses struggle to create a holistic view of their customers due to siloed offline and online data. Creating a unified customer data platform that integrates data from all touchpoints provides a comprehensive basis for segmentation, enabling more accurate and effective customer groupings.
Challenge 4: Inability to measure segmentation effectiveness
Opportunity: Develop segment-specific KPIs and performance tracking
Without clear metrics, it’s challenging to determine if your segmentation strategy is effective. Developing segment-specific KPIs and implementing robust performance tracking allows you to measure the impact of your segmentation efforts, enabling continuous refinement and optimisation of your approach.
Challenge 5: Difficulty in translating segments into personalised customer experiences
Opportunity: Implement segment-driven personalisation engines
Creating segments is only the first step; the real value comes from delivering personalised experiences based on these segments. Implementing segment-driven personalisation engines across all customer touchpoints ensures that your segmentation insights are translated into tailored interactions, improving customer engagement and conversion rates.
* Please note that these challenges are illustrative examples, and your organisation may encounter unique obstacles specific to your industry, market, or operational context.
INSPIREDs Lead Segmentation and Targeting service empowers your organisation to categorise leads based on shared characteristics or preferences. We can show you how to leverage advanced segmentation features within your CRM system to streamline the segmentation process and deliver tailored messages to each segment.
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