What is segmentation?

Segmentation is the process of dividing your email and SMS subscribers into separate audiences based on certain traits they share, such as purchase habits, website activity, and location. 

Audience segmentation is how brands send relevant email and SMS content that leads to action. When you send personalized messages, you can expect:

  • Better engagement: Subscribers receive content tailored specifically to them, leading to increased engagement.
  • Lower unsubscribe rates: Relevant messages keep subscribers engaged, decreasing unsubscribes and spam flags.
  • Quality audience data: Analyzing segments helps you understand your audience and refine your marketing strategy.
  • Higher conversion rates: Targeted messages boost conversion rates, driving more sales and return on investment (ROI).

How to start segmenting your audience

Follow these steps to start using segmentation in your marketing strategy.

1. Choose a customer data platform

The first step of segmenting your list of subscribers is finding the right customer data platform (CDP). A CDP is a system that collects and unifies data from multiple sources at scale and makes it available for manipulation and distribution to other analytics, insights, marketing automation, and ad platforms.

Your CDP should have features that help you:

  1. Collect and store audience data, which subscribers consented to share with your brand
  2. Consolidate data with your marketing automation platform, so your audience segments are useful
  3. Model future customer behavior, so you can create segments based on how and when people might buy
  4. Use custom metrics to create sophisticated reports that tell you how audience segments are performing

2. Determine which segments are important for your brand

As your subscriber list grows, you’ll start to notice trends. These trends are clues for how to segment your audience.

Some commonly used customer segmentation criteria include:

  • Demographics: age, gender, income, location
  • Psychographics: beliefs, values, interests, challenges
  • Behavioral: purchase behavior, website interaction, email and SMS engagement

3. Start segmenting your subscriber list

Once you have your data and priority segments, you can start segmenting. Here are some ideas for how to segment your subscriber list:

  • Past purchase history: Consider what people bought, how much they spent, and how often they make purchases.
  • Abandoned cart value: Only send discounts to people who abandoned high-value carts.
  • 30-day engaged subscribers: Target people who’ve recently interacted with your business and may be open to receiving special offers because your brand is top-of-mind.

4. Track, analyze, and refine your segments

Once your campaigns and automations are up and running, keep a close eye on the following metrics:

With enough audience data, you can adjust your segments—merge, delete, or break up existing ones for a more granular view. 

Klaviyo is a marketing automation platform that unites customer data with email and SMS execution. Use Klaviyo AI to create audience segments in seconds, deliver highly personalized messages, and get predictive analytics. 

Ready to segment your audience? Sign up for Klaviyo today to tailor your marketing initiatives, increase engagement, and drive conversions.

Additional resources