How to segment contacts well?

Article overview

One of the basics of having an advanced, in terms of hygiene, account in the marketing automation system is to organize the contact database contained in it. Thanks to the variety of such systems, you can do it in many ways. In this article, we will focus on the relative basics, i.e. dividing your database into separate lists (aka segments or subscription groups) and using the option of tagging contacts.

Contact segmentation

At the beginning, it is worth emphasizing that in most marketing automation tools, uploading your own database is not complicated. It is usually a simple import process, the instructions of which are usually available on the website of the software supplier or in its technical documentation. A much more demanding issue is choosing the right contact segmentation strategy, which is certainly best implemented from the very beginning of your activities. This will allow you to keep the database in the best possible order and use its potential when it comes to targeting future campaigns. Otherwise, we increase the risk of losing control over the quality and usability of our database. Generally - the sooner we deal with it, the better for our account.

The idea of marketing automation is e.g. the fact of reaching the right recipient with the right message and it is this approach that determines the achievement of a satisfactory ROI (Return On Investment). For this to be possible, our database must be properly segmented so that we can properly manage our messages.

The first thing is to divide the database into lists / segments / subscription groups (there are many names, depending on the tool we use). It is a very convenient form of dividing the base into smaller areas, important for some reason in a given business model. An example is the division of the subscriber base of an e-commerce store into segments: "customers" and "non-customers". Then, when planning given campaigns or activations of our database, we can adjust communication between these groups, which will certainly have a positive impact on increasing the conversion rate of the campaign as a whole. For better illustration, we can refine this example. When preparing such a campaign, the “non-customers” segment could receive communication with an increased emphasis on social proof (e.g. using the opinions of existing customers), or presenting unique product features (e.g. free delivery, free returns, etc.). In turn, for former customers, you can prepare such a message with a message of thanks for earlier use of the brand's offer and an appropriate, special reward in the form of a discount for the next purchase.

In addition to creating segments, we may also use the tag function. They will allow us to quickly mark a selected group of contacts, and then use this mark when sending a message. Tagging can be done in different ways, depending on the capabilities of the tool we use. Below are some of them:

• assigning a tag during a specific import of contacts - the most popular form, it is a simple marking of contacts from the selected import to the system, e.g. "import_04122022"
  

• assigning a tag when meeting the conditions of the indicated automation rule - marking a person who meets a given condition, which is expressed through a previously constructed workflow, e.g. after abandoning a shopping cart, each contact will be assigned the tag: "abandoned_cart"
  

• assigning a tag based on the user's behavior on the website - the simplest example is the categories visited on the website, they are automatically assigned on the basis of the segmentation matrix constructed earlier in the system, e.g. will assign such a contact the tag: “child_shoes”

Summary

Segmentation is part of a certain strategy. Each user of the marketing automation system must first analyze the potential use of segmenting their own database. He should think about which groups will be more permanent in use and which tags will be more variable and dynamic. Which ones will be sent "on the finger", and which ones will be automatically. And so on..

The possibilities of this area are often limited only by our imagination, so if this topic seems interesting to you, or you feel that you are not using the full potential of your contact database - write to us without using the contact form below, and we will surely find the optimal one together solutions!