No matter how many products or services you sell and offer, or how small or large your company is, no two customers are alike.
Because of this, it is important to make sure that you are always recognizing the trends and patterns that exist with your customers and your target audience. That way, you’ll have the data and information you need to effectively target, reach, convert, and retain these people.
To help you with this, turn to the behavior segmentation process.
Behavioral segmentation
In this blog post, we discuss defining behavior segmentation (a process that is part of behavioral marketing), a tool that you can use to group your customers based on their behavior and actions, and examples of behavioral segmentation.
What is behavior segmentation?
Behavioral segmentation is the process of grouping customers into categories based on their behavior or actions that affect your business. That way, you can target and market them more effectively.
Behavioral segmentation
To aid your behavior segmentation efforts, we recommend implementing a tool like HubSpot’s behavioral targeting software.
You can use a tool like HubSpot, which comes in a free or paid version with one of the Premium Marketing Hub plans, to collect data on how your target audience is interacting with your website, content, and other marketing collateral.
You can also take advantage of the active list feature, which is used for advanced customer segmentation, targeting, and audience building.
By integrating HubSpot with your behavior segmentation workflow, you will send targeted messages and relevant material to your target audiences at the right time. This process is also automated with target group triggers.
With HubSpot’s behavioral targeting tool, you can also:
- Create hyper-segmented lists based on persona and their engagement.
- Use CRM data (via your connected all-in-one CRM platform) to customize your content.
- Share well-timed and engaging care campaigns.
- Identify and record specific behavioral events throughout the customer journey that lead to conversions among your prospects.
Pro tip: Use HubSpot’s behavioral targeting tool to greatly personalize reach and make every interaction you have with prospects and contacts special.
Behavior segmentation variables
Behavioral segmentation variables to consider when categorizing your target audiences include:
- Sought-after product / service advantages of your target group.
- Audience member’s product / service usage rate.
- Loyalty status of the public member.
- Phase of the buyer’s journey in which an audience member is.
- Size of your market segment.
- Accessibility of your market segment for your product or service.
- How niche your market segment is.
Next, let’s look at some examples of behavior segmentation.
Behavioral segmentation examples
There are a number of examples of behavior segmentation – also known as ways to segment your customers based on behavior. Here are some common examples.
1. Buying behavior / transaction history
View a customer’s purchasing behavior and transaction history. This sheds light on how and why they are opting for a conversion, and which stages of the buyer journey are going smoothly while a prospect may encounter a minor roadblock on their way. It also gives you an idea of the exact behaviors that are likely to predict a conversion.
2nd occasion
Was it a specific occasion or time that influenced your customer’s decision to convert? For example, is there a specific time in the year when they interact with your brand (e.g. if you’re an online greeting card service provider, you can get repeat customers every year around the winter holidays). Is a purchase decision based on the time of day or even on the phase of life?
3. Customer loyalty
Customer loyalty provides solid insight into customer behavior – loyalty relates directly to a customer’s habits, actions, needs, usage, and the timing of their actions.
To leverage customer loyalty when segmenting customers by behavior, consider: 1) which parts of the customer journey are comfortable enough to lead to loyalty, 2) how you are currently delighting loyal customers, 3) which prospects are most likely to be loyal and 4) what traits your loyal customers share.
4. Wanted benefits
Identify what your customers want from your product or service – of all of your features, which ones do they need most to solve the challenge (s) they are facing? What specific advantages do you have from your product and which of these advantages is most important to you?
Determine which of these benefits will influence your decision to get the most out of your product / service.
5. Customer journey phase
Knowing which stage of the customer journey leads to the most conversions, or which stage prospects get stuck in the most, is helpful in predicting behavior and segmenting customers based on that behavior.
It is important to note, however, that using customer journey phases in behavior segmentation can be tricky because there are so many phases – and within those phases there are multiple touchpoints that contribute to behavior or the decision to admit in a phase stay or move on to a new phase, the buyer’s journey.
For this reason, it is recommended that you use a platform like your CRM or an AI / machine learning tool – they will record and track all interactions during the buyer journey to ensure you have a complete view of the behavioral data of your buyer journey Customers receive.
6. Commitment
Engagement refers to the type and frequency of engagement you see from specific customers. You can segment your customers by high engagement versus average engagement versus occasional engagement.
Highly committed people are the ones who incorporate your brand into their lives on a regular basis.
Average users may interact with your brand or product / service on a fairly regular basis, but they may not realize its full potential and possibilities.
Occasional users may only interact with your brand or product / service randomly based on their specific needs, but they do not rely on them.
7. Use
Usage refers to how and / or how much a customer uses your product or service. This may include segmenting your customers based on actual use of the product / service, frequency of use, duration of use in a single session, or the most frequently used features.
You may be able to further categorize your customers into more specific usage categories – for example, heavy users versus average users versus light users.
Better grow with behavior segmentation
Behavioral segmentation is a great way to effectively and efficiently target your leads and customers to drive conversions. It helps you plan your communications and follow-up, and tailor your content in a way that feels personal. Take into account the behavior segmentation variables and incorporate a tool like HubSpot for further assistance throughout the process.