Segmenting Your Audience for Effective B2B SaaS Marketing

Fact: We all prefer messages and services that are tailored to our personas, demographics and preferences.

The key to acquiring new business lies in segmenting your target audience. Audience segmentation allows you to tap into our inherent need for customized, pertinent content.  It allows you to personalize your message for a subgroup within your desired market.

Subgroups can be based on age, ethnicity, position, purchase history, income and/or location. Believe me when I say, the closer you get to the root of your audience’s needs and wants, the more likely they’ll buy into your service or product.

Let’s dive into the benefits of customizing the path to purchase, how and where to segment your audience, and how to analyze buyer personas to your benefit.

 

Personalization Pros

Audience segmentation is critical in an age of competition and options. The company who can offer the most custom-built experience during the buyer’s journey usually gets the business. Through the segmentation process, you get a better understanding of what your audience wants and what it might take to win them over. Ultra-targeted marketing will help your message carry through, which in turn helps you create relationships with potential buyers. Once you’re in tune with your potential buyers and they’re receptive to your personalized content, you can address their needs with your service or product.

Buyers can smell uninspired, blanket marketing from a mile away. Trying to connect with everyone the same way makes for a bland message. Segmenting attracts leads and helps you individualize content for ideal clients.  

 

How to Start Segmenting

1. You should decide who your ideal client is

This allows you to dig a little deeper into all of the characteristics that make them who they are. Once you know who they are, you can better acknowledge what they need and how you can customize what you’re selling to benefit them.

2. Consider what attributes you’d like to use for segmentation.

You’ll be using the same methods used to find a basic target audience, but focusing them a smidge more. Here are a few ways to help you narrow in on subgroup creation:

• By demographic

• • • Location
    • Age
    • Income bracket
    • Gender (If used appropriately)

• By where they are on their path to purchasing what you’re selling

You should contemplate the different stages of a buyer’s journey to purchase. There is a big difference between someone who acknowledges your company exists and someone who is requesting a consultation. You’ll be able to adjust to their specific needs at that specific time.

• By purchasing behavior

Analyzing how, why and when your audience is purchasing can help you narrow in on how to curate your personalized content.

• By attitude and aspirations

Getting a better understanding of the psychology of a potential buyer will always serve as an advantage. At the end of the day, the company who can deliver the closest thing to exactly what the buyer wants will score their business.

Feel free to use several of these segmentation methods to create hyper-customized experiences, content and messages. Once you’ve grasped your audience’s essence, and worked around their needs, your content becomes more relevant.

 

When is Segmentation Useful

The short answer: wherever you need lead conversion.

The long answer: whenever your audience has a multitude of different needs, demographics and attributes you can consider segmenting. More targeted content creates greater engagement and leads to higher conversion rates.

However, sometimes your efforts to personalize certain subgroups isn’t needed. Many times when it may look like a segment is needed there aren’t enough varying attributes to make the segment a useful tool. Another factor to think about is the size of the audience. Is it large enough to facilitate a segment? If not, the benefit probably won’t outweigh the time spent on its creation.

 

Conclusion

People want to feel special. People want to feel like a message is somehow made specifically for them. You can tap into this fact of human nature with segmentation. We rarely respond to messages that don’t serve our interests or appeal to our personalities. Know your customer, boost engagement, convert your qualified leads and grow the amount of business you have with a little fine tuning. Audience segmentation is an essential tool to keep in your marketing toolbox.