What is behavioral segmentation?
Behavioral segmentation means grouping customers based on their online (and offline) behaviour. Your customer’s behaviour is an important criteria to consider when creating audience segments for email marketing, advertising, and onsite marketing. Your customers behaviour is highly correlated to intent (their likelihood to buy). Here are a few examples of behavioral signals used when creating behavior-based segments:
- Website activity
- Visited pages
- Traffic source
- Purchase frequency
- Discount usage
- Geographic location
This type of data is also referred to as first-party data, and it can be combined with zero-party data like customer status and demographics like gender and age in order to create more detailed customer segments.
How is behavior data collected?
Data used in behavioral segmentation is mainly collected by onsite marketing software (like Triggerbee) and marketing automation software like Klaviyo and Custobar.
Marketing automation tools needs behavioral data from customers browsing your website in order to trigger automated email flows. But the data they collect is often limited to certain events such as completed purchases or add to carts. Meaning, if you want to use behavioral segmentation effectively you need to collect events from your website as well. Otherwise you won’t be able to accurately target your customers with relevant messages.
For example, in order for an email marketing software to be able to send abandoned cart emails, it needs both an email address (the recipient) AND behavioral data that can correctly identify customers on the website who has 1) added a product to their cart, 2) has not yet made a purchase, and 3) has abandoned the website.
Here is an example of how behavioral data looks in onsite marketing platform Triggerbee:
Why is Behavioral Segmentation Important?
- Focused marketing efforts
Behavioral segmentation allows you to focus your marketing efforts on your most engaged prospects. By leveraging behavioral data, you can exclude uninterested prospects and email subscribers who haven’t engaged with your content or brand recently. Instead of casting a wide net and hoping for conversions, you can focus on the individuals who have shown genuine interest in your products. You’ll increase the likelihood of connecting with someone who values your communication, and increase your chances of making a sale. - Enhanced relevance and increased messaging accuracy
Behavioral segmentation makes it relatively easy to craft highly relevant messaging that resonates with each segment. Even minor adjustments in your message can significantly improve its impact and how it’s perceived by your customers. Simply by addressing the unique motivations of different customer groups. This leads to more effective promotions and a better overall customer experience. Personalized content stands out, making your marketing campaigns more compelling and engaging. - Proactive marketing
One of the key advantages of behavioral segmentation is its ability to transform your marketing efforts from reactive to proactive. Traditional marketing often reacts to generic customer needs or trends, but behavioral segmentation allows you to anticipate customer actions. You can schedule campaigns to be triggered based on past and predicted behaviors. For example, you can implement a “Buying Intent” strategy where an email or SMS automation is triggered when a customer visits a specific product or category multiple times within a set period. This proactive approach has high open and conversion rates, significantly boosting your chances of driving sales and improving your customer experience.
Behavioral segmentation best practices
Collect person-level data
To effectively segment your audience based on behavior, you need a robust dataset. This data should come from various touchpoints such as purchase history, website interactions, email responses, and social media activities. Tools like Triggerbee offer detailed person-level tracking that captures extensive data about user interactions on your website. By having a broad and deep dataset, you can create more accurate and insightful segments, ensuring that your marketing messages are well-targeted.
Use advanced analytics tools
Leveraging advanced analytics tools is crucial for analyzing and interpreting the vast amounts of data collected. Tools like Google Analytics provide comprehensive insights into user behavior, helping identify patterns and trends. Triggerbee, for instance, not only tracks behavior but also integrates this data with your CRM, giving a holistic view of each customer’s journey. These tools help in uncovering hidden insights and opportunities that can be used to refine your segmentation strategy.
Create dynamic segments
Behavioral segmentation should not be a one-time task. Consumer behaviors and preferences change over time, and your segments need to reflect these changes. Continuously update and refine your segments based on new data and evolving behaviors. For instance, if a customer who was previously inactive starts showing interest in a new product category, they should be moved to a different segment to receive relevant marketing messages. This dynamic approach ensures that your marketing remains relevant and effective.
Integrate with marketing automation
To maximize the benefits of behavioral segmentation, integrate your behavioral data with marketing automation software. This integration allows for real-time updates and targeted messaging. Triggerbee syncs behavioral data with various marketing automation platforms, enabling you to create and adjust behavior-based segments seamlessly. Automated campaigns can then be triggered based on specific behaviors, ensuring timely and relevant communication with your audience.
Tools that allow you to create behavioral segments
Triggerbee: Triggerbee is an onsite marketing software that uses person-level tracking to collect behavioral data about your website visitors, and syncs it to your marketing automation software. This helps you create behavior-based segments based on web activity and interests.
Marketing automation software: Rule, Klaviyo, Custobar, Mailchimp, Voyado, Mailerlite, and most other marketing automation software lets you build audience segments based on your customers behavior to some extent. If you want to create audience segments based on website activity and customer “interests”, you need to integrate with an onsite marketing software like Triggerbee.
If you want to learn more about behavioral segmentation and see real-life examples how it’s used by companies like Amazon, you can read our guide to behavioral segmentation.
FAQ
Why is behavioral segmentation important?
Behavioral segmentation allows businesses to deliver more personalized and relevant marketing messages, increasing engagement and conversion rates. By understanding and responding to specific consumer behaviors, you can create more effective marketing strategies.
How can onsite marketing software help with behavioral segmentation?
Onsite marketing software tracks person-level data on websites, and integrates with your CRM. This enables you to create precise, behavior-based segments and deliver targeted marketing messages both on your website and in your owned channels like Email and SMS.
What types of behaviors should be considered in segmentation?
Key behaviors to consider include purchase history, product usage frequency, browsing patterns, and response to previous marketing campaigns. These insights can help you tailor your marketing activities to meet the specific needs and preferences of different customer groups.