You’ve been sending out mailers and are pleased with the design and information provided, but haven’t been receiving the replies you wanted. Could there be an error with the people you are targeting? It actually is quite common for segmentation errors to occur. Segmentation is the process of breaking up your target market into subgroups of consumers which have common needs or characteristics. It can be highly effective to market to these groups in different ways. In other words, it’s worth it to examine your segmentation techniques; it could save you money, time, and a lot of stress. A study done by Harvard Business found that 85% of 30,000 new product launches failed because of poor market segmentation. Don’t let your business be just another statistic! Learn to segment properly with these tips.
Explore all the demographic information available to you to segment your market. You can run a report which will tell you the different demographics that exist in the people you’re mailing to. Create slightly different mailers which are tailored to different demographics and measure their performance. As you continue to do this you’ll get better at understanding what works and what doesn’t, and who specifically is in each of the groups you’re targeting. Demographics such as lifestyle, personality type, how often they use your products, whether they shop online or in-store, geographic location, and the usual age, income level, gender, religion, nationality, and language are all great ways to segment. All of these categories provide valuable information about your customers which will help you to appeal to them more easily.
Make sure you are very specific when defining your segments. Being too broad and trying to encompass everyone in a certain geographic area can often mean that you’re wasting dollars on people who aren’t interested in your product, and missing out on people who would be. From the demographic ideas listed above, choose to segment people who you think will be interested in your services or who have shown interest. The next step is to use VDP and demographic-specific language in your mailers to let them know you’re targeting them directly, and that this isn’t just some one-size-fits-all ad.
Account for duplicate names and addresses to make sure that you aren’t wasting money on people who aren’t there. If you’re mailing to someone at their old address as well as their new one, you’re missing out on a potential new customer by mailing the same person twice. You also might run into trouble when contacting a customer who seemingly hasn’t ordered in a while but actually has, but there was a mix up with their name or address. Be a smart and efficient marketer by going through your mailing list to weed out duplicates.
On a similar note, ensure you are accurate in defining those you segment. Make sure you don’t confuse those buyers who have purchased once and haven’t had a chance to order again, with those who haven’t purchased from you for a while. These two segments alone call for vastly different marketing approaches, and attention to detail can go a long way.
Rather than just demographics, focus on behavior and how often customers are placing orders with you. If they are frequent, you should be too. Past behavior is the best indicator of future behavior, and watching customer behavior can offer more information than any demographic.
Take time to segment your target market correctly. This small effort to increase the clarity of who you are targeting will improve your marketing efforts by a landslide, as well as improve your profits. We hope these segmentation tips are helpful and you will put them to use in your next marketing campaign! For more tips on direct mail marketing please check out our posts on the Most Common Reasons Your Mail Isn’t Working or How to Establish Customer Trust in Your Direct Marketing. If you’re ready to move forward with your next campaign or would like further help with segmentation, fill out our web form and a marketing assistant will contact you shortly! (M-F 9-5 EST)
