PPC

9 Customer Segmentation Models & How to Use Them for Marketing

Published

4 months ago

August 4, 2023

9 Customer Segmentation Models & How to Use Them for Marketing

Customers are the lifeblood of your business. You need to understand their pain points, desires, wants, and needs.

Today, you can use technology and customer surveys to gather information about your customers. Then you can use this important data to understand your customers better, so you can ultimately serve them to the best of your ability (while improving revenue, customer service, and your return on investment). This process is called customer segmentation, and it’s how you can understand every part of your customer base.

We’re going over nine customer segmentation models and how to use them to improve your marketing.

What is customer segmentation?

Customer segmentation is the process of grouping customers by similar characteristics. Think of it like planning a wedding reception: you group together tables of your friends, tables of friends, and a separate table for food.

Different customer segmentation models separate customers by geographic location, behavior, demographics (age and gender), and values. You can separate your customers by whatever criteria you want.

How customer segmentation models can help your business

Customer segmentation models give you insight into your customers. By understanding the age, gender, location, values, and behavior of your customers, you will be able to tailor your offerings to their needs.

Improved customer service

With customer segmentation, you can give your customers better service. When a customer reaches out to your support team, your customer support agents will have information gathered from customer segmentation models. They’ll be able to provide smoother, faster customer service.

That’s good news for your business: 90% of customers will spend more with businesses that personalize their customer service.

customer service personalization stat

Improved advertising campaigns

A farmer in small-town Indiana won’t share the same needs as a first-time homeowner. Yet both customers can buy the products they need from John Deere. If John Deere started advertising combines to homeowners, it would be a waste of the company’s time (and advertising budget!).

By using customer segmentation models, John Deere can split its customer base into segments so the company can pinpoint and target different people’s needs. John Deere, and any other company, can send relevant ads and communications to the perfect customer. This in turn leads to more sales, higher conversions, and less useless spending.

customer segmentation models benefits - audience targeting

Improved communications that engage your customers

Customer segmentation models will help you understand more about what your customers need and want. The communications they receive from you will be relevant to their lives and interests, instead of something they ignore.

customer segmentation models example - messaging targeting

9 customer segmentation models for your business

Use these nine customer segmentation models to connect with specific customers so you can increase your sales, spend advertising money wisely, and improve your customer service.

1. Demographic segmentation

Demographic segmentation is the one you’re probably most familiar with. This customer segmentation model separates customers by:

Age
Race
Gender
Marital status
Income
Education

Demographic segmentation can be used by marketing teams, customer service representatives, and researchers. There are no limits to how you can use this information!

You could:

buying motive - self actualization - ad from college that appeals to self actualization buyer motive

This school likely used demographic segmentation to target current students.

2. Behavioral segmentation

With behavioral segmentation, you can separate customers by how they use your brand. For example, you can divide them by:

How they use your products.
Buying patterns.
How they shop (in person or online).

This information will be most useful with personalized ads. You can target loyal customers with similar products.

You can also use it with your customer service team. Study your customer’s behavior and look for frequently asked questions. Then create a FAQ page, help desk, or automated customer support chats that address them.

customer segmentation - behavioral segmentation use examples

3. Psychographic segmentation

Psychographic segmentation is all about the inner feelings and attitudes your customers hold. It includes:

Values
Interests
Attitudes
Personality types
Lifestyle
Opinions

This type of customer segmentation model allows you to get the most personal point of view into your customer’s thoughts, beliefs, and feelings. Run customer surveys to gather some of this info.

Then, use psychographic segmentation to appeal to their perceptions.

Showcase your environmental, LGBTQ, and diversity initiatives with passionate customers.
Sell handmade goods to customers by using the personal stories of their makers.
Identify customers who have similar interests (like reading) to sell related products to (like bookmarks).
Create a customer persona (a fictional character) who represents a customer segment.

example of psychographic customer segmentation model in action from canva

4. Value-based segmentation

Value-based segmentation is all about the level of value your customer is offering you. With this customer segmentation model, you’ll measure your customer’s return on investment (ROI). You’ll be able to identify your most loyal customers and understand where you’re losing value. You can sort customers by how many purchases they make, how much they spend, and how often they buy.

Use value-based segmentation to understand the lifetime value of your customers so you can increase the ROI.

Identify which customers buy products with high and low prices.
Implement a chatbot to answer customer questions.
Send messages and special sales to unsatisfied customers.
Create a rewards program to increase sales.

how to increase average order value - loyalty program example

5. Geographic segmentation

Geographic segmentation is pretty obvious. This customer segmentation model groups people together by location, including country, state, city, and town.

By understanding where your customers are based, you can serve them better. You could:

Send tailored communications celebrating local festivals and traditions.
Use local terminology, slang, and knowledge to appeal to them.
Identify opportunities for secondary locations.

This is also essential when targeting your ads to local customers.

google ads location extension example

6. Technographic segmentation

Teghnographic segmentation separates your costumes by their comfort level with technology.

You can gain this knowledge by:

Sending out customer surveys.
Looking at how people access your site.
Discovering what brand of devices customers use (Apple, Android, etc.).

customer segmentation models - technographic - example of data in google analytics

You can see what devices people use to visit your website in Google Analytics.

Then you can use this knowledge to:

Decide if launching a mobile app is worth it.
Understand how to improve your existing SaaS product.
Design products for people less familiar with technology.

You can also use this information to determine if you should use a marketing strategy like geofencing or SMS marketing to target people on their mobile devices.

7. Needs-based segmentation

Every customer needs something different from your company. With needs-based segmentation, you can figure out what you need to improve on. Needs-based segmentation groups customers by problems and desires.

For an example of needs-based segmentation, let’s look at food delivery. If Home Chef delivered its food boxes at the wrong time, customers would be upset about spoiled goods. But by allowing customers to choose delivery days, the company can provide better customer service.

Here’s another example of needs-based segmentation: accessibility. Not all of your customers can see your brand photos, or hear your videos. By putting accessibility measures in place, you can reach every one of your customers.

customer segmentation models - need-based - example for accessibility on website

8. Firmographic segmentation

Firmographic segmentation is when you separate customers by company attributes. You can use firmographic segmentation to group customers by company size or structure, industry, revenue, and type of organization.

Find this information by looking at public data sources, company websites, annual reports, and press releases.

This type of segmentation is most helpful when your customer base is primarily companies, small businesses, and other organizations.

9. Lifecycle stage segmentation

Another type of customer segmentation model is grouping customers by where they are on the customer journey. Lifecycle stage segmentation divides customers into different stages so you know how to target them.

customer segmentation models - lifecycle journey - buyers journey example graphic

You can use data from your CRM or lead management software to track and tag customers or prospects to better target them through this customer segmentation model.

Here’s how you can use lifecycle stage segmentation:

Identify how to help potential customers.
Find new ways to keep customers engaged.
Improve onboarding for new customers.
Reduce customer turnover.

Start using customer segmentation models now

Using customer segmentation models is the best method of separating customers by different characteristics. Gathering these insights will lead to new strategies, processes, and policies that will improve your business.

Here are the nine customer segmentations models you need to know:

Demographic segmentation
Behavioral segmentation
Psychographic segmentation
Value-based segmentation
Geographic segmentation
Technographic segmentation
Needs-based segmentation
Firmographic segmentation
Lifecycle stage segmentation

By using these customer segmentation models, you’ll be able to provide your customers with the best you have to offer. As a result, you’ll have more loyal customers and more sales.

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Related Topics:customer Marketing Models Segmentation seo

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The Easy Guide to Facebook Video Ads for Any Business

Published

2 days ago

December 8, 2023

Max

The Easy Guide to Facebook Video Ads for Any Business

Social media platforms are focusing more and more on video content. Facebook used to be a place for folks to upload their photos into albums to keep them organized and share what they’d been up to, but with the increase in popularity of TikTok and Instagram Reels, users are now so much more accustomed to scrolling through endless videos designed to make them laugh, cry, or stay informed. With this change in user behavior, it’s now more important than ever to be sure you’re creating engaging content that cuts through the noise and stands out.

An example of a Facebook video ad.

Video ads on the Meta Business platform (which reaches Facebook and Instagram) is a great way to do this. Although the ability to churn out video ads regularly was reserved for brands with big budgets in years past, new tools and AI have helped democratize this and now any brand can advertise using high-quality videos without spending much at all.

In this post, I want to talk through some best practices for Facebook video ads and show you some tools you can use to execute those strategies.

Facebook video ads best practices

Follow these Facebook video ad tips to squeeze the most out of your Facebook ad costs.

1. Create videos in all aspect ratios

If you’ve used Meta Ads recently, you probably know there are tons of different placements your ads can show up on the network. The good news is that to cover this vast list of placements, you only need to come up with three distinct aspect ratios for your video ads:

Having videos in each of these aspect ratios ensures you’re eligible to show in all the placements you’d like to.

We’ll talk later about how you can make these aspect ratios if you don’t have a dedicated creative team, but in the ad creation process, you’re able to select different video files to fit into each aspect ratio. Facebook will then automatically serve the creative with the right sizing for each spot to ensure you have the best-looking ads.

Now, while it might not seem like a huge deal to have all three ratios, I think it’s actually one of the easiest things you can do to help make sure your ads look good and stand out. In the image above, you can easily see how different an ad will look in the vertical and horizontal placements if you only have a square image. They’re not bad, necessarily, but they certainly don’t have the high-quality, professional look that most users have become accustomed to in recent years.

🛑 Want to know how your Facebook ads are really performing? Find out with our free Facebook Ads Performance Grader!

2. Be prepared for all sound options

If you’re a Facebook or Instagram user, you’ve likely visited the platforms in all sorts of scenarios. With full sound while sitting on your couch or in your bed. Maybe you have your headphones in while out in public, or maybe you’re even one of those crazy people with their sound up on the subway. But odds are, there have been at least a few instances where you were on those platforms and didn’t have the sound on at all.

For each of these instances, you were bound to see ads and the level of volume you were using likely had an impact on how sticky those ads were for you. Designing your ads to be digestible regardless of a user’s sound level is highly important.

Here are a few questions to ask yourself while crafting Facebook video ads sounds:

Do you have an engaging/entertaining voiceover?
Is there music you can choose to fit the mood of the ad?
Do you have subtitles for the voiceover in case someone’s sound is off?
Is the voiceover clear and easily understandable even in a loud environment?

3. Get your main message across in the first 3 seconds

No matter what the original purpose was for someone to visit social media, the main point is that they’re not there to view your ads. I feel very confident in saying that for the majority of people visiting Facebook or Instagram, they’re not there to see what product or service you’re selling.

Similar to ads on YouTube, users are pretty easily able to skip and scroll past the ads on Facebook and Instagram. That is, unless you run non-skippable ads, but those are pretty rare. So, you need to make sure you’re making a big impact in the first few seconds of your ads…before the remainder of it is skipped. If you do a good job of creating a compelling hook in that short time, you can certainly draw their attention for longer, maybe up to 15-30 seconds, some even longer. But odds are, your views will be short so you need to be front-heavy.

In this time, it’s important to get your business name and core brand messaging across so that even if a user does scroll past you, you’ve at least made that much of an impact. They’ll have a higher chance at brand recall later if they’ve heard your name in that brief intro. This can include text, voiceover, business logos, and more, so be creative, engaging, and entertaining.

4. Blend into the platform aesthetic

In my experience, the best ads on Facebook or Instagram (I’m typically an Instagram user) are ones that blend into the platform aesthetic. The ads that typically entice me the most are the ones I don’t really know are ads until I look down to see the Sponsored messaging down at the bottom.

The best way to discover this is to become a user of the platform itself. For Instagram, go to the Explore tab and type in some of your key terms, maybe the same ones you use for search or maybe some terms that mirror the interest or behavior targeting you’re using for your campaigns.

See what the grid looks like. What shows up? What brands are there? How are they marketing to people? While you may not want to become just part of the noise, blending in allows you to make a greater impact and feel more natural to the audience.

For example, I have a renewed interest in landscape photography and am in the market for a new camera. If I were a camera brand (or someone selling camera-adjacent things), either of the two grids above could help give an idea of what my ads can/should look like to blend into the platform. Then, make sure you follow the other best practices above to get your message across.

💡 Ready to improve your Facebook ads? Get 16 effective strategies for Facebook ads to try now!

5. Retarget users who engage with your videos

I might be biased, but one of the biggest mistakes I think advertisers make is not retargeting people who watch their Facebook videos. Sure, they might find their way to seeing you again through prospecting or they may remember you enough to come back to your site, but why would you target people (who you seemingly thought were valuable) once, then not work to target them again? Especially after they are already aware of you?

On the Facebook ads platform, you can make audiences of users who have engaged with your videos in many different ways. Just head to the Facebook ads audience manager and choose Video as your source for an audience.

From there, you can choose how they have interacted with those videos. Did they watch the whole thing? A certain percentage of it? Think about where your value propositions and messaging hits in those videos and be sure to include that in your audience filters.

Next, you can choose the videos you want to retarget people from. Yes, you can select only certain videos if you think they’re more impactful, part of a separate campaign, etc.

Lastly, you can choose how long you want to reengage with someone who watched those videos for that amount of time. One error I see is always setting the time frame to the longest possible setting. Now be honest…if you saw a video ad once 180 days ago, do you think you’re still a hot prospect for that brand? Probably not. Make sure you keep that in mind when making these audiences. Higher engagers can likely stick around longer, but lower engagers probably should be let free from your retargeting grasp a bit sooner.

Helpful Facebook video ad tools

Now that we have some best practices out of the way, I want to talk about how to make the Facebook video ad creatives. Not every Facebook video ad has to be done by a hugely expensive creative shop. Some can be done just as well with your own means, and sometimes for free! Here are some of the top Facebook video ad creative resources your business can take advantage of:

Yes, phone cameras are acceptable

A big expensive camera only makes world-changing videos when there’s an amazing photographer or videographer behind the lens. For most people, a camera phone will do just fine. In many cases, they’ll do better than if you tried to use an expensive camera due to all the ways the tech companies are making them easier to use.

Next time you need to put together a video, take a shot with your phone first. Many times, those videos will turn out great, and will help fit you into the platform aesthetic naturally as much of the content on Facebook and Instagram is also shot on a phone.

Facebook’s cropping tool

Once you have a video, there are options in Facebook ads to adjust your creatives for different sizes.

In the image above, you can see we have a square video that needs cropped to vertical. Granted, this would be a terrible user experience, but if your video does lend itself to this easy cropping, there is an option directly within Facebook to do that for you.

Facebook video builder

If you don’t already have any creatives and you need to build something almost from scratch, Facebook also has a video creation tool you can use to put together videos.

You can use existing images combined with Facebook’s video ad templates to make a video for your account. There are tons of templates that allow you to control for colors, text, timing, and more. Just lead on the user-friendly builder and you’ll end up with a platform-ready Facebook video ad in no time!

Canva

While there are some paid in-platform upgrades, Canva is a great tool to get just about any type of creative made (video or otherwise).

There are countless free templates you can customize to help promote your brand. Canva also includes easy options to convert one theme into a new aspect ratio, helping you to cover all the video sizes as I mentioned above. In short, if you’re a novice to video marketing but need to get something done, you should check Canva out.

Create great Facebook video ads today

Facebook and Instagram video ads are a great way to interact with your customer base and are only getting more necessary as other platforms lean into video. It doesn’t take any particular expertise or deep pockets to get your Facebook video ads up and running. Just a bit of patience and some guidelines and you’re on your way!

When you want to improve your results, follow these Facebook video ad best practices:

Create videos in all aspect ratios
Be prepared for all sound options
Get your main message across in the first 3 seconds
Blend into the platform aesthetic
Retarget users who engage with your videos

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How to Make a Click-Worthy YouTube Thumbnail (+Free Tools!)

Published

3 days ago

December 7, 2023

Max

How to Make a Click-Worthy YouTube Thumbnail (+Free Tools!)

With millions of videos vying for attention, your YouTube thumbnails serve as the first point of engagement for potential viewers. These seemingly small images carry significant weight in attracting clicks and views.

YouTube thumbnails provide a snapshot of your video content, setting expectations for what viewers can expect. A well-crafted thumbnail not only piques interest but also conveys the essence of the video.

In this article, I’ll share everything you need to know about YouTube thumbnails, including tools to create them, tips to keep in mind, and other lessons I’ve learned from running my own YouTube channel.

What is a YouTube thumbnail?

A YouTube thumbnail serves as a visual snapshot of what a video contains. It appears as a small image next to the title of the video on YouTube’s search results page, related videos section, or the recommended videos section.

This image plays a crucial role in attracting potential viewers and encouraging them to click on the video. The design and content of this thumbnail often influence the decision of a viewer to watch the video or not. Therefore, it holds significant importance in the world of YouTube content creation.

YouTube thumbnail size

The best YouTube thumbnail size is 1280×720 pixels. This is an aspect ratio of 16:9. The minimum width you should shoot for is 640 pixels.

You should also shoot for a relatively small file size—under 2MB. YouTube thumbnails can be saved as JPGs, GIFs, or PNGs.

YouTube thumbnail tips

Your YouTube journey begins with a single image—the thumbnail. This seemingly small, but critically important element is the initial gateway for your viewers.

“If people don’t click, they don’t watch. So, you want to give them something to click,” said YouTube star MrBeast.

Here are some tips to create effective YouTube thumbnails.

Make them engaging

Think of your thumbnails as digital hooks to capture your audience’s attention. Make them visually striking, vibrant, and engaging.

💕 Want more tips and ideas? We’ve got 130+ for you! Get the guide >> 130+ of the Best Online Marketing Tips for Generating More Traffic, Leads, & Sales

Be consistent

Building a recognizable brand on YouTube starts with consistency in your thumbnail design. A uniform style helps viewers easily identify your content. In addition to consistency in your thumbnail design, keeping a close eye on others in your field who share your audience is a smart strategy.

Checking out what your competitors are up to can give you helpful clues about how many people click on their stuff. This helps you see how your channel’s look, content, titles, and colors stack up, so you can ensure you’re putting your best foot forward.

As you can see below, MrBeast’s thumbnails are visually striking and attention-grabbing, featuring bold colors, expressive facial expressions, and compelling imagery. He maintains a consistent style in his thumbnails, making them instantly recognizable to his viewers and helping build a strong brand presence on YouTube.

Represent your video accurately

Your thumbnail should provide an honest representation of your video. Misleading thumbnails can lead to viewer frustration and backlash.

Create an emotional impact

It’s well known that emotions are contagious. This means that watching someone else have an emotional reaction to something can cause you to have the same reaction.

Humans react to other human faces, and it’s an easy trick to get more people to click on your YouTube videos. Humans will naturally assess the emotional state of the face. When their mouth is open, it’s usually to show that they are surprised. When someone sees this surprised reaction, they are enticed to see what is so surprising.

🚨 Speaking of emotion…get our free guide >> 135 of the Best Words & Phrases for Marketing with Emotion

Learn and adapt

Continuously analyze your analytics to adapt your content and strategy based on audience feedback and changing trends.

The thumbnail below was my first to go well (in relation to my other videos). The simple title in the thumbnail, the upward arrow, society’s current fascination with ChatGPT, the length of the video, me in it—smiling and wearing something that matched the color scheme of the thumbnail. These are things I took note of as potential drivers of success for future videos and thumbnails.

Source

Free YouTube thumbnail makers

Here are a few YouTube thumbnail creation tools to try, including the one I use for all my thumbnails.

1. Fotor

I use an app called Fotor to create my thumbnails. Fotor is a fantastic all-in-one platform that makes thumbnail creation a breeze. It’s an easy-to-use photo editing and graphic design tool, available in web, desktop, and mobile versions. It provides a full suite of tools that cover most image editing needs, including face retouching and image-generative AI.

Fotor also includes advanced AI-powered tools such as background remover, image enlarger, and object remover, which make complex edits simple.

I created a super simple video walkthrough where I use it to create a YouTube thumbnail. Check it out here.

2. Canva

Canva is a design tool (with a free option) that can help you create impactful YouTube thumbnails. Simply navigate to the site, choose YouTube thumbnail as your design option, and find an already-created template to customize or create your own design.

Within Canva, you can adjust colors, add your own images, and brand your YouTube thumbnail with your business logo.

3. Visme

Visme is another online design tool that makes it easy to create YouTube thumbnails. Like Canva, Visme has already created templates that you can choose and customize according to your branding.

Simply choose your template, customize it, download it, and you’re all set!

Start making effective YouTube thumbnails with ease

Creating a great YouTube thumbnail is only one piece of the puzzle when it comes to effective video marketing on the site. But the right YouTube thumbnail strategy can help you build consistency, attract people to click on your videos, and increase engagement with your content.

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12 Holiday Emails for Customers (Templates & Examples!)

Published

5 days ago

December 5, 2023

Max

12 Holiday Emails for Customers (Templates & Examples!)

How to put your customers into a holiday slumber 😴 :

To our valued customers,

As the end of the year draws near, we’d like to take this opportunity to extend a heartfelt thank you to all of you for your support. Thank you for choosing us and we wish you a wonderful holiday season and happy new year!

sleepy bored face

Want to send an authentic holiday email this year that your customers will actually want to read? This is your cheat sheet!

How to use these holiday email templates

This post contains both the copy and creative you can use for your holiday customer appreciation emails. These emails are longer and more personalized—great for your most loyal customers or for businesses with a small client base. If you want shorter, more general copy, head on over to my holiday greetings and messages.

The copy is also pasted into some templates I made in Canva, which you can access with a free Canva account!

Here’s the link to the templates in Canva.

free holiday email templates in canva

Holiday customer email tips

In such a short piece of content as this, small details have big effects. Here’s how to get it right.

Express gratitude! Customer appreciation is the goal here.

Keep it short and use a conversational tone. This is an e-toast, not a live journal.
Be inclusive of all holidays, and be warm and positive, but not overly hyped—the holidays can be difficult for many people.
Make it visual with creative graphics or a team photo.
Share your growth and achievements to give customers a reason to stay confident in your business. BUT make it about them—the growth you achieved with their support. What you achieved together.
Connect it back to your mission (NOT your value prop).
Focus on the future. Speak to an ongoing relationship, but not through a CTA or sales promotion. Save that for your year-in-review email.

Words & phrases to make your holiday email message authentic

Take a gander through these words and phrases you can use that the other gajillion businesses out there aren’t using:

Instead of ‘valued customer’

Don’t call them valued, make them FEEL valued through your messaging.

Dear customers
To our awesome customers
To our customers near and far, old and new
To all of you
To each and every one of you
To the Baker & Co. family
To the SparkLife community
To you and your families
Dear customers, partners, and your families
Friends
First name (if you have a small list and can MANUALLY do it).

Instead of ‘exciting year’

It’s been a…

Lively
Rewarding
Exhilarating
Electrifying
Wild
Awesome
Zestful
Refreshing
Bustling
Bright
Spirited
Rousing
Rigorous

….year!

Instead of ‘as we approach’

Any “as we.” As we approach, enter, wind down, you know them all. How about:

Every year, I/we
If you’re like us, you are…
As the saying goes…
One of my favorite quotes is
Ask a question
Whether this email finds you ___ing, ____ing, or ___ing, we hope it finds you well!
As I sit here listening to [unique/meaningful/inclusive song name]
Exactly 11 months ago, we were…..
When we started out this year we _____. Little did we know…
Here at ___ we believe in ____, so…
One of our core values here at ____ is ____.
As I write this email, I’m watching the snow falling outside my window for the first time this year.
As it turns out…

Instead of ‘take this opportunity to’

Take THIS opportunity to remove yourselves from the mileu by using phrases like:

Words can’t describe our…
We’re reaching out to say…
We want you to know that…
We extend our deepest…
It is with pride and joy that we…

Instead of ‘thank you for your support’

Nothing wrong with this statement, but make it better with specifics.

Thank you for…

Trusting us with your ____
Using ____ for your ____ needs.
Confidence and loyalty to _____
How much you’ve [taught us, inspired us, encouraged us, etc..]
Choosing us as your ____ provider
Giving us a reason to come into work each day
Showing up to our events
Your reviews, social shares, votes
Positive vibes, enthusiasm

5 holiday email templates any business can use

To make your life easier, I’ve compiled some templates that incorporate the tips and words and phrases above. Check’em out.

If you want to You can also customize them in Canva