Behavioral segmentation is more than a marketing technique. It helps you study the behavior of your audience. You can deliver smarter personalized emails by analyzing client needs and intentions.
Keep reading and learn about the 5 tactics that can make your email strategy more convincing!
Table of Contents
What Is Behavioral Segmentation?
Behavioral segmentation doesn’t concentrate on static factors like age or location. This form of segmentation analyzes the reasons behind customer actions and patterns.
Many marketers think that customer behavior is an accurate predictor of future actions. You can expect people’s intentions in the future if you analyze their current activities.
This approach includes analytics and customer feedback to identify behavioral patterns. This information helps you build stronger relationships and communicate with clients more personally.
Here are the main elements of behavioral segmentation.
Purchase Behavior
Purchase behavior studies how people make decisions regarding their transactions. It identifies purchase triggers and circumstances.
Some people act impulsively. They react to emotional triggers or limited-time offers. Others plan and research everything carefully before buying.
You can adjust your strategies by creating flash sales for impulse buyers and detailed product guides for research-driven customers.
Usage Rate
Usage rate segmentation divides customers based on how often they use a product or service.
The first segment is heavy users. They are typically your most valuable audience. So, they respond well to loyalty rewards or subscription plans.
Medium users usually need discounts or bundle offers to increase their usage. Light users need educational or awareness campaigns to understand the product’s full value.
Loyalty Status
Customer loyalty is another critical factor in behavioral segmentation. Not all people remain committed to one brand. Some of them stay loyal for years, and others switch between competitors.
You can divide customers into three categories:
- Highly loyal;
- At-risk;
- New.
You can strengthen retention strategies and prevent churn by understanding these loyalty levels.
Occasion-Based Behavior
Occasion-based segmentation focuses on when people make purchases. Certain products or services are used only during specific times or life stages.
The key occasions include
- Everyday purchases;
- Special events;
- Personal milestones.
You can use this data to find the perfect time for scheduling your campaigns.
Benefits of Behavioral Segmentation for Email Campaigns
Behavioral segmentation is a strong strategy that helps you move beyond simple demographic data. As you can guess from the name, it divides your subscribers based on their behaviors.
This approach lets you send relevant messages that align with individuals on a personal level. What is the result?
Higher Personalization and Relevance
A huge advantage of behavioral segmentation is its effective personalization. It helps you design messages that match the unique habits of every subscriber.
This personalized approach shows your clients that you respect their individual needs. It motivates them to interact with your messages more often. By combining behavioral segmentation with a powerful Salesforce Mass Mailer, teams can send highly targeted email campaigns at scale while improving personalization, deliverability, and overall engagement.
Engagement Rates Boost
Engagement is the foundation of email marketing success. Behavioral segmentation is a top method to increase it. Matt Blumberg once said
“Reaching the inbox isn’t your goal. Engaging people is.”
Generic email blasts often feel impersonal and irrelevant. So, recipients usually ignore them or unsubscribe. Behaviorally segmented messages are more timely and meaningful.
For instance, you could send
- Welcome series emails;
- Replenishment reminders;
- Milestone messages.
Subscribers will feel more understood, and they will start interacting with your messages more often.
Improved Sales Performance
Behavioral segmentation doesn’t just increase clicks. It can drive real sales. Matching your marketing messages to subscriber actions helps encourage purchasing decisions.
A shopper may put products in their cart but abandon the purchase. You can trigger an automated email to remind them about the items and prompt them to return. Follow-up messages can also raise your average order value.
Segmentation turns information into opportunity. Every interaction is your chance to convert interested buyers into active ones. It helps you improve your overall revenue and marketing ROI.
Customer Retention
Customer acquisition is your first step. The biggest challenge you’ll experience is keeping them. Behavioral segmentation allows you to nurture customer relationships long after the initial sale.
You can track user engagement and responsiveness to emails to identify loyal customers, occasional buyers, and inactive users.
This data will help you create individual retention strategies for each group.
Top 5 Behavioral Segmentation Tactics
Behavioral segmentation goes beyond traditional marketing. You already know that it helps you increase engagement and improve customer retention.
Yet, you need a systematic plan to deliver more relevant campaigns and strengthen relationships. Here are the top 5 segmentation tactics you can use.
Segment by Purchase Behavior
Purchase behavior reveals what motivates your customers to buy. You should study their purchasing patterns to categorize them into segments, like
- First-time buyers;
- Occasional shoppers;
- Repeat buyers;
- Brand advocates.
You can offer new clients personalized messages, including a discount for their next purchase. Returning buyers might receive loyalty benefits or early access to new releases.
This method lets you adapt your offerings to spending habits and product preferences. It will help you nurture stronger brand loyalty over time.
Use Customer Journey Stage
Customers move through different stages of the journey. Each stage requires a unique communication approach. Behavioral segmentation allows you to deliver content that matches where the buyer currently stands.
| Stage | Focus | Strategy |
| Awareness | Brand discovery | Provide educational or entertaining content |
| Consideration | Option comparison | Offer product demos and testimonials |
| Purchase | Removing friction | Use personalized offers or free shipping |
| Post-purchase | Loyalty encouragement | Referral programs and product care tips |
Your marketing becomes more persuasive if your communication matches the buyer journey. This approach helps you create a smooth experience that stimulates repeat business.
Use Engagement Levels
Customer engagement is a strong indicator of connection to your brand. Some people engage actively. They open every email and click through your website. Others show minimal interest.
Dividing customers by engagement level allows you to adapt your strategy for each segment. You can develop different campaigns for active participants and for passive subscribers.
Active users could receive
- Invitations to exclusive events;
- Sneak peeks of new collections;
- Loyalty programs.
Disengaged users might benefit from reactivation emails or surveys asking what went wrong to regain their attention.
Engagement segmentation helps you improve deliverability. You can make your marketing messages relevant to the current interests of each recipient.
Target by Website or App Activity
Your website or app behavior data can reveal valuable details about customer interests and preferences. You will get clues about what users are looking for by tracking actions, like pages visits, time spent on certain sections, or adding items to the cart.
We recommend that you categorize your audience by these interactions to send relevant follow-ups. For example, you might share an informative email featuring case studies or success stories.
A timely notification will motivate your consumers to complete their purchase.
Behavioral Scoring
Behavioral scoring is often used in marketing automation and CRM systems. It quantifies user interest based on their actions.
Each activity earns a score that reflects engagement or purchase intent. A higher score shows that the lead is closer to conversion.
This approach helps you spot strong leads and adapt your engagement tactics. You can direct qualified leads straight to sales representatives. They will handle personalized outreach.
Prospects with lower scores can enter a nurturing sequence to build interest over time. Scoring can also help you identify customers at risk. So, you start developing retention strategies to restore engagement with them.
Conclusion
Email campaigns are an excellent instrument for sales and marketing. However, you need the correct strategy to use their potential fully. Behavioral segmentation is a common method most marketers use.
This tactic allows you to categorize your audience based on their actions and perception of your brand. It is usually the most accurate way to predict the future actions of your clients. Some of the strategies you can use include
- Purchase behavior segmentation;
- Engagement levels;
- Web activity targeting;
- Use the customer journey stage;
- Behavioral scoring.
Hope that our guide will help you create an effective personalized email marketing campaign!