4 Useful Market Segmentation Techniques for Online Businesses

Based on the buying trends and preferences of your target audience, market segmentation can be done which will help a business design sales pitch and marketing messages according to needs and interest of potential customers. Online businesses can make use of signup forms, surveys and other simple techniques to gather valuable customer data. Analyzing demographics, psychographics and geographical details of your target market can help you with basic categorization of potential customers. You can then further segment your target audience by tracking their buying behavior. Online surveys can be incentivized to understand preferences of customers, however you need to create customized questionnaires for that purpose. Have a look at some useful market segmentation techniques that are effective for categorizing your potential customers!

Utilize Demographics and Geographical Details

Start off by creating segments of your target audience according to gender, age, profession, location and income levels. You can use signup forms on the website to collect demographics and geographical details of your visitors. Knowing the demographics of your potential customers is important in understanding their buying behavior and needs. If for instance, you get to know that most of your target audience includes millennials, you can modify your product/service according to their requirements. If you are selling to businesses you can create segments based on location and company’s position.

Track Visitor Behavior to Understand Needs of Potential Customers

You can use different tools to collect data on visitor behavior to understand their preferences. By tracking visitor behavior on your website, such as most frequently visited pages, widely watched videos and number of clicks on a particular icon, you will know how many categories of customers you have. You can thus design website experience according to the needs of your target audience. Content and marketing campaigns can be revamped if you feel that a particular segment of your visitors are not finding your website engaging.

Incentivize a Quiz or Survey to Gather Valuable Information

It is hard to know personal interests and individual preferences of your target audience. However, you can incentivize a quiz or survey to collect that valuable information. You can make a short questionnaire and visitors who fill the surveys can be given a prize through lucky draw. You can use social media and Live Chat to conduct these surveys.

Look into Past Purchases to Know Customers’ Interests

Segmenting customers on the basis of their purchase history is an easy way to pitch them your products/service. There will be customers who regularly shop from you, those who are only motivated when there is a sale or discount offer and those who prefer buying a particular type of product. Based on careful analysis of this data, you can create a targeted marketing campaign.  For instance, customers who love discounts can be sent e-mails or messages about your weekly and monthly deals. Similarly, if you have live chat for your website, you can customize the chat window to display different deals and offers.