Contrary to what it may seem, the job of marketing specialists is not so much to apply sales strategies, but to define who they are aimed at. In this sense, market segmentation is the key tool for professionals and the one that can get the most out of it if done correctly.
In this article, I will tell you what segmenting a market is and I will show you some examples of market segmentation that you will surely find interesting.
Market Segmentation Examples
Market segmentation consists of applying a series of filters or selection criteria to the general population to find a segment or portion of it that is interesting for a company or marketing campaign.
There are many criteria to segment the market, however, these are the most used types:
- geographic
- demographics
- psychographic
- by behavior
Based on these market segmentation criteria, and other less common ones, companies can carry out any of the following market segmentation strategies:
- Undifferentiated: there is no segmentation, it is about reaching the maximum number of individuals possible.
- Differentiated: the market is segmented to then choose those segments that are most beneficial for the company, applying specific strategies for each of them.
- Concentrated: consists of segmenting the market and concentrating all efforts on a single segment.
Geographic Market Segmentation Example
At the outset, I will give you a very simple example, so that you can see it, well. An example that we can use in our online businesses, particularly on a website, is one of the best ways we have to do this type of business.
Example of geographic segmentation creating a website with wordpress
We want to create a business online and we decided to get fully involved in the affiliate sector of a product such as savings accounts. Be careful, this is just an example and it does not mean that it is a good idea to put it into practice, in fact it is almost certain that it would not be, but it is to give you an idea. Surely there are other more interesting market niches and especially with less competition than this one that I am going to comment on.
We bought a domain called mejorescuentasdeahorro.com (I just made it up, and no, it’s not a good example of a domain but it’s worth explaining this geographic segmentation) and we decided to position ourselves in Spanish-speaking countries.
We create pages of the best savings accounts for Africa, Spain, Colombia, Mexico, Argentina, etc.
If you realize, just by doing that we are segmenting geographically.
If we use affiliates to get income, we will realize that all those countries have different banks, so we will have to use different ads for each country.
Suppose we have a visitor from the US. Well, in this case, the logical thing is to see the ad that is only aimed at those who come from that country.
If we have one from Mexico, then you will only see the ad for Mexicans.
How can we get that?
Well, on our wordpress website, we will do it with a plugin to differentiate according to the country or IP of the visit.
Has the idea been understood?
Examples of how geographic market segmentation works
Segmentation by geographic criteria is one of the most used by companies around the world, as it gives very good results and it is very easy to identify customers. In addition, it gives a lot of play to companies, since it allows them to be classified under various criteria:
- Region
- Country
- City
- Municipality
- Postal Code
- Climate
Thus, if for example, you have an online store that sells to countries around the world, you can show different featured products on the home page depending on the weather and climate of each region.
Thus, in summer you can show flip-flops, sandals, and open slippers in the northern hemisphere, but in the southern hemisphere, it will be more effective to show closed shoes or boots. When the station changes, you just have to invert these results, showing each user a product adapted to their situation.
Another very interesting example could be an online store specializing in soccer team products. Thus, you can show visitors to Spain a home page with Real Madrid, Atlético, or even the Spanish national team jerseys.
On the other hand, if the user lives in the United Kingdom, it is much more effective to show the products of Manchester, Chelsea, or Liverpool.
Demographic Market Segmentation Example
Demographic segmentation is also a very recurring method to segment a market since you can use many variables to narrow down a segment as much as possible:
- Age
- Gender
- sexual orientation
- Religion
- ethnicity
- Studies
- Profession
- Income
- Civil status
As you can see, there is a wide variety of criteria with which you can segment a market at the demographic level. Additionally, you can combine several of them to achieve much better results.
For example, a wedding dress store can narrow down its buyer persona or target segment by looking for single women between the ages of 25 and 35 with a certain income. In this way, you can make an advertising campaign focused on the people who are most likely to end up buying in the store.
Of course, segmentation criteria can also be crossed, and if the store is located in Barcelona, geographic segmentation criteria can be applied to close the selection as much as possible.
Another very common way to segment the population with demographic criteria is using income. This strategy is often used by luxury brands, which focus their campaigns on people with high incomes.
A quick example of demographic segmentation based on income
If our product is a champagne like this for more than $500, then the tone of our marketing has to be more serious and for this, the colors, words, style, etc. play a very important role.
Is it understood right?
However, if we have a drink for the masses, we should bet on a more casual, closer style.
Psychographic Market Segmentation Example
Segmentation by psychographic criteria focuses on the personality and interests of people. As you can imagine, it is a much more complicated type of segmentation to carry out, although it can give very good results. The criteria that are usually used are:
- Personality
- Character
- Lifestyle
- hobbies
- Interests
- Values
- attitudes
- Goals
An example of this type of segmentation could be carried out by an establishment that sells sports equipment, being possible to send an email giving users a discount according to their interests.
In this way, people who like cycling will be able to obtain a discount in their section, while surfing fans can buy material for their sport with a special discount.
Example of market segmentation by behavior
One of the segmentation criteria that has been gaining the most popularity in recent years is customer behavior. Some of the most used behaviors are:
- Internet searches.
- Shopping behavior.
- Website interactions.
- Frequency of use.
- Loyalty to a brand.
- Use of devices.
- Buybacks.
- Connectivity hours.
Although to carry out market segmentation using these criteria it is necessary to collect information previously, it is increasingly easier to study user behavior thanks to websites:
- How many times have you visited the page of a specific product >> We send you an email (if we have your email) of that product or related
- Which route is the most followed by users who end up buying something >> We improve our efficiency
- How much time do they spend on the web?
- How many pages does each user visit on average?
- Have you left a product in the cart and have not completed the payment? >> Send a message or email reminder about the product
- How you got to the web >> To promote these channels
- In which pages do users usually leave the navigation >> Modify the contents, or simply delete those pages
Of all these behavioral segmentation criteria, one of the most used is abandoned carts, that is, people who have left a payment halfway. The owners of web pages where products are sold can create automations that attack this segment of the market.
Thus, these abandoned carts can receive an email within 24 hours reminding them that they have not completed the order, another within 48 hours if the first had no effect, and finally, offer a special discount in a third email to try to get the sale.
Example of behavioral market segmentation in WordPress
As a more basic example that you could find if you are an entrepreneur who has just started with the online world, it would be a website, again, with WordPress, or it could also be with Shopify, or with Joomla.
In WordPress, we can use plugins or external services that help us segment by behavior, and it is one of the most used tactics by professionals on this platform.
For this, we use platforms such as Mailchimp, ActiveCampaign, Convertkit, Hubspot, or others related to the world of E-commerce.
We want to know who are our biggest buyers of the range of X products in our online store. Well, with the right software, we can do it without a problem.
Well, with our email marketing service, we started a campaign to remind those buyers from the past that we have new products in that X range, and not only that, but we offer them a discount for having been customers.
From there you can develop all the behavioral market segmentation techniques because the truth is that there are almost no limits.
Other examples of market segmentation
Although those mentioned above are the most used criteria for market segmentation, they are not the only ones that can be applied. Other very interesting ones are:
Technological or digital segmentation
Segmentation by technology criteria groups people based on the role that technology plays in their lives. This type of segmentation can take many forms; create marketing campaigns for early adopters, identify users according to the brand of phones they use, or the type of use they make of their personal computer.
transactional segmentation
Transactional segmentation can be understood as a subtype of segmentation based on behavior since to a certain extent it is responsible for understanding the interactions that people have with a brand or business and creating segments regarding it.
This segmentation can be based on many criteria, such as the frequency of purchase by users, the type of products they usually purchase, or even the payment method they use.
firmographic segmentation
Firmographic segmentation is designed for those businesses whose customers are not individuals, but other companies. In this way, they can be classified based on specific parameters that make it possible to offer personalized services and offers. Some of these parameters are:
- Industry.
- Sector.
- Number of employees.
- The legal form of the company.
- Past returns.
- Sales distribution.
- Types of clients.
Using these segmentation criteria allows companies to direct their marketing strategies to the right customers, obtaining better performance from them.
For example, a higher quality service, and therefore more expensive, can be offered to companies with more than 50 workers. On the other hand, for companies with fewer employees, it may be more effective to make cheaper proposals, but equally attractive.
