List Segmentation & Why Your Business Needs It

There’s an age-old saying in Marketing, “Marketing to everyone is marketing to no one.” This message rings true in every industry – even insurance!

It’s no secret that you can cast a wide net to maximize your reach, but that doesn’t mean you are connecting with the right people. And once you have caught a prospect, if you can’t address them at a personal level, it will be hard to move them through your sales funnel. In order to do this, you’ll have to learn how to segment your database to create outreach lists to more effectively market to clients and prospects.

What is list segmentation? And why does it matter?

List segmentation is a basic marketing tactic that slices your contact list into smaller groups or segments. You can cut and combine these segments by a variety of criteria, like psychographics, demographics, industry, line of business – the list goes on! The number of ways you look at your lists ultimately is up to the type of data you have captured and stored on clients and prospects.

The importance of list segmentation is making sure you send the right content to the right audience at the right time. Studies show that by sending targeted emails to the intended segment to increase click-through rates up to at least 16%.

What does list segmentation mean at different stages of the sales funnel?

Remember not all clients are the same and there is no one-size-fits-all client. Two different clients could have very different problems and needs but looking for something similar to fill those needs.

For example, auto insurance for a single-family household vs. a business with a fleet of delivery drivers.

As you can see, knowing what clients are looking for goes much further than client identities. Beyond just who a client is, it is important to understand what stage of the buying cycle they are at. These clients need to be treated differently although they are searching for the same product.

By segmenting your clients into different lists based on where they are in the buying cycle, you can ensure that they are indeed receiving the right message at the right time.

The value of targeted content

Once you identify the segments you are trying to reach, you need to target content that attracts and engages clients and prospects much more than if you sent a general message. Think about it – if you’re in California, would you want to receive emails for hurricane insurance?

Segment your list and create content journeys for these clients and prospects to gain new clients, establish upsell/cross-sell opportunities, and maintain renewals.

Taking the next tech step

For more best practice tips and simple how-tos like this, visit the Applied Marketing Automation Hub.

Sales & Marketing, 2020