6 Customer Segmentation Examples for Better Mobile Marketing

No matter what type of app you have, every single one of your users is unique – and each one will react differently to your marketing campaigns. Too many apps waste valuable resources targeting users who are unlikely to respond. Not to mention, blasting users with generic messaging is a leading cause of uninstalls.
So how can you tailor your marketing efforts to reach the right audience?
We’ll cover the customer segmentation best practices you need to know, along with engagement strategies and examples for key user segments.
Read on for the details, or get the gist quick in our Slideshare:

What is Customer Segmentation?

First a customer segmentation definition:
Customer segmentation involves dividing customers into groups based on similar traits.
By segmenting users, mobile marketers can make the most of their campaign budgets by targeting the right audiences. You can speak directly to those who are most likely to convert, without wasting money on impressions or users who aren’t ready to buy. And you can personalize marketing messages to more effectively nurture prospects down the funnel.
The most common types of customer segmentation are:

• Demographic Segmentation – based on gender, age, occupation, marital status, income, etc.
• Geographic Segmentation – based on country, state, or city of residence. Local businesses may even segment by specific towns or counties.
• Technographic Segmentation – based on preferred technologies, software, and mobile devices.
• Psychographic Segmentation – based on personal attitudes, values, interests, or personality traits.
• Behavioral Segmentation – based on actions or inactions, spending/consumption habits, feature use, session frequency, browsing history, average order value, etc.

Depending on the user data your CRM or mobile marketing platform collects, there are zillions of attributes you could use to divide your audience. But not all of them will help you create meaningful segments that are actually useful for your business.

Customer Segmentation Analysis Best Practices

So how do you go about dividing your user base in a way that helps you achieve key business goals? Follow these rules of thumb for an effective customer segmentation strategy.

1. Know your users. What acquisition channels do they come from? Why and how do they use your app? How does your solution solve their pain points? Learn as much as you can about your current customer base and their app usage habits.
2. Don’t get too specific. Communications expert Frank Luby advises his “three-adjective rule”: if you can’t describe your segment in three adjectives, it’s too complicated. Segments like “users who follow ‘80s rock playlists” are more actionable than “users who listened to ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ in the last 24 hours.” After all, segments need to be big enough that targeting them is worth the effort.
3. Set prioritized goals. Once you’ve created a few segments, define a goal for each. This way you can guarantee that your user segments are actionable and that your marketing efforts and engagement campaigns are tied to specific, measurable business goals.
4. Test and optimize. What’s working for key groups of customers? What isn’t? A/B or multivariate testing is essential for refining your marketing strategy and meeting (even exceeding!) campaign goals.
5. Revisit your segments. You can’t take a set-it-and-forget-it approach to segmentation. Your users will evolve over time – both who they are and how they use your app. Revisit your segmentation strategy periodically and look for shifts in size, behavior, and engagement. Does your current messaging still resonate with each segment, or do you need to refresh your approach?

6 Customer Segmentation Methods + Strategies

1. Activate New Users

Create a segment of users who have launched the app for the very first time, or users who downloaded the app but never launched it. Since they’re not yet engaged enough with your app to launch it on their own, use external channels like email, push notifications, and SMS to reach them.

Engagement Strategies
Send a welcome offer to prompt them to explore your app or make their first purchase.

Introduce them to key features to show them what your app has to offer.

2. Monetize Active Users

This segment includes users who regularly launch the app but have yet to make a purchase. (Note that how you define an active user will depend on your app type, since not all apps are meant to be launched every day — or even every week.)
Engagement Strategies
Send personalized recommendations or discounts based on their product/content browsing history.

3. Build User Habits

Once you’ve introduced new users to your app, you need to keep them engaged over the long term by encouraging them to incorporate it into their personal habits. Create a segment of users who have launched your app recently, but don’t launch it on a regular basis.
Engagement Strategies
Send push or in-app messages to engage these users with personalized content or product updates.

Send personalized push notifications with relevant deep links that take them straight to a page of interest in your app.

Share advanced features and pro tips to help them get more out of the app and encourage them to become power users.

4. Upsell Converted Users

Getting users to convert is great, but to grow your business you need repeat customers. To target this audience, create a segment of users who have previously converted but have a low average order value or purchase frequency.
Engagement Strategies
Offer a rewards or loyalty card to this segment to encourage repeat purchases and higher order values.

Advertise paid features or exclusive subscriber content to prompt upsells. For example, the Spotify app triggers this pop up when free users try to skip too many songs:

5. Turn Loyal Users into Advocates

One of the best ways to grow your user base is through word-of-mouth. Create a segment of power users who have high session length and frequency to let them know how much you appreciate them and encourage them to share the app.
Engagement Strategies
Let these users know how grateful you are for their loyalty, and acknowledge their contributions to your business or community.

As power users, this segment has proven they love your app. So offer mutual incentives to spread the word and invite their friends.

Since you know these users are happy with your app, they’re the perfect segment to ask for app store ratings and reviews. Just make sure to ask at a time when it’s not disruptive to the user experience, such as the middle of the checkout process or during an in-app search.

6. Re-engage Dormant Users

These are users who used to be active on your app, but have dropped off recently. The specifics of how you’ll define this segment will depend on your app’s intended usage frequency. But a good rule of thumb is to include users who haven’t launched the app for longer than twice their usual interval. For instance, if a user typically launches your app once a week, add them to this segment if they don’t launch for two weeks.
Engagement Strategies
Send a push notification or SMS to let them know what’s new since they last launched your app, and offer a discount or promotion as incentive.

Send an update on new connections that have joined your app since they last visited.

The Easy Solution to Customer Segmentation

Without a powerful analytics platform, you won’t have the customer data you need to create the right segments. And without built-in messaging, you won’t be able to engage those segments effectively.
CleverTap is designed to make segmenting and engaging your audience easy, no matter how many users you have. Features like RFM automatically create user segments for you, from champions to inactive users, and give you instant insights into the best channels and tactics to engage each one.