Improving Customer Loyalty with Market Segmentation

Customer loyalty can have an enormous impact on the success of your business. It costs organizations far more to find new customers than it does to retain existing ones. So, to grow your small business, you want to find ways to build stronger relationships with your customers to encourage them to continually return. The better you understand your prospects and customers, the easier it is to provide them with the information and services they want to see from you. As you continue to meet their needs, they will begin to feel a sense of trust in your business, thus building brand loyalty.

Market segmentation can be a fantastic tool for improving your lead nurturing and building this relationship with your customers. Here is what you need to know to get started.

Market segmentation involves dividing your audience into key groups that allow you to deliver a personalized form of marketing. It can be tempting for businesses to squeeze all their customers into a “one size fits all” buyer’s journey, but this can be highly inefficient. Your customers will need different types of content and different levels of attention depending upon their unique profile.

When you segment your marketing lists, you can customize your marketing efforts based on the specific profiles provided by the segmentation lists. This higher degree of personalization will empower you to better align with your customers’ needs, and consequently improve engagement. Personalization also drives better relationships between customers and businesses, improving loyalty.

There are several different methods you can use to segment your prospect lists. On the most basic level, you can break down your lists based on key demographics. For example, you might want to send different types of content based on the size of the business, the industry or the position of the prospect at the organization. This tends to be the most straightforward form of segmentation.

If you want to take your efforts even further, you can also segment your lists based around consumer needs. This will require coordination between your marketing and sales groups. As your sales team speaks with prospects, they can ask key questions to help you identify the categories that best define each prospect.

To better understand your customer needs, you might want to look at factors such as:

• The type of relationship the prospect would want to have with you. Some customers want only a short-term relationship, where your brand will be reevaluated on a regular basis. Others might want a long-term relationship, where they can trust the brand to provide them with their services and not have to worry about continually evaluating options.
• The decision-making ability of each prospect. Some prospects will need to get the approval from leaders in their organization, while others might be a more straightforward process: once you convince your contact, your sale will be done.
• The prospect’s priorities when making a purchasing decision. For example, some might want to look strictly at price, while others will place a higher value on services and trusted recommendations.

Market segmentation can be a powerful tool for engaging prospects and driving customer loyalty. By demonstrating your improved understanding of the prospect’s needs, it will be easier to address their concerns, thus closing the sale and building the relationship.