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30+ Of The Most Important Ecommerce Segments That 2x Sales!

30+ Of The Most Important Ecommerce Segments That 2x Sales!

We all agree that personalized marketing sells. There’s nothing worse than getting a generic message aimed at no one in particular.

But if you wanted to quickly double your sales – how would you do it?

Would you run more promotions?

Offer bigger discounts?

Spend more money on ads?

You could all of those things. But a more effective – and cost-free tactic – is Customer Segmentation.

By segmenting your customers into (ideally smaller) groups based on something they have in common, you’re effectively making it more likely that they’ll convert on your offer since it’s higly tailored to them.

You can then take action and reach out to these personalized groups of customers across their most active and preferred marketing channels (like email, push notifications, ads, etc).

But let’s focus on segmentation first off.  Here are 30 of the most important ecommerce segments that will DOUBLE your sales!

That might sound impossible, but a recent study found that segmented campaigns have a 14.31% higher open rate, as well as a 100.95% higher click-rate!!!

We’re going to dive into each of these critical segments – and explain exactly what it is and why you should drop everything and make sure you add these segments to your business right now.

There are 3 large areas we’re going to cover in this post:

  1. Ecommerce Triggers
  2. Demographic Data
  3. Seasonality
  4. Conclusion

Don’t worry if this sounds like a ton of work. It is. But it will get you real results.

Plus the good news is that tools like ShopHero does a lot of this automatically for you. So if you want to make extra sales fast – but don’t have the time or expertise to do all this configuration and multi-channel marketing, you’ll definitely want to have a look at ShopHero.

So let’s dive right in!

Section 1: E-commerce Activity Triggers

Using customers’ own ecommerce behaviors and data are critical segmentation points (and easy opportunities to generate more sales).

This is probably the easiest data to collect as it’s all based on what your customers do with your store! No need to send surveys or anything like that!

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Here are some of the most important Customer Segments to create:

1. New Subscribers  

What is this segment?

New subscribers are basically waiting to become your customers. Be sure to be extra helpful and nurturing towards them and aim to convert them into paying customers ASAP!

Why is this segment important?

Easy! The faster you convert prospects to customers, the stronger your funnel and better your sales will be!

How to act on this segment?

Be extra helpful, provide education, special offers and a simple way to get started with your products (like Top Picks, Most Loved Products, Starter Kits, etc).

2. High Activity / Engagement

What is this segment?

This group of customers eagerly awaits your emails and definitely engage with them when they get them! Be sure to reward them to keep engagement high!

Why is this segment important?

Having an active group of customers that are engaging with your marketing messages is very important for sales and building strong relationships.

How to act on this segment?

Stick to a regular marketing schedule. Reward this segment for the 

3. Low Activity / Engagement

What is this segment?

The opposite of High Activity. Low Activity contacts won’t often open your marketing messages… and they don’t click around much if they do. There’s an opportunity to grab their limited attention and engagement with your brand and either make them super excited customers or get one last purchase out of them.

Why is this segment important?

Despite your best efforts, these customers may be on the way out – forever. Make one last sale if possible.

How to act on this segment?

Don’t send them regular marketing – you need to catch their attention with a compelling offer that will pull them back in. These people have purchased from you before but clearly aren’t diehard fans.

Don’t have the time to read the whole article? Download The PDF Cheatsheet Of 30+ E-commerce Segments Click here to download

4. Abandoned Cart

What is this segment?

These customers have shown an extreme degree of intent by adding products to their cart – and then something happened! Rescue these sales as quickly as possible by offering them big discounts before they go somewhere else!

Why is this segment important?

It’s better to make a discounted sale than no sale at all. Plus making a sale opens the door to upsells, refills and related products. Don’t underestimate the power of that rescued sale!

How to act on this segment?

Give out a discount right away. Your window to convert this customer isn’t a big one. So make sure your efforts to convert them are high.

5. Abandoned Browse

What is this segment?

These customers have shown much less intent, but do spend time on your site or a specific product or collection page.

Why is this segment important?

There’s still intent to purchase when a customer is spending time on a product page or collection. So help them act on it!

How to act on this segment?

Send a special offer on the spot and make them a happy customer!

What is this segment?

Identifying customers based on which coupons they’ve previously used is also extremely helpful in making more sales!

Why is this segment important?

If they’ve used coupons once, they are likely to use them again 🙂

How to act on this segment?

Structure your “used coupon segment” based specific coupon names or combinations (depending on what coupon offers you’ve made available)

6. Purchase history

What is this segment?

There’s actually a ton of data you can pull out of a customer’s purchase history. Each one can inform your marketing in a few different ways….

Why is this segment important?

Some of the data you can get back includes:

      1. Purchases (in dollar value)
      2. Purchases (in quantities)
      3. Frequency (how often between purchases: Monthly? Once a quarter?
      4. Type or Product
      5. Number of Transactions
      6. Ordered last 30 days
      7. Orders placed via channel
      8. Used Specific Delivery Method
      9. Used Specific Payment Method

How to act on this segment?

You can create several different campaigns based on the data you find here. But be sure to offer something compelling to the customers that have spent a lot of money or order often!

7. Buyer Satisfaction

What is this segment?

Buyer satisfaction can take many different forms – product reviews, service review, NPS scores, or lots of orders with no reviews…. etc.

Why is this segment important?

Understanding which of your customers have taken the time to complete (or not complete) one of those actions can be a huge benefit to your business and sales.

How to act on this segment?

You should consider unique marketing flows and messages for customers who’ve taken one of the actions outline above. How can your reward them or encourage them to take the desired action?

8. Mobile vs. Desktop

What is this segment?

Understanding where your customers are coming from (and where they are engaging with your marketing messages) is critical to both presentation and offers.

Why is this segment important?

If your store has products that resonate with a specific niche of users, knowing how they do their shopping (and from which devices) can help you improve your store and marketing to make it simpler for them to buy.

How to act on this segment?

From product page improvements to payment options, to the type of imagery you use in your marketing, to where you’ll run ads – this information is critical in making your customers feel like you know them!

9. Acquisition source

What is this segment?

As your marketing tactics get more complex, you’ll want to keep track of where your new customers are coming from (or which channels are engaging your existing customers the most).

Why is this segment important?

Ecommerce is about the cost to acquire and which channels generate you the most sales. So understanding if a certain group of customers came from Facebook at a high cost and don’t buy from your very frequently can help you adjust where and how you promote special offers.

How to act on this segment?

Create customer segments for common acquisitions sources like:

    1. Affiliates / Referrals
    2. Ads
    3. Offline

This way you’ll not only know which source is the most effective at bringing in new customers for your store, but you’ll also be able to add more personalization to your marketing messages.

10. Financial Data

What is this segment?

Getting really technical for a minute – there are a bunch of key metrics you’ll want to keep a close eye on as a business owner. These are just some of the most important ones for an ecommerce store:

    1. Customer Lifetime Value (CLV)
    2. Average Order Value (AOV)
    3. Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR – aka subscription revenue)

Why is this segment important?

Beyond understanding, if your business is growing, what it costs to acquire new customers, and what each customer is (on average) worth to you, you can also use the same information to drive sales and growth.

How to act on this segment?

Let’s say you’ve got 50 super VIPs who’ve each ordered between 20-30 products, totaling over $1,000 in sales each. Now you know what your benchmark is. The challenge is what will it take to get every other customer to this same tier?

11. Lead Magnet / Special offer

What is this segment?

Similar to the acquisition source, but more specific in terms of the hook that pulled a customer in – was there a particular offer or magnet that performed better in one of the acquisition sources?

Why is this segment important?

Understanding what value you’re exchanging for a new customer (through a specific acquisition source is important to understanding the return on each customer for your business).

How to act on this segment?

Use a special download link for free resources (like how-to guides, exclusive videos, course sign-ups, etc) or reserve special discount codes for these offers). This way you’ll be able to easily create segments and see exactly where customers came from.

 Section 2: Demographic

user demographic

The second area of segmentation that we’ll look at is Demographic.

For a lot of the data points in this section, you’ll want to combine them together or with segments from the last section to begin to see certain patterns emerge (rather than only using them by themselves).

This includes the following data points:

1. Gender

What is this segment?

Male, Female or Other. This way you can effectively target products that are designed or created for your customers.

Why is this segment important?

You don’t want to promote the wrong products to people who clearly don’t want to buy them. Your copywriting should also change to better reflect the intended customer even if it is a unisex product.

How to act on this segment?

Your marketing campaigns should include the right kind of product recommendation logic to ensure that you’re not recommending the wrong types of products to your customers.

2. Age

What is this segment?

Grouping your customers by age can also help you tailor your marketing copy and product recommendations in the future.

Why is this segment important?

It should be becoming evident by now, but more personalized and accurate marketing that reflects each group of customers increases engagement & sales.

How to act on this segment?

Create special offers and marketing campaigns that appeal to customers in different age brackets. Use more emojis and casual language with younger customers, keep your marketing more business-casual with older shoppers.

The imagery you use in your campaigns should also change based on the age of your customers. Younger shoppers prefer seeing technology, travel, and friends with edgy design for example.

3. Location

What is this segment?

As the name of the segment implies, you’re looking to group people based on their location.

Why is this segment important?

Depending on your business, you’ll either want to group by Country, State, or City. This is important to your business because it can have a real impact on how your structure your operations and the cost of either acquiring or supporting that customers.

How to act on this segment?

Understanding where your top customers are buying from can help you run more ads, offer special shipping discounts and more!

4. Income

What is this segment?

Understanding the income bracket of your customers will help you improve your product recommendations based on price-point.

Why is this segment important?

While there are always some exceptions, generally, you’ll want to match product pricing or campaigns that resonate with a customer’s income.

How to act on this segment?

Tailor your product recommendations (and your loyalty tiers) to your customers. Experimenting with new offerings – like adding a financing option for lower-income customers – could help you increase sales for that segment of your audience.

Creating a “Super VIP” program for customers with higher incomes that feature extra perks could be another opportunity to increase the revenue earned from that group vs just a standard loyalty program.

4. Education

What is this segment?

Understanding what level of education your customers have can also help with promotion offers, where to advertise, and what message will resonate most with them.

Why is this segment important?

Combining education levels with other demographic or e-commerce information can provide a big boost in your marketing.

How to act on this segment?

Typically, getting this information is a bit more challenging. Review opportunities to send out surveys (like after a purchase or immediately following a product review). Once you do have the information, you’ll want to leverage it in combination with other segments we’ve explored today based on what makes the most sense for your business.

5. Employment/Job Title

What is this segment?

Once again, getting to really know your customers will pay off with targeting and personalized offerings.

Why is this segment important?

Understanding your customers’ employment status, industry and job title can help you discover unique ways of reaching them and further personalize product offerings.

How to act on this segment?

Send out a survey with questions around these topics and then combine this segment with others to create a better picture of your customers.

6. Birthday

What is this segment?

A simple & fun segment – birthdays! They only happen once a year and it provides you with a friendly opportunity to offer up a little treat!

Why is this segment important?

People tend to treat themselves around special milestones. Birthday are an excellent time to send along a special reward.

How to act on this segment?

Capturing this information through a survey, user account etc will enable you to set up special campaigns that only go out to each customer once a year – but it can have a big impact on boosting extra sales from each customer.

Section 3: Seasonality

The final area of customer segmentation that we’ll explore has to do with seasonality.

Since you can sell to customers internationally (if you choose to do so), there are lots of simple, regional ways to increase your sales to these customers in particular, including:

1. Weather/Season

What is this segment?

This one isn’t deeply complicated. Trying your products back to the current weather or season is always a simple way to convince your customers to be ready!

Why is this segment important?

Creating marketing messages that match the local weather in real-time (or near-real time) is another simple way of establishing a close relationship because it helps your customers feel like you know them.

How to act on this segment?

Heatwave sales, rainy weather sales – anything that’s localized and can be tied back to your products is a great way to create that connection with your customers.

2. Local Holidays/Events

What is this segment?

Once again, this one isn’t overly complicated. A simple google search will help you uncover local holidays or events for wherever your customers are located.

Why is this segment important?

Big brands don’t often take the time to send out playful “International Cat Day” marketing, but if you can establish that relationship between your product and what’s happening locally, you’ll be sure to delight your customers.

How to act on this segment?

Use the location segment we created earlier, then do a simple google search to create a custom calendar of events for each of the Top 10 locations.

3. Ecommerce Sales

What is this segment?

There are also a ton of more “generic” ecommerce occasions or sales that you can create, that your customers (no matter where they are based) can be interested in.

Why is this segment important?

Think events like:

    • End of Year Clearance Sale
    • New Year Sale
    • Summer Sale
    • Once per year clearance sale

These are all extra sales that can help you increase revenue during “slower” times of the year or increase your revenue ahead of a busy season so that you can do more marketing ahead of busy times and really capitalize on in-demand periods.

How to act on this segment?

Take a look at your sales from the last year (or what’s normal for your industry). See if you can make an educated-guess by analyzing when sales have slowed or where there is a natural opportunity to add additional special offers. You’ll thank yourself later.

Download The PDF Cheatsheet Of 30+ E-commerce Segments For Your Store Click here to download

Conclusion

Segmenting your customer base is becoming a critical aspect of online marketing & ecommerce in general as customers expect tailored offers and smarter product recommendations.

Segmentation also offers up a ton of interesting data and marketing opportunities for you to explore – ultimately leading to better engagement with your customers, higher click-rate, and more sales!

Taking the time to implement just some of these basic ecommerce segmentations will help your business DOUBLE its sales in no time at all!

And if you’re not sure about how to implement these segments with your own ecommerce store – or how to effectively translate all that data into the right campaigns for all your marketing channels afterwards – then ShopHero is for you.

ShopHero is your Autopilot Marketing System. It does all the hard work of creating campaigns and segments for you. All you need to do to get started is:

  • Download the app
  • Add your Logo
  • And pick a Marketing Style & Theme

ShopHero will then take care of the rest!

It’s 100% risk-free and as merchants ourselves, we’ve adopted a performance-based model so that you only pay for results (not list size or the number of messages sent).

To make things sweeter, you can earn your first $100 USD in extra sales – each and every month – completely FREE! That’s an extra $100 in sales!

So go ahead and try ShopHero today and DOUBLE your sales with (automatic) customer segmentation!

This is a guest contribution from Franco. Franco is the Head of Partnerships and Growth at RareLogic. When he’s not helping merchants sell more, he digs making podcasts and enjoying craft beer on any patio.

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