5 Ways to Segment Your Direct Mail Audience

October 30, 2018

Segmenting your audience is the foundation of a smart direct mail campaign and helps you avoid the pitfalls of assuming the same piece of mail will attract everyone on your list. Understanding the different audiences within your mailing list, their expectations, and knowing what makes them tick will allow you to create appealing offers that resonate with their needs.

Here are five audience segmentation methods that will benefit your direct mailing campaigns:

Geographic Segmentation

Geographic segmentation is beneficial for any business that wants to target a specific geographic area.

Tips for Geographic Segmentation:

Target a local audience. Promote your business as the go-to spot for the products/services that they need instead of having to drive further to a big box store.
Direct mail campaigns corresponding with local events. Direct mail that includes coupons and timed promotions around a holiday, local event, or tradition will create urgency around your offer.
Know your limitations. If you only want to serve individuals within a certain radius of your business, only mail people within that area. This will help reduce orders placed outside of the service range.

Demographic Segmentation

Segmenting individuals by demographic data, including age, gender, and median income allows you to connect with them on a personal level. This is beneficial for crafting offers that are relevant to their lifestyle.

Tips for Demographic Segmentation:

Pay attention to the details. One of the easiest ways to use demographic segmentation is by sending a special birthday offer. This helps increase the likeliness of the individual visiting your business and shows that you care.
Segment Audiences by stage of life. People tend to be more open to trying new brands when they are entering new life stages (i.e. homeownership, marriage, parenthood, etc.) because they’re shopping for items they’ve never shopped for before. Coupons and offers will help push them to purchase products from your business over a competitor.
Customize your messaging. Different age groups have different needs and taking this into consideration, you’ll be able to target different age groups and see a better response.

Firmographic Segmentation

Used in business-to-business (B2B) mailings, firmographic segmentation allows you to segment different business demographics to better understand the needs of the business types you are targeting. This can refer to LLCs, government agencies, non-profits, and corporations. By narrowing down your segments, you will be able to reach more qualified prospects and keeps messaging relevant and fresh.

Tips for Using Firmographic Segmentation:

Discover your audience’s pain points. Segment your audience into the type of business it I and figure out their unique pain points based on their industry and the services you offer that can help alleviate those problems.
Look internally. Utilize your own pain points and how you’re able to address them. This will help create a strategy to target potential clients and convince them to give you’re their business.

Psychographic Segmentation

Psychographic segmentation utilizes psychology and demographics to get a better understanding of a specific audience to create targeted messaging for different groups of people with unique personalities and interests.

Tips for Using Psychographic Segmentation:

Personalize your mail. By personalizing the direct mail you’re sending out with the receipt’s name, you’re able to make the prospect feel like the mail was custom-made just for them.
Utilize consumer data. Take advantage of any consumer data that you have available to you in order to create unique direct mail campaigns.
Send surveys to active customers. Asking customers questions to asses their values and attitudes will help you better target prospects in the future.

Sales Stage Segmentation

Sales stage segmentation takes where prospects are in the sales pipeline. These stages include:

Awareness – Prospect realizes they have a problem
Consideration – Prospect begins to gather information about possible solutions
Evaluation – Prospect begins to evaluate the proposed solutions and the companies offering them
Purchase – Prospect becomes a customer
Post-Purchase – Customer becomes a brand advocate

This type of segmentation keeps you aware of the customer’s position in the sales pipeline and allows you to give a friendly push when they get stuck. This is also a great way to turn inactive customers into active ones.

Tips for Using Sales Stage Segmentation:

Keep loyal customers in mind. Sending personalized mail to loyal customers will help increase repeat conversions. Sending them marketing materials after a sale will keep them coming back.
Segment by purchase history. Active customers are ready to buy. Reach out to them regarding new and upcoming products and services will push them to make a second purchase.
Nurture inactive prospects. Inactive customers can easily be turned into active ones by convincing them what you have to offer will benefit them. Utilize an email campaign that sends out a coupon code to users that abandoned their cart or reminding them to complete their purchase will help increase conversions.

Are you ready to start segmenting your direct mail audience? Contact Kirkwood Direct today to learn more about our direct mail services.