In a world of automation, segmentation isn’t all that sexy, but it’s the most important piece of the pie.

Segmenting your visitors and users helps deliver more targeted and relevant experiences and should be one of the first things you tackle when building out your flywheel/funnel/centrifuge/quadrant/other-buzzword marketing process.

Segmentation is a fancy term for dividing your audience into smaller groups based on shared characteristics, such as demographics, behavior, or preferences. By segmenting your audience, you can tailor your message to each group’s specific needs and interests, resulting in higher engagement and conversions.

Think about it. Would you send the same message to a teenage girl and a middle-aged man? Probably not. They have different interests, behaviors, and needs. By segmenting your audience, you can create targeted campaigns that resonate with each group.

But segmentation is not just about demographics. You can also segment based on behavior, such as past purchases, website activity, or email engagement. By tracking your audience’s behavior, you can identify patterns and create campaigns that encourage them to take specific actions.

And the best part? Segmentation doesn’t have to be complicated. You can start with simple segments, such as age or location, and gradually add more criteria as you gather more data. Just make sure you’re not over-segmenting, as it can lead to a fragmented message and a lot of work.

Here’s an article from 2014 where I dig into this a bit more.