Introduction to Customer Segmentation
In this article we present a case study, based on the Travel Industry, which explains the 123s of audience segmentation for purposes of managing website traffic. In other words, how to offer relevant choices to your audience based on market segmentation.
Definitions and Goals
The technique is to define statistics which will help you understand your clients better — and offer them a valuable service. This process is also referred to as Market Segmentation or Behavioural Segmentation.
- Cross-selling: The practice of selling additional products and services to an audience segment based on current or past purchases. The goal is to increase the revenue generated per customer.
- Market segmentation: The practice of dividing a user population on the basis of behavioural characteristics, such as how they click, login or not, and what they purchase.
Introduction: Travel Websites
How to create a marketing plan based on audience segments and cross-selling: a case study for a travel site. In terms of traffic management, the main challenges are customer maintenance and acquisition. The goal is to keep the existing customer base loyal with a robust, interactive, user-friendly interface.
- Maintaining traffic and ability to support multiple users at one time, in order to avoid site crashes during high-demand periods.
- Introductory and promotional offers for combination deals, for example, when you book a flight and a hotel together at a discounted price.
- Offering a wide range of accepted payment methods.
- Introducing membership benefits, points, or miles — extra points for inviting someone to use the site.
- Responsive customer support.
Segmentation Strategy
The key to successful segmentation is understanding that different visitors have different needs. A first-time visitor needs education and trust-building, while a returning customer needs personalised offers based on their history. By tracking behaviour with Opentracker, you can tailor experiences to each segment automatically.
Conclusion
Customer segmentation is one of the most powerful tools available to digital marketers. When combined with real-time analytics from Opentracker, it becomes possible to serve the right content to the right person at the right time — directly impacting conversion rates and customer lifetime value.