How can you overcome common customer segmentation and targeting challenges?

To overcome customer segmentation challenges, collect diverse data, use advanced analytics, focus on relevant metrics, update segments regularly, personalize marketing efforts, test and iterate strategies, incorporate customer feedback, foster cross-departmental collaboration, ensure ethical data usage, and stay updated with industry trends. These practices enhance targeting effectiveness and customer satisfaction.

Here are my top 3 segmentation and targeting challenges and how to overcome them: 1. Data unavailability and when it is available it is not accurate - To overcome this challenge, we have put in place systems to collect, clean, maintain, and keep accurate customer data. 2. Choosing the right segmentation criteria - To overcome this, we have developed a varying set of data points that define our segments, getting as granular as possible. In this way, we have come up with more accurate and effective segments for your products. 3. Measuring the effectiveness of our segmentation and targeting - In our case, to overcome this we had one solution = A/B testing to see what works best for our products.

As with any initiative, the first step is to define the desired outcomes. Once you know what your goals and objectives are, you can determine how to best measure performance towards those outcomes. Too often you see companies creating customer segments without understanding what you are hoping to achieve. Make sure you are ultra clear and aligned on the goal first!

Overcoming common customer segmentation and targeting challenges requires a strategic approach. Here are some effective strategies: Utilize Advanced Analytics Implement Machine Learning and AI Combine Demographic and Behavioral Data Engage in A/B Testing Segment by Customer Lifecycle Stage Personalize Marketing Communication Regularly Update and Cleanse Data By employing these strategies, businesses can navigate the challenges of customer segmentation and targeting more effectively, leading to improved customer engagement and ultimately, better business outcomes.

Once you understand the objectives and the goals, you can work to define the right data strategy and data set to help you segment and target the right customer/ account profiles. You will likely need a combination of company firmagraphics, market and industry data, and intent or buyer behavioral data.

In order to stay in compliance, make sure that you have a centralized preferences center and can keep track of unsubscribes and opt-outs across all the various tools and technologies that your customers and prospects interact with. Preferences need to be respected regardless of which platform you choose to say send an email with, so it's vital that they are not only kept and stored, but also shared across any spaces you use for external communications.

With all of the data privacy and compliance regulations, it is important that as Marketing Operations professionals, we have a comprehensive governance policy around customer data. In addition, ensuring that you have visibility, oversight, and governance across all of the places where customer data is stored, managed, viewed, accessed, etc. is important as it is easy to lose visibility across multiple systems.

Customer segmentation / campaign optimization can be tricky, and retargeting poses 3 more challenges: 1- the need to retarget at contextually relevant times for the right length of time, e.g., retargeting for cars vs. coffee is vastly different. 2- the need to segment user activity so you can do things like exclude from campaigns low engagers who abandon the home page. 3- the need to remove purchasers from continued sales retargeting (still!). Too basic for your 2023 MarTech stack? Maybe so. But are your ad partners stuck in any of these old ways? Make sure they're optimizing to address these CX challenges, so you're not part of the retargeting problem but enabling better CX solutions.

It always surprises me when I see companies not continuously monitoring and analyzing their account and customer data. Marketing is a constant A-B test and many factors are constantly changing, requiring you to not only test and analyze, but also make updates accordingly. With everyone's budgets tightened over the past few years, Marketing Ops can have a significant impact on the business by providing visibility to what is working well - and not so well - to inform the business of where changes should be made.

If you want to test quickly, try borrowing from agile principles. What's the minimum viable segment? The minimum viable campaign? Test these with different segments and concepts to see what gets results and broaden or pivot your efforts based on your findings.

This involves using tools and strategies to divide your audience into meaningful segments and then using automation to deliver personalized content or advertisements to each segment. There are several useful tools available on the market: 1). Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Software 2). Workflow Automation 3). Machine Learning and AI Algorithms 4). Analytics and Insights Tools This approach can help improve the effectiveness and efficiency of your marketing campaigns.

Strategies to tackle customer segmentation challenges: Data Accuracy: Ensure precise and updated data for segmentation. Comprehensive Profiles: Integrate varied touchpoint data for holistic views. Dynamic Segmentation: Adapt strategies to changing customer behaviors. AI-Powered Personalization: Use algorithms for tailored experiences. Feedback Integration: Incorporate customer feedback for refining segmentation. Team Collaboration: Unify efforts across departments for holistic insights. Privacy Adherence: Ensure compliance with data protection laws for trust. Continuous Optimization: Test and refine strategies regularly. Consistent Multichannel Approach: Maintain segmentation consistency across channels. Journey Mapping

Before you even start with goals and metrics, understand your customer data landscape. If you've not the means to create meaningful, strategic segments (due to data hygiene, data gaps or database size) then you've a bigger problem than segmentation - you'll need an operational process review (where are the dirty data taps?), process rearchitecting, data cleanse and then finally an enrichment exercise. It's vital that Marketing Operations are involved in strategic conversations at the highest level - too often there are amazing retention and growth strategies defined, only to then create frustration when the work encounters immovable blockers. Strategies must be data-led, and data enabled.