What Is Lead Segmentation In HubSpot 2023

Understand Lead Segmentation In HubSpot

What is marketing? If we remove all the “frills,” marketing is all about delivering the right message to the right prospects at the right time to let them on board. Isn’t it? Unfortunately, marketing is not as simple as it once used to be. The rise of custom products, endless options even with standardised products, and an increased number of communication channels and different conversion paths have added multiple layers of complexity. 

The saying, “You only get one opportunity to make a first impression” accurately describes today’s marketing scenario. The current audience is more aware and keener on doing their own due diligence before engaging with brands. One wrong message and you might never get a second chance.

Therefore, the right messaging plays a crucial role in making a positive impression that connects and separates you from the competition.

So, how to get messaging to make the right first impression? Well, my friend, it all starts with knowing your audience through lead segmentation.

Read on! 

What Is Lead Segmentation?

Lead segmentation (market or audience segmentation) is the process of subdividing your audience based on similar interests, characteristics, needs or requirements. Because audiences with similar traits are likely to display and make similar purchases.

There Are Two Types Of Segments:

1. Explicit Segmentation:

• This segmentation is based on characteristics explicitly provided by a prospective person via a conversation, form or previous purchase behaviour.  
• Features of explicit segmentation include what the customer bought in the past 6 months, all customers who live in a specific area and leads that have self-identified as B2B. 

2. Implicit Segmentation:

• Characteristics of the leads are not known to you. You have to identify patterns based on demographics or actions.
• For instance, visitors who have downloaded an ebook or watched a video or a person who has purchased shoes from your website might be interested in viewing more shoes. Amazon is the KING of implicit segmentation via its “you might also be interested in these products” section.

Basic segmentation based on explicit characteristics like age group or location can sometimes be short-sighted and ineffective.

Therefore, we recommend using a mix of both implicit and explicit segmentation techniques because buying behaviours are complex. Additionally, segmenting based on explicit traits and behaviour patterns gives you a complete picture of what the audience seeks from you.

Why Segment? Strike A Perfect Match Between Contact And Content

As per Campaignsmonitor, segmented campaigns can lead to a 760% increase in revenue. Your marketing efforts are like shooting darts in the dark without knowing your audience.

The traditional “one size fits all” marketing strategy no longer works today. This generation craves custom experiences from the get-go and lead segmentation. Through lead segmentation, you can break down the large audience into small subgroups and thereby concentrate on delivering the right messaging to attract and convert your target audience.

It might sound very labour and time-intensive, but lead segmentation is the first step towards creating successful inbound marketing campaigns that deliver better results in all areas, from email open rates to customer loyalty.

Segment Wisely

“Segmented Email Campaigns get 9.37% less unsubscription” - HubSpot Academy!

There are 5 components you can follow to make sure your segmentation strategy is strong.

1. Focused:

Make your segment the “largest possible homogeneous group.” This is where your buyer persona comes in. If you segment too narrowly, then your marketing campaign could lead to a negative ROI.

2. Differentiable:

Differentiate properly because only then will the campaign response be distinguishable.

3. Relevant:

Structure segments based on their goals or needs. There is no point in segmenting a potential customer based on their hair colour preference.

4. Actionable:

Segment in a manner that allows the marketing team to create effective strategies and content.

5. Stable:

For long-term success, the stability of the segmentation method is key. If the criteria keep changing frequently, then your pay-off might be minimal.

Segmentation In HubSpot

There are two different kinds of lists that you can create based on your filter if you have HubSpot Marketing Hub: active and static.

Active List

• Add and remove contacts to their list based on your set criteria. 
• Active lists are dynamic.

Static Lists

• You can track contacts that meet your filtered criteria.  
• You can start segmenting your audience through buyer personas and lifecycle stages.

That’s great! How to do this? We will show you the steps.

Buyer Personas

We have established that buyer personas are the foundation of your marketing strategy. How will you create the right content without knowing your audience or whom you are selling your products/services? A buyer persona helps you to map the content, allocate resources and achieve alignment across multiple functions.

1. Hidden Field:

By inserting a hidden form field in the form, you can mark a contact if you think all visitors filling out the form belong to a persona category.

2. Workflows:

The HubSpot workflows tool ensures the right persona assigns to each contact. And once a new contact is generated, they are automatically other workflows you may have tagged them in, further ensuring they are segmented and nurtured.

Lifecycle Stages:

Segmentation strategy is also based on lifecycle stages. Lifecycle stages refer to how far along someone is in your sales cycle (and how close they are to making a purchase).

In HubSpot, the lifecycle stages used are: 

Subscriber > Lead > Marketing Qualified Lead > Sales Qualified Lead > Opportunity > Customer  

In HubSpot, under every contact record, there is a dropdown option for manually setting which lifecycle a lead is in. HubSpot can automatically segment leads according to lifecycle stages once you have defined and entered the criteria for each stage through forms.

Once you’ve defined what kind of engagement activities would qualify a user for different stages in your lifecycle (these can be automated with the help of workflows).

It’s critical to ensure the definition of when a user moves from one lifecycle stage to another so that they get the appropriate communication and you don’t miss out on any smart content that they should have received at a particular stage.

However, use this segmented data to identify which “stage or persona most of the leads fall into.” This will help you prioritise your marketing data.

Quick Refresher

Lead segmentation gives you an incredible opportunity to empower yourself and create powerful messaging that resonates with your target audience. Lead segmentation gives you a platform to understand which subgroup is the most receptive type of messaging and content. While the task might sound daunting, it is a step that can’t be overlooked.

Segment correctly and consistently to hit your business targets even in a dark room!

Improve your campaign success with segmentation? Talk to our experts!