Audience segmentation tools that personalize your content fast

Highlights

You’ll learn about the customer segmentation process and why you need customer segmentation solutions:

• Increase conversions: Segmented campaigns can increase conversion rates 
• Drive revenue: Brands see higher revenue growth with targeted campaigns
• Understand your audience: Real-time insights help you engage smarter
• Improve customer retention: Personalized experiences increase loyalty and satisfaction
• Optimize ad spend: Target lookalike and high-value customer segments efficiently

Are you wondering why your campaigns aren't converting like they used to?

Your marketing strategy is no less than hosting a dinner party. Will you serve the same dish to a gourmet chef, a picky toddler and someone with a food allergy? No, right? Yet, many brands do precisely that with their messaging and offers. One-size-fits-all content is a sure-shot way to jeopardize your chances of building a loyal customer base. 

That’s where audience segmentation tools come in.

These tools remove the guesswork and ensure your communication and offers are based on what your customers want. Segmentation tools use data and AI to discover patterns you can’t see, allowing you to engage smarter.

And the results speak for themselves.

• Segmented campaigns result in a 760% increase in revenue.
• Segmentation results in a 50% increase in conversion rates.
• Companies that segment their customers are 60% more likely to understand their customer challenges and issues.

So, what are audience segmentation tools, and what key features should you look for in such a tool?

What are audience segmentation tools?

Audience segmentation tools identify and segment your customers into smaller and more useful groups. Grouping is done by considering their age, where they live, what they like, their online activities or how much they purchase. The key is to know your customers better, address them directly and increase conversions.

With these tools, you can send different messages to different people. If somebody views your website for the first time, they might notice a different offer than the loyal customer who frequently shops. Most of these tools collect details from websites, emails or even mobile apps and gather them in a single location. From the data stored, you can: 

• Customize groups of people to target when advertising (also known as “segments”).
• Design marketing campaigns for each group
• See how every segment develops as time goes by

Some tools segment customers in real-time, meaning they adjust your audience lists as customers take new actions, like clicking a link or purchasing, increasing customer retention.

Audience segmentation use cases

Retargeting

Retargeting brings customers back after they’ve left your website without converting. Segmentation makes it possible to spot users who saw a product, checked out the blog or began the checkout process, but didn’t purchase. Afterward, you can remind shoppers or offer them discounts to encourage purchases. 

Lookalike audiences

Lookalike audiences increase your reach by finding new users with similar habits to your existing ones. When you break down your most loyal customers, you can give the data to Facebook or Google to identify and interact with similar customers.

Loyalty programs

If they are personalized, loyalty programs function well. Use segmentation to identify top customers who spend a lot or are loyal and give them custom rewards such as early sale entry, personal offers or small surprises to show you value them.

On-site personalization

Personalization makes your website more relevant as you show different content to visitors. You can segment users based on location, device, past behavior or whether they’re new or returning. This data helps you dynamically display banners, product suggestions or calls to action that speak directly to their needs.

Dynamic ads

Ads take segmentation further by automatically changing ad content based on who’s viewing it. Someone who looked at running shoes might see an ad with those same shoes, while another user sees an entirely different offer, all from the same campaign setup.

Remarketing

Remarketing is used for those who have seen your brand’s offerings but have not taken the necessary action. For instance, signing up, downloading or buying your products. You can select messages for each customer depending on their browsing habits to make your paid ads more useful.

Best audience segmentation tools

Most audience segmentation tools are stuck in the past because they rely too much on demographic data like age, gender, location and income. While the information is crucial, it’s nowhere near providing you with a holistic view of who your customers really are. That’s why you need modern-day customer segmentation software like the following:

Google Analytics

You can use Google Analytics to segment your customers. It offers a straightforward way to tell who is visiting your site, their location and their actions on the webpage. You can personalize your content or ads based on your customers’ behavior, where they are from and which devices they use. When you use Contentstack’s headless CMS with Google Analytics, you gain more valuable insights. 

Information from Google Analytics can help you decide on the content to send through Contentstack. If Google Analytics indicates that people from a certain area share an interest in a particular product, you can give them personalized experiences using Contentstack.

Heap

Heap excels as a segmentation tool because it automatically tracks what users do on your website or app. Do they click, scroll or fill forms? Using the info, you can build super-specific segments without writing endless code. It’s great to understand real user behavior without digging through endless data.

Baremetrics

For those focusing on revenue in SaaS, the segmentation features Baremetrics offers are helpful. While other tools might lack detail, Baremetrics provides financial data and metrics to describe how every customer contributes to the business’s revenue.

• Monthly recurring revenue (MRR)
• Annual recurring revenue (ARR)
• Average revenue per user (ARPU)
• Customer lifetime value 

You can track these metrics from different audience segments, such as new trials, upgrades, cancellations and refunds.

Hotjar

Hotjar filters user data like session recordings, heatmaps and feedback based on specific attributes. The tool doesn't depend on demographic segmentation like “18–24-year-olds,” but more experience-based or behavioral segments, such as:

• Device type (mobile, tablet, desktop)
• Country or region
• Visited page(s)
• Session duration
• Referral source (UTM tags)
• User actions (clicks, scroll depth, rage clicks, etc.)

This means you can isolate sessions from, say, mobile users who dropped off on a checkout page or users who clicked a specific CTA but didn’t convert. Such segmentation based on behavior is useful for optimization.

How Contentstack’s EDGE segments the audience with ease

Contentstack’s EDGE helps you personalize smarter. Whether you use behavior, location or real-time data for targeting, the platform makes it possible to create content designed for the user. Here’s how you can use Contentstack to help you segment your customers:

Behavior-based segmentation in real time

Instead of segmenting by age or location, EDGE responds to what people do on your site. They can view products, read articles and abandon their carts. Contentstack can instantly adapt the content your customer sees. These in-the-moment behavioral cues deliver relevant customer experiences on time.

Built-in data activation and personalization

EDGE doesn’t just deliver content, it acts on data. Contentstack EDGE has built-in logic that you can use to activate audience insights. You can personalize product recommendations or surface a different CTA based on real-time signals.

Real-time content targeting

Forget one-size-fits-all pages. EDGE serves different versions of content depending on the user’s location, device, traffic source or even the time of day. Using EDGE, you can greet returning visitors with a different headline or show a promo to mobile users, while maintaining lightning-fast page loads.

Integrates with your analytical tools

EDGE integrates with your existing tools like Salesforce and Google Analytics. That means you can take rich customer data and use it to personalize content in real-time. These integrations ensure your campaigns stay aligned with your broader data strategy and make it easy to create content that matches what each segment cares about.

Check out the list of tools Contentstack can integrate with. 

Easy workflows for segment-specific content

You don’t need to reinvent the wheel or depend on your dev team every time. Contentstack gives marketers built-in workflows to create, review and publish content for different audience segments all in one place. It’s streamlined, organized and built for teams that want to move quickly and reach their customers.

Case study: How did the Miami Heat transform fan personalization and engagement with Contentstack?

Before moving to Contentstack, the Miami Heat used an outdated CMS. Their old CMS was expensive and clunky to customize, and it was tough to scale for their growing fan base, especially as mobile became the go-to channel for game-time engagement. After switching to Contentstack, their content team got a flexible, easy-to-use platform that helped them create more personalized fan experiences. As a result, adoption soared by 30%, and a targeted campaign even led to a 100% app open rate and a spike in retail sales.

After using Contentstack, Edson Crevecoeur, Vice President, Business Intelligence and Strategy at Miami Heat, said:

“Being able to customize a message to just certain segments of the population is key. It is not just the fans engaging with content, but it is everyone in our organization tracking and further improving that engagement. This allows us to derive concrete value from the data we have about our fans.”

Read the complete case study here. 

Key features to look for in customer segmentation tools

AI-driven insights

Good segmentation goes beyond filters and checkboxes. AI-powered tools can spot patterns you might not catch, like subtle behavior trends or surprising customer groupings, so your targeting becomes more innovative and effective.

Real-time or dynamic segmentation

Customers’ needs can change very quickly. The strongest tools will update in real-time, showing the right content to customers based on their real-time behavior, such as a click or a visit.

Lookalike audience capabilities

Do you want to reach more people like your best customers? Lookalike modeling makes it easier for you to go through different data types. It sorts out people with similar features, allowing you to scale your campaigns.

Ease of use

Using a tool that needs an hour of training is not the right choice. Search for intuitive platforms offering clear workflows and interfaces to make segmentation easier and faster.

Scalable and flexible

Since your business keeps evolving, your segmentation strategy must evolve as well. A reliable tool creates advanced sections, adds new platforms and manages data without slowing down, increasing customer satisfaction.

Predictive segmentation

Predictive segmentation uses past behaviors and trends to forecast what customers might do next, whether they will churn or convert. As a result, you can act before the event happens.

FAQs

Which tools are used for audience segmentation?

Google Analytics, Hotjar, Heap and Baremetrics are the top audience segmentation tools. These platforms have personalization and targeting features that help you segment users.

What are segmentation tools?

Segmentation tools group your audience based on shared traits like behavior, demographics, interests or location. These tools deliver the right message to people at the right time.

What are the four types of target segmentation?

The four main types of market segmentation are:

• Demographic segmentation (age, gender, income)
• Geographic segmentation (location)
• Psychographics segmentation (values, lifestyle, personality)
• Behavioral segmentation (purchasing habits, loyalty, product usage)

What are the 4 pillars of segmentation?

The “four pillars” of segmentation are:

• Identification: Defining who your different customer groups are
• Differentiation: Understanding what makes each segment unique
• Accessibility: Ensuring you can reach those segments effectively
• Actionability: Making sure your segments are useful for campaigns and decision-making

Learn more

It's no longer effective to send one message to everyone. Since modern customers hope for a personalized experience, those in marketing use audience segmentation tools to meet this need. The right tools are necessary to improve your ad spend, increase retention rates or learn more about your customers. Contentstack EDGE creates customer profiles and sends personalized content to each user.

To explore how Contentstack can build smarter segments, launch more effective campaigns and deliver experiences your audience wants, talk to us.