Using Segmentation to Up Your Marketing Postcards Game

In marketing, segmentation is the practice of dividing a broad group into subgroups with shared characteristics. Marketers have greater insight into consumer behavior than ever before, making it easier for businesses to take a large current or potential customer base and divide it in such a way that ensures each person receives individually relevant marketing messages and offers.

Segmentation is useful for any marketing medium, whether it’s email, social media, advertising or more, and it’s also a reliable strategy for direct mail. Sending marketing postcards haphazardly to a large group of people will be far less effective than segmenting your audience and sending mailers that are catered to their location, interests, demographics, or purchase history.

We’ve compiled a few of the most common segmentation types below.

Geographic Segmentation

As the name would suggest, geographic segmentation is based on location, such as a zip code or city.

Great for: Local businesses and those that are only interested in marketing within a few miles of their location (think delivery pizza shop). Geographic targeting is also great for those that rely on location as a function of their business, like real estate agents, who may only want to target specific neighborhoods.

Psychographic Segmentation

Psychographic segmentation groups individuals based on interests, hobbies, personality traits and attitudes.

Great for: Niche businesses that may not need to target by location or demographics, but want to connect with a variety of people with particular interests (think baking, fishing, etc).

Demographic Segmentation

This type of segmentation identifies subgroups based on a variety of traits such as age, race or nationality, gender, marriage status, median income and more.

Great for: Anyone that knows their audience well and wants to communicate with other individuals like them. A luxury brand, for example, may consider only sending marketing postcards to households of a certain income, or a pediatric dentist may consider only sending direct mail pieces to families with one child or more.

Behavior/Purchase History Segmentation

Behavior or purchase history segmentation draws on data about the interactions that an individual has had with a business or organization. Tactics for sending direct mailers in response to specific behaviors would include sending a direct mail postcard with a coupon code after a person has left an item in their cart or sending a thank-you once someone has visited your shop or purchased an item.

Great for: Any business or organization, particularly those with e-commerce or online donation components.

Sales Funnel Segmentation

As the name implies, sales funnel segmentation considers where a prospect is in the sales funnel (the journey that potential customers go through on the way to make a purchase). Keep in mind, however, that the funnel doesn’t necessarily have to be applied to sales, only — it can be used as a framework to think strategically about the process that leads to any conversion, whether that be attending an event or making a donation.

Great for: ALL businesses! Sales funnel segmentation can be used for businesses of all shapes and sizes to increase conversions.

We hope you’ve learned a bit more about the many ways you can segment your marketing postcards. Once you’ve decided how you want to segment your campaigns, we can help you easily reach your ideal customers with our targeted mailing lists. Choose from Consumer, Business, New Mover, or New Homeowner mailing lists complete with a multitude of segmentation options, and reach your perfect audience.