Customer Segmentation Basics: Personalize Every Email and Journey

Try this now. Send an email to your list with the subject line “FIRSTNAME?”. I bet it your most opened email ever. That's because people care most about themselves.

Any time you can make your audience believe you are talking 1:1 to them, you'll get a better response. But before you can do that, you need to know more about them. Who they are. What they do. Their goals. Problems they're struggling with. That's where segmentation comes in.

This guide covers segmentation basics, shows how to design segments for different industries, and explains how Bento handles personalization without hurting inbox placement. Bento has a native integration with RightMessage, which allows you to gather gather segmentation data so you can personalize both your emails and web pages.

TL;DR: Segmentation Starter Pack

• Capture preferences, behavior, and lifecycle stage with explicit consent.
• Define segments that match your business goals and update automatically.
• Personalize content with Bento custom fields and events, then measure performance per segment.
• Review segments regularly to remove inactive contacts and keep your reputation strong.

Segmentation Fundamentals

Types of segmentation

Demographic segmentation: In B2B this can be job title or industry. B2C this can be gender or age. Your product doesn't only appeal to one type of prospect. Being able to personalize your emails and landing pages based on specific use cases increases conversion rates.

Behavioral segmentation: Have they opened an email in the last 30 days? Have they viewed your product or pricing page? Did they opt-in for a lead magnet? What someone has done recently tells you how to communicate with them.

Lifecycle segmentation: Lead, prospect, customer, evangelist. MQL, SQL, PQL. Whales, loyal customers, lapsed customers, prospects. Each stage of the buyer's journey needs different communication.

Why segmentation boosts deliverability

The more relevant an email looks, the more likely it is to be opened and read. The more people who read your email, the more of them will take actions like clicking, replying, and buying.

Email service filtering algorithms rewards consistent engagement patterns. Segmented sends create predictable positive signals that keep your reputation high.

Designing Segments

Core segments for SaaS

Free trial users: Your job here is to get them to use the product and experience a positive result. If they do, they're more likely to upgrade. You'll also need to remind them their trial is ending, and if you took their card details on signup, to cancel before they're billed.

New users: The goal is the same here as a free trial. They need to use your product. If they don't use it, they don't get value. If they don't get value, they are more likely to cancel. Be careful not to overwhelm them. Bento's onboarding show's new users how to one feature a day for 8 days.

Tiers and billing schedule: If they are on a lower tier, try to upsell them to a higher one. Show off your most powerful features in the higher tiers. If they are on monthly billing, try to convert them to annual. Send a “tax write-off” campaign near the end of the year.

Lapsed users: If they haven't logged in in a while, they're more likely to churn. It happens like this. They don't log in for 3 weeks. Then they get rebilled. Then they think, hey, I'm not using this app, let me cancel. Keep them engaged, and not just with reminders to log in.

Lapsed trial: People whose free trial ended without upgrading, or who canceled before being billed. Goal is to find out why and then get them to sign up if possible.

Churned users: These are people who've canceled their subscription. Try to get them back. FOMO helps. Hopefully you're shipping new features regularly.

Core segments for ecommerce

Leads: If you've set up email or SMS capture. Goal is to get them to buy as soon as possible. Leads older than 30 days, conversion rate drops off a cliff.

First-time buyers: Get them to buy again as soon as possible. With this and the previous segment, there's no such thing as too many emails. Hammer them until they buy or die.

Frequent buyers: There are people who've placed more than your average number of orders. You want to keep them buying while increasing their average order value. E.g. Offer a gift with their next order of $X or more.

Whales/VIPs: These are frequent buyers who spend a lot more than other customers. How much is “a lot more”? That's up to you. E.g. 3X Average order value. You want to keep them buying and get them tell their friends about you. Make them feel special. Give them white glove service. Exclusive perks and bonuses.

Lapsed customers: People who've bought in the past but haven't made a purchase in a while, e.g. more than 6 months. Goal is to get them to buy again. Don't assume you need to offer discounts (to any prospect or customer.)

Unengaged contacts: People who haven't engaged with your emails in a while. Here you want to re-activate them. If they don't respond, stop emailing them. You don't have to unsubscribe them.

The four abandonments: Site abandonment; viewed a page on your website that's not a product page. Browse abandonment; viewed a product page but didn't add to cart. Cart abandonment; added to cart but didn't start checkout. Checkout abandonment; started checkout but didn't place order. Each needs its own automation. If you have several products, each needs its own unique browse abandonment.

Core segments for digital products, courses, coaching

We're lumping low-ticket and high-ticket digital products together here. We've also combined direct-to-checkout and phone sales funnels.

Leads: People who've opted-in for a lead magnet; a free resource, VSL, webinar etc. Goal is to get them to take the next step. Buy a course, book a call, show up to a webinar, etc.

Completed application: People who've completed their application but haven't booked a call. They could have dropped off without booking a call. Or they could have been rejected, manually or by conditional logic.

Booked call: People who've booked a call with a salesperson. Goal is to get them to show up for the call.

No-shows, no-offers: People who didn't show up to their sales call. Or people who showed up and weren't a good fit, or didn't buy due to some objection.

Abandoned checkout: If running a direct-to-checkout sales funnel, someone who has viewed the checkout page but has not completed their purchase.

New customers/clients: People who bought recently. They need to be onboarded and compelled to consume the information and resources provided (e.g. view course materials or show up to coaching calls.) If you sell any back-end offers, you'll also want to set them up for an upgrade conversation.

Executing Segmentation in Bento

Custom fields, tags, events

New signups are automatically tagged with “lead.” If they buy they get tagged “customer.” You can create your own tags. Like a tag for every product you sell.

Forms and onboarding surveys can update custom fields (e.g. job title, industry, use case) and trigger events (e.g. $trialstarted.)

Events and tags can start flows and email sequences. Custom field data can personalize emails and landing pages.

Note: Use custom fields when the data being collected must be one of several options. E.g. someone can't be a CEO and a Marketing Director. Use tags when the data collected can be several of a single category. E.g. someone can have bought more than one course from you.

Segmented campaigns

Bento comes with pre-built segments like “Customers”, “Gmail users”, and others. You can build your own, like a VIP segment for customers whose lifetime value is greater than $X, or a reactivation segment for people who haven't taken any actions in 90+ days.

Once you've built segments, you can send targeted email campaigns. Our email campaign builder allows you to select pre-built segments or define your sending audience manually.

Liquid templating

You can personalize your emails with liquid tags. This can be as simple as greeting subscribers by their first name, or as complex as showing every subscriber a unique offer based on the information you know about them.

And with our native RightMessage integration, you can also use your segmentation data to personalize the content they see on your website.

Ready to Personalize Without the Headache?

Segmentation doesn't have to be a complex data project. With Bento you can design, automate, and monitor segments that keep customers engaged and deliverability strong. Request a Bento demo or email sales@bentonow.com to build segmentation templates for your team.

Check out related resources on behavioral targeting tools and email deliverability tools.