How To Segment Buyer Personas in 2022 (and Beyond)

A buyer persona is a fictional representation of a specific potential customer in your target market. Understanding your buyer personas will show you how to speak to their specific needs and wants.

Segmentation of buyer personas is an important part of developing successful marketing campaigns. By dividing different buyer personas among various market segments, you can focus your resources on the right people and reach them in the most effective ways.

What is buyer persona segmentation?

Buyer persona segmentation is the process of dividing a target market into groups that share common characteristics. These groups can be based on factors like age, gender, interests, or even buying habits.

Through the segmentation of different buyer personas into broad groups, you can create more effective marketing strategies and campaigns, delivering specific content at the correct times and channels to certain types of people.

There is no one way to create buyer personas, but some tips for doing so include:

• Gathering information about your target market – this can include research on demographics, their buying habits, and other trends.
• Defining your target market’s needs and wants – once you know their desires, expectations, and pain points, you can start to find ways to meet those requirements.
• Creating small groups of people who share similar characteristics to your buyer personas – this will help you get a better idea of how they think and act.

Once you have created your buyer personas, the next step is to segment them into various categories. After that, you can consider the best methods of reaching them, such as:

• creating targeted ads,
• using social media channels,
• organizing events or webinars specifically for your target market,
• brainstorming ideas for products and services that would appeal to your buyer personas

Benefits of buyer persona segmentation

There are many benefits to segmenting your buyer personas, including:

• Being able to target your advertising and marketing efforts more effectively – by knowing who your target market is, you can create messages that resonate with them and reach them where they are most likely to see them.
• Identifying which products or services are most appealing to your target market – your offer can be designed specifically for your buyer persona’s needs and wants.
• Reaching a wider audience – by understanding your buyer persona’s motivators, you can target them through different channels and even create new content that appeals to them.
• Building better relationships with your target market – persona segmentation allows you to focus on creating connections with your buyers rather than just selling to them.
• Increasing sales and return on investment (ROI) – persona segmentation can help you close more deals by understanding what motivates your target market and customizing your sales pitches accordingly.
• More accurate budgeting – determining how much of your budget should be spent on each type of marketing is much easier, thanks to buyer persona segmentation.
• Improved customer service – persona segmentation can help you build a support strategy that meets the specific needs of your target market.
• Better decision-making during product development – segmenting your target market provides valuable insights that can be used in the design phase to build features that your persona is more likely to benefit from.

Now it’s time to look at different methods of segmenting your buyer personas in order to capitalize on the benefits of doing so.

Market-based buyer persona segmentation

Geographic segmentation

You can target people based on their physical locations. There are at least several different ways that geography can differentiate the needs of your target market.

First, a potential customer who lives in a rural area is likely to have different requirements than someone who lives in an urban environment. For example, the former is more likely to need a car with off-road capabilities, while the latter might be interested in a smaller and more fuel-efficient automobile.

People who live in different parts of the world will also have different needs according to the climate where they are. For example, someone living in a cold and wet area at the current time of year is probably eager to purchase rainproof gear, while a different person in a hot and dry place may be after swimming shorts or sunglasses.

Finally, if applicable, is proximity to a brick-and-mortar store. Customers who live or work nearby a physical shop can be targeted with location-specific messaging and offers, while those who are located further away might need to be convinced with free or discounted shipping.

You can segment persona by geographic location according to:

• continent,
• country,
• state or province,
• postal code,
• city or urban area.

Channel segmentation

You will probably interact with your audience through a variety of different channels, so that it may be helpful to segment your buyer personas according to their preferred communication methods. Doing so will mean that you can focus your efforts on the channels that are most popular with each persona and reach them there effectively.

Some common channels that persona segments might prefer include:

• social media – Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Snapchat
• email – newsletters, product updates, coupon codes
• web – search engines, blogs, online forums
• offline – print ads, TV commercials, billboards, physical mail

Demographic segmentation

This is based on the persona’s age, gender, etc. It should go without saying that a 20-year-old male college student is likely to have different needs than a 30-year-old female working professional.

However, using this approach alone is becoming less and less effective as people’s interests, needs, and wants are no longer solely determined by their socio-economic characteristics.

Demographic segmentation can be made according to factors including:

• age,
• gender,
• income,
• education level,
• marital status.

Psychographic segmentation

This persona segmentation method looks at the personality, interests, and lifestyles. A persona’s psychographic characteristics will often be determined by their demographics, but not always.

For instance, two 50-year-old women can have very different lifestyles even if they live in the same city and have similar incomes. One might be a stay-at-home mom focused on caring for her family on a tight budget. Yet, at the same time, the other is a high-powered executive with a significant expendable income and a desire for luxury goods.

You can segment persona by psychographic characteristics according to:

• personality type,
• values,
• attitudes,
• interests,
• lifestyle.

Behavioral segmentation

This persona segmentation strategy is based on how your persona interacts with your brand, product, or service. It looks at statistics to verify your psychographic assumptions. It can help you identify people in different stages of the buyer’s journey so that you can target them accordingly.

A person who is just beginning to research a potential purchase is going to need different content than someone ready to make a purchase.

Buyer behavior can be segmented based on:

• purchase history,
• spending patterns,
• customer loyalty,
• use of product or service,
• brand interactions,
• online activity.

We will now look more closely at sub-classifications of behavioral segmentation that are based on a user’s engagement with your products and the different categories they belong to.

Product-based buyer persona segmentation

Product engagement segmentation

This is a critical component of the customer experience because you can segment users according to how often they use your products or services or their engagement levels with your brand.

For example, a user who frequently visits your website or app but never makes a purchase could be someone who is just starting their research or is undecided about your product. As such, you will need to provide more education and awareness-based content to this persona.

On the other hand, someone who has made a purchase but never returns to your site might be dissatisfied with the product or service. In this case, you’ll need to focus on providing post-purchase support or re-engagement strategies.

The following buyer persona segments could be helpful when product-based segmentation is necessary:

• existing customers who have already purchased a product,
• shoppers who have added items to their carts but have not finalized their purchases,
• visitors who have been browsing product pages,
• users who have signed up or subscribed.

Product feature use segmentation

An approach that is based on how users interact with your product’s features. It can be used to identify which features are being used the most and which ones are being ignored.

This type of segmentation is essential for two reasons:

• First, it can help you assess which features are most important to your persona and which ones can be improved or removed.
• It can help you understand how your persona is using your product and what their needs are.

A visitor who frequently uses the search function on your website is likely looking for something specific. In contrast, someone who spends a lot of time on the product pages is probably interested in making a purchase.

You can segment by product feature use according to:

• feature users,
• feature non-users,
• power users,
• new users,
• free subscribers,
• paid plan subscribers.

Product category segmentation

This persona segmentation method is based on the types of products or services that your persona is interested in. For instance, someone interested in purchasing a new car would fall into the “auto intenders” persona segment.

The following are some examples of product category segments:

• auto intenders,
• travel intenders,
• financial intenders,
• home intenders,
• health intenders.

Product interaction

If you already have customers but they can interact with your product in different ways, this type of persona segmentation can help you target certain people most effectively.

A customer who frequently visits a brick-and-mortar store is likely to be different than one who only interacts with you online. For example, if you run a restaurant, there will be some clients who come in to eat on-premises and others who only order take-out for delivery.

You can segment by product interaction according to:

• in-person interactions,
• online interactions,
• telephone interactions,
• mobile app interactions.

Take advantage of ByDiscovery!

Persona segmentation can be made up easy with ByDiscovery. 

Our tool enables you to segment your visitors and deliver the content and solutions they were looking for. Therefore, you will change simple buyer personas into loyal clients in a matter of seconds by creating a seamless customer journey.

Moreover, thanks to many features, you will be able to extract excellent data about the people who visit your site; insights, reports, charts, and analyses will be at your disposal. For example, visitors can be tracked based on their conversion, which pages they visit most often, etc. What’s more, you will have access to every visitor’s profile and a list of actions they have taken.  Also, look at the statistics of a page, a shape, or an activity level to see what works and what does not. This will help you reach your audience even more precisely.

Aside from that, you will have access to customized checklists. By creating a checklist of items that matter to buyer personas, ByDiscovery helps identify them. Furthermore, the checklist creator is really effortless to set up and use, so, as a result, creating such forms is not difficult. In other words, ByDiscovery does not require any coding skills on your part.

Choose what’s right for you! Don’t hesitate to try out our platform and be sure it meets your needs.