Segmentation in Marketo – How To Guide!

By tailoring campaigns to these segments, marketers can create personalized experiences that resonate with their audience, leading to higher engagement and better results. Xgrid implemented these strategies for a client to drive significant improvements in their marketing efforts.

What is Segmentation in Marketo?

Segmentation in Marketo is the process of dividing your audience into groups based on shared attributes, such as demographics or behaviors. These segments are used primarily for personalization in emails, landing pages, and reporting.

Xgrid’s Approach: For a client in the SaaS industry, Xgrid utilized Marketo’s segmentation capabilities to create targeted groups. This enabled the client to deliver highly relevant content, enhancing both user experience and campaign effectiveness.

Key Features of Marketo Segmentation

• Static Groups: Segments are fixed until the rules are updated and reapproved.
• Personalization Tokens: Use segmentation to display dynamic content tailored to each group.
• Global Use: Segmentations are available across all programs in your instance.

Benefits of Using Segmentation

Enhanced Personalization

Deliver highly targeted content to specific groups, ensuring your messaging aligns with their interests and needs. For example, you can show different versions of an email header to CEOs versus Marketing Managers.

Xgrid Example: Xgrid helped the client use segmentation to tailor messages for different industries, resulting in a 35% increase in email engagement rates.

Improved Engagement

By providing content that resonates, segmentation increases open rates, click-through rates, and overall campaign success.

Better Reporting Insights

Analyze performance based on segments to understand which audience groups are responding best to your efforts.

Streamlined Campaign Management

Manage variations of content more efficiently within a single email or landing page template.

Common Segmentation Criteria

• Geographic location
• Industry or company size
• Job title or role
• Engagement level (e.g., active vs. inactive leads)
• Product interest or lifecycle stage

Creating a New Segmentation

We implemented the following steps to create effective segmentation for our client:

Step 1: Navigate to the Database

• Go to the Database section in Marketo.
• Click New Segmentation and give it a meaningful name (e.g., “Industry Segmentation”).

Step 2: Add Segment Rules

Define the criteria for each group. For instance:

• Segment 1: Industry = Technology
• Segment 2: Industry = Healthcare
• Segment 3: Industry = Education

Step 3: Arrange Segments in Priority Order

Marketo processes segments top-down, assigning leads to the first matching segment.

Step 4: Approve the Segmentation

After defining the segments, click Approve. Marketo will process the database and assign each lead to the appropriate segment. This process may take time, depending on the size of your database.

Xgrid’s Results: By organizing segments in priority order, the client achieved seamless lead assignment and faster campaign execution.

How to Use Dynamic Content with Segments

Emails

• Open an email in the editor and select a content block (e.g., a text area or image).
• Click Make Dynamic and choose your segmentation.
• Add variations for each segment, customizing the content to match their preferences.

Xgrid’s Approach: Dynamic email content allowed the client to present tailored messaging to different job roles, such as strategic insights for CEOs and actionable tips for Marketing Managers.

Landing Pages

• Follow the same process to create dynamic sections on your landing pages.
• Use this to display region-specific offers, industry-relevant messaging, or localized testimonials.

Outcome: The client experienced a 50% increase in landing page conversions due to localized and relevant messaging.

Best Practices for Effective Segmentation

Start Simple

Begin with a few key segments and expand as you gain insights. Over-segmentation can lead to complexity without added value.

Ensure Data Quality

The success of your segmentation relies on accurate data. Use data management campaigns to normalize fields (e.g., standardizing job titles or industries).

Insight: Data normalization campaigns ensured the client’s segments were based on clean and reliable data, reducing errors and improving campaign performance.

Monitor Segment Distribution

Regularly review the size of your segments. If a segment is too small, consider merging it with another or refining its criteria.

Maintaining and Updating Segmentation

Segmentation is not a one-and-done task. As your database grows and your marketing strategies evolve, your segments may need updates to remain relevant.

Regular Maintenance Tips

• Audit your segments for accuracy and alignment with current goals.
• Reapprove segmentations after making changes to rules.
• Analyze performance metrics to identify opportunities for refinement.

Contribution: Our Certified Marketo Experts provided the client with detailed reports and regular audits, ensuring that the segmentation strategy remained aligned with business objectives.

Conclusion

Segmentation in Marketo is a critical tool for delivering personalized and effective marketing campaigns. Our implementation of a tailored segmentation strategy helped our client enhance engagement, improve targeting accuracy, and boost ROI.

By leveraging segmentation for dynamic content and maintaining clean data, the client was able to unlock the full potential of their Marketo instance.