12 Psychographic Customer Segments to Boost Sales

If you feel as if you've hit an invisible SMS revenue ceiling, read this article to clinch some key segmentation strategies to help you break through that sales plateau and boost the ROI on your SMS program.

So, you've already gone to work with crafting some killer SMS campaigns and invested the time to capture and grow your SMS subscribers. Now let's prime your SMS subscriber list and elevate your personalized texts to your shoppers.

All these segmentation strategies are great starting points for brands to keep their lists warm, but every business is different. What we can advise to you is this—experiment consistently and continuously.

SMS gives you the chance to talk directly to your customers and text them like they're people. We'll help you get started.

How To Analyze Customer Data for Targeted and Personalized Messaging

The crux of segmentation lies in sending the right message at the right time to the right audience.

The aim of segmenting your customers is to find what works best for your SMS program and build more targeted audiences. We'll dive right into how you can strategically group your customers based on their own behavior, interests, and personal preferences.

We'll explore 12 psychographic customer segments so you can group your shoppers based on their:

• Engagement and Purchase History
• Product Interest
• Price Sensitivity
• Lifetime Value / Average Customer Spending
• Geolocation

This way, segmentation will allow you to supercharge your SMS program by sending targeted, personalized messages to provide value, engage and delight your customers consistently.

Let's dive deeper into the world of customer segmentation to boost your text marketing conversions right off the bat.

Engagement and Purchase History

1. First-time Buyers

Don't let the relationship grow cold before it even begins— here's how you can continue engaging with your subscribers even after they receive their first welcome text and before their first purchase.

In your segment definition, these are those in your list who have never made a purchase. Your first-time buyers are those who:

• Have not purchased from you before
• Number of orders are equal to 0

This SMS segment allows you to target your SMS subscribers to give them a little nudge in the right direction to becoming first-time buyers.

Approach:

It's best to avoid messaging this customer segment too often (read: spam). The last thing you want is to overwhelm them with unrelated content that will result in unnecessary unsubscribes.

How?

• Newcomer discount reminder

If you offered them a Welcome discount in exchange for their mobile number, this is a great opportunity to drop in and remind them to use it.

Drive urgency by reminding them of the deadline before the discount expires:

1. Use by midnight
2. 7 days left!
3. Your 10% off is expiring soon!

• Bundle Deals or a Welcome Gift

If you can't offer discounts right off the bat, special subscriber-only bundles are a great way to highlight products in your inventory other than your bestsellers. It's also a great chance to get some slow-moving products moving.

• Free Shipping

This one's a simple but effective one: free shipping nationwide, worldwide, or free express shipping is a great incentive that shoppers simply love.

And we can vouch that your shoppers would rather drop their shopping carts (like it's hot) than pay for shipping.

• Prime them for Future Benefit

Set expectations and communicate clearly that you'll be sending them useful tips, inspo, and brand updates over text if they subscribe.

Shoppers respond really well to trust and authenticity too. You have to give them a good reason to subscribe to your brand. Useful and educational content can be enough to trigger excitement and anticipation of future text updates from you.

Some brands don't offer a discount to new subscribers right away but still see an epic conversion rate on their subscribers. Read how UK-based organic skincare brand, Ava Estell, made it look easy with 6k subscribers and 28x in ROI in under one month.

2. Recent Subscribers Who Have Not Purchased

These are subscribers who have recently opted-in to your SMS list but have not made their first purchase.

This segment may look similar to the First-time buyer's segment, you can include anyone who:

• Has recently opted-in (e.g., in the last 14 days) to your SMS list
• Number of orders equals to 0

Approach

Strike while the iron's hot. The approach for this segment requires more urgency to keep the momentum going with your recent subscribers.

The idea here is to build an initial rapport and keep them coming back for more.

How

Offer them something that we call a "value ladder" or staggered discounts that they can't refuse.

If for example, the maximum discount you can offer is 20%, you can start off by offering 10% on your popups as the Welcome Discount.

Offer them 15% once they complete their first purchase and then only offer the full 20% discount if they either:

a) they meet a certain cart value or spend threshold, or

b) buy from you again (on their next purchase)

If you need some ideas on how you can grow your SMS audience, get inspired with these 8 growth strategies to capture and grow your SMS subscribers.

3. Engaged Subscribers

If you're already familiar with email marketing, texting an engaged segment allows you to target subscribers who regularly interact with your content.

These are subscribers who received and opened your texts recently and frequently and can be defined by:

• Subscribers who have clicked on your SMS campaign atleast once
• Subscribers who replied to your texts within the last 30 days

Approach:

You only message those who want to receive your content, and you want to keep them interested. Staying top of mind doesn't always start with a sales campaign.

Keep your customers interested in your brand and products, especially if you make it easier for them to return to the product or a sales page. We've got some ideas.

How?

• Product Spotlight is a great way to stay top of mind with your customers and highlight products that may interest them. It's also a great opportunity for you to showcase the other products in your inventory.
• Educational Content allows you to gradually create and personalize the content that appeals to your shoppers on a higher level. The more you talk directly with your shoppers, the more insights you can glean. From user benefit through researched content (e.g.
• Seasonal Gift Guides are another way to highlight products, upsell and provide value to your shoppers— especially during gifting holidays such as Valentine's Day, Father's Day, and Christmas.
• Email Reminders can help boost your email marketing performance by prompting reminders to check out and engage with your email content. Using SMS as a two-punch messaging strategy alongside email is a great way to get in front of your shoppers and provoke an instant response.

4. Engaged and Active Customers

For the example below, we used shoppers who have placed an order at least once and received a text within the last 30 days.

Your segment definition should include customers that:

• Have purchased from you before at least once (over the past 3 months)
• That you have texted recently

Approach:

Your strategy here should focus on how you can leverage the real estate of 160-characters to maximize value for your customers and revenue.

How?

• Provide value with category promotions
• Drive urgency on storewide discounts
• Drive engagement on new product launches
• Incite the fear of missing out (FOMO) on almost sold out items
• Boost average order value (AOV) with Buy one Get One Free (BOGOF) Campaigns

Get inspired with 8 conversational SMS campaigns you can send to boost revenue and increase AOV.

5. Lapsed Repeat Customers

Depending on your niche and the products you're selling, we can typically define lapsed or inactive customers as people who haven't made a purchase within a specific timeframe.

For the example above, let's define them as:

• Customers who have placed at least 2 orders in their lifecycle
• But not bought anything within the last 30 days

These are your lapsed repeat buyers.

Approach

Build your strategy around customer win-back tactical strategies. Remind them why they bought from you in the first place and why they should continue buying from you and not anywhere else.

How

• A strong attention-grabbing opening on your text message, you can use this template below:

Hi {{ first_name }}! We've missed you.

Emma from {{ brand }} here.

Save 25% on your next order.

Shop here before midnight: {{ short_link }}

• Custom and exclusive discounts

You can get creative here, as you know your customers best. Reward customer loyalty by giving them a discount to encourage them to shop with you again.

If it suits your brand, you can always personalize a winback discount for their last purchase, an item they added to the cart, wishlist or a recent customer support enquiry.

• Set Timely reminders

If they've bought from you before, increase the chances of bringing them back to your store (or a landing page) by sending them a timely reminder that it's time for a refill or notifying them on restock campaigns.

A great tactic for brands within the beauty and wellness niche and one that we've replicated for our own merchants!

7. Active Repeat Customers

Approach

Roll out strategies that aim to increase their AOV, but lay off the hard sell. The last thing you want to do is annoy your shoppers.

Instead, you should aim to keep your SMS list healthy and engaged.

How to Boost AOV without annoying your shoppers

• Provide them an opportunity to unlock stacked discounts either with a higher minimum spend threshold
• Post-purchase upselling and cross-selling by recommending them complementary products based on what they've previously bought with you
• BOGOF Campaigns on higher priced or slow moving products
• Drive urgency on time-limited deals and always include this customer segment for these sort of sales campaigns

8. Product Interest

If you have insights on your customers' browse activity and even cart and browse abandonment, this might clue you in on their future purchase behavior.

Text them to nudge them to return to the product or sales page. Here's an example of how you can use your customer's purchase history in a Sales Reminder campaign:

Approach

This one's pretty simple, you'll want to send them what they'd want.

But why should they shop from you and not anywhere else? Here's what makes your brand stand out from the rest— by talking to your customers and helping them find the best product to suit their needs and wants.

How

• Category promotion campaigns 👀 by targeting your customers based on a specific product interest or purchase history
• "Hey, you left this behind!" to remind them that they'll miss out on these products if they don't check out soon
• Leverage some social proof by including some personalized recommendations in your text message or link to a testimonial page or case study
• Use this as an opportunity to cross-sell complementary products "additional product picks" based on what they've previously bought
• Up-sell high-value bundles based on product line or category

9. Price Sensitivity

"Price sensitive" shoppers can either be customers who shop exclusively during sales events or shoppers who are likely to spend within a certain AOV.

The segment example we used above targets shoppers with an AOV of less than $100. And how we calculate AOV is:

AOV = total monetary value of orders ($) divided by number of completed orders

Approach:

Personalize your product recommendations around the same price range, or incentivize them to spend more.

How

• Price-limited Product Recommendations: "Great Skin Deals under $40"
• When you're playing around with bundling strategy, having this information at your fingertips gives you actionable insights that hold sway on your shopper's value perception. For example, buy 1 for $80 or buy 3 for $160.
• If your store offers them, offer them an alternative payment method that allows them to buy now and pay later

Did you know that payment issues are one of the top 3 reasons for abandoned shopping carts? Read the insights from 500k text conversations with abandoned shoppers and how to solve them.

Price sensitivity has another name, and we call them our holiday shoppers. This brings us to our next high-ROI customer segment.

10. Holiday Shoppers

These are customers who have bought from you during the biggest eCommerce shopping holiday of the year— Black Friday and Cyber Monday (BFCM).

Your segment should include shoppers who:

• Have purchased from you between November 25th and 28th last year during the BFCM

As a tip, you can include 2-3 days before and after these dates to make sure you capture any early access or sales extension shoppers.

The Approach:

Customers who shop during the BFCM love are generally a great discount-loving bunch and are keen to score some serious deals.

You'll want to turn these one-time seasonal shoppers into lifelong customers without spending a dime on ads.

Who says you can't target these high-rollers for any other holiday? In fact, they probably wish you did it more often. It's a great way to provide value to them throughout the year, instead of waiting for the BFCM to come round before you see them again.

How?

Retarget this segment of your BFCM shoppers for every major sale holiday or keep them on standby to maximize sales on your time-limited discounts.

One of the best holidays that we recommend is Valentine's Day— 2 months after New Year's Day, they'll be hungry for some holiday shopping.

The third-largest retail holiday in the US worth $20 billion in 2021 was a prime opportunity to retarget your BFCM shoppers. Even if you missed it, it's still not too late. Check out these 6 Mother's Day SMS campaign ideas to drive sales— and replicate them for any upcoming holiday sales.

11. VIPs

Your VIPs are defined as a group of highly engaged and excitable shoppers who self opted-in. These are also customers who have purchased from your store recently and frequently.

You can target these shoppers either by:

• Total life time spent, for the example above we used $500
• Or, by their historic number of orders and engagement

Approach:

Celebrate their status as VIPs and make them feel as if they're part of an exclusive community.

How:

Celebrate their loyalty by giving them access to the biggest discounts, new product launches, and priority during major sales events.

Check out how we do it here:

12. Geolocation

This customer segment is basic but important. It allows you to refocus and target your marketing efforts within a designated location. Check out our specific segment below targeting shoppers from Boston and within a specific zip code.

If you wield this correctly, location based segmentation can be a powerful tool for your business if you're planning to sell without borders and expand your customer base internationally.

Idea

Like the example above, narrowing down your audiences for specific cities and zip codes within the US is useful to fine-tune your product-specific promotions based on your audience's weather and climate.

For example, you can target customers in New England winter with winter jackets and leave the Floridians out of it to make sure your SMS marketing efforts are well spent.

Conclusion: Relate to Your Customers in 160-Characters

Thanks for making it to the end! We've learned how to build your own customer segments to work on and nurture all stages of your customer journey.

So let's do a quick recap! We've discovered and went through the targeting, approach, and messaging of 12 different psychographic customer segments.

We focused on specifically on their:

• Engagement and Purchase History
• Product Interest
• Price Sensitivity
• Lifetime Value / Average Customer Spending
• Geolocation

It's not just about driving sales and hitting a higher ROI. It's that and relating to your customers better in 160 characters or less— which is the real estate of a text message.

Of course, every Shopify brand has a different user experience. But you'll want to serve an elevated customer experience for your shoppers to forge stronger relationships with them.

Start off your SMS marketing strategy the right way, with a conversation. Need capturing and nurturing website visitors into happy returning customers?

Try out Cartloop's conversational SMS platform by requesting a free demo, or try it out for free— the first 14 days are on us!