Using Synchronized Segments To Uncover The Past
Karen Hudgins leads marketing program management for Unica's Internet marketing solutions group and is responsible for ensuring market visibility and reach with the Affinium NetInsight line of web analytics solutions. Prior to working at Unica, Hudgins managed online marketing programs for Sane Solutions, the developers of the NetInsight web analytics technology, which Unica acquired in March 2005, and was the online marketing and affiliate marketing manager for ABCLeads.com, an online lead generation company, for four years.
Segmentation is a way we as marketers often categorize website visitors. Based on behaviors, we adjust our interactions, however brief they may be, to build stronger relationships. While this is not a new concept to experienced web analysts and the practice of segmentation is frequently advised by industry experts, marketers are just beginning to realize the value they can gain from the idea of synchronized segmentation. Synchronized segmentation is the practice of applying segments created today to historical data. It is critical to understanding and advancing the elusive customer’s life cycle progression.
More often than not, marketers focus on moving forward, driven by an innate need to get the new campaign out the door or the new message into the market, without giving a second glance to what lies in the past. We create vibrantly compelling web analytics reports to analyze campaigns, impressing fellow marketers and associates alike. However, we rarely take the time to examine what insights lie hidden in past data or segments. Today’s leading web analytics solutions empower marketers to not only take an in-depth look at visitor activity, but also drive relevant, right time marketing powered by synchronized, custom segments.
Let’s say today you define a new visitor segment, called “Tease.” Clearly a customized segment, this could represent people who added an item to their shopping carts, but never followed through on the purchase; visitors who began a quote request but never completed the form; or perhaps those who thought they would pay their bill online, but instead dialed your call center. This customized segment is quickly meaningful to you and your team and can be used to form the basis of communication, interaction, nurturing cycles and marketing styles. However, what about those who took these actions prior to the time you created the new segment? Are those people not just as important? Would it be worthwhile to examine their activities? Absolutely!
Synchronized segments open the doorway to our past, revealing opportunities for the future and actionable realizations for today. For instance, the “Tease” segment may be receptive to a particular campaign to entice conversions. By extending the segment to historical data, you could also include those visitors as well and have a larger audience to include in your campaigns.
Additionally, by analyzing synchronized segments you may also see trends in advancement develop as well. An advance between segment levels is, quite literally, the progression from one step to the next. A visitor may start as a Tease, but eventually the goal would be to get that visitor to complete their shopping cart, submit a quote request, or some other form of conversion. A customized segment path might start at the Tease level but ideally the goal would be to reach the Customer segment. Applying these segments to past data can provide the intelligence that, otherwise, could take months to gather.
Analyzing past data using today’s measurements and segmentations enables marketers to gain a more complete understanding of their website visitors. It is vital that segments created today, and in the future, be synchronized with historical data which is not only necessary for trend analysis, but also for prospect/customer lifecycle progression analysis and understanding behavioral tendencies.
As you create your customized segments, choose naming conventions closely tied to your site's goals, use your businesses’ language, and apply segments to current and historical data. This will ensure that segments are used to their fullest potential, driving visitor type awareness, nurturing site visitors through the conversion lifecycle and creating timely more meaningful exchanges.
