Segmentation beats personalization

Segmentation beats personalization.

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Personalization is terribly inefficient...

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(and oftentimes unnecessary outside of highly strategic enterprise selling).

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Think about the ads that really grab your attention.

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None of them have your name in them. Or mention podcasts you were interviewed in or posts that you wrote.

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These ads work because they're segmented based on patterns amongst small-ish groups of people.

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Outbound should be treated similarly.

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Pro tip: this approach works WAY better over the phone than via email. The expectation for personalization and quality is much higher in emails than over the phone.

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Here are a few ideas for segmenting your lists so you don't have to personalize so much:

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✅ By region/location

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If you sell anything brick & mortar, SLED, etc—segment your accounts by geographic region. You really don't have to personalize much when you can:

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- Name-drop local businesses/organizations

- Drop the location

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This sounds like:

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"Hi David, we work with Fit & Fashion right down the road in SLU. It's Jason with ________. Ring a bell?"

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✅ By tech stack

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Let's say you sell a tool that enhances Salesforce. Or Jira. Or some other specific tool. Segment your accounts by tech stack.

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This sounds like:

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"Hi Katie, we're partnering with engineering teams who wish sandboxes were way easier to set up and use in Zendesk. It's Jason with ________. Got a min?"

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✅ By persona

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Let's say you sell to ecomm solutions to SMB retail business owners.

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This sounds like:

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"Hi Tom, we're working with several retailers in the Seattle area. It's Jason with ________. Heard our name tossed around?" (H/T Armand Farrokh)

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✅ By trigger

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This list gets pretty extensive.

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Hiring, job changes, customer/champion change, M&A, expansion/contraction, promotion, etc

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This sounds like:

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"Hi Dave, congrats on the promotion. It's Jason from __________. Was just talking to a new HR leader yesterday who's running into all kinds of complications scaling international hiring. That by chance something you're running into?"

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✅ By niche

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One of my favorites. Take a well-recognized logo like Rippling. You could go after direct competitors, but it's even better to focus on non-competitive products selling to the same personas.

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This sounds like:

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"Hi Cierra, we're working with Rippling to help scale their product suite for HR leaders. It's Jason with ________. Thought you might want to hear how they've doubled ACV in the last 6 months. Have a min?"

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~~~

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Before you think of personalization, start with segmentation. Do the work upfront to avoid having to customize too much.

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Agree or disagree?

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