HubSpot Segmentation: Target Like a Pro

Effective marketing hinges on understanding your audience. Segmentation, the practice of dividing your audience into smaller, more defined groups, is the cornerstone of personalized campaigns that resonate and convert. In this how-to guide, we’ll walk you through using HubSpot’s advanced segmentation tools to craft precisely targeted marketing initiatives. Ready to transform your marketing ROI with better audience understanding?

Step 1: Accessing the Lists Tool in HubSpot

First, we need to find our way to the segmentation tool within HubSpot. We’ll be creating what HubSpot calls “Lists,” which are dynamic or static groupings of your contacts.

Navigating to Lists

1. Log in to your HubSpot account. Make sure you have Marketing Hub Professional or Enterprise; segmentation features are limited in lower tiers.
2. In the main navigation, hover over “Contacts” and click “Lists.” The interface is largely unchanged since the 2024 redesign, thankfully.
3. You’ll see a dashboard displaying your existing lists, along with key metrics like list size and recent activity.

Pro Tip: If you don’t see the “Lists” option, double-check your user permissions. You need marketing access to create and manage lists.

Step 2: Creating a Static List

Static lists are snapshots of your contacts based on criteria you define at a specific point in time. These lists don’t automatically update. They are useful for one-time email blasts or reporting.

Defining Your Criteria

1. On the Lists dashboard, click the “Create list” button in the upper right corner.
2. Choose “Static list.”
3. Give your list a descriptive name, like “Atlanta Area Tech CEOs.” This helps with organization later.
4. Click “Next.”

Adding Filters

1. Now the fun begins. Click “+ Add filter.”
2. A dropdown menu appears, presenting a range of properties you can filter by. Let’s start with location. Search for and select “City.”
3. Choose the operator “is equal to” and enter “Atlanta.”
4. Click “+ Add filter” again. This time, search for and select “Industry.”
5. Choose the operator “is equal to” and enter “Technology.”
6. One more. Click “+ Add filter,” search for “Job Title,” choose the operator “contains,” and enter “CEO.”

Common Mistake: Forgetting to combine filters. By default, HubSpot uses “AND” logic. All criteria must be met for a contact to be added to the list. Be mindful of this when creating complex lists. Sometimes “OR” logic is more appropriate.

Review and Save

1. Review your filters to ensure they accurately reflect your target audience.
2. Click “Save.”
3. HubSpot will now process your request and populate the list with contacts matching your criteria. The number of contacts will appear next to the list name on the Lists dashboard.

Expected Outcome: A static list containing contacts who live in Atlanta, work in the technology industry, and have “CEO” in their job title. This list will not automatically update as new contacts are added or existing contacts change their information.

Step 3: Creating an Active List

Active lists are dynamic and automatically update based on real-time contact behavior and property changes. These are ideal for nurturing campaigns and ongoing segmentation.

Setting Up the Active List

1. Return to the Lists dashboard and click “Create list.”
2. Choose “Active list.”
3. Name your list something like “Website Visitors – Pricing Page – Last 7 Days.”
4. Click “Next.”

Using Behavioral Filters

1. Click “+ Add filter.”
2. Scroll down to the “Website Activity” section and select “Page view.”
3. Choose the operator “has ever visited.”
4. Enter the URL of your pricing page. For example, “/pricing”.
5. Click “+ Add filter” again. This time, choose “Date of last page view.”
6. Choose the operator “is more than” and enter “7 days ago.”

Pro Tip: HubSpot’s behavioral filters are powerful. You can segment based on email clicks, form submissions, video views, and more. Get creative!

Combining Filters for Precision

Let’s refine this further. Suppose you only want to target contacts in Georgia. Add another filter:

1. Click “+ Add filter” and select “State/Region.”
2. Choose the operator “is equal to” and enter “Georgia.”

Expected Outcome: An active list that automatically includes contacts who have visited your pricing page in the last 7 days and are located in Georgia. As people visit the page or update their location, the list will update automatically.

Step 4: Leveraging AI-Powered Segmentation

HubSpot has integrated AI to help you identify your ideal customer profile (ICP) and find similar contacts. This can be found under “AI Segmentation” in the lists tool.

If you’re looking for an edge, consider diving into AI-powered marketing to enhance your overall strategy.

Defining Your Ideal Customer Profile

1. In the Lists dashboard, click “Create list” and select “AI Segmentation” (Beta).
2. Click “Create Ideal Customer Profile.”
3. HubSpot will prompt you to select a group of existing customers you consider high-value. These should be customers with high lifetime value, low churn, and strong engagement.
4. Select at least 10 customers for best results. The more data, the better the AI model.
5. Click “Analyze.”

Understanding the AI Insights

1. HubSpot’s AI will analyze the selected customers and identify common characteristics, such as industry, company size, job title, and engagement behavior.
2. The AI will generate a “similarity score” for each contact in your database, indicating how closely they resemble your ICP.
3. You can then create a list based on a minimum similarity score. For example, create a list of all contacts with a similarity score of 80 or higher.

Case Study: I had a client, a SaaS company in Alpharetta, GA, struggling to identify their best leads. We used HubSpot’s AI segmentation to analyze their top 50 customers. The AI revealed that their ICP was primarily small to medium-sized businesses in the healthcare industry, with a focus on practices using outdated patient management systems. We then created a targeted campaign focusing on these businesses, resulting in a 35% increase in qualified leads within the first quarter.

Putting AI into Action

1. After defining your ICP and setting a similarity score threshold, click “Create List.”
2. HubSpot will automatically create an active list of contacts matching your ICP.
3. Use this list to target high-potential leads with personalized messaging and offers.

Here’s what nobody tells you: AI segmentation isn’t perfect. It’s a tool, not a magic bullet. You still need to validate the AI’s findings and refine your ICP based on real-world results. Don’t blindly trust the algorithm.

Step 5: Using Lists in Marketing Campaigns

Now that you have your lists, it’s time to put them to work. Lists can be used in various HubSpot marketing tools, including email, workflows, ads, and more.

Email Marketing

1. When creating a new email, select your target list in the “Recipients” section.
2. Personalize your email content based on the list’s characteristics. For example, if you’re targeting CEOs in Atlanta, mention local business trends or events.
3. Monitor your email performance closely and adjust your messaging as needed.

Workflows

To maximize your marketing efforts, you might consider a marketer’s automation secret, such as MarketerMagic 3.0.

1. Use lists as enrollment triggers in your workflows. For example, enroll contacts in a nurturing sequence when they join a list of website visitors.
2. Use list membership as a branch in your workflow logic. For example, send different emails based on whether a contact is in your ICP list or not.

Advertising

1. Sync your HubSpot lists with your ad platforms (e.g., Google Ads, Meta Ads Manager).
2. Create custom audiences based on your lists and target them with relevant ads.
3. Exclude existing customers from your ad campaigns to avoid wasting ad spend.

Common Mistake: Neglecting list hygiene. Regularly review your lists and remove outdated or irrelevant contacts. This improves deliverability and campaign performance. A recent IAB report found that marketers who prioritize data quality see a 20% increase in ROI.

Segmentation isn’t a one-time task; it’s an ongoing process. Regularly review your lists, refine your criteria, and experiment with new segmentation strategies. The more you understand your audience, the more effective your marketing will be. We ran into this exact issue at my previous firm, where we were sending generic emails to our entire database. Once we implemented targeted segmentation, our open rates jumped by 15% almost immediately.

Mastering HubSpot’s segmentation tools empowers you to move beyond generic marketing and embrace personalized experiences that drive results. Remember to focus on data quality, refine your ICP, and continuously test your segmentation strategies. The key is to treat segmentation as an ongoing process, constantly adapting to changes in your audience and market. Now, go forth and segment! Consider how this plays into content marketing strategy as well.