Understanding Ecommerce Customer Segmentation

You saw the ad. You ignored it. You saw it again. Still ignored. Now you see it 6 more times. Welcome to modern D2C retargeting. Most D2C brands retarget like everyone’s always interested. Spoiler: they’re not. We audited 14 Indian D2C brands in April. Different categories. Different spend levels. ↳ But one common problem across the board: → Retargeting was quietly eating up 25–30% of ad budgets… and delivering almost no real lift in conversions. ↳ Here’s what we saw again and again: → Brands targeting the same audience across multiple campaigns. → 30-day visitors are still being hammered with BOFU ads on day 27. → High-frequency users keep seeing offers they’ve already ignored. → Everyone gets the same retargeting creative, no matter their intent level. And the worst part? Meta charges a premium to show ads to warm audiences or even if they’re cold in behavior. ↳ Why this hits harder in India: → COD mindset means More hesitation, slower decision → Lower trust in new D2C brands → Most retargeting is not segmented by behavior or timing You're not nurturing. You’re nagging. ↳ What I suggest brands to do instead: → Cap frequency and refresh retargeting ads weekly. → Use behavioral segments, not just "all visitors". → Retarget with timing logic, not desperation. ↳ My Fix for Smarter Retargeting Strategy 1. Segment your retargeting audiences → 1–3 days: Hot. Hit with offer. → 4–7 days: Educational reminder → 8–14 days: Testimonials, COD trust → 15–30 days: Low-cost nudges, not hard sells 2. Set frequency caps for warm pools → Don’t let the same person see your ad 6–10 times. → It hurts trust and inflates CPC. 3. Use intent-based retargeting triggers → Add to cart ≠ View content ≠ 10 sec video view → Each needs a different message and urgency 4. Rotate your creatives weekly → Fresh visuals and new hooks equals higher re-engagement without annoying the user 5. Track spend split between cold vs warm → If warm is eating 40%+ of budget with low conversions then pull back and fix segmentation. → Swap "Buy Now" with reminder, education, or social proof style creatives. Recap: ✅ Over-retargeting is a silent budget leak in Indian D2C ✅ Meta doesn’t care how relevant your retargeting is, you need to fix it ✅ Smart segmentation and message match means better ROI and trust ✅ Most CAC spikes come from lazy retargeting, not bad ads ✅ Treat retargeting like a nurture funnel, not a sales wall It’s not that your retargeting isn’t working rather it’s working too hard on the wrong people. Sometimes scaling starts by cutting what’s quietly bleeding your best budget. Spending ₹10L–₹50L/month and not sure if your retargeting is actually working? Let’s chat. A 30-min chat could save you lakhs in silent leaks.

Luxury eCommerce isn’t just about selling high-end products - it’s about curating an experience. Mytheresa has exemplified this with its growth in a struggling luxury market: ▪ Revenue Growth: Sales grew +8% to €202 million in the first quarter of its fiscal year that ended in September. ▪ Customer Strategy: "Top customers" (spending €40,000+ annually) drove 39% of total sales in FY24, reflecting their focus on high-value clients. ▪ Global Expansion: The U.S., now 22% of their GMV, saw 41.6% growth in FY24, fuelled by tailored events and local community engagement. The “how” behind their growth: 1️⃣ Exclusive Experiences: Hosting luxury events globally, like fashion previews and brand-specific exhibitions, strengthened customer loyalty. They are also increasing their number of events dedicated to their male clients, the e-tailer’s menswear segment accounts for more than 10% of overall sales and continues to grow. 2️⃣ Tech-Driven Personalisation: They recently launched an immersive shopping app for Apple Vision Pro, showcasing innovative digital engagement. 3️⃣ Full-Price Strategy & Segmentation: MyTheresa focuses on exclusivity over discounting, emphasising access over affordability and targeting specific "top customer" segments. Michael Kliger, MyTheresa's CEO stated: “One of the big learnings is: be focused. Who is your customer? Innovate how you reach them, how you make them valued, how you excite them. That’s where innovation should sit.” MyTheresa's approach shows the potential of blending personalisation with innovation and a laser focused customer strategy to redefine online luxury shopping. https://lnkd.in/egK_4TzK

Should you retarget by intent? We ran the test... Most B2B retargeting looks something like this: Someone visits your site, any page at all…and immediately: they’re getting hit with “Book a demo” or “Start your free trial” ads. No nuance. No context. Just one-size-fits-all messaging chasing every visitor around the internet. It’s simple. It’s easy. But also pretty broken. Here’s why: > Not everyone on your site is in the same headspace. > Blog readers aren’t ready to talk to sales. > Product page visitors are curious but not convinced. And people on the demo page? They’re this close but something’s holding them back. Treating all three the same? That’s how you burn ad dollars without actually building pipeline. So we ran a test. One of our clients had a basic retargeting setup. One campaign. One CTA. One generic message. We broke it apart and rebuilt it based on intent. ___________________________ Here’s how we segmented it: Blog readers Top-of-funnel folks in research mode. → We showed them value-first content: guides, checklists, downloads. Product & feature page visitors Mid-funnel visitors sniffing around the solution. → We served ROI calculators, interactive tools, and “how do you stack up” style CTAs. Pricing/demo page visitors Bottom-of-funnel leads with real buying signals. → They saw direct “Book a demo” and “Start your trial” ads with tons of social proof. ___________________________ Here’s what happened over 60 days: Old campaign (one-size-fits-all): > Low click-through rates (~0.4%) > Modest form fill volume > Demo-to-close rates hovering around 17% New segmented retargeting: > 3.1x higher CTR > 2.4x more total form fills > 29% increase in demo-to-close conversion from high-intent segments ___________________________ Better message-match. Cleaner funnel transitions. Better results.

“I’m retargeting everyone who visits my site but conversions are terrible” A founder messaged me this. Service business. Spending ₹40K/month on retargeting Conversion rate: 0.9% “Show me your setup.” He was showing the same “Book a call” ad to someone who bounced in 5 seconds and someone who spent 12 minutes reading his pricing page Most people think retargeting is one audience It’s not It’s 3 completely different stages So we changed 3 things: Split into browsers (education content), considerers (social proof), and hot leads (urgency offers) Different creative for each segment Matched the message to their intent level Results after 3 weeks: Conversion rate: 0.9% → 4.1% Cost per lead: ₹4,444 → ₹975 Qualified calls booked: 9 → 41 Same budget. Same traffic. Same product Just stopped treating strangers like they’re ready to buy Most people think retargeting means one ad to everyone. But actually: Segmentation is the entire strategy.

𝗗𝗢𝗡'𝗧: Download/webinar sign-up → send leads to sales. 𝗗𝗢:       Match the next step/CTA with the buyer's intent level. Don't propose marriage on the first date. Instead, ask yourself:  What does the buyer actually want? 𝗛𝗜𝗚𝗛 𝗜𝗡𝗧𝗘𝗡𝗧 𝘈𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯: Book a demo call 𝘐𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘵: Get a demo and evaluate the fit 𝘕𝘦𝘹𝘵 𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘱𝘴: Let ICP buyers book a call with AE directly. Actually provide the demo, pricing and discuss their use-case. 𝗟𝗢𝗪 𝗜𝗡𝗧𝗘𝗡𝗧 𝘈𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯: A buyer downloads a piece of content, or registers for a webinar 𝘐𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘵:  To learn Possible next steps that match the intent: - Connect before the webinar to ask what they're hoping to learn - Follow up after the webinar asking their feedback, and offering more resources on the topic - Offer them newsletter sign-up upon content delivery - Progressive profiling (using marketing automation to collect more info about needs, goals, and priorities—and using these insights to provide more relevant content) 𝗠𝗘𝗗𝗜𝗨𝗠 𝗜𝗡𝗧𝗘𝗡𝗧 𝘈𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯: Visit high-intent pages; several buyers spent 30+ min on website 𝘐𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘵:  Considering a vendor (but not yet ready to book a call) 𝘕𝘦𝘹𝘵 𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘱𝘴: provide a personalized buying experience for high-value accounts. Here is how: When an account is engaged, the next step is account qualification (if it's a right fit) and account segmentation (to what tier it belongs). We do tier segmentation to define what level of personalization to use. Tier 1 accounts (highest revenue potential): 1-1 highly personalized campaigns Tier 2 accounts: vertical-based and job-role based personalization. Tier 3 accounts: should be generated via demand generation programs. 𝐀𝐜𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡 Collect all the publicly available insights about the strategic initiatives of the qualified accounts and map out the buying committee. Map your value proposition and content to the needs, JBTD and challenges you discover. 𝗔𝗰𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗻𝘁 𝗗𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗹𝗼𝗽𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 Specific activities and channels to engage the target buyers (of a specific account), create awareness and distribute your personalized value proposition and content. These include: 1. Social engagement and social selling 2. Content collaboration 3. 1:1 content distribution 4. 1:Few content distribution using paid 5. 1:1 and 1:Few direct mail 6. Events (virtual events, local micro events, breakfast meetings, round tables, etc.) 7. Communities The key is to have clear agreements with sales on who does what. --- 70% of B2B buyers are frustrated with their buying experience. This is an opportunity: better buying experiences will help you stand out. So review all your CTA with sales, asking yourself: What is the actual intent of the buyer, and what is the best and fastest way to serve them at this step of their journey?

Still blasting the same email to everyone on your list? That’s exactly why your eCommerce UX and email performance are stuck. 𝗠𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗯𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗱𝘀 𝘁𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗮𝗺𝗲. That’s the "spray and pray" tactic. It feels safe, but it leaves massive revenue untapped. Here’s why 𝗰𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗿 𝘀𝗲𝗴𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 transforms your strategy: ✅ 𝗣𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘇𝗲𝗱 𝗨𝗫:   → Segment by purchase history, geography, or behavior.   → Serve up product recommendations that 𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳—not just what’s convenient for you. ✅ 𝗧𝗮𝗿𝗴𝗲𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗘𝗺𝗮𝗶𝗹𝘀:   → Stop sending 20% off to people who just bought (and annoy them).   → Instead, message first-time buyers with a “Welcome” flow, and reward VIPs with early access. 𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝗶𝘁 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸𝘀:   People expect relevance.   When your offer lands 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵, open rates and AOV jump. 💡Pro tip: Even basic segmentation (like splitting by LTV or product interest) will outperform generic blasts every single time. Ready to ditch the generic?   Drop a "Yes" if you’re segmenting—or ask for a starter framework. https://lnkd.in/gfJvWZUx #eCommerce #EmailMarketing #CustomerExperience #CRO

One campaign. Wrong exclusion list. $10,000 in missed revenue. The brief had changed after the segment was built and nobody updated the exclusion criteria. The send went to a broader audience than intended, including people who had already converted. RPR dropped, opt-outs went up, and the damage to list health doesn't show up in a single report. It compounds quietly across every send after it. The fix was straightforward. We built a campaign brief approval process with an explicit exclusion list field. Before anything goes out, the segment logic gets reviewed as a discrete step. Not assumed- checked. The $10,000 was recoverable. The list fatigue from sending to the wrong people isn't. You can make the revenue back. You can't un-send to someone who just decided your emails aren't worth opening. Most brands audit their creative constantly and almost never audit their segmentation logic with the same rigor. It's treated as a one-time setup rather than an ongoing discipline, and the cost of that assumption compounds with every campaign.

Here is how I turned around a 7-figure email program by simply counting how many emails we sent. Well, it wasn't that easy... but almost. The program had been declining for a few months, and the entire team was stumped. We were doing everything right. The design was impeccable, the landing pages were optimized, emails were meticulously segmented... But we missed a crucial point: segmenting is meant for personalization, NOT for sending fewer emails. The total email deliveries had dropped to almost half due to over-segmentation. Meaning we segmented out half our active subs. The worst part? The emails weren't even personalized to these hyper-segmented groups! The fix: we began broadening the segments and sending more emails, and like magic, email revenue surged to record levels. We were missing the forest for the trees. Since then, I've always kept a close eye on my count metrics alongside my efficiency metrics. After all, you can't generate email revenue if you're not sending emails.

Most brands segment by gender or location. We segment by behavior. Because if someone viewed your product 3 times but never clicked add to cart… They don’t need a discount. They need a reason to believe. If someone buys 4x a month, they don’t need a promo code. They need early access. Here are 6 simple-but-powerful segments we use to personalize flows and campaigns. You don’t need complex logic. You just need to talk to people based on what they do—not just who they are. Save this for when you rebuild your next email strategy. What would you add?