Not all opt in SMS subscribers are the same. They don’t respond to the same types of messages. They don’t respond to the same offers and deals. They have different tastes, preferences, behavior and attitudes. This is why marketing professionals always segment their customers.

Segmenting your customers and your subscribers allows you to target your marketing message and advertising programs, which achieves better results. A targeted message is likely to drive more business than a generic one—it will generate a higher response rate. And because you don’t bulk send every SMS message to everyone in your opt in list, you also save on unnecessary costs.

Let’s suppose that you own a restaurant in the business district and you would like to offer a special discount to your weekday lunch menus. Can you imagine bulk sending this SMS voucher to everyone in your list, including the stay-at-home moms who only during the weekends? You may only be wasting your money and their time.

Save on your text message marketing expenses by targeting your subscribers. Segmentation, of course, requires a lot of testing, which may cost some time and money in the short run. But this will pay off in the long run—both in savings and revenues.

1.     Demographics

This includes age, gender, geography—locations of both work and residence, occupation, education levels, marital status, income and other socio-economic factors.

Of course, not all will apply to your particular business. If you’re running a local, neighborhood joint, perhaps geography won’t be as important. But if you’re operating a nationwide chain, then grouping your subscribers by location should be on top of your segmentation priority list.

2.     Buying habits

How do your subscribers make a purchase? Do they purchase in-store or do they purchase through your online shop? Do they always buy things that are on sale or products that are newly launched?

How often do they buy? Do they come to you on a daily, weekly or monthly basis? Or do they only come in during a special event or occasion? 

What types of products or services do they purchase? Do they only purchase certain products?

3.     Spending capacity

On average, how much do your subscribers spend? It is always worthwhile to distinguish your average spenders from your big spenders. You want to give special attention to your VIP clients—keep them by offering exclusive deals and discounts.