If your users are fed one-size-fits-all content, do you think they’ll feel special? It’s quite unlikely, so in order to satisfy their needs, it’s critical to design marketing campaigns that specifically relate to them. This is where cohort targeting and cohort analysis come in handy and play a significant role.
When it comes to cohort targeting, marketers must segment their users based on their online behavior, browsing history, gender, age group, geographic location, preferences, and engagement metrics. It’s important to understand that B2B cohort targeting in addition to analyzing supercharge marketing campaigns adds a personal touch to ads while driving engagement.
What Is Cohort Targeting All About?
In case you don’t already know, cohort targeting is the mechanism by which marketers aim for specific user groups who share common identifiers and traits including languages, locations, devices, and operating systems over a particular period of time.
Cohort targeting may seem similar to audience segmentation and general demographics, but they aren’t exactly twins. Cohorts are much more specific, which make them a valued targeted marketing strategy for B2B marketers. Here’s one example to think about: Men between the ages 20 and 40 fall within the demographic grouping category, but men between the ages 20 and 40 years who have downloaded a fitness app within one week are known as cohorts.
In addition, it’s time to learn how to gain insightful customer insights by utilizing cohort targeting. The first step is for marketers to break down customers into more manageable and structured cohorts to determine the best suitable marketing techniques, engagement, and retargeting strategies. Then, marketers can proceed by analyzing cohorts based on the following categories:
When marketers analyze cohorts based on specific time frames, they can better understand their customers’ behavior by when they have used a specific company’s products or services.
For example, if a large majority of customers were acquired in the Q1, and they continue business with a company until the Q4, but only a meager 10 percent of customers acquired in the Q3 continue business until Q4, this means the first quarter performed much better than the third.
Depending on this analysis, many marketers move forward by assessing any and all changes made in their marketing campaigns to better understand what worked well and what didn’t Additionally, it’s important to evaluate the customer churn rate by analyzing time-based cohorts and identifying factors responsible for better or lower customer retention within a certain span of time. It can be monthly, quarterly, or yearly.
Next comes the analysis of a company’s size. A company’s customers may be in the form of small, medium, or large businesses, and depending on their size, the next step is to determine the source of the largest purchases. For example, large enterprises often stick with one brand since they usually have a larger budget. Whereas, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) often have a higher churn rate with a tighter and more constricted budget plan. The purchases would differ as to what is the largest line item depending on each businesses current needs.
Last but not least, there are several groups of customers who are known to desire different products and/or services. While some customers may be interested in basic-level services, others may prefer premium services instead. Therefore, it’s crucial for marketers to analyze segment-based cohorts in order to provide tailored services and products. If marketers notice that advanced-level service-driven customers churn faster than those who prefer basic-level services, marketers should consider double-checking the services they offer.
Overall, combining cohort analysis and cohort targeting equate to some of the best targeted marketing strategies for a niche business. Personalized marketing campaigns and tailor-made services are known to drive click-through rates (CTR), engagement rates, and conversions. To understand more about the standard customer journey and how to effectively target specific customers, this article could be a huge help!