Behavioral segmentation: the what, why, and how of understanding your users

They say actions speak louder than words, and when it comes to digital experiences, it’s true. Nothing reveals more about your users than how they interact with your site, app, or product. And with behavioral segmentation, their clicks, searches, and purchases tell a richer story than any demographic profile alone ever could.

By focusing on specific actions and patterns, you can create meaningful user segments and fine-tune your marketing strategies and product features to align more closely with what users are really interested in. 

This guide will walk you through the basics of behavioral segmentation: what it is, why it’s so valuable, and how to use it to understand and connect with your users. 

You’ll also get some practical tips and examples on how your team can put behavioral segmentation to work, from crafting personalized messages to tweaking your product offerings. By the end, you’ll know exactly how to use this approach to get closer to your users and customers and drive your business forward.

What is behavioral segmentation? 

Behavioral segmentation is the process of categorizing users into distinct groups based on their behavior and how they interact (or don’t) with your website or products. Examples of these user actions include

• Logging in

• Viewing a product

• Saving an item to a wishlist

• Starting the checkout process

• Clicking unsubscribe

• Scrolling to the end of a page

This approach is usually combined with other market segmentation models like demographic segmentation and geographic segmentation. But instead of relying on broad categories like age or location, behavioral segmentation dives into how people actually interact with your brand—what they click on, what they buy, and how they engage with your content.

Why is segmenting user behaviors important?

Behavioral segmentation gives you the edge in understanding and connecting with your audience. Sorting users based on real actions lets you replicate what works and reduce what doesn’t, opening up new opportunities for growth.

This approach helps you create personalized experiences that make users feel more seen and understood. For example, new shoppers might appreciate a more guided exploration of your site, while long-time customers would benefit from a curated list of product recommendations based on their past purchases. 

The same principle applies to SaaS platforms: admins might need help with set-up, installation, and managing users, whereas regular users will look for tips on how to use the product effectively to successfully complete their daily tasks. 

By considering these factors and helping you understand the differences, behavioral segmentation lets you track user preferences and use these insights to

• Create marketing campaigns that really hit the mark, because they’re based on real actions and interests

• Optimize your ad spend by focusing on high-value segments more likely to convert

• Test and refine product features based on real usage data, ensuring your optimizations align with user expectations

• Fine-tune your customer journey maps and improve the overall user experience (UX)

With deeper insights into each segment’s needs and wants, your product and marketing teams can focus on what matters most to users. In return, those users will reward you with better customer engagement, satisfaction, and retention. 

Here’s how product and marketing teams use behavioral segmentation.

Product and marketing teams use behavioral segmentation to focus on optimization that’s informed by what customers truly need

How to identify your most valuable behavioral segments

There are countless interactions you can use to organize users into segments—like how they buy and use your product, their knowledge about it, and how often and how much they engage with it.

With so many different types of behavioral segmentation, it’s important to identify your top priorities and focus on the segments that 

• Align with your business goals

• Make sense for your customers’ journeys 

• Drive conversions, revenue, and retention

• Have the biggest impact on your bottom line

Here’s how to choose the behavioral segments that will best help you understand and address real user needs.

1. Identify key actions and events

Start by figuring out which actions and events are most important for your business. These are the behaviors that show you how users are interacting with your product, website, or app.

If you run an online store, for example, key actions could be events like customers adding items to their cart, making a purchase, or checking out certain product pages. Other relevant criteria for behavioral segmentation include

• Purchasing behavior: look at how customers shop and what influences their buying decisions, like past purchases or buying ease

• Benefits sought: identify what features or benefits users value most, like accessibility or price

• Customer journey stage: track where users are in the buying process to send them targeted offers and move them along

• Product usage: group users based on how often and how they engage with your product, like purchasing frequency or feature usage

• Occasion or timing: predict when users are likely to buy based on events or personal needs, like holidays or recurring purchases

• Customer satisfaction: segment by how happy users are, using insights to upsell or address UX issues

• Customer loyalty: identify loyal customers who frequently buy or engage, and use this to encourage more referrals or participation

• Engagement level: group users by how involved they are with your brand, such as frequent email openers or survey responders

• User status: classify customers by their relationship with your product, like first-time buyers or regular users, to create targeted experiences

Once you know which actions are the most critical, focus your efforts on analyzing and optimizing these areas, ensuring you pay attention to what truly impacts your users and your business.

2. Analyze user behavior data

Next, dive into your customer behavior data. Instead of doing this manually, use an experience intelligence platform like Contentsquare to see and analyze how different groups of users interact with your site or app. 

Leverage segmentation capabilities that automatically capture behavioral data for you, such as

• Heatmaps, which show areas of a page that get the most attention, helping you understand what content is resonating with users

• Session Replay, which lets you review real user sessions, giving you a clear view of any friction points or opportunities to improve their experience

• Journey Analysis, which tracks the paths users take, helping you identify common routes to conversion or drop-off points

Analyzing this data helps you refine your segmentation strategy based on actual user behavior, not just gut-feeling or guesses. 

For example, you might find users who interact with product reviews are more likely to purchase higher-priced items. Making these reviews more visible could help you increase engagement, drive more conversions—and get even more reviews in the process.

See it in action

DPG Media, one of Europe’s largest media companies, used Contentsquare’s Journey Analysis to segment their audience, dividing them into users who clicked on website subscription ads and those who didn’t.

Segmenting by behavior helped the team A/B test changes, such as moving digital subscription call-to-actions (CTAs) up the page. This increased newspaper subscriptions by +6.6% and revenue by +7%.

Segmenting journeys with Contentsquare allows you to build more meaningful, relevant experiences for each group of users

3. Segment your audience based on their behavior

With a clear overview of user behavior across multiple sessions and devices, you’ll see patterns and can now group users into segments in a meaningful way. 

If you’re using Contentsquare, you have 3 ways of segmenting users by their behavior:

• Apply filters and save segments in your dashboard

• Use Contentsquare API to segment customer data

• Import existing segments from over 150 tools and integrations

These user-friendly methods ensure everyone on your team has access to the user segmentation data they need, when they need it, making it easier to personalize digital experiences and delight customers. 

4. Evaluate the value of each user segment

Next, it’s time to check how valuable each segment is, so you know exactly when and where to focus your efforts and resources. 

Look at metrics like lifetime value (LTV), conversion rates, and engagement levels. For example, frequent shoppers usually have a higher LTV and buy more often, while first-time visitors might need more attention to turn into regular customers.

Contentsquare helps you identify and keep track of these valuable groups, with user segmenting features that let you

• Filter data by a desired outcome, like successful sign-ups, or discover common behaviors among your top customers to target more like them

• Measure and compare A/B test segments’ performance and see what led to desired outcomes

• Analyze and sort customers with similar cross-channel journeys, like frequent shoppers, bargain hunters, or first-time visitors to refine segments and see which elements drive conversions

Then, use these insights to make sure your marketing and product development teams are working where they’ll have the biggest impact.

5. Personalize your strategies for each segment

Instead of treating all your users the same, behavioral segmentation lets you understand each group’s needs, preferences, and behaviors. Personalization is the natural next step—tailoring your product and messaging to improve your digital experience and make it resonate with each segment in a way that feels relevant and meaningful. 

Personalization makes users feel like you understand them, which builds trust and loyalty. For example, you could 

• Prioritize feature enhancements for frequent users

• Simplify the onboarding process for new users

• Create in-app tips to help occasional users get the most out of your product

When these users see that your product or service is meeting their specific needs, they’re more likely to stay engaged and continue using it.

💡Pro tip: mix different segmentation models for better digital experiences. To get an even more complete picture of your users, combine different segmentation models. Depending on what you want to achieve, you can blend data like 

• Behavioral + technographic segmentation: when you tweak popular features to work better on outdated tech, frequent users will notice and appreciate the smoother experience

• Geographic + value-based segmentation: high-value customers in a specific region will respond well to features or promotions designed just for them, increasing their loyalty and satisfaction

• Behavioral + value-based segmentation: premium plan users or those likely to upgrade their subscription who frequently use a particular feature will find even more value when you add new integrations, leading to deeper engagement

• Behavioral + technographic + geographic segmentation: users in a certain region with older devices and high engagement will appreciate a lightweight version of your app tailored to their needs, improving their overall experience

By layering these different segmentation models, you refine your customer segmentation analysis and make your personalizations even more precise and targeted. 

Contentsquare’s AI, Sense, can help you build out segments as well as gather and analyze your data, so you can see where different segments overlap and where they differ, leading to happier users and better business results.

 Creating a segment in Contentsquare

Want to put these tips into practice? Check out this article on behavioral segmentation examples and get inspiring user insights for your product and growth teams.

FAQs about behavioral segmentation