Customer Segmentation the Key for Small Businesses This Holiday Season

Clearly, each business will have different segments, so think about which data points make the most sense for your company. The key takeaway is that by studying this information, you're better able to take a laser-focused approach to marketing that will greatly increase your chances of boosting sales with existing customers this holiday season.

2. Prioritize your segments. Now that you have your customer segments, it's time to organize them and prioritize which ones to focus your time and budget on. And just like creating the groups themselves, there are tons of ways to approach this task. Get started by looking at the size of each group. The larger lists give you an opportunity to reach a wider audience, while some of the smaller ones can be helpful in terms of audience engagement.

The more strategic approach to prioritizing your customer segments is to assign a potential value to each group. For example, your "loyal customer" segment is of very high value, and should be placed at the top of the priority list. Other high-value segments include those who are known to make high-dollar purchases or buy your most expensive items. On the other hand, some of your lower-value segments might include one-time purchasers or customers who haven't placed an order in 12-plus months.

Keep in mind that each segment has some value and presents an opportunity to generate more holiday sales. The goal of this exercise is to provide a framework for building your internal marketing calendar for the season.

3. Tailor your marketing messages, contact your segments. The final step in making your secret sauce is creating your marketing assets. Remember that since your primary focus is on existing customers, email marketing will be your primary channel here, with social media playing an important second.