10 Best Customer Segmentation Tools Shortlist
Here's my pick of the 10 best software from the 18 tools reviewed.
With countless customer segmentation tools available, selecting the ideal one can be a challenging task. You want to understand your customer groups, set up targeted marketing campaigns, and automate data entry - but need to figure out which tool is best. I've got you! In this post, I'll help make your choice easy, leveraging my experience working with trend-setting SaaS companies in the CX space to bring you this shortlist of the best customer segmentation tools.
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The Best Customer Segmentation Tools Summary
| Tools | Price | |
|---|---|---|
| Akita | From $150/month | Website |
| UserGuiding | From $89/month (billed annually) | Website |
| Google Analytics | Free to use | Website |
| Pendo | Pricing upon request | Website |
| Qualtrics Customer Experience | Pricing upon request | Website |
| Heap | Pricing upon request | Website |
| Totango | From $249/month (2 users + 200 customer accounts) | Website |
| Baremetrics | From $129/month | Website |
| Insightly | From $29/user/month (billed annually) | Website |
| Kissmetrics | From $299/month (billed annually) | Website |
Compare Software Specs Side by Side
Use our comparison chart to review and evaluate software specs side-by-side.
Compare SoftwareHow to Choose Customer Segmentation Tools
Choosing the right customer segmentation software can help increase the effectiveness of targeted marketing strategies, facilitate personalized customer experiences, and drive higher conversion rates.
As you're shortlisting, trialing, and selecting customer segmentation tools consider the following:
- What problem are you trying to solve - Start by identifying the customer segmentation feature gap you're trying to fill to clarify the features and functionality the customer segmentation tool needs to provide.
- Who will need to use it - To evaluate cost and requirements, consider who'll be using the software and how many licenses you'll need. You'll need to evaluate if it'll just be the customer service team or the whole organization that will require access. When that's clear, it's worth considering if you're prioritizing ease of use for all, or speed for your customer segmentation software power users.
- What other tools it needs to work with - Clarify what tools you're replacing, what tools are staying, and the tools you'll need to integrate with, such as accounting, CRM or HR software. You'll need to decide if the tools will need to integrate together, or alternatively, if you can replace multiple tools with one consolidated customer segmentation tool.
- What outcomes are important - Consider the result that the software needs to deliver to be considered a success. Consider what capability you want to gain, or what you want to improve, and how you will be measuring success. For example, an outcome could be the ability to get greater visibility into performance. You could compare customer segmentation tools features until you’re blue in the face but if you aren’t thinking about the outcomes you want to drive, you could be wasting a lot of valuable time.
- How it would work within your organization - Consider the software selection alongside your workflows and delivery methodology. Evaluate what's working well, and the areas that are causing issues that need to be addressed. Remember every business is different — don’t assume that because a tool is popular that it'll work in your organization.
Best Customer Segmentation Tools Reviews
Here’s a brief description of each customer segmentation tool. I’ve showcased each tool’s best use case, some noteworthy features, and screenshots to give a snapshot of the user interface.
Akita is a customer success management software that provides businesses with tools to track customer interactions, monitor customer health, and manage customer success tasks. It provides a suite of features including customer segmentation, task management, and customer health scores, which are used to monitor and evaluate customer engagement and satisfaction.
Akita helps customer success teams to categorize customers into distinct groups based on various criteria such as behavior, usage, and demographics. This approach aids in the development of targeted success plans and interventions, aiming to improve customer satisfaction and retention rates.
Additionally, the tool features a centralized system for aggregating customer data from various integrations, enabling customer success teams to gain insights into customer behavior and engagement. Akita also offers a comprehensive 360° view of customers, personalized dashboards for tracking key metrics, and actionable alerts to notify teams of important customer events or milestones.
Akita integrates with over 100 Saas applications, including SurveyMonkey, Zoho, Microsoft Dynamics, HubSpot, Slack, Zendesk, Xero, QuickBooks, Mailchimp, Intercom, Freshsales, and Basecamp.
Akita costs from $150/month. A 14-day free trial and a free plan are also available.
UserGuiding is onboarding software with a robust customer segmentation and reporting suite built-in. They start by crafting a personalized onboarding service for your customers and then glean data from that experience. You’ll get NPS surveys, a product adoption checklist, goal tracking, with gamification, static info-boxes for tool tips, tutorial pop ups—each targeted to the segmented user group that needs them most.
UserGuiding costs from $69/month *billed annually) and offers a 14-day free trial.
Google Analytics is a popular tool for understanding website traffic. It also has some segmentation features that allow you to create audiences based on factors like location, age, device type, and acquisition channel.
Once you’ve created these audiences, you can see how each one interacts with your website or web app. And if you also set up conversions, you can see how well each segment converts. This can provide crucial insight into the value of each customer segment so you can focus your acquisition efforts on the most impactful group.
The great thing about Google Analytics—and the reasons so many sites use it—is that it is free to use and easy to set up on your website. If you have a site there’s a good chance you're already using the tool, which makes using it to create segments a no-brainer.
Pendo is a customer segmentation app and product experience tool offered in English, French, Dutch, and Japanese. They focus on customer segmentation for the needs of product experience and digital adoption, making them a great choice for SaaS providers and app developers. Key features include user surveys & polls, net promoter scores, feature adoption analytics, and interactive onboarding & training.
Pendo is free to use with major feature limitations. For customer segmentation, I’d recommend one of their paid plans, starting from $12,000/year. They offer a free trial and demo upon request.
Generate customer insight and segment users
Qualtrics is a tool that helps organizations create better customer experiences. A big part of this is learning about the types of people who use your business so you can create interactions that meet their needs.
The tool has several features that enable this. You can run in-app surveys at any stage of the customer journey to find out how customers feel. Or you can record and analyze phone calls to gain insight into customer sentiment.
It’s easy to divide your directory into segments. You can split customers into groups based on demographics, needs, interests, or even behavior. There are also templates for common groups like high-value, new, or high-risk customers. Once you set rules, contacts are automatically added to segments if they meet the criteria. You can then listen to the insights provided by this specific group.
Qualtrics integrates with popular analytics programs such as Adobe Analytics and FullStory. It also connects to tools like Slack and Zendesk.
The tool doesn’t provide pricing, but you can request a demo via the website.
Heap is a digital insights platform that organizes data to help companies better understand their customer journey. It shows every action that people take when browsing an app or website, including the things they click on, browse, and visit. It then provides instructions you can follow to improve your site and the customer experience.
A big part of the platform is that you can use this data to segment your users based on the actions they take. You can identify patterns and then group people based on how they interact with the app. You can also separate people based on factors such as the marketing channel they arrive on your site from.
The tool is a low-code platform which means it requires minimal input for people with coding skills. And it provides visual reports that anyone in your organization can understand.
Heap integrates with plenty of tools. You can bring in data from Salesforce, test experiences via platforms like Optimizely, and run optimizations with marketing tools like Marketo.
There is a free solution for up to 10,000 monthly sessions; after this level, you’ll need a paid plan. You can install the tool on your site to get a pricing estimate.
Totango is a customer success platform with segmentation tools that allow you to analyze customer data and create groups based on this insight.
It’s a great tool for software platforms that want to understand better how people interact with their app and create powerful CS experiences based on this insight. This will help you increase retention and customer satisfaction, which is important because minor retention improvements can seriously increase the revenue you bring in.
You can segment your users based on various factors such as the length of time they’ve been with the tool, account health, renewal data, and active users.
You can then use these groups alongside the other Totango tools to build effective customer journeys for each group. For example, if you have a group that is at high risk of churn, you can send help materials or have someone from your team reach out.
Totango pricing starts at $249 per month for 2 users and 200 customer accounts. You can try the service for free by signing up on the website.
Baremetrics is an analytics tool that helps businesses analyze data and make better decisions. It’s built for SaaS tools and includes metrics like subscriptions, churn, and MRR so you can get a full view of business performance.
The tool has cold forecasting features which estimate where your business will be in the future based on metrics such as cash flow and MRR. This helps you make better planning decisions.
The segmentation tools bring obvious value. You can create custom user segments based on multiple factors, such as when they signed up or whether they are B2B or B2C. You can then see how each customer group interacts with your app to identify valuable customer groups and channels or create experience improvements targeted at underperforming groups.
Baremetric supports integrations with several tools, including Shopify, Stripe, and Slack. It also offers an API you can use to connect other tools, as well as integration via Zapier. Pricing starts at $129 per month, and you can get a free trial to test the software.
Insightly is a CRM that helps you gather customer data and create impactful journeys based on this information. And because the data is in one place, teams throughout your organization such as sales, customer support, and marketing, can all use the segment data.
The tool integrates with many business platforms, allowing you to store data from each one. For example, you can connect ecommerce software such as Shopify and create segments based on a customer’s transaction history. Or you can segment users around their interests based on data such as the links they click on and the pages they view on your website.
Once you have this information, you can set up journeys that meet these customers’ needs. This could mean sharing the right content at the right stage of the sales cycle or sending relevant promotions via email marketing.
Insightly integrates with plenty of tools in categories such as customer service, marketing automation, and finance. CRM pricing starts at $29 per user per month when billed annually. You can try this for free before buying. The marketing solution costs $299 per month for up to 10,000 contacts.
Kissmetrics is a product and marketing analytics tool that provides insight into your website or app. Use it to inform your customer success and marketing strategy.
It has several features related to segments. For example, SaaS companies can see the conversion rate of website visitors based on their marketing source and then double down on the highest performing channels. Or you can create segments of existing customers based on your chosen characteristics and then view how each customer group churns.
There are also segmentation features for e-commerce. For example, you can identify your biggest spenders then view details such as how you acquired them and try to repeat this. Or you can view your total revenue based on marketing channels.
Kissmetrics pricing starts at $299/month when billed annually. They also offer a 30-day free trial and a free demo.
Other Customer Segmentation Tools
Here are a few more that didn’t make the top list.
- Pulsar
Social listening tool with audience segmentation features
- Survicate
Best for real-time customer feedback
- Userpilot
Track segments and use the insight to create better experiences
- Amplitude
Self-service digital analytics to understand users
- Mixpanel
Product analytics platform with segmentation
- Piwik PRO
Piwik PRO
- Omniconvert Reveal
Customer analytics for e-commerce
- Twilio Segment
Customer data platform with powerful segmentation
Related CX Software Reviews
If you still haven't found what you're looking for here, check out these related customer experience management tools that we've tested and evaluated.
- Customer Service Software
- Help Desk Software
- Call Center Software
- Customer Messaging Platform
- Digital Experience Platform
- Sentiment Analysis Tools
Selection Criteria for the Best Customer Segmentation Tools
Selecting the right customer segmentation tools is a nuanced process that hinges on a thorough evaluation of functionality and alignment with specific use cases.
Through my personal experience and comprehensive research into these tools, I developed a criteria to guide your software selection process. This can help ensure the chosen solution meets your team's needs.
Core customer segmentation tools functionality: 25% of total weighting score
Common features for customer segmentation tools typically include analytics, website tracking, automated lead routing, customer data integration, customizable segmentation, real-time analysis, marketing tools integration, metrics and reporting, user-friendly interface, and compliance with data protection regulations. These features serve as the foundation for any competent customer segmentation solution.
To be considered for inclusion on my list of the best customer segmentation tools, the solution had to support the ability to fulfill common use cases:
- Automated segmentation based on behavior and demographic data
- Customizable reports and analytics for performance monitoring
- Integration with marketing platforms and customer databases
- Real-time data updates for up-to-date customer insights
- Efficient data management to centralize customer information
Additional Standout Features: 25% of total weighting score
To identify unique features, I paid attention to functionalities that go above and beyond generic offerings. These include:
- Advanced AI-driven insights that go beyond basic segmentation
- Unique data visualization tools that clarify customer segments
- Innovative engagement tracking across multiple channels
- Tools that offer predictive analytics for future trends within segments
- Solutions that provide exceptional customization and flexibility in segment creation
Usability: 10% of total weighting score
- A clean, intuitive interface that simplifies complex data analysis.
- Features that require minimal training to use effectively, enhancing team adoption rates.
- Dashboards that provide at-a-glance insights and easy access to deep-dive analytics.
I also factored in customer intelligence tools that are user-friendly and easy to navigate. It’s important that your team can derive valuable insights from their segmentation tool, and that it doesn’t come with too big of a learning curve. Notes on how easy each platform is to implement and use are included in my overviews.
Onboarding: 10% of total weighting score
This involved examining how effectively a new user can migrate to the platform and start realizing value. I prioritized:
- Quick setup processes that allow businesses to immediately start segmenting their customer base.
- Comprehensive resources such as training videos, templates, and product tours that facilitate a smooth transition.
- Support mechanisms like chatbots and webinars to guide users through the initial stages of software utilization.
Customer Support: 10% of total weighting score
I assessed customer support information to gauge how well the selected tool can assist users in overcoming challenges and optimizing their use of the platform. This included:
- Responsive and knowledgeable customer service teams capable of resolving issues swiftly.
- A variety of support channels, including live chat, email, and phone, catering to different user preferences.
- Proactive support resources like FAQ sections, community forums, and detailed knowledge bases.
Value For Money: 10% of total weighting score
I compared pricing against the comprehensive benefits provided. Here are the major things I considered to ensure you receive a strong return on your investment.
- Pricing structures that align with the features and benefits offered.
- Transparency in pricing to avoid hidden costs and provide clear ROI expectations.
- Flexible plans that grow with a business, accommodating expanding needs without exorbitant price increases.
Customer Reviews: 10% of total weighting score
- Consistent positive feedback across various dimensions such as usability, customer support,
- Specific mentions of how the tool has improved marketing outcomes or efficiency
- Feedback on the tool’s impact on ROI
- User testimonials regarding support and ease of use
A tool that rates highly across these criteria offers a strong foundation and is well-equipped to help your business segment customers effectively.
Trends in Customer Segmentation Tools
Customer segmentation tools are evolving significantly, driven by the relentless pursuit of deeper customer understanding, more efficient marketing campaigns, and streamlined operational processes. Below, I delve into these trends and provide a comprehensive overview for CX professionals aiming to stay at the forefront of technological advancements.
- Ethical AI and Privacy-focused Segmentation: Amid growing concerns over data privacy and ethical AI use, there's an uptick in demand for tools that offer advanced segmentation capabilities without compromising customer privacy. This trend is about balancing personalized marketing efforts with the need to respect and protect user data, ensuring compliance with global data protection regulations.
- Micro-segmentation Using IoT Data: With the Internet of Things (IoT) generating vast amounts of data, innovative tools are beginning to leverage this data for micro-segmentation. By analyzing real-time data from IoT devices, businesses can create highly specific segments based on usage patterns, environment, and even device interactions.
- Social Listening for Real-time Segmentation: Social media platforms are treasure troves of customer sentiment and trends. New tools integrating social listening capabilities enable businesses to segment customers based on real-time discussions, trends, and feedback found on social platforms, offering an immediate pulse on customer needs and preferences.
For CX professionals eager to stay ahead, exploring and adopting these emerging trends could offer significant competitive advantages in understanding and engaging with customer groups more effectively and ethically.
What Is Customer Segmentation Software?
Customer segmentation software is a tool that categorizes customers into distinct groups based on shared characteristics, behaviors, and preferences. It leverages data analysis to analyze and divide the customer base into smaller segments, enabling businesses to tailor their marketing strategies, product development, and customer service approaches. Common features include analytics, website tracking, campaign management, and automation.
Customer segmentation tools provide businesses with a clearer understanding of their diverse customer base, allowing for more personalized marketing and service strategies. This targeted approach leads to benefits such as increased efficiency in marketing campaigns, higher conversion rates, improved customer retention, and the ability to identify and capitalize on new market opportunities.
Features of Customer Segmentation Tools
Customer segmentation tools are invaluable for tailoring your marketing efforts and services to meet customer needs. Here's what to look for in these tools to make the most of your customer data:
- Analytics Tools: Features that support detailed segmentation analysis. These tools are crucial for understanding the distinct groups within your customer base, allowing for more personalized marketing and service strategies.
- Website Tracking: Website analytics tools for monitoring site traffic and segmenting visitors. This feature is key to identifying how different groups interact with your site, which can inform content creation, product development, and more.
- Metrics and Reporting: The capability to track and report on essential customer satisfaction metrics such as lifetime value, conversion rates, and churn. Insight into these metrics allows you to measure the success of your segmentation strategies and adjust as needed for maximum impact.
- Marketing Tools: Integration with email marketing, campaign management, and advertising platforms. Using segmented customer groups across your marketing efforts ensures messages are relevant and engaging to each audience segment.
- Automation: Features for automating lead routing and customer data entry. Automation streamlines the segmentation process, making it faster and more efficient to categorize new leads and update customer profiles.
- Data Integration and Management: The ability to consolidate customer data from various sources into a single, manageable platform. Centralized data management is essential for accurate segmentation and analysis.
- Customizable Segmentation: Tools that allow for the creation of custom segments based on a wide range of criteria. This flexibility enables businesses to tailor their segmentation strategy to their unique objectives and customer behaviors.
- Real-time Data Analysis: Capability to analyze customer data in real-time. This ensures that your customer segments are always up-to-date, allowing for timely and relevant marketing interventions.
- User-friendly Interface: An intuitive, easy-to-navigate interface. Ease of use ensures that all team members can leverage the tool effectively, regardless of their technical expertise.
- Compliance and Security: Strong data protection and compliance with regulations such as GDPR. Ensuring customer data is handled securely builds trust and protects your business from legal issues.
With the right tool, you can segment your customers effectively, drive meaningful engagement, enhance satisfaction, and ultimately, boost your bottom line.
Benefits of Customer Segmentation Tools
In today’s highly competitive market, understanding and catering to the unique needs of diverse customer groups is more critical than ever. Here are five primary benefits of leveraging customer segmentation software, each highlighting a key advantage for users and businesses looking to make informed, data-driven decisions.
- Enhanced Targeted Marketing: Enables precise targeting of marketing efforts. Using customer segmentation tools allows businesses to tailor their marketing messages and campaigns to suit the specific needs and preferences of different customer groups, resulting in higher engagement and conversion rates.
- Increased Customer Satisfaction: Fosters improved customer experiences and satisfaction. By understanding the characteristics and behaviors of various segments, companies can customize their offerings and interactions, ensuring that each customer feels understood and valued.
- Optimized Product Development: Guides the creation of products and services that meet the needs of specific segments. Customer segmentation tools provide insights into the preferences and pain points of distinct groups, helping businesses innovate and adapt their products to meet these needs more effectively.
- Efficient Use of Resources: Ensures marketing and operational resources are allocated more effectively. By identifying and focusing on the most lucrative or strategically important customer segments, organizations can better allocate their budgets, time, and efforts, maximizing ROI.
- Improved Customer Retention: Helps in identifying at-risk segments and developing strategies to improve retention. Through detailed analysis, customer segmentation tools can highlight segments with higher churn rates, allowing businesses to intervene proactively with retention strategies tailored to these groups.
These benefits collectively lead to a more focused and effective approach to business growth, ensuring resources are invested in areas that yield the highest returns and customer satisfaction. As markets continue to evolve, the ability to quickly adapt and cater to the specific needs of different customer segments will remain a key differentiator for successful businesses.
Costs & Pricing for Customer Segmentation Tools
With the myriad of options available, selecting software that fits your business needs and aligns with your budget constraints is essential. Customer segmentation tools typically offer a range of plans, from free versions designed for small businesses or those new to customer segmentation, to advanced plans packed with features for large enterprises.
Below, we detail the common plan options and pricing for customer segmentation tools, aiming to simplify the selection process for software buyers with little to no experience using such software.
| Plan Type | Average Price | Common Features |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | Basic segmentation, limited analytics, community support |
| Basic | $20 - $100/month | Enhanced segmentation capabilities, access to analytics, email support |
| Professional | $100 - $500/month | Advanced segmentation, comprehensive analytics, priority support, API access |
| Enterprise | $500+/month | Custom segmentation solutions, full analytics suite, dedicated account manager, integration support |
When considering a customer segmentation tool, it’s essential to weigh the features offered against the needs of your business and the complexity of your customer data. Opting for a plan that provides room for growth while ensuring you're not paying for unnecessary features can help maximize your investment.
FAQ: Common Questions About Customer Segmentation
Want to learn more about how segmenting customers can benefit your teams? Here are some FAQs, answered for your convenience.
What are the benefits of customer segmentation?
There are plenty of benefits your teams can derive from segmenting customers. From creating a better user experience to more targeted marketing campaigns, customer segmentation has many applications. Here are a few key benefits:
- Using customer data for personalized messaging, advertising, and outreach.
- Understanding various customer groups and their behavior.
- Creating targeted email campaigns based on customer behavior.
- Tracking churn risk based on common factors.
- Improving customer satisfaction with targeted outreach and support.
- Onboarding new customers more effectively with user behavior insights.
- Implementing in-app prompts and optimizations to support adoption.
- Tracking key success factors for customer retention and other core metrics.
- Developing new products based on customer segment trends.
What are the types of customer segmentation?
There are plenty of ways you can segment customer groups to better understand your customer base. The types of segmentation you choose to do will depend on your goals. Here are some common types of customer segmentation:
- Demographic segmentation: Grouping customers based on their age, gender, income, education, employment, or other demographic factors.
- Market segmentation: Creating different segments based on customer needs, motivations and pain points, and other product- and market-specific factors.
- Behavioral segmentation: Grouping customers based on their behaviors across various data sources such as your website, app, social media, ad platforms, etc.
- Geographic segmentation: Targeting specific customer groups based on where they’re located, where their company is located, or travel data.
- Psychographic segmentation: Grouping customers based on their personal beliefs, values, lifestyles, social status, and other factors that influence their perception of self.
What do you think about this list?
This list contains some of the best customer segmentation tools currently available. Each one is different, so carefully look at the available features to find one that best matches your needs.
Once you have a shortlist, you can then contact the company for more information or try the product via a free trial.
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