Psychographic Segmentation Examples

This is a follow-up to our deep dive on using psychographic segmentation in email marketing. 

And this new post is meant to help you enhance and expand your list segmentation by showing psychographic segmentation examples using:

• 3 real-world companies / organizations
• 3 business types

No beating around the bush. We’re jumping right in, starting with real-life brands. Stick around until the end for my #1 tip on segmentation currently.

REI’s Psychographic Segmentation Examples

1. Outdoor adventurers
2. Wannabe adventurers
3. Those who like adventurer fashion but prefer indoor plumbing to tent life
4. People intrigued by a co-op community versus a corporation
5. Bad-weather preppers
6. Those who want outdoor training classes
7. Dog owners
8. People in need of rental gear

Another segment REI targets is those who want to buy used outdoor gear as part of an Earth-friendly lifestyle. 

Also, they offer electronics for people using devices in extreme conditions.

Raising Cane’s Psychographic Segmentation Examples

Much more basic (intentionally):

9. Chicken tender lovers
10. Hungry families on the go
11. Those who need catering
12. People involved in their community 
13. Dog lovers (their mascot since inception)

In an interview, the owner of Raising Cane’s, says he has resisted adding new menu items for decades. Why? It complicates what should be a simple and fast process of grabbing a quick meal. Think drive-thru hold-ups due to customers who can’t decide which of the 19 menu items they want. 

Cane’s has very few menu choices on purpose. This main psychographic segmentation keeps customers happy and makes life on the job easier for Cane’s employees.

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Lions Club International 

This non-profit organization is the largest service organization on Earth and has five main initiatives.

14. Vision
15. Diabetes
16. Hunger
17. Environment 
18. Childhood cancer

A single option or segment of service could leave many volunteers out and push them to join other non-profits instead. 

Also, the Lions Club draws members to them with varying benefits for the members.

19. Sense of purpose
20. Chance to meet new people
21. Give back
22. Improve community
23. Avoid isolation
24. Make a bigger impact using the club’s global resources
25. Grant opportunities

Each of those psychographic segmentation examples appeals to different people in different locations and life stages, right?

Now, Psychographic Segmentation Examples for Common Business Types

A marketing agency may target and focus on serving:

26. Niche industries
27. Blue-collar vs. white-collar businesses
28. Companies with outdated websites
29. Non-profits 
30. Female-owned businesses
31. Companies not currently running Facebook ads
32. E-commerce solopreneurs
33. Email marketers
34. Social influencers for partnerships

That’s a small sampling of segmentation options. An agency could target and focus on countless details when it comes to its services and specialties.

Online Learning and Course Creators could focus on any number of these segments:

35. Learners new to the subject matter
36. People who prefer video learning
37. Those needing ONLY a single skill for a specific job duty
38. Night students versus daytime for live classes
39. Edutainment versus ‘just the facts’
40. Groups or 1:1 training
41. Self-paced or step-by-step guided classes

Online learning has an advantage when it comes to psychographic segmentation because these audiences will naturally ask questions. This provides constant free intel on the best ways to segment the audience.

SaaS Psychographic Segmentation Examples

42. User’s level of technical aptitude
43. Specific software need is daily or less frequent
44. Users familiar / unfamiliar with a similar software product
45. Work inside a company versus small business owner
46. Other online tools they currently use
47. Goals related directly to the SaaS tool
48. Comfortable using chatbots to assist them with technical hiccups
49. Lead magnet that brought them into your funnel

Luckily with software tools, you can learn a ton by how your users interact with the platform. 

You’ll have to read between the lines to understand some of this data but it’s worth digging in because top-notch segmentation helps improve user experience and makes future marketing laser focused.

Psychographic Segmentation Examples Summary

Hopefully, those examples get your mind flowing with new and improved possibilities for email list segmentation. 

It’s fine to keep it simple like Cane’s. But there are opportunities to connect outside your business offerings using the Lions Club example or how REI builds community.

Look, plenty of articles on basic list segmentation exist but psychographics give you more options and can put you ahead of others in your industry. 

Because it’s not enough to sprinkle in personalization in emails. These days, many people see low-effort personalization as no better than generic email blasts to the masses.

It’s fine to include “Steve’s” name in emails to Steve. But think how much more impactful it is when Steve reads an email that is right on time with a problem he’s having in his business.

Or he doesn’t have his time wasted because, thankfully, you put him in the solopreneurs segment that does not receive emails about team building – which would not matter to Steve at all.

Work on psychographic segmentation and your email marketing messages will connect better with the right subscriber at the right time, while not wasting the time of the wrong subscriber receiving the wrong message.

*My #1 tip for email list segmentation at the moment? Be sure you’re using engagement segmentation. Group subscribers together who click on your email links regularly. This highly engaged segment can be emailed more often, which should improve your overall deliverability.

And be careful assuming someone who opens all your emails is engaged. It could be unreliable Apple MPP opens— so trust clicks over opens if you’re unsure.