Market to target audience segments with Dynamics 365 Marketing

When people think of marketing execution, they will usually think of the more flashy, outward-facing content. However, many marketing messages would fall flat if they were not distributed to a properly targeted audience. Dynamics 365 Marketing’s segments feature gives marketers easy tools for targeting to proper leads and contacts for their message. With shared contact data among Dynamics 365 apps, segments can be created to include active customers in Business Central, leads and opportunities from Dynamics 365 Sales, and more.

What are segments in Dynamics 365 Marketing?

Dynamics 365 Sales includes basic marketing features including basic marketing lists. Segments in Dynamics 365 Marketing are a much more advanced form of marketing list and are used within Marketing’s more in-depth marketing functions. There are two main types of segments that are available: Static and Dynamic.

Static segments are a bit simpler and will consist of a fixed list of contacts, unless manually updated.

Dynamic segments have a few more options for finding contacts to add in, such as behavioral queries. These segments will be continuously updated to add or remove contacts as they gain or lose the attributes that define the segment.

Creating segments

When creating a new segment, the type, static or dynamic, must first be selected. When creating a static segment, just a name for the segment is needed. Static segments can add users in two different ways. Either by directly adding specific contacts or by adding multiple at a time via a query. Using queries, members of the audience can be added based on a wide range of attributes like geographic location, job title, and lead process stage. Multiple query blocks can be added with logic statements to include or exclude additional attributes.

Dynamic segments can have templates saved to speed up the process of creating new, similar segments. Members can be added with the same query system that is available in static segments. However, the contacts will be continuously queried to verify if new contacts gain those attributes or if members lose any of the required attributes.

In addition to this, dynamic segments can make use of behavioral blocks. These examine the actions, or sometimes inaction, that contacts have taken. Behavioral blocks can pull in contacts that clicked emails, filled out forms, attended events, and more.

Both static and dynamic segments can also have segment blocks added. These will simply pull-in all the members from another, already live segment. If used in a static segment, only the members active at that time will be added. It will not be updated if new members are added to the component segment.

Using segments

Each segment will have roles it is better able to fill. Static segments are particularly great for one-off email blasts or for keeping lists of contacts like vendors or leadership teams that don’t change frequently. Dynamic segments are very versatile in application. Using behavioral blocks can help to kick off inbound customer journeys. As new contacts fill out a form on a website or email, that behavioral action can be used to pull them into a new lead customer journey.

Getting started

Segments in Dynamics 365 Marketing give sophisticated interface to create targeted lists of your audience and reach them with the proper messages. If you are interested in learning more about Dynamics 365 Marketing and how it could fit into your business, click the button below to get a system demo.