If you’ve ever blasted out a B2B campaign to your entire lead list and gotten nothing but crickets, you know the pain of bad segmentation. This guide is for marketers, SDRs, or anyone using Sailes who wants to actually send the right message to the right leads—without wasting time or money. I’ll walk you through how to segment B2B leads in Sailes so your marketing campaigns have a shot at working, and I’ll be straight about what’s worth your energy (and what isn’t).
Why B2B Segmentation Actually Matters
Let’s get this out of the way: most B2B leads do not care about your product. If you treat all leads the same, you’ll annoy most of them and waste your budget. Segmentation is about splitting your pile of leads into smaller, more useful groups—so you can send stuff people might actually care about.
Done well, segmentation can:
- Improve response rates (not magic, but it helps)
- Make your sales team’s life easier
- Help you avoid sounding like a robot
But it won’t:
- Save a bad product or lazy messaging
- Replace talking to customers to understand what they want
Step 1: Clean Up Your Lead Data (Seriously, Do This First)
Before you even touch Sailes segmentation features, look at your data. Garbage in, garbage out—no CRM or automation tool can fix a messy spreadsheet.
What to check:
- Duplicates: Are the same leads in there twice? Merge or delete.
- Missing info: No company name, no email, no job title? Figure out what’s critical for your segments.
- Weird formatting: “VP Sales” vs. “Vice President of Sales” vs. “Sales VP” — pick one convention.
Pro tip: Don’t get lost trying to make your data perfect. Just clean up the fields you’ll actually use for segmentation.
Step 2: Decide on Segmentation Criteria
Now you’ll decide how to slice up your leads. There’s no one “correct” way—pick what’s relevant for your business and campaigns.
Common B2B segmentation options in Sailes:
- Firmographics: Company size, industry, location, revenue.
- Demographics: Job title, seniority, department.
- Behavior: Did they open your last email? Book a meeting? Visit your site?
- Source: Did they come from a trade show, inbound request, LinkedIn?
What to ignore: Don’t get distracted by obscure fields you never use. If you don’t have reliable data for something, don’t build segments with it.
Tip: Start simple. If you’re not sure, just try segmenting by company size and job title. You can always get fancier later.
Step 3: Create Segments in Sailes
Here’s where you’ll use Sailes’ built-in tools to actually create your segments. The UI may change, but the basic process looks like this:
- Go to your Leads module.
- Filter leads using the criteria you picked: For example, “Industry is SaaS” and “Job Title contains ‘Marketing’.”
- Save this as a Segment: Most CRMs call this a “Saved View” or “Segment.” In Sailes, look for a “Save Segment” or similar button.
- Name your segment clearly: “SaaS - Marketing Leaders - North America” is better than “List 3.”
A few useful segment ideas:
- Decision-makers at companies with 100–500 employees
- Leads who opened your last campaign but didn’t reply
- Old leads from a specific industry you want to re-engage
What doesn’t work: Building dozens of tiny, hyper-specific segments. You’ll end up with a mess and forget what they’re for. Stick to segments that map to real marketing actions.
Step 4: Test Segments with Small Campaigns
Before you roll out a big campaign to a new segment, test it. Send a small batch—maybe 50 or 100 leads—and see what happens.
- Do people reply?
- Are you getting bounces or weird auto-replies?
- Is the message actually relevant to this group?
If nobody bites, maybe your segment isn’t as promising as you thought—or your messaging needs work.
Honest take: Don’t expect wild results on your first try. Segmentation helps, but it’s not a silver bullet. Iterate.
Step 5: Refine, Combine, or Kill Segments
After a few campaigns, look at the results. Some segments will perform. Some won’t. That’s normal.
- If a segment works: Keep using it, or try to figure out why it works.
- If it flops: Change your criteria, or just delete it.
- If it’s too small: Combine with another similar segment.
Avoid analysis paralysis: Don’t spend weeks tweaking segment definitions. Use what you have, send a campaign, and update based on what you learn.
Step 6: Use Segments for Targeted Campaigns
Now the fun part—actually sending messages to people who might care.
- Personalize at the segment level: No need to write 50 different emails, but don’t use one generic template for everyone.
- Adjust offers, CTAs, or value props for each segment. VPs at big companies care about different things than managers at startups.
- Track results by segment: Open rates, reply rates, conversions. Don’t just look at the overall campaign—see which segments actually engage.
What to skip: Over-personalizing to the point where you spend hours per lead. The goal is “relevant enough,” not “creepily tailored.”
Common Pitfalls to Avoid
- Over-segmentation: More segments = more confusion. If you can’t remember why a segment exists, it’s probably not worth keeping.
- Outdated segments: If you haven’t used a segment in six months, archive or delete it.
- Ignoring feedback: If your sales team says a segment is useless, believe them.
Pro Tips for Segmentation in Sailes
- Tag leads: Use tags for ad hoc groups or temporary campaigns. Don’t build a segment for every one-off need.
- Sync with sales: Make sure your segments line up with how your sales team works. No point in marketing to leads sales can’t close.
- Document your segments: Keep a simple doc or spreadsheet with segment names and definitions. Future you will thank you.
Wrapping Up: Keep It Simple, Iterate Often
Segmentation in Sailes isn’t about being clever, it’s about being useful. Start with a few clear segments, run some campaigns, and see what sticks. Don’t chase fancy features or overthink the process. The best results come from simple, honest work—and actually listening to what your leads respond to. If something works, do more of it. If it doesn’t, try something else. That’s it.