If you’re running B2B marketing and drowning in a sea of leads, you know blasting the same message to everyone is a waste of effort (and budget). Segmentation is how you stop shouting into the void and start having actual conversations with the right people. This guide is for marketers, founders, and sales folks who want to use Prosp to get smarter about who they're targeting—without making life more complicated than it needs to be.
What Does Segmentation Actually Mean (and Why Bother)?
Segmenting leads just means sorting them into useful groups: by company size, industry, behavior, whatever matters for your business. The idea is to send messages that hit home, not generic spam nobody cares about.
Why bother? Because:
- Relevance = Response. People ignore stuff that doesn’t speak to them.
- Sales doesn’t hate you. Good segmentation means your sales team isn’t chasing dead ends.
- Less wasted spend. Targeted campaigns mean you’re not paying to pitch your product to people who will never buy.
But let’s be real: fancy segmentation isn’t magic. If your data’s a mess or your offers stink, no tool will save you. But Prosp can help you organize what you do have, so you can start getting smarter—one campaign at a time.
Step 1: Get Your Lead Data in Shape
Before you start building segments in Prosp, take a hard look at your lead data. Garbage in, garbage out.
What to check: - Is your data complete? Missing company names, job titles, or emails? Fill the gaps, or at least know what you’re missing. - Is it accurate? Old leads, duplicates, and bad emails will mess up your results. Clean house. - What fields do you actually have? Don’t plan segments that require data you aren’t collecting.
Pro tip: Don’t try to fix years of messy data all at once. Start with your most promising leads or recent imports.
Step 2: Know What Matters for Your Business
You can segment leads a hundred ways—but only a few actually matter. Don’t get caught up building 50 micro-segments if you only have the bandwidth for three campaigns.
Common B2B segmentation fields: - Industry - Company size (by employees or revenue) - Seniority (job title, role) - Geography - Lead source (where did they come from?) - Engagement (have they opened your emails, visited your site, booked a demo?)
What to ignore: - Overly narrow categories (“companies with 37–39 employees in Ohio”) - Demographics that don’t match your offer - Segments with too few leads to bother targeting
Be honest: If you’re not sure what matters, talk to sales or look at your last 10 deals. What did those customers have in common?
Step 3: Import and Tag Your Leads in Prosp
Once you’re clear on what fields you care about, get that data into Prosp. The platform is built for B2B, so it’s better than most at handling company-level info—but it’s only as useful as the data you feed it.
How to import and organize: - CSV Import: The fastest way. Make sure your column headers match Prosp’s field names (or map them during import). - CRM Sync: If you use Salesforce, HubSpot, or similar, Prosp can often pull data in directly—but double-check the field mapping. - Manual Entry: Fine for small batches, but don’t do this at scale.
Tagging: If you want to group leads in ways your fields don’t cover (like “Attended Q2 Webinar” or “VIP List”), use Prosp’s custom tags or lists. Keep tags simple and consistent.
Watch out for: - Duplicate entries (Prosp has deduping, but it’s not perfect) - Import errors—always spot-check after uploading
Step 4: Build Segments Using Prosp’s Filters
Now for the main event: actually creating segments in Prosp.
How to create segments: 1. Go to your Leads or Contacts view. 2. Use Filters. Prosp lets you filter by almost any field—industry, company size, location, tags, etc. 3. Combine filters. Want “SaaS companies with 50–500 employees in North America”? Stack your filters. 4. Save the segment. Give it a name that actually means something (“Mid-Market SaaS – NA”) instead of “Test Segment 2.”
Pro tip: Start broad. If your first filter gives you 5,000 leads, add another filter to narrow it down. If you end up with 12, your segment might be too narrow to bother with.
Common mistakes: - Saving segments that overlap too much (causes campaign fatigue) - Forgetting to update segments as new leads come in (set up dynamic segments if possible)
Step 5: Sanity-Check Your Segments
Don’t launch campaigns to your new segments without double-checking who’s actually in them.
How to sanity-check: - Spot-check leads. Click into a few leads in each segment. Do they look right? Are they who you want to target? - Check counts. Do the number of leads make sense for the size of your business? - Test with sales. If you have a sales team, ask them to review a segment. They’ll tell you fast if it’s off.
Red flags: - Segments stuffed with students, consultants, or non-buyers - Leads with missing emails or garbage data - Segments that seem “off” on gut check—trust your instincts
Step 6: Use Segments for Targeted Campaigns
Now you can actually use those segments for email blasts, LinkedIn outreach, or whatever campaigns you’re running in Prosp.
How to activate segments: - Select your segment when building a campaign. Most tools in Prosp let you pick a saved segment as your audience. - Personalize your messaging. Use industry, pain points, or other relevant info in your copy. - Test. Run smaller campaigns at first, then double down on what works.
Skip these mistakes: - Sending the same message to every segment (why bother segmenting?) - Forgetting compliance—double-check you’re not emailing people who opted out - Over-segmenting (“We have a segment for left-handed CFOs in Wisconsin!”)
Step 7: Review, Refine, and Iterate
Segmentation isn’t a “set it and forget it” thing. Your leads, data, and business will change.
How to keep improving: - Review performance. Are certain segments responding better? Double down there. - Prune dead segments. If a segment never gets used, archive or delete it. - Update fields/tags. As you learn what matters, tweak your segmentation criteria.
Don’t overcomplicate: Start simple. Two or three high-impact segments are better than a dozen that don’t make a difference.
A Few Honest Takes on Prosp’s Segmentation
- What works: Prosp’s filters are straightforward, and dynamic segments save time once you set them up.
- What doesn’t: If your data’s messy or inconsistent, Prosp can’t magically fix it. And while Prosp’s company-level data is good, it’s not perfect—double-check your imports.
- Ignore the hype: Don’t chase “AI-powered segmentation” unless you actually have the volume and data quality for it. Simple filters usually beat black box magic for most B2B teams.
Keep It Simple, Keep It Moving
Segmenting leads in Prosp isn’t rocket science, but it does take some upfront work. Get your data in shape, focus on what actually matters, and don’t obsess over edge cases. Start with a couple of solid segments, run targeted campaigns, and adjust as you go. The best segmentation is the one you’ll actually use—so keep it simple, and you’ll get results.