If you’re tired of spraying generic messages and praying someone bites, you’re in the right place. This guide is for marketers and sales teams who want to cut through the noise and actually reach the right prospects, with the right message, at the right company.
We’re talking real, practical steps to segment prospects by industry using Coresignal data—so you can stop guessing and start personalizing your GTM (go-to-market) campaigns. No magic bullets here, just real-world advice that’ll save you time and headaches.
Why Industry Segmentation Even Matters
Before we get tactical, a quick reality check: industry segmentation isn’t about ticking a box or padding your CRM with tags. It’s about speaking your prospect’s language. If you’re selling SaaS to banks, you want to sound like you get banking. If you’re chasing e-commerce, you’d better know their pain points.
Industry-based segments let you:
- Personalize emails and ads so they don’t feel like spam.
- Prioritize outreach to industries that actually buy from you.
- Avoid wasting budget chasing companies that’ll never care.
But—here’s the catch—not all “industry data” is created equal. Labels can be messy, inconsistent, or just plain wrong. Let’s break down how to do it right with Coresignal.
Step 1: Figure Out What You’re Actually Segmenting
Coresignal’s core value is its deep, structured company data. But before you dive in, get specific:
- Are you targeting companies, people, or both?
- Do you want broad industry buckets (like “Finance”) or sub-sectors (like “FinTech,” “Retail Banking”)?
- Is there a standard (like NAICS or SIC codes) you want to map to, or are you okay with Coresignal’s native categories?
Pro tip: Don’t overcomplicate it. Start with 5–10 industries that matter to your business. You can always get more granular later.
Step 2: Get Your Data from Coresignal
Coresignal offers several ways to pull data—APIs, flat files, data dumps. Which you use depends on your resources and how “hands-on” you want to be.
Options:
- API: Best if you want to build segmentation into your own tools or do regular updates.
- Flat files (CSV, JSON): Easiest for one-off projects or smaller teams.
- Data platform integrations: Some CRMs or data platforms can ingest Coresignal data directly.
Watch out for:
- Updates and freshness: Data gets stale. Make sure you’re not building campaigns on last year’s org chart.
- Data volume: Coresignal can provide a lot of data. Decide early if you want the whole dataset or just a filter (e.g., only U.S. companies, or only firms with >50 employees).
If you’re new to Coresignal, start with a manageable chunk. Download a CSV, open it up, and see how the industry fields look. It’s less intimidating than it sounds.
Step 3: Make Sense of the Industry Field(s)
Here’s where most people trip up: industry data is messy. Coresignal may give you a field called “industry,” but real companies are complicated. One company might say “Software,” another “Information Technology,” another “Computer Programming.”
What you’ll typically see: - Industry labels (sometimes multiple per company) - NAICS or SIC codes (sometimes, not always) - Free-text fields—some structured, some not
What to do:
- Standardize your buckets. Create a simple mapping table. For example, group “Computer Software,” “SaaS,” and “Enterprise Software” into just “Software.”
- Decide how granular you want to be. More detail sounds nice, but you need enough companies per segment to actually run a campaign.
- Deal with missing or ambiguous labels. Not every company fits neatly. If a field is blank or too vague, put those companies in a “Review/Other” bucket for now.
Pro tip: Don’t rely on one field alone. If Coresignal gives you both “industry” and a NAICS code, cross-check them. When in doubt, Google the company’s website for a sanity check.
Step 4: Clean and Organize Your Data
This is the “eat your veggies” part. Even the best data sources need some cleanup.
Minimum steps:
- Remove obvious junk: Rows with no company name, no website, or nonsense in the industry field.
- Normalize industry names: Use your mapping table from Step 3. This can be done in Excel, Google Sheets, or using Python/pandas if you’re savvy.
- De-dupe companies: Same company, different spellings—standardize company names to avoid double-counting.
If you’re doing this at scale, set up scripts or workflows so you’re not stuck doing this by hand every time.
What not to obsess over:
Don’t spend hours trying to solve every edge case. 95% clean is better than 100% never-shipped.
Step 5: Build Your Industry Segments
Now you’ve got a clean list, build your segments:
- Group companies by your industry buckets. This could be as simple as filtering in Excel or using your CRM’s tagging system.
- Set thresholds. For example, ignore industries with fewer than X companies—they’re not worth a dedicated campaign.
- Add additional filters as needed: Company size, region, or tech stack, if your data supports it.
Pro tip: Make a “Test” segment with companies you know well. Run your process on them first. If the segments don’t make sense for these, they won’t for anyone else.
Step 6: Plug Segments into Your GTM Tools
Whether you’re running outbound email, LinkedIn ads, or SDR call lists, the whole point is getting these segments into your actual GTM channels.
Common workflows:
- Upload lists to your CRM. Most let you import custom fields or tags—just make sure you don’t overwrite existing data.
- Sync with marketing automation. Tools like HubSpot, Marketo, or Outreach can use industry tags to trigger personalized sequences.
- Export for ad targeting. LinkedIn, for example, lets you match company lists—just watch for formatting headaches.
What to avoid:
Don’t assume every tool speaks the same “industry” language. Double-check how your GTM platforms handle these fields. A “Retail” segment in Coresignal might map differently in LinkedIn.
Step 7: Personalize Your Messaging (But Don’t Overthink It)
Industry segmentation is only useful if you actually use it to tailor your outreach. Here’s how to keep it simple:
- Start with templates. Have a base message, then swap in specific pain points, results, or case studies for each industry.
- Don’t go too narrow. You’re not writing a novel for each segment. Focus on the 1–2 things that matter most to that industry.
- Test and tweak. Send to a small group, measure response, and adjust. Don’t try to perfect every message before you hit send.
What doesn’t work:
Copy-pasting generic stats (“Did you know 70% of finance companies…”). Be specific, be brief, and don’t fake expertise you don’t have.
Step 8: Measure, Adjust, and Rinse & Repeat
You won’t nail it on the first try. That’s normal.
- Track basic metrics: Open rates, replies, meetings booked—by industry segment.
- Look for patterns: Some segments will respond better than others. Double down on what works.
- Refine your segments: Merge segments that don’t perform, or break out fast-growing ones for special attention.
Don’t:
Keep running the same play just because you spent time building it. If a segment’s dead, move on.
What Actually Works (and What’s Overhyped)
Works: - Starting with broad, simple segments and refining as you go - Using industry data to avoid irrelevant messages - Combining industry with company size or tech stack for even sharper targeting
Doesn’t work: - Chasing hyper-granular segments before you have the basics down - Trusting industry labels blindly—always sanity-check a few records - Personalizing every message to the point of paralysis
Ignore the hype about AI-driven, real-time segmentation unless you’ve already mastered the basics. Most teams need good data hygiene and a few solid templates, not a data science team.
Keep It Simple, Ship Fast
Segmenting by industry with Coresignal isn’t rocket science, but it’s easy to overcomplicate. Start with clean data, focus on your top industries, and personalize just enough to stand out. Iterate fast, skip the perfectionism, and you’ll see better results—without drowning in spreadsheets.
The best campaigns are the ones you actually launch. Keep moving, and don’t let “perfect” get in the way of “done.”