Customer Segmentation and Personalisation Training Course

Duration 5 days 10 modules · 33 contact hours
Level Intermediate Certificate on completion
Who attends Marketing Managers, CRM and Lifecycle Managers and others
Fee from USD 1,100 KSh 95,000 for Kenyan organisations
Where 52 cities + online See dates by city
Next start 16 Nov 2026 Course code SD-M-042

Before you join: Participants should have practical familiarity with marketing campaigns, customer journeys, CRM records, sales data or customer research.

Dates & prices

Two start dates a month in every city, and live online on weekdays or weekends. Fees are per participant; classroom fees include tuition, materials, lunch and refreshments, and the certificate.

Suggest a date or city

Showing the next six months. Later dates, other cities and private deliveries for your team are available on request.

Course overview

Customer records often contain enough information to target better, yet teams still send broad campaigns, use generic offers and report averages that conceal profitable or at-risk groups. The professional task is to turn transaction, behavioural, research and consent data into segments that sales, marketing and service teams can identify, prioritise and serve consistently. Done well, segmentation improves acquisition economics, retention decisions, channel investment and customer treatment. Done poorly, it produces stereotypes, unusable personas, privacy failures and conflicting communications.

This five-day course develops the practical methods required to define, analyse and activate customer segments. Participants use STP, needs-based segmentation, RFM scoring, customer lifetime value, propensity concepts, journey mapping and test design to make targeting decisions. They learn to combine qualitative insight with customer data; assess segment attractiveness; create evidence-based personas; develop differentiated value propositions; and translate segment strategies into offers, messages, channels, triggers and contact rules. The course also addresses consent, data quality, vulnerable-customer considerations and the limits of attribution.

Instruction combines short practitioner briefings with sector-based case work, team analysis, simulations and structured application planning. Cases reflect common challenges in retail banking, telecommunications, consumer services, B2B sales and membership organisations. Participants build a reusable segmentation and personalisation pack containing a segment scorecard, persona structure, targeting decision table, activation design and measurement plan. The course is delivered instructor-led in a classroom in more than 50 cities or live online. Each training day runs from 08:30 to 16:30 and provides approximately 6.5 contact hours. Participants receive a certificate of completion.

The course is particularly suitable for professionals responsible for customer growth, retention, campaign performance, digital journeys, CRM strategy or account development who need a disciplined way to convert customer insight into commercially sound actions.

What you will be able to do

  • Construct an STP segmentation brief linked to growth, retention and service objectives
  • Assess customer data quality, identity resolution and consent eligibility for segmentation
  • Build needs-based segments using qualitative research, behavioural data and RFM scoring
  • Prioritise target segments using scorecards, customer lifetime value and feasibility criteria
  • Create evidence-based personas, positioning statements and segment-specific message hierarchies
  • Design triggered personalisation rules across digital, sales and service channels
  • Specify A/B tests, holdout groups and segment-level performance measures
  • Produce a segmentation activation roadmap with governance, ownership and review routines

Benefits of attending

For you

  • Make targeting recommendations supported by segment evidence and commercial criteria
  • Create personas that distinguish customer needs from demographic stereotypes
  • Specify personalisation requirements clearly for CRM, analytics and content teams
  • Evaluate campaign results beyond average conversion and response rates
  • Build a practical portfolio of segmentation and activation artefacts

For your organisation

  • Improves allocation of campaign budget toward attractive and reachable segments
  • Reduces irrelevant contact through eligibility, suppression and frequency rules
  • Creates shared segment definitions across marketing, sales and service teams
  • Strengthens retention action through earlier identification of churn-prone customers
  • Supports privacy-aware targeting through consent and purpose-limitation controls

Course modules

10 modules over 5 days

Participants can frame a segmentation initiative around defined commercial and customer objectives.

  • Segmentation decisions linked to growth, retention, service and channel objectives
  • STP framework: segment, target and position choices aligned with business strategy
  • Distinguishing descriptive segments from actionable segments with measurable commercial value
  • Market, customer and account segmentation compared for B2C and B2B contexts
  • Segment attractiveness assessed through size, growth, profitability, accessibility and fit
  • Documenting segmentation hypotheses before selecting data, research and analytical methods

Participants can assess whether customer data is suitable and permitted for segmentation use.

  • First-party, zero-party, second-party and third-party data sources evaluated critically
  • Customer data model connecting identities, transactions, behaviours, preferences and consent
  • Data quality checks for completeness, accuracy, timeliness, uniqueness and validity
  • Identity resolution rules for household, account, contact and device records
  • GDPR lawful bases, purpose limitation and data minimisation applied to segmentation
  • Consent status and preference centres incorporated into activation eligibility

Participants can develop segment hypotheses from customer needs, motivations and buying contexts.

  • Jobs to Be Done interviews reveal functional, emotional and social needs
  • Needs-based segments built from motivations, barriers, triggers and desired outcomes
  • Persona evidence separated from stereotypes, assumptions and demographic shorthand
  • Qualitative coding converts interview evidence into segment attributes and hypotheses
  • Decision-making units mapped for complex B2B buying committees
  • Research guides designed around purchase context, switching and adoption barriers

Participants can select and validate quantitative methods for customer segmentation.

  • RFM scoring classifies customers by recency, frequency and monetary contribution
  • Behavioural variables selected from product usage, browsing, service and transaction data
  • Cluster analysis inputs standardised before k-means or hierarchical segmentation
  • Choosing segment numbers using silhouette scores, interpretability and operational constraints
  • Cross-tabulation and profiling expose meaningful differences between candidate segments
  • Validating segments with holdout samples, stability tests and business review

Participants can rank segments and select targets using commercial, strategic and operational criteria.

  • Segment scorecards combine market potential, fit, risk and service cost
  • Customer lifetime value estimates compare acquisition investment and retention priorities
  • Propensity models rank purchase, churn and cross-sell opportunities
  • Addressable market calculations distinguish total, serviceable and obtainable demand
  • Targeting decisions balance expected value, strategic relevance and activation feasibility
  • Exclusion criteria protect vulnerable customers and prevent unsuitable targeting

Participants can translate segment insight into differentiated propositions and credible messages.

  • Value proposition canvas connects segment jobs, pains, gains and offers
  • Segment-specific messages translate benefits into credible reasons to choose
  • Positioning statements define audience, frame of reference, difference and proof
  • Message hierarchy assigns primary, supporting and proof-point claims
  • Content and offer variants reflect segment needs without discriminatory assumptions
  • Sales enablement briefs align account insights, objections and next-best actions

Participants can design channel and contact strategies that respond to customer lifecycle moments.

  • Customer journey maps identify moments, channels, friction and decision criteria
  • Lifecycle stages trigger onboarding, adoption, renewal and win-back communications
  • Next-best-action rules combine eligibility, propensity, channel and contact constraints
  • Channel orchestration coordinates email, web, paid media, sales and service
  • Frequency caps and suppression rules prevent fatigue and conflicting messages
  • Trigger designs distinguish real-time events from scheduled campaign audiences

Participants can specify practical personalisation use cases, decision rules and delivery requirements.

  • Personalisation maturity assessed across data, decisions, content, channels and measurement
  • Rules-based personalisation compared with predictive recommendations and contextual targeting
  • Content modularity supports approved variations without uncontrolled message proliferation
  • Decision tables specify audience, trigger, offer, channel, owner and exclusions
  • Customer data platforms, CRM and marketing automation roles distinguished
  • Service design requirements address handoffs between digital and human channels

Participants can define tests and measures that show segment-level commercial impact.

  • Test hypotheses state segment, treatment, expected response and decision threshold
  • A/B test designs control audiences, randomisation, sample size and duration
  • Incrementality measurement separates campaign effects from underlying customer behaviour
  • Response, conversion, retention and value metrics reported by segment
  • Marketing attribution limitations examined alongside controlled experiments and holdout groups
  • Dashboard specifications connect objectives, metrics, cadence, owners and corrective actions

Participants can establish governance and a staged plan for sustained segmentation and personalisation activity.

  • Segmentation operating model assigns ownership across marketing, sales, service and analytics
  • Activation backlog prioritises use cases by value, effort, risk and readiness
  • Data governance routines maintain definitions, consent, access controls and retention
  • Segment refresh schedules reflect behavioural change, seasonality and data availability
  • Implementation roadmap sequences quick wins, dependencies, pilots and scale decisions
  • Personal application plan specifies stakeholder actions, measures and review dates

Exercises and examples are adapted to each cohort's sectors and roles.

What you take back to work

  1. STP segmentation brief template
  2. Segment attractiveness scorecard
  3. Evidence-based persona model
  4. Personalisation decision table
  5. Segment-level measurement plan
  6. Segmentation implementation roadmap

Who should attend

  • Marketing Managers — need defensible segment priorities and campaign targeting decisions
  • CRM and Lifecycle Managers — design retention, onboarding and win-back communications
  • Customer Experience Managers — align journeys and service treatment with customer needs
  • Digital Marketing Managers — configure audience rules, content variants and channel triggers
  • Product Managers — define segment needs, propositions and adoption opportunities
  • Sales and Account Managers — use account insights for more relevant conversations

Skills and tools covered

Customer segmentationPersona developmentTargeting strategyPersonalisation designCampaign measurementData governance

Tools and standards

STP framework, RFM analysis, Customer Journey Mapping, A/B testing

How the course runs

Training methodology

The course uses short instructor briefings to introduce methods, followed by case work, group analysis and facilitated design tasks. Participants assess sample customer data, compare segmentation approaches, build personas, prioritise segments and specify activation rules. Simulations test choices about offers, channels, contact frequency and measurement. Discussion draws on retail banking, B2B account management, consumer services and membership examples. Each participant completes structured application planning, using their own customer-growth or retention challenge where appropriate.

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should have practical familiarity with marketing campaigns, customer journeys, CRM records, sales data or customer research. They should be comfortable discussing commercial measures such as conversion, retention, revenue and campaign response. Experience with Excel or spreadsheet analysis is useful because segment scorecards and data examples are examined, but advanced statistical modelling is not required. No prior knowledge of SQL, Python, data science software or a specific CRM platform is assumed. Participants do not need to bring customer data, although a current campaign, audience challenge or customer-growth objective will help with application planning.

A typical training day

08:30 – 10:30First session
10:30 – 10:45Refreshment break
10:45 – 12:30Second session
12:30 – 13:30Lunch and networking
13:30 – 15:00Third session
15:00 – 15:15Refreshment break
15:15 – 16:30Workshop and daily review

Live online deliveries follow the same structure in East Africa Time, with shorter screen blocks and longer breaks.

What the fee includes

  • Instruction by a practitioner facilitator
  • Full course workbook and materials
  • Exercise files, templates and case studies
  • Refreshments and lunch on classroom deliveries
  • Certificate of completion
  • Post-course application plan

Frequently asked questions

Participants need familiarity with marketing, CRM, sales, customer research or customer experience work. Advanced analytics, SQL and specialist marketing technology experience are not required.

Bring a current customer-growth, retention or targeting challenge if possible. No confidential customer data is needed; the course uses structured examples and reusable templates.

It suits marketing, CRM, customer experience, digital, product and sales professionals who make audience, offer or customer-contact decisions. It is designed for practitioners who need to connect customer insight with commercial action.

This course concentrates on deciding who to target, why they matter and how treatment should differ by segment. It covers enough analytical method to assess segments, but does not train participants as data scientists or platform administrators.

Participants leave with templates for segment scoring, personas, activation rules and measurement. These can be adapted for a campaign, lifecycle programme, account portfolio or customer journey improvement initiative.

Each day runs from 08:30 to 16:30, with approximately 6.5 contact hours plus breaks. Time is divided across strategy, data, research, analysis, targeting, activation, measurement and implementation planning.

Questions about this course?

Ask about dates, fees, group bookings or running it for your team. Our training team replies by email.

Ask on WhatsApp info@skillsetdevelopment.com

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