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They took a blank canvas to everything from product design, marketing, and fulfillment, before launching their future-forward vacuum company Airsign in 2022. Airsign offers a complete and powerful clean to homes everywhere without sacrificing sustainability or aesthetics.
Challenge
Airsign knew there was a gap in the market for this product, but they needed to build a sustainable business model. They'd have to find the right audience and grow their list of recurring customers in order to be competitive in the home appliance category.
Through consumer surveys, Airsign created three high-value customer personas: design-oriented customers in big cities, millennials moving to the suburbs, and an older audience who miss the high-quality appliances of the past. Once the team knew the audiences they wanted to reach, it was time to figure out how to reach them.
Early on, Airsign used paid ads to target specific groups on Facebook and Google. But with the introduction of stricter privacy laws and iOS data tracking limitations, paid ads became more expensive with less return.
Finding ways to gather and use zero-party data that customers willingly share with brands, along with first-party data that brands collect directly from customers, would now be critical to Airsign's success in engaging audiences and finding customers.
Solution
Airsign recognized how important it would be to centralize its data in one place. Its addresses and other customer details were in Shopify, customer demographics like interests were stored in Facebook and Google, and its post-purchase survey lived in another tool. Since the majority of its customer data existed in Shopify, including its sales, it first worked to connect all of its data before then using it.
Airsign started using customer segmentation in Shopify to gain insights about its customers and to take action. With the diminishing returns on paid ad spend, they began using email and SMS marketing to connect with existing customers and people who had subscribed to its newsletter.
Results
One key group Airsign targeted using segmentation was customers who purchased the product at launch but didn't have an opportunity to sign up for its AirBags or HEPA filters, since those subscriptions weren't available until three months later. The team was able to easily build a segment in Shopify for customers who purchased the product before the subscription program launched, then target that specific group with a discount to sign up for subscriptions."We identified the segment in Shopify, created a discount for that specific segment, communicated with them in a way that was very personalized for their needs, and we saw about 30% of those people convert." - Alex DashefskyAnother important insight the team gained from segmenting its audience was determining the best location for fulfillment. When Airsign launched, it picked Chicago as a central hub to ship orders to both coasts. Alex built segments for their customers on the coasts, in the south, and midwest, and over time, saw the most expensive shipping regions grow in size as more customers automatically joined those segments. That meant the company was paying more to ship to zones at a higher cost.
Airsign uncovered that insight three months into business and quickly pivoted to a bi-coastal fulfillment model. Since then, shipping costs have dropped by 25%.
Airsign takes pride in not having raised its prices since it launched, which is partly due to insights gained from tools like customer segmentation with Shopify. Keeping shipping costs down has helped it offer customers the best-quality product at an affordable price.
As Airsign matures, it plans to use more personalized messaging for different groups of customers. Targeting specific segments with offers and content tailored to their interests is an important part of Airsign's strategy to keep high-value customers engaged over time.
Airsign is offering an exclusive price of $225 on their vacuum for Shopify readers via a discount code - SHOPIFY.
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Segmentation Design FAQ
What is segmentation design?
Segmentation design is the process of grouping customers or store visitors into distinct groups based on shared traits—like interests, purchase history, or location—so a business can tailor messaging, offers, and even fulfillment strategies to each group. Instead of sending the same message to everyone, a store owner builds a segment around a specific behavior or need, then targets that group with content built for them. This approach helps brands compete without relying only on paid advertising, since segments can be built from data a business already owns.
How do you create a customer segment for marketing?
Building a customer segment starts with centralizing data—like purchase history, location, and survey responses—in one place, then grouping customers who share a specific trait or behavior. A store owner might segment shoppers who bought before a subscription program launched, or group customers by shipping region to spot cost patterns. Once a segment is built, businesses can target it with personalized offers, discounts, or messaging sent through email, SMS, or on-site content, then track how that segment responds before adjusting the criteria.
What's the difference between customer segmentation and market segmentation?
Customer segmentation groups people who are already customers into logical groups, while market segmentation looks at the broader, complete market, including people who haven't purchased yet. In practice, most segmentation design work for an existing store starts with customer segmentation, since data on existing buyers is already collected and easier to act on than assumptions about the wider market.
How many customer segments should a business start with?
There's no fixed number of segments to start with, but narrowing focus to one or two well-defined segments often performs better than trying to attract an entire market with a broad approach. Testing messaging and offers on a smaller, well-understood group first makes it easier to see what resonates before expanding into more specific segments as new data comes in from surveys, purchase history, or on-site behavior.
What data works best for building accurate customer segments?
The most useful data combines zero-party data—information customers willingly share, like survey answers or stated preferences—with first-party data collected directly from store activity, such as purchase history and browsing behavior. Relying on data a business owns directly makes segments more accurate and less dependent on third-party ad platforms, which have become more expensive and less precise due to stricter privacy rules and device-tracking limits. Centralizing this data in one system, rather than spreading it across multiple tools, makes it easier to build and act on segments quickly.
Can segmentation design reduce shipping and fulfillment costs?
Yes—segmenting customers by location can reveal which shipping zones cost the most to serve, letting a business adjust its fulfillment strategy before costs grow out of control. Tracking regional segments over time shows whether certain zones are expanding faster than others, which often signals a need to add fulfillment centers or shift inventory. Catching this early can lead to meaningful savings without raising product prices, since fulfillment costs make up a large share of overall expenses for physical goods businesses.
