What’s the difference between micro-segmentation and dynamic personalization?

Micro-segmentation creates very small, highly specific groups. Dynamic personalization customizes content within a single send based on individual data.

With micro-segmentation, you might have a segment for \"customers in Texas who bought running shoes in the last 30 days.\" That segment gets its own campaign with tailored content.

With dynamic personalization, you send one campaign to a broader audience, but the content adapts. The same email template shows different products, images, or copy based on each recipient's profile. Texas running shoe buyers see different content than California yoga enthusiasts, but it's technically one campaign.

Think of the difference this way: micro-segmentation builds many small boats, each carrying specific cargo to specific ports. Dynamic personalization builds one large ship that rearranges its cargo hold as it approaches each destination.

Dynamic personalization scales better but requires more sophisticated tooling. Micro-segmentation offers more control but creates operational overhead. Most mature programs use both, with dynamic personalization handling surface-level variations and micro-segments handling fundamentally different messaging strategies.