1. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media comprising computer-executable instructions that, when executed on one or more processors, perform a method for automated targeting of content components to a population of users, the method comprising: selecting a content component to expose for viewing by the population of users, the population of users being characterized by a set of items purchased by the population of users; placing the content component in a particular location on a page to be rendered electronically; monitoring activity of the population of users in response to exposure of the content component to the population of users; differentiating among the population of users based on one or more items in the set of items with respect to the content component, wherein the differentiating comprises determining which items in the one or more items are predictive of increased user activity with respect to the content component, the determining comprising: finding, among the set of items, an item correlated to a largest difference between: values of a ratio of counts of a number of exposures and counts of a number of click actions of users among the population of users who have previously purchased the one or more items in the set of items; and values of a ratio of counts of a number of exposures and counts of a number of click actions of users among the population of users who have not previously purchased the one or more items in the set of items; and segmenting the population of users into multiple groups of users based on the item found to be correlated to the largest difference.