Tutkimus & Ymmärrys
29/10/21

Consumer Segmentation: From Strategy to Implementation

Most brands today understand that their consumers are not all cut of the same cloth. For years, demographic & socio-economic segmentation has been the way for consumer segmentation. What age segments find your products most appealing, or which income levels value affordability or what kind of household would the product be more relevant to? This was a relevant approach to build an understanding of the target market and is also prevalent in consumer insights research today. It makes sense that a hatchback wagon would be a very appealing family car to a household with children; whereas it would be far less attractive to a young couple living in the city center. For many consumer goods, mainly commodities, understanding consumers based on their demographic and socia-economic traits might be good enough.

We live in a world where consumers are exposed to a multitude of brands everyday. Add to that the sheer volume of marketing messages they are exposed to, both in the physical and the digital world they inhabit. Furthermore, the opinions of influencers who promote everything from drinking water to space travel. Given this array of signals that consumers are exposed to, their choices come down to what they consider as their deeply held beliefs, attitudes, knowledge and familiarity with Brands. To understand what makes these consumers stick with or abandon their choices requires understanding these consumers beyond their demographic and socio-economic traits alone.

Consumer segmentation provides different lenses through which a consumer can be analysed and understood. Beyond demographic and socio-economic segments, consumers can be segmented based on their behaviours (Behavioural segmentation), personality traits (Psychographic segmentation), their locations (Geographic segmentation), their social media consumption (Social Media segmentation), etc. There may be new ways of segmentation in the future as we try to understand a consumer more deeply and intimately. All in pursuit of developing the right connection with the consumer.

Strategic Consumer Segmentation and Consumer Insights

Consumer segmentation work informs the strategies for Brands to differentiate among the clutter of choices for a consumer. A brand connection resides in the hearts and minds of consumers. Deeply informed segmentation work can uncover this connection. Consumer insights is a continuous process, where Brands try to test, assess and delve into consumer reactions to new concepts / ideas, marketing approaches, product launches and product experiences. Intertwining segmentation work with ongoing consumer insights is not a trivial task.

Assessing consumer insights under the lens of these segments is quite expensive and time-consuming. This leaves only major consumer goods brands or retailers who may have a loyalty program to track individual consumers, in a position to put their segmentation work into practice. However, this is not a luxury that most Brands share. Majority of consumer studies are done with anonymous consumers, with no more than basic demographic data to go with. Applying segmentation as part of such studies, each time, is not practical and thus most Brands do not do it. Thus such segmentation work is not pursued at all or is left on the drawing board with no implementation in place.

Consumers are confronted with a multitude of choices and decisions daily. Standing out from the competition requires deeper understanding of consumers to develop a more intimate brand association.

Real Audiences matching Strategic Consumer Segmentation

This is where Crowst becomes your strongest asset. With Crowst, you can reach tens of thousands of consumers in Finland anonymously. Reach these active consumers directly through the Crowst platform. Bring your consumer segmentation to Crowst and tag these anonymous consumers with the segments you have defined. This is done only once and thereafter, each time you run an insights project on the Crowst platform, you don’t just get basic demographic and socio-economic data of the consumers, but you also know which of your segments each one of them belongs to.

You can test which of your segments find your new concepts more appealing; which of your segments are more inclined to make a purchase of your product; which of your segments have a soft spot for your competitor, and so on. You discover more about the consumer and tailor you interaction aligned with your strategic segmentation priorities. Through Crowst Audiences, you make your segmentation come to life, at an affordable cost and in quick time.

You can learn here, how one of the major manufacturers of bread and bakery products in Finland, Vaasan, has successfully implemented such a segmentation model of their Finnish consumers in Crowst.

Want to understand how audiences can help you track your market segments, contact us to learn more.

Kirjoittaja

Richard Jerome