Sunday 26 January 2014

The Benefits Of Using Behavioral Segmentation

By Judy Sullivan


As a marketer, it is very unlikely that you will encounter a set of two consumers who have exactly the same tastes and preferences. That is expected. As human beings, many differences exist among others. From our genetic make-up, our cultural background, our levels of education, life experiences and so on. One will therefore not be surprised to when consumers demand different things from a product or service. Behavioral segmentation is the subdividing of a market based on these differences.

The traditional way of marketing is rather straightforward but has poor returns. The marketing involves targeting the entire pool of consumers regardless of any differences that exist between them. The marketer sends out a message to all the potential consumers in the hope of reaching out to willing buyers. This is different from the segmentation approach where different groups of customers are treated differently depending on their specific demands.

The behaviors that can be used as the basis for segmenting are numerous. They will largely depend on your judgment. Any client behavior that you consider significant enough to influence demand for your goods can be used. Product loyalty is widely variable among clients for many goods and services. It is possible to classify your clients in several groups depending on their levels of loyalty. By so doing, you will get the opportunity to determine the factors that enhance or discourage the use of your products.

Using benefits sought is also a common way of segmenting. It is important for the producer and the marketer to understand that consumers demand goods and services for different reasons sometimes even when the use of that product appears straightforward. It is the responsibility of the marketer to establish the driving forces behind the demand of their goods. If this is properly understood, then modifications can be made to make sure that benefits are maximized.

A number of goods are only bought occasionally. Their demand is noted to be unusually high during specific periods of the year when marking particular occasions or festivities. Christians buy lots of religious goods during Christmas and Easter. For this reason, they form a very important segment that needs to be recognized. If one is not aware of the existence of this segment of customers then they will not adequately meet the demand.

Usage rate is yet another criterion commonly used segmenting markets. The idea here is to create consumer groups based on how frequently they use the product or service in question. Generally, customers can be divided into three major groups using this criterion: these are the heavy, moderate and light users. Other than the frequency the quantity used by each of them can also be used as an attribute.

Buyer readiness is the willingness of a buyer to use a service or good. While some buyers simply like a product others are willing to pay for it. The levels of willingness are divided into 6 that represent increasing levels of willingness to spend on the product. The first stage is awareness of product existence and the last stage is the purchase stage.

Other than behavioral segmentation, there are a number of other criteria that may be used. Commonly demographic, geographic and psychographic characteristics are used. What you need to have as a top priority is the homogeneity of the clients in the group.




About the Author:



No comments:

Post a Comment