samedi 4 janvier 2014

The Basics Regarding Behavioral Segmentation In Marketing

By Harriett Crosby


Behavioral segmentation describes a marketing strategy that has been around with us for a while now. It is only in the recent past, however, that the benefits of its use have been fully appreciated. In this marketing approach, the marketer divides the group of potential customers into a number of smaller groups. There are several criteria that are used to achieve this but the main one is the knowledge of the services or products by the customers. The pattern of responses exhibited by different customers also plays a major role in the categorization.

The use of market segmentation as a general marketing tool represents a major shift in doing business. The traditional way of reaching out to consumer was mainly through mass marketing. This method was very ineffective. In the mass marketing approach the entire pool of consumers was regarded as a single homogenous pool of customers. The message is sent out to the whole pool in the hope that a large number of potential customers will be reached.

Occasional buying is a common behavior that is exhibited by different groups of customers. Some goods or services appear to be increasingly demanded during specific occasions and at no other times of the year. For instance, religious gifts are usually on high demanded during religious seasons and occasions such as Christmas and Easter. The business needs to identify these users and to satisfy them appropriately.

Even for the same product, there is some form of difference in the reasons that lead to usage of the given products. Some customers will choose to use a product for a given reason and others will use for an entirely different reason. The producer needs to be aware of the existence of the various groups and to modify their products in a manner that all the concerned groups will be satisfied.

Another significant customer behavior that may be used in segmentation is product loyalty. In many industries there are customers who remain loyal to given brands of products for many years and this is very important in the sustenance of the products. Marketers need to identify who these customers are and seek ways on which they can maintain the loyalty. Rewarding loyal customers would be a good way of reinforcing the loyalty as well as encouraging the customers that are not as loyal to use the products more often.

The market can also be broken into segments based on the different usage rates of products among customers. The main groups here would be the heavy, moderate and the lesser users. Heavy users may welcome a decision to repackage products in a manner that helps them get more from a smaller package.

By identifying usage rate segments, it will be possible to make important business decisions. The group with lesser usage rates, for example, can be targeted for more aggressive advertisement campaigns aimed at improving demand for the products or services. Similarly, the moderate and heavy users can be rewarded so as to encourage them to continue using the products frequently.

Other than behavioral segmentation, there are many other ways in which a market can be segmented. Geographic, demographic and psychogenic characteristics can also be used. All the segments that have been created must be economically significant to warrant changes in product design otherwise such a move would result in unnecessary losses.




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