What is the common denominator in segmentation ?

Problem

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What is the common denominator in segmentation ?

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Action

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• The answer is always “Customer needs”
• Regardless of your product being a B2C or B2B product, one must ask “Why buys your products, and why? “
• The next logical question would be, “Who is it we want to add to our customer base, and why ?”
• The “WHY” is the most significant question
• The answers will help product managers understand the overarching problems or needs of specific customer types
  • What determines a customer’s motivation to actually buy or use your products ?
  • What leads customers to seek products that haven’t yet been created ?
• The stronger your commitment to understanding and acting on customer needs, the better your changes for meeting or exceeding their expectations.
• When asked with a question “What needs does your product address ?” often times people respond with product features not the outcomes that the product creates for the end user – focus on the outcome and user’s experience getting that outcome aspects more than the features themselves.

Outcome

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A clear ongoing and active understanding of customer’s needs must drive a product’s market segmentation efforts along with other usual segmentation variables.

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Source: Haines, S. (n.d.). The Product Manager’s Desk Reference.