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.