Segmentation to Support Business Growth
Segmentation research has been a core competency at W5 for two decades with experience spanning industries and audiences. From healthcare consumers to volunteer advocates, from impaired drivers to cloud-computing engineers. While the target audience and vertical may vary, the W5 approach to conducting a solid, actionable segmentation is grounded in a blend of art and science.
Segmentation research explores target consumer markets based on information beyond demographic characteristics and basic category behaviors. In typical market research studies, response variation can be identified based on demographics such as gender, age, ethnicity, region, and income. However, when examining the market as a whole, this method of analysis does not allow the ability to understand and tailor strategies to address the complexity of consumer segments and their decision-making processes.
Segmentation is a valuable research tool to develop and implement more effective strategies for all phases of the marketing process—from product development through advertising campaign messaging.
“We sought expertise in segmentation. Our client’s needs were somewhat complex, compounded by significant justification/documentation just to get the project off the ground. W5 worked closely and diligently with us, provided technical expertise/support, and your project leaders were available for multiple meetings/consultations. The ultimate study and reports have been well-received by the client and its stakeholders.”
– Senior Vice President, Account Planning, The Tombras Group
For a segmentation to be strategically actionable, members of each segment must think and behave similarly to one another while exhibiting attitudes, psychographics, and behaviors different from members of other segments. Additionally, the segments must be based on stable, real-world criteria, making intuitive sense.
W5’s approach to custom, strategic segmentation arms clients with knowledge to:
Determine what consumer segments exist and reveal the relative size of each segment
Evaluate the potential economic value of each segment
Identify the behaviors, attitudes, needs, and underlying psychographics of each segment and how these differ by segment
Inform strategies for reaching and relating to segments of greatest opportunity
Each W5 segmentation is customized and can answer a range of business questions. For our client, Rise Against Hunger, the challenge was to uncover actionable insights that would ultimately drive community engagement and financial support in the fight against world hunger. Presented at The Quirk’s Event New York, check out W5’s joint presentation as our client speaks to W5’s research and how clearly defined audience segments were used to inform marketing strategies.
If you would like to learn more about W5’s research capabilities, or how we can support segmentation needs at your organization or agency, don’t hesitate to reach out. Happy segmenting!