A customer segmentation strategy is an invaluable tool for companies seeking to boost market share. However, most companies fail to implement an effective customer segmentation strategy. Modern companies know that they need to meet customer demands, but what they do not know is how to do this. Without precision, rich granularity, dynamism, and the context in the digital age, companies will be unable to meet the changing needs of their customers. Squeezed on one side by growing markets and on the other by merciless price-cutting, many companies are struggling to compete in today’s post-mass-market arena.
The result can be undifferentiated offerings that yield no result and fail to please anyone. For businesses looking to improve the cash conversion cycle and bottom-line results, it is inevitable to do an effective customer segmentation analysis. In this article, we have discussed in detail such challenges and many others that businesses face while devising their customer segmentation strategy and have suggested a few measures to deal with those challenges effectively. Request a free brochure to know more.
Challenges in Customer Segmentation Strategy
Challenge #1: Understanding the scope of customer segmentation
For businesses, understanding the scope of segmentation is one of the most difficult challenges while formulating their customer segmentation strategy. If the scope is defined too broadly, it can lead to a very generic segmentation approach. On the other hand, segmentation of a very narrowly defined audience will result in very precise segments, but it would be of minimal relevance for other products or markets. This challenge requires businesses to think about several questions such as
- What are the different degrees of scope at which currently segmentation is done?
- How feasible are the variables of segmentation in customer segmentation analysis done for different business groups?
- If standardizing segmentation across business groups is feasible or not?
- What can be learnt from the competitors’ customer segmentation strategy?
- What is their approach to customer segmentation analysis?
Challenge #2: Comprehending inbound and outbound segmentation
Customer segmentation analysis reveals the fact that many businesses fail to understand the importance of inbound and outbound segmentation. They fail to decide how a customer segmentation strategy can be transitioned over the product life cycle so that there is a consistent view of segments and value propositions. This challenge requires companies to think about a few questions such as:
- What are the uses of segmentation at the inbound stage?
- What are the uses of segmentation at the outbound stage?
- Can both the sets of variables be reconciled?
- Can there be one “end-to-end” segmentation approach?
Challenge #3: Lack of Differentiation
A customer segmentation analysis asserts the fact that differentiation between the quality of products and their customers is very important for targeting the right customer for the right product. On a product level, without clarity in differentiation, businesses end up investing in products that are not aligned with profitability goals and current market trends. Differentiation facilitates businesses to make more strategic investments in products and customer service.
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Infiniti’s Solution
Infiniti Research, with its years of expertise in customer intelligence solutions and customer segmentation analysis, is helping businesses to engage customers with confidence and gain unprecedented clarity on establishing individualized experiences in real-time. Infiniti helps businesses to measure the effectiveness of a marketing campaign in each of the customer segments, identify the most profitable segments of the customer, analyze changes in expectations of the customer, and also formulate value maximization strategies to improve their shares. Additionally, Infiniti helps companies to analyze their customers based on various variables at inbound and outbound stages like end-user behavior, usage scenarios, skill level, audience demography, price sensitivity, channel preference, and goals and outcomes.
Do you want to devise an effective customer segmentation strategy or want to gain more insights into our customer intelligence solutions?
