A practical solution to the process of segmenting the market necessarily requires the management of a purchasing behavior variable that serves as a criterion to distinguish differences between groups of customers.
Market segmentation is the process of identifying and analyzing groups of buyers with similar purchase responses, which can be better served to the extent that what is offered responds to their characteristics.
A market segment is a group of customers with some characteristics in common that are relevant to understand, predict and modify their response to the marketing stimulus presented by a supplier.
Your 'answer' must be related to your buying behavior. The 'commonalities' may be related to your geographic location, shopping habits, demographics or lifestyle. The 'stimulus' is made up of the so-called supplier marketing mix.
The starting point is the identification of a 'buying behavior response' from customers. In Marketing terms, this response constitutes what you want to understand, predict and even more, modify in favor of the company to increase its market share.
The 'behavioral response' par excellence is the purchase, understood as a decision-making process as much as the act of purchasing a product or service. With this perspective, at least two customer segments, buyers and non-buyers, or more than two should be identified, distinguishing buyers with different degrees of intensity according to the frequency with which they do so, the amount they purchase, etc.
It is worth considering as a 'behavioral response' also what happens before, during and after the purchase. Some of them may not be observable behaviors, but they are a response to stimuli that a provider presents to customers.
Before the purchase it is necessary to give the knowledge and the brand preference, as well as the intention to buy. Satisfaction, repetition, and brand loyalty can come after the purchase. The segments to be identified would be knowledgeable versus non-knowledgeable, satisfied versus dissatisfied, loyal versus non-loyal, etc.
In addition to these responses to supplier stimuli, buyers vary in terms of other aspects as well. One of them that conditions your purchase response refers to the needs and desires you seek to satisfy. That is, the benefit sought, or the answer to the question Why buy something?
Also, in a more particular way, consumers or customers could be distinguished on the basis of the attributes sought and recognized between different brands of products and services. Others have to do with what happens during and after your purchase process, translated into purchasing and consumption habits. For example, the customary brand should be an excellent criterion for distinguishing customer segments.
The most important thing is to take as a reference a buying behavior response that is similar for a group of buyers and that can be modified in favor of the company through Marketing efforts aimed precisely at that segment. It should not be forgotten that the company's objective is always established in relation to the purchasing behavior response and not in relation to the profile of its customers.
Secondly, it must be sought to understand how many and who are the buyers of the different segments that have been identified. That is, they are interested in their size, related to their potential and profitability, and their profile, related to how to precisely direct Marketing efforts towards them.
It is expected that just as the purchasing behavior responses will be different for each segment, so is their profile. In other words, buyers with similar response patterns are expected to share similar geographic characteristics, demographics, shopping habits, and / or lifestyles that are different from other segments.
In essence, it is about answering a question that, in general terms, is posed in this way, what are the characteristics that make the behavioral response of each of the groups formed different?
Characteristics are sought that at the same time serve the company to evaluate the importance of each group, select those that are attractive, design a marketing mix for their attention and serve them in a differentiated way by accessing them in a real way.
Traditionally, demographic variables have been the ones that best describe the profile differences between segments and the ones that most easily allow directing Marketing efforts towards the customers that you want to serve with precision. But today companies need to describe a more complete profile of the clients they want to serve.
There is no guarantee that the profiles of the segments are significantly different, especially in the case of lifestyle variables. It is a real fact that in practice it is not always possible to find differences in geographic location, shopping habits, demographics or lifestyle for the different segments. For example, there may be no profile differences between buyers and non-buyers of a type of product or service; or between clients who seek the economy of a product as a benefit, as opposed to its quality; the same as among clients who value an attribute such as personalized attention, as opposed to others such as a guarantee, a variety of options, etc.
Still, the segmentation task is useful if it allows you to at least identify the potential size of each segment. In the cases of segmentation by needs or by attributes sought, if it is not possible to know what profile each segment has, at least it is known which sales arguments should be used with those whose size makes them attractive.
The market segmentation process can be done in either of two directions. Start by finding differences in a purchase response and then identify different profiles of buyers; or identify different profiles of buyers and then analyze if each segment shows a different buying behavior response.
In practice, the first of these two paths turns out to be more efficient, so the recommended work sequence is:
1- Form groups of customers that show a response of similar buying behavior.
2- Describe the groups formed according to their profile, using characteristics that show how different the groups are and how actionable.
3- Determine the degree to which each segment can be attractive to the company.
4- Determine the profitability of the segments considered attractive.
5- Based on the unique characteristics of each chosen segment, develop a 'value proposition' to serve it (differentiation, positioning).
6- Translate the combined segmentation, differentiation and positioning strategy into a mix of operational Marketing variables: product, price, place and promotion.
It should not be forgotten that the company's objective is always established in relation to the purchasing behavior response and not in relation to the profile of its customers.
