April 2025 | Market Segmentation

4 Ways To Rescue Your Segmentation

It’s an unfortunate fact that sometimes segmentation results are put away and forgotten. Regardless of the time, money, and effort put into the creation of the segments, reasons for not integrating the new information into company culture are varied and can include:

• New segments are not aligned with the company’s current grouping
• Difficulty convincing company leaders to adopt new segments
• New segments do not elicit excitement within the company
• Too many segments, which can overwhelm stakeholders
• Too few segments for meaningful targeting
• Segment personas are not clear
• Unsure of which segments have the greatest potential for company gains
• Unsure how to bring the segments to life
• Lacking trust in the sampling or data

Whatever the reason, don’t let your segmentation go to waste. Here are four options which can be utilized to rescue a failing segmentation.

1. Dive Deeper
   Some segmentations can be revived by diving deeper. When the main issues revolve around having too many segments, feeling overwhelmed, being unsure of which segments to focus on, and/or needing more clarity on who the segments are, diving deeper with additional analyses can reveal the answers. A Segment Potential Index can be developed that uses metrics important to the company in identifying the top segments to focus on. This type of index can be created using variables such as category spend, category incidence, tech savviness, likelihood to purchase or consider, and even personality attributes of the segments. Key Driver analysis can help identify important messaging, product features, needs, benefits, or pain points for each segment. This is helpful to know for positioning and marketing. In-depth interviews can help drill down to understand the personality of the segment in greater detail.
2. Realign, Rename, & Re-report
   In situations where the issues include a disconnect between the new segments and company culture or a lack of excitement, realigning, renaming, and re-reporting could be the answer to reigniting a stale segmentation. Realigning gets key stakeholders on the same page to determine what the segmentation will be used for, to understand pre-existing intuitive groupings in the company, and to figure out in what areas the segmentation is lacking. Then, these ideas and existing frameworks can be used to guide the re-naming and re-reporting of the segments.
3. Activate
   When segmentations sit on a shelf due to a lack of excitement or difficulty in getting leaders to adopt the segments, in-person activation workshops are just the tools to turn it around. Activation workshops not only educate leadership about the segments - they also create a sense of excitement around them. One of the most important reasons for conducting an activation workshop is to brainstorm how to realistically implement the new segments in each corner of the organization. Typically, leaders walk away with solid ideas about their next steps.
4. Rerun the Segmentation
   On rare occasions, more substantive steps need to be taken. In cases where the data isn’t believed, or there is a lack of confidence in the segments or the sample used to analyze the segments, a rerun of the segmentation may be necessary. One option is to rethink the sample, selecting from the existing data only those respondents who typify the market, and rerun the segmentation analysis using those respondents. If the sampling is not the issue but the segments are, another option is to rerun the analysis on existing data using different inputs and/or different segmentation methods. Proper alignment with stakeholders is needed to ensure an outcome everyone can be happy with.

Conclusion

When segmentations lose their luster (or were not lustrous in the first place), there are options to reinvigorate them. Between diving deeper, realigning/renaming/re-reporting, activating, rerunning, or a combination of these, a stale segmentation can become useful again. Don’t let your segmentation sit on a shelf, rescue it!

Jerry W. Thomas

CEO

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Bonnie Janzen

President

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Felicia Rogers

Corporate Executive Vice President

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Elizabeth Horn, Ph.D.

SVP, Advanced Analytics

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Clay Dethloff

SVP, Qualitative Research & Innovation

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