Segment optimization. An empirical comparison

A cornerstone of marketing theory is that segmentation can play a crucial role in any marketing strategy.

Segment Optimization

An empirical comparison

Douglas L. MacLachlanUniversity of Washington Business School, United States.

Michael G. MulhernMulhern Consulting, United States.

INTRODUCTION

Market segmentation is a core element of any marketing strategy. Marketers can choose to pre-define the segments based on their experience and other factors and/or obtain consumer data (e.g., purchase behaviors, perceptions, preferences, lifestyles, etc.) and employ multivariate statistical procedures to extract segments from the data. The first approach, a-priori segmentation, is typically geography, product and/or industry focused. The latter approach, post-hoc segmentation, is a consumer-oriented approach more in line with the marketing concept. Post-hoc segmentation requires...

Not a subscriber?

Schedule your live demo with our team today

WARC helps you to plan, create and deliver more effective marketing

  • Prove your case and back-up your idea

  • Get expert guidance on strategic challenges

  • Tackle current and emerging marketing themes

We’re long-term subscribers to WARC and it’s a tool we use extensively. We use it to source case studies and best practice for the purposes of internal training, as well as for putting persuasive cases to clients. In compiling a recent case for long-term, sustained investment in brand, we were able to support key marketing principles with numerous case studies sourced from WARC. It helped bring what could have been a relatively dry deck to life with recognisable brand successes from across a broad number of categories. It’s incredibly efficient to have such a wealth of insight in one place.

Insights Team
Bray Leino

You’re in good company

We work with 80% of Forbes' most valuable brands* and 80% of the world's top top-of-the-class agencies.

* Top 10 brands