Segmentation: what makes consumers tick?

Pete Anderson

At a time when the importance of individual consumers and 'one-to-one' dialogue is increasingly recognised, why do so many companies still fail to practise segmentation or targeted communications? Reasons include a lack of clear understanding of what segmentation to do and how, complexity of the process, doubts about the various models, lack of databases and other data, difficulty of collecting consumer data at the right level of detail.

Segmentation: what makes consumers tick?

Pete Anderson

The nature of mass consumerism has changed dramatically in recent years and, in sync, the landscape of mass marketing and broadcast media has changed too – the identity and the 'voice' of the individual have become ever more prevalent, with the feeling that individuals can make big differences. Consumers have the power either to make or break a brand, through advocacy or criticism.

The problem is that, although the world has moved on, generalisations are still perpetuated, even in our industry, where recognition of the individual and the importance of 'one-to-one' dialogue are...

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