Customer Segmentation (Self and Otherwise)
Michael Fassnacht has a terrific article at AdAge describing the changing nature of customer segmentation. One of the big challenges when analyzing a market is understanding how certain customers will react to a product offering. Having written 12 significant business plans, for companies or projects that were funded, I can tell you that market forecasting is - at best - an inexact science. Even the best, most elaborate forecasts are usually just precisely imprecise - they are incorrect down to the last digit.
The good news is that companies, particularly consumer facing companies, do not have rely solely on traditional market research tactics for understanding their audience. More precisely, technology enables us to understand that consumers are often drifting in and out of "traditional" segments. It seems to me that the best market research shops don't just rely on pre-launch research. Instead, we'll increasingly see the line between research, advertising, and analytics blur to the point where every interaction, every touchpoint, between a company and its market can be analyzed so that shifts in behaviors and circumstances can be picked up very early in the cycle.
The good news is that companies, particularly consumer facing companies, do not have rely solely on traditional market research tactics for understanding their audience. More precisely, technology enables us to understand that consumers are often drifting in and out of "traditional" segments. It seems to me that the best market research shops don't just rely on pre-launch research. Instead, we'll increasingly see the line between research, advertising, and analytics blur to the point where every interaction, every touchpoint, between a company and its market can be analyzed so that shifts in behaviors and circumstances can be picked up very early in the cycle.
0 Responses to "Customer Segmentation (Self and Otherwise)"
Post a Comment