Behavioral segmentation: what it is, how it works, types and advantages

behavioral segmentation

Have you ever heard of behavioral segmentation? This term has a lot to do with market research for clients, and for your eCommerce it can be a very useful tool if you know how to use it.

But what is behavioral segmentation? How is it done? What is it for? Below we focus on this tool to explain it to you so that you do not have a problem with it.

What is behavioral segmentation

The concept of behavioral segmentation can be explained as the division of the customer database by cataloging them into different categories.

In other words, It is an organization of clients based on different criteria. In this way, instead of having a large customer base, there would be several smaller ones where customers are grouped together because they have something in common with each other.

For example, imagine you have a database of 1000 customers. But only 150 of them have purchased in the last 15 days. A segmentation could be dividing only those 150 to establish a marketing strategy; and for the rest a different one to reactivate them).

What is behavioral segmentation for?

marketing strategy creation

With the clearest concept, especially that last one, It is possible that now you can intuit the use that is given to this tool. And the objective is to help the marketing department understand the behavior of customers.

And because? Because this way they can establish a series of marketing strategies with which to obtain better results.

For example, imagine that you have a customer base from all over Spain. However, of those, 10 are in your city and could come see your physical store. A specific marketing strategy for these people would be to offer them a discount, or a detail, if they stop by the store and present that email or voucher that you gave them.

Types of behavioral segmentation

planning

The division of customers is not universal, i.e. there is not just one parameter to divide them, but there are several types that help you classify them based on different parameters.

These are:

Purchases

Behavioral segmentation is based on researching and analyzing customer purchases to obtain information about loyalty, preferences, how they buy, etc.

In this way, strategies related to clients, preferences or needs can be established (offers, discounts...).

Within this, many subgroups can be made because different strategies can be offered depending on when they purchased, products that may interest them, etc.

Use

By use you should understand that it refers to how a service or product that is sold is used. It is perhaps one of the most complicated segmentations that you can carry out because it requires feedback and not all clients are open to it.

Attitude

Another way to classify customers is with respect to the attitude they have about products and/or services.

We give you an example: imagine that in a supermarket they give you two types of yogurt. One with many calories, sugar... and another light, healthy. The difference between them is not only in the ingredients, but also in the price.

In this way, customers can see it and react in one way to the prices, in another way to what both products contain... And thus analyze that type of behavior.

Lifestyle

Finally, another segmentation that can be done is by the lifestyle that that person leads. That is, how he behaves, what activities he does, what his daily life is like, etc.

This is very useful, for example, for sports stores, outdoor activities (because you focus on that ideal client), diet (to change lifestyle)…

Advantages and disadvantages of behavioral segmentation

marketing strategy

With clearer ideas, we can say that behavioral segmentation is always a good thing because it helps you delve deeper into your customer analysis and get to know them better.

Now, You must also keep in mind that not everything is 100% good.. There are always aspects that can be improved.

In the case of behavioral segmentation there are good things and bad things. And that is what we are going to tell you about below.

Advantages of behavioral segmentation

Among the advantages that you can get by applying this tool are:

  • The possibility of identifying different segments or groups of customers and establish marketing strategies focused on them alone, so that you can personalize and adapt them to obtain a much higher result than if they were more general.
  • Greater customer service. Not in the sense of offering them more, but on the contrary, by knowing them more, you can focus your attention efforts on what you know they will appreciate or demand.
  • Get information about how customers behave. In this way, loyalty, or customer experience, helps you improve your strategies to attract them more easily (or to retain them).

Disadvantages of behavioral segmentation

As we told you, in addition to the "good things", there were also others that were not so good. In this case, the main ones would be:

  • Violation of customer privacy. And, in order to carry out behavioral segmentation, it is necessary to collect and analyze personal data. And for this, the client must have given permission for it. If not, keep in mind that you may be getting into trouble.
  • Damage to the company's reputation. Imagine that your customers have given you information, you have analyzed it, and now you sell that information to others. Or you use it in a wrong way (for example, making some data public, not maintaining security in that data and getting hacked...). Well, all of this can harm your reputation in a negative way.
  • Time and money. Because this tool is not cheap at all; quite the opposite. And it's not quick to do. The collection of data, the analysis and the final report with the conclusions requires time and in the meantime you will have to give money that you never know if you will get back.

Is behavioral segmentation clearer to you now?


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