Why segmentations sit on a shelf
A segmentation only works once the organisation understands it, agrees on it and acts on it. The research is the easy part.
3rd December 2023
Only 14% of audience segmentations contribute value, according to research referenced in the Economist.
In our experience the failure is rarely in the research. The segments are real, the deck lands, the board nods. Then nothing changes, because the organisation never took it in. Agencies, us included, are paid for the research. What happens next belongs to the client, and that's where a segmentation lives or dies.
Three things have to happen for it to stick: Understanding, Aligning and Acting.
Understanding. Be clear about two audiences. NOW is the people you serve well today. NEXT is the people who'll fuel your growth. Don't leave them as personas on a slide: go to their events, sit behind the glass at their focus groups. Then write them down plainly enough that someone in their first week can use them.
Aligning. The leadership team tells the same story about NOW and NEXT, every time. Mixed messages from the top undo a strategy. Refer to the two audiences in meetings and documents until nobody thinks they're this year's initiative. If the leaders can't tell the story the same way, train them until they can.
Acting. Decide what NOW and NEXT each need across product, price, place, promotion and partnerships. Then go below strategy to the daily tactics, because that's where a strategy is either used or ignored. Put NOW and NEXT into the reports people actually read, so the audiences that aren't priorities stop pulling attention. Review it regularly and change course when it isn't working.
Each stage has a simple test. Understanding: can a new hire describe NOW and NEXT? Aligning: do three of your leaders describe them the same way? Acting: did a decision last month go differently because of them? A segmentation that fails any of the three is on its way to the shelf.
What to do on Monday
- Ask five people outside the insight team to describe your NOW and NEXT audiences. Compare the answers.
- Write a one-page description of each that a new starter could use on their first day.
- Pick one report that gets read every week and add a line on how each audience did.
- Put a date in the diary to review all three stages.
Related service: Now+Next