{"id":76080,"date":"2022-08-13T15:48:00","date_gmt":"2022-08-13T19:48:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=76080"},"modified":"2026-01-23T15:24:23","modified_gmt":"2026-01-23T19:24:23","slug":"customer-segmentation-analysis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/customer-segmentation-analysis\/","title":{"rendered":"Customer Segmentation Analysis: 3 Steps to Proper Positioning"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Who’s most likely to buy your product? How can you figure that out?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To help you position any product well, April Dunford provides a 12-step process. Step 7 is to pinpoint customer segments most likely to buy your product.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read more to learn about Dunford’s three-step process of customer segmentation analysis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Customer Segmentation Analysis<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Once you have a good understanding of the value that your product delivers versus other alternatives, determine which customer segments care most about that value<\/strong>, advises Dunford. You\u2019ll want to target these segments simply because they\u2019ll be the easiest to sell to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Shortform note: This step, pinpointing the customer segments most likely to buy your product, may seem similar to Step 1, identifying your most eager customers. We might consider that Step 1 is a general and high-level reflection<\/em> on what certain people like about your product that kicks off your positioning effort. Step 7, then, is a detailed inquiry into precisely<\/em> who these groups are.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Customer segmentation analysis involves these steps, writes Dunford:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. Think about what makes some groups more excited about your product than others. <\/strong>For instance, people most interested in your vacuum cleaner might be employees who work from home and care particularly about having a clean living space. (Shortform note: This step might require you to find out what makes other groups unexcited <\/em>about your product, which can be painful. Whenever you receive criticism<\/a> of your product, determine if that criticism is justified<\/a> (and not simply a malicious attack) and then try being grateful you received it\u2014this gives you the opportunity to improve your product.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. Consider how to identify<\/em> these groups.<\/strong> You might identify them based on the brands they buy, the media they consume, or the jobs they hold. For example, you might identify your target group of work-from-home employees by the type of job they have: skilled knowledge roles. (Shortform note: Marketers often take this identification step even farther by creating customer personas\u2014fictional characters with certain buying behaviors<\/a>. While doing this isn\u2019t necessarily helpful in the context of positioning, it can later help your marketing team craft content and messaging that better appeals to a persona based on how they buy and the advertising they pay attention to.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. Make this group as specific and narrow as possible at this stage and then expand later if necessary.<\/strong> Remember that your positioning will evolve over time, so you can change your target group if needed later. For now, you might target only work-from-home executives at tech start-ups and then later expand to include work-from-home executives at any company. (Shortform note: In New Sales. Simplified<\/em><\/a>., <\/em>Mike Weinberg agrees that you must narrow your target segment as much as possible and provides a specific reason for doing so: It allows you to fully understand<\/em> a particular segment<\/a>\u2014work-from-home executives in this case\u2014so you can better market to them and establish yourself as credible in their eyes.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Who’s most likely to buy your product? How can you figure that out? To help you position any product well, April Dunford provides a 12-step process. Step 7 is to pinpoint customer segments most likely to buy your product. Read more to learn about Dunford’s three-step process of customer segmentation analysis.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":76083,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[45,104,103],"tags":[720],"class_list":["post-76080","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","category-marketing","category-sales","tag-obviously-awesome","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"\nCustomer Segmentation Analysis: 3 Steps to Proper Positioning - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Who's most likely to buy your product? 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