Audience & Market Segmentation

Norstat specialises in high-quality data collection for audience segmentation. Our quantitative and qualitative research methods ensure reliable data gathering about any desired topic or target group, helping you identify and understand different audience segments, optimise marketing strategy and ensure campaigns target the right people.

Why is audience segmentation important?

Who are your most targetable customers? How do they behave? And how should they be reached? These are the core questions that audience and market segmentation can answer.

“A rational and more precise adjustment of product and marketing effort to consumer or user requirements, it consists of viewing a heterogeneous market (one characterised by divergent demand) as a number of smaller homogeneous markets.“

Wendell Smith, Father of Market Segmentation.

The more straightforward definition is simply a comprehensive view of a market, separated by segments where they are the same within, but different without. We are experts at providing data for consumer, audience and shopper segmentation, using our in-house proprietary consumer panel to provide high-quality data. Additionally, our full-service team can design and script surveys so your segmentation fits your needs and delivers on growth. A needs & attitudinal-based segmentation is often recommended for a sustainable, long-lasting solution.

By segmenting your audience, you can:

• Improve targeting: Reach the right audience with the right message, increasing the relevance of your marketing.
• Enhance personalisation: Tailor your communications to different segments, boosting engagement and loyalty.
• Increase ROI: Focus your resources on the most profitable segments, maximising your return on investment.
• Optimise product development: Understand the needs and preferences of different segments to develop products that meet their specific requirements.
• Refine marketing strategies: Gain insights that help you refine your overall marketing strategies and improve campaign performance.

A company can use customer segmentation as the principal basis for allocating resources to product development, marketing, service and delivery programs (Bain).

Adding segmentation to your research

We provide high-quality data collection via our panel, which now has over 4 million respondents across 19 European countries. Using profiling and survey questions, we can gather additional data on:

• Demographics: Age, gender, social grade, region, etc.
• Behavioural & personality traits: e.g., extrovert/introvert, leader/follower, interests, activity, influence.
• Brand awareness, brand/market perceptions: Gauge brand and competitor health and brand knowledge.
• Brand interaction: Assess spend, frequency of purchase, product usage & brand connection.
• Need state: What do individuals require from a product/brand/service, how can they be retained/acquired.
• Communications: How to bridge the gap, preferred communication channels, content, what influences.

Appending attitudinal and other data to your survey enables you to create highly targeted and robust market segmentation. We will always recommend an optimal sample size to ensure reliable research.

Data quality for audience segmentation

You can apply sophisticated statistical models to create segmentations for marketing. However, unless the data is of high quality, it may not reflect true consumer behaviour, reducing the effectiveness of your segmentation.

Fortunately, Norstat has a rigorous approach to data quality, and recruitment to the panel is by invitation only, ensuring you only get real data from real people. We always apply screeners to match target demographics, offer consistent survey administration to avoid bias, and enable strict data validation to maintain integrity. Our clients back up our claims for panel quality, scoring us:

• 5.1/6 for panel quality
• 5.3/6 on the ability to deliver
• 5.3/6 on client satisfaction
• 49 net promoter score

Considerations for audience segmentation analysis

After Norstat completes fieldwork, you will be able to utilise a mixture of algorithms to find the best solution for your data. For example, you may want to use a different approach for an FMCG product compared to a client selling high-value goods. Consumers have a different mindset when making these purchase decisions therefore, it’s necessary to capture behavioural differences in segmentation to provide the most insightful models.

To get the most out of your segmentation, you should aim to ensure that each segment is distinctive and recognisable (i.e. straightforward to slot any customer or potential customer into one of the segments), durable (i.e. won’t be outdated in a couple of years), appropriately sized (i.e. too many segments would be impractical from a marketing perspective, while too few suggest further refinement might be required), and actionable (i.e. it makes sense from a marketing and sales perspective).

Data delivery tailored for audience segmentation

Like all aspects of our audience segmentation solution, deliverables are entirely tailored to your needs. Basic outputs include raw data or data tables, but clients can also opt for bespoke automated reporting solutions, such as Norstat Dashboards.

Future-proofing

Additionally, it is possible to generate a subset of questions (“golden questions”, typically 8-10) for your future research. This enables you to append the segmentation to new interviews, allowing the segmentation to continue providing insight and driving key business decisions beyond the initial research.