Operational Segmentation is the ongoing use of customer insights to transform business goals into
marketing activities.
The Operational Segmentation methodology allows marketing managers to transform business goals
into optimal marketing activities. Using segmentation, a business user can better understand the
customer base and match the enterprise's offerings according to customer needs and preferences.
Based on real accumulated customer data instead of perceptions or intuition, the Operational
Segmentation paradigm involves four major steps:
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Population Selection
- the business user may choose a subset of the customer base, which is
relevant for the business goal. For example, if a mobile carrier's goal is to increase video-streaming
consumption, then it is better to focus on 3G customers, as previous generation handsets do not
support video streaming.
-
Segmentation
- the population is sliced into multiple, non exclusive segments. Each segment
represents a set of customers with a shared pattern of behavior. Segments should be actionable and
intuitive, so they can be easily targeted and approached.
-
Go-To-Market
- resulting segments are analyzed and monitored on a daily basis. A decision support
system allows the marketing manager to decide on marketing activities per segment, according to
segment characteristics and the business goal. These decisions include new campaign launch,
product fine-tuning and updates to CRM systems (for example, to provide segment-specific inputs to
call center representatives).
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Performance Measurement
- by gathering market data, the business user can study the results of
the Go-To-Market activities. He can then update and reshape the segment and the activities chosen,
according to his goals and preferences.