{"id":1873,"date":"2016-07-12T06:00:01","date_gmt":"2016-07-12T06:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ioipartners.vp77wsn4-liquidwebsites.com\/?p=1873"},"modified":"2016-07-11T22:00:30","modified_gmt":"2016-07-11T22:00:30","slug":"how-market-segmentation-and-analysis-can-make-or-break-your-launch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ioipartners.com\/articles\/how-market-segmentation-and-analysis-can-make-or-break-your-launch\/","title":{"rendered":"How Market Segmentation and Analysis Can Make or Break Your Launch"},"content":{"rendered":"

Market segmentation is a two-step marketing strategy that divides a broad target market into subsets of customers that have common needs, interests and priorities, and then designs and implements strategies and launch plans to target the customer segments that have been identified as desirable.<\/p>\n

\"How<\/a><\/div>\n
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Most companies recognize the value of market segmentation and analysis and are applying these strategies to their process. So why is it that so many product launches are not able to reach their performance goals? A 2011 study published in the Harvard Business Review<\/a> stated that 95 percent of all new products fail to meet performance goals. The study revealed a direct correlation to ineffective market segmentation mechanisms. It is a waste of time and money for a company to miss the target on something as important as market segmentation and analysis. So how can a company tell if their implementation and segmentation is effective prior to launching?<\/div>\n
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The Development of Discerning Segmentation Studies<\/h2>\n

An effective basis for segmentation allows for differentiation among segments. This differentiation is marked by variables that are established in the segmentation design. Depending on your distinct market, these variables may include but are not limited to things such as a 400 bed hospital versus a 200 bed hospital, urgent care versus doctors\u2019 offices, or users that consume defined throughput volumes of a specific item on an annual basis (e.g. low, medium and high volumes as defined by customer feedback collected in a voice of the customer study). In general, it is recommended to avoid the use of general differentiators such as age, gender and marital status because they are too broad in nature and will not allow for distinction among segments. Those types of general variables are better suited for higher level market studies conducted before a segmentation study is performed.<\/p>\n

When a segmentation study is designed with the right variables and implemented correctly, the results will reveal clusters of data that are divided into distinct groupings based on the variables used for the study. Everything downstream including the marketing strategy and launch plans are hinged on the data resulting from the study. If the data is not good, the marketing plan and launch plans will reflect this and hence contribute to a launch that is likely to fall short of performance expectations.<\/p>\n

Sometimes even a well-designed segmentation study reveals clusters of data that overlap and lead to an ambiguous result.\u00a0 In this case additional segmentation studies may be required.\u00a0 This is a pivotal moment in a segmentation study where successful companies tend to differentiate themselves from the masses in applying a patient and mature approach to ambiguous segmentation study findings.<\/p>\n

These market driven leaders recognize that additional segmentation studies may need to be conducted in order to gain clarification.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Contrarily, many companies tend to become unraveled when faced with unclear data that requires additional resources and time to sort out. They may start applying assumptions in order to move the project along to avoid further time and expenses. It is at this point that successful, market driven companies tend to pull out ahead of the competition and the majority of companies tend to begin to unravel.<\/p>\n

The Keys to Effective Implementation<\/h2>\n

Here are some key segmentation characteristics that a company must be able to clearly articulate in order to demonstrate an effective implementation of a market analysis and segmentation:<\/p>\n