Behavior segmentation is a marketing method by which consumers are categorized based on buying habits. The purpose of this practice is to identify groups for targeted marketing such as promotions, special packages, and other incentive programs. It is one of five different phases of marketing segmentation, the others being demographic, psychographic, natural segment, and customization. Behavior segmentation is one of the early steps in the marketing process, where researchers determine the existing consumer base and which products it desires before moving into the production cyle.
Several patterns of consumer activity are examined in the process of performing behavior segmentation. A researcher may study sales figures to determine what a certain group buys and when, where, and how often they make purchases. The goal is to gather data solely based on the consumer’s actual relationship with the product.
As it is based on observation of activity, behavior segmentation can be one of the most straightforward methods of marketing analysis. Its purpose is to develop an understanding of a customer segment based on how it acts and reacts to a variety of factors involving the product to be sold. This is opposed to methods where consumer behavior is a starting point for determining beliefs, motives, and other factors that inspire a purchase.
Though the data collected from behavior segmentation can be useful on its own, it is more commonly used as the third phase of the five different types of marketing segmentation. A ranking scale arranges them between reactive and predictive behavior. The early phases are the most reactive and the phase further along the scale become more predictive. All together, the phases can give researchers both a big-picture and detailed view of a certain type of customer based on different kinds of observation and information gathering. Behavior segmentation tends to be the category that is the least likely to be affected by opinion or hearsay as it is based on actual data.
The five types of marketing segmentation have their own focuses: observation of groups forms the core of the demographic phase. The psychographic phase consists of data collected from consumers via surveys and interviews. Behavioral segmentation falls in the middle of the reactive to predictive scale. Then there is the natural segment phase, which relies on the customer to give input as to what is desirable in a particular product and how it applies to them. The final phase is customization, where a product is made to specific customer specifications.
