Inform Product Development Strategy with Customer Segmentation

A tech marketplace client asked us:

What are our customers' foundational needs and drivers, and what segments of customers should we prioritize for future growth?

With over 15 years in business, our client had already conducted some limited research on its customer base. However, as they started to plan for the future, they recognized the need to gain a foundational understanding of their current customers to inform their product development strategies.

Understanding customer segments and needs is crucial for any business looking to optimize its offerings and better serve its audience. 

For a tech marketplace, it’s essential to understand what drives customer engagement and purchasing decisions and how different segments of customers perceive the brand versus competitors. These insights allow for targeted marketing, product enhancements, and overall growth strategy alignment.

Our client partnered with us to conduct a large-scale quantitative research study to:

• Identify distinct segments of customers to inform targeting and marketing strategies
• Understand if there is a relationship between customers’ current levels of engagement and their product preferences
• Gain broad insights into user-wide behaviors, usage, and purchasing habits

We answered: 

To provide a robust and comprehensive view of their customer base, we proposed an online quantitative survey targeting a wide sample of 15,000 respondents from the client's existing customer base. The survey was designed to cover critical areas including: 

• category engagement
• product usage
• purchasing habits
• needs and drivers
• perceptions of the client’s brand vs. competitors

By leveraging cluster analysis techniques, we identified five distinct customer segments based on their attitudes toward usage and purchasing within the category. This segmentation helped our client understand unique groups of customers and their needs, preferences, and potential value to the brand.

Outcome: 

The research program revealed substantial insights to inform our client's future growth strategies, ultimately allowing them to:

• Prioritize segments with the most potential for targeted marketing and personalized communication strategies.
• Identify gaps in their marketplace offerings compared to competitors and explore potential enhancements.
• Develop a roadmap to improve customer retention and loyalty by addressing specific needs and desires highlighted by the research.

Our research team presented the findings to a large and engaged audience of stakeholders representing a variety of organizational roles, including C-level executives, business development, marketing, design, and UX research.

“AnswerLab’s Quant Research Team took on an ambiguous task and a giant data set and turned it into something very actionable for us. They delivered an exceptionally robust and detailed report with clear insights and findings. Our teams will be using this for a long time.”

Moving forward, the client now has a robust and data-driven foundation to make strategic decisions about where to focus their growth efforts. They are better equipped to target the right customer segments, refine their product offerings, and enhance their competitive position in the market.

Learn more about how we turn user insights into strategic growth outcomes that drive product success.