Behavioristic segmentation

Another way to segment a market is to classify customers on the basis of their knowledge of, attitude toward, use of, or response to products or product characteristics. This approach is known as behavioristic segmentation. Imagine that you are in the hotel business. You might classify potential customers according to when and why they stay in hotels, making a distinction between business travelers and vacationers. You could then tailor your services and promotion for one group or the other. The business traveler might be attracted by ads in The Wall Street Journal, and the tourist might respond to ads in People magazine.

You could also think in terms of the benefits your customers might seek. Some travelers, for example, might be interested in price, others in status, service, location, or dependability. You could gear your hotel marketing plan to appeal to each group. Holiday Inns has recently adopted this approach: It I now has budget-priced facilities called Hampton Inns, a high-priced urban hotel called Holiday Crown Plaza, casino hotels called Harrah's, and two suites-only products, Embassy Suites and Residence Inns.

Measurement of the extent to which a product is used provides another behavioristic approach to segmenting both consumer and industrial mar­kets. With this approach, a company divides its market into nonusers, former users, potential users, occasional users, and frequent users. The hotel giant Marriott is using this approach on a $16 million bonus promotion for fre­quent guests. A variation on this approach is to classify potential customers according to whether they use your product or your competitor's product. This enables you to develop a marketing approach aimed at your competi­tor's possible weaknesses. Pepsi, for example, has used the "taste challenge" in ads against Coke.

In industrial markets, another behavioristic basis for segmentation is urgency of order fulfillment. Some customers might have regular, predict­able purchasing needs; others might need a product less often but more ur­gently. One supplier of heavy-duty pipe-fittings, for example, specializes in fast-order replacements. Because its customers need special fittings "right now," this company can charge a premium. But in the market for routine replacement fittings, this company has no competitive advantage.

Behavioristic segmentation – categorization of customers according to their relationship with products or response to product characteristics.

Psychographic segmentation

Psychographics is a relatively new specialty that characterizes consumers in terms of psychological makeup - their social roles, activities, attitudes, in­terests, opinions, and lifestyle. Psychographic analysis is particularly useful in marketing because it focuses on why people behave the way they do. In segmenting a market psychographically, you would examine a person's brand preferences, favorite radio and TV programs, reading habits, values, and self-concept.

Perhaps the best-known psychographic study was performed by SRI In­ternational, a marketing research firm whose Values and Lifestyle program categorizes each consumer as one of nine types: survivor, sustainer, belonger, emulator, achiever, I-am-me, experiential, societally conscious, or inte­grated. The "belongers," for example, are a conservative group. According to SRI International, they are "people who want to fit in and not stand out. They're church-and-family oriented." To reach this group, SRI International suggests, you emphasize "brand — brand recognition, brand name. You say you've been around a long time. Features are important to belongers, but they're secondary to brand." Another way to reach belongers is to stress the idea that other people like the product. A typical ad directed to belongers might feature a homemaker doing something nice for her family. The " Jell-O is fun" campaign is a good example.

In industrial markets, which are generally composed of a limited num­ber of buyers, psychographic principles may be used to develop marketing approaches geared to specific types of purchasing agents. For example, some purchasing agents are risk averse - they are reluctant to try new products or take chances on a new vendor. Others are very thorough in their approach to buying; they shop around and compare prices. Still others rely on old friends or past relationships in making purchasing decisions.

Psychographics - classifica­tion of customers on the basis of their psychological makeup