The Power of Segmenting Your Customers

Denmark’s TV 2 created “Alt Det Vi Deler,” or All That We Share, a commercial that celebrates the diversity of people in Denmark, and challenges the growing attitude of discrimination in Denmark and around the world.

Aside from the heart-warming message, the commercial is also a wonderful demonstration of what it means to segment people into different groups, and how much we all have in common, despite appearances to the contrary.

Most business owners have heard of customer segmentation, but few of us actually do it. However, the more you think about the different ways to categorize your customers, the more information you have to tailor your communications to their specific personalities, needs, and desires.

The following exercise is quick and easy, and a lot of fun. I’ve done this with many of my clients and they usually surprise themselves with the connections they see among their customers.

To get a feel for the power of segmenting, make a list of 20 of your customers. Write each of their names on an index card, lay them all out on a table, and play with putting them into groups.

For example, put all the men in one group and women in another.

Then, put the people age 0-25 in one group, 25-35 in another, 35-45 in a third group, and finally 45+ in their own group.

Next, try these two buckets: people who are friends outside of your work, and people who aren’t friends.

When you really want to have fun with this, think about what it would take to move a customer from one category to another. If it’s age, it would be a birthday. If it’s friendship, it might take inviting them to something not work-related, like a sporting event, concert, or dinner.

Finally, you get bonus points if you can connect customers within the same bucket to one another.