Updated Q3 2010: The Consumer Product Strategist's Guide To Segmentation Analysis

Early last year, we introduced consumer product strategy (CPS) pros to the power of segmentation analysis. We found that designing new products, innovating existing products, and messaging their value proposition was made easier with audience-specific insights from segmentation analysis. In the past 18 months, nothing has changed: Segmentation analysis remains a critical product strategy tool. But, it is the hardest task in market research and the most important research that CPS pros will conduct. Segmentation means not treating consumers as a single market with identical needs, desires, and motives but identifying groups of like-minded users and ranking them in terms of their attractiveness as targets for a product or service. CPS pros shouldn't blindly outsource segmentation projects to the market research team but should get deeply involved themselves: Understand how studies are conducted, tailor segmentation models to product-related concerns, and use product life cycles to guide the types of research used. After investing time and money in helping create the right segmentation model, CPS pros should make segmentation an everyday part of how they do their jobs.