The first and most immediate approach we can pursue in segmenting a firm’s audience starts with creating groups of users which are defined by descriptive criteria such as:

• Geographical location. According to their area of residence, customers share particular characteristics, which are a reflection of the cultural and geographical area of residence. This segmentation starts from the fundamental assumption that individual behaviour and purchase preferences are influenced by factors (such as climate and culture) which can be segmented according to their geographical location.
  
  
• Socio-demographic. This criterion divides consumers on the grounds of elements such as income, age, gender, family status and life cycle stage. These factors require companies to match their product lines to particular price-points and product uses in order to become appealing to a specific customer segment.
  
  
• Age. Age is a very important element to create customer segments. Age relates specifically to the events which took place in the formative years of a generation. At the moment, we tend to identify the following age groups: pre-teens, millennials, generation X, baby boomers, new seniors. This latter category is fairly new and relates to the increase in life expectancy.

Alternatively, segmentation can decide not to focus specifically on the individual as a person, as much as an individual as a consumer. In this case, we need to understand elements which are more behavioural. In other words, we need to clarify not who he\she is, as much as what makes his purchase. This typology of segmentation is much harder to carry out, as we need to understand behavioural patterns and relationships of causality.

Behavioural segments instead relate to:

• User status. Users can be classified into non-users, potential users, habitual users, former users. In order to ‘speak’ to each, a company needs to use a different communicative approach. It can be noted that when we use the expression ‘disruptive innovation’ we refer to technological breakthroughs which are able to transform non-users into users, because of the lower price point that technological innovations are able to bring to the market.
  
  
• Occasions of use.  This segmentation criterion relates to the context in which customers may buy a particular product or service because of a specific circumstance or in a particular situation or context. Some brands may decide to focus their marketing campaigns on connecting their products to a particular use rather than a set of unique product qualities.
   
• Brand loyalty.  A loyal customer is someone will have grown a strong emotional attachment to the brand and will, therefore, become a returning customer by purchasing multiple times. A loyal customer has a very high lifetime value and brands need to make sure they retain this category of consumers as they are very profitable.

Understanding behaviour is an essential component to deliver an effective branding experience. This approach is also encouraged by Jobs to Be Done Theory and will be discussed in the next section of this post.

Finally, the last category of segmentation criteria is called psychographic segmentation. This segmentation relates to how a purchase decision is a reflection of an inner concept of self. According to how a customer reacts to change and innovation we can create the following categories:

• Innovators. This category of users will be very responsive to innovation and change. They will be the first to buy, to stay ahead of the curve and influence later consumers by providing feedback and reviews.
  
  
• Early adopters. This category of buyers will be the first to follow a trend as soon as it takes shape. These adapters will influence a product’s success the most as they will be the pathway to major adoption. This category of users can also be identified with the term ‘lead user’  to indicate those individuals who might fully appreciate the impact of a new product category. Firms often want to tap into lead users’ expectations and feedback to gain insights into how products can be developed.
  
  
• Late majority. The late majority of the target market is comprised of those individuals who will follow a trend as soon as it becomes sufficiently influential. With this category of users, a product reaches its peak of profitability but also starts its decline stage.
  
  
• Leggards. These users will adopt a product only because it will have become so widespread that is availability will influence their decision-making process.

An additional psychographic segmentation can respond to a customer’s ability to spend, according to the following characteristics:

• Affluent customers. Have enough resources to consider pricing just one of the variables that inform their purchase decision process. These customers, on the other hand, tend to be very considerate of their own time, so the quality of customer service is extremely important.
  
  
• Value-oriented customers. This category of customers tends to maximise the benefits of their purchase while maintaining a lower cost threshold. These customers will respond well to promotions and sales or another time-sensitive marketing strategy to ignite their desire to strike a bargain. 
  
  
• Fashion victims. In this case, customers spend money, regardless of what they can really afford. These customers consider fashion products as an expression of their own personality, so they will be often over-driven by their emotions, rather than any degree of rational thinking.

Because of the increasing relevance of consumer behaviour, a new strand in marketing research was developed to focus on the relationship of causality that pushes the consumer to buy products and services. This approach is called “Jobs to Be Done”, and will be discussed in the following section of this post.