B2B Customer Segmentation: 4 Key Data Points to Get You Started
B2B customer segmentation is a crucial aspect for any business whose primary customer is other companies and organizations. Customer segmentation helps companies put their customers at the center of their business.
How? Through this practice, the company can better understand the problems and needs of different customer segments so it can better meet each segment’s unique demands. With customer segmentation, marketing and sales teams can create more effective campaigns, improve their customers' experience, and grow in their respective markets.
With this article, you'll get a clear overview of how to segment your customers, what strategies are most effective, and what data you can use to optimize your B2B customer segmentation.
B2B customer segmentation refers to the process of dividing customers for B2B (business-to-business) companies into different groups or categories according to common elements that distinguish them.
Simple B2B customer segmentation requires the collection and analysis of customer demographics, behavior, needs, and preferences. Through the use of this information, customer groups can be identified that will become specific segments.
B2B companies need customer segmentation for several reasons:
There are several strategies that companies can follow to have successful B2B customer segmentation. Some of these are:
Before starting the customer segmentation process, it is important to identify what you hope to achieve through customer segmentation and how it can help the company. For example, the goal may be to increase sales in a particular market segment or to improve customer loyalty.
To create accurate and reliable segments, it is important to collect customer data from a variety of sources and use a variety of methods. This can include the use of:
The criteria to be used to segment customers depend on the specific goals and objectives as well as the characteristics of the customer base. It is important to choose criteria that are relevant, meaningful, and actionable. Some common criteria include:
Once initial customer segments have been created, it is important to test and refine them to ensure they are accurate and effective. This may involve:
Once customer segments have been identified and defined, it is important to use this information to guide marketing and sales activities. This can include:
B2B customer segmentation is usually based on 4 factors: firmographic segmentation, behavioral segmentation, technographic segmentation, and needs-based segmentation. Though there are other ways or other combinations of data that can be used for B2B customer segmentation, ere we’ll focus on these 4 main data categories that each enable a different kind of customer segmentation:
Firmographic segmentation divides the market based on company variables such as company size, industry sector, turnover, number of employees, and geographic location. The advantage of this segmentation concerns ease of data retrieval and direct segmentation.
Firm Size: Number of employees, annual sales.
Industry Sector: Manufacturing, technology, health care, financial services.
Geographic Location: Country, region, city.
Business Structure: Type of company (private, public, startup).
Life Cycle Stage: Startup, established companies.
Behavioral segmentation divides the market based on customer behavior, such as buying habits, brand loyalty, frequency of product use, and benefits sought. This type of segmentation allows you to target specific customer actions and improve the customer experience.
Buying Habits: Customers who purchase frequently, occasionally, or seasonally.
Brand Loyalty: Loyal customers, customers who switch between brands.
Frequency of Product Use: Intensive users, occasional users.
Benefits Sought: Customers looking for quality, affordable price, convenience, or innovation.
Technographic segmentation divides the market based on the technologies used by customers, such as hardware, software, platforms, and IT infrastructure. This type of segmentation helps to understand customers' technology needs and provide more suitable solutions.
Type of Hardware: Use of PCs, Macs, mobile devices.
Software Used: Operating systems, specific applications.
Platforms: Use of cloud platforms, on-premises.
IT Infrastructure: Level of adoption of technologies such as IoT, AI, Big Data.
Needs-based segmentation divides the market based on the specific needs and preferences of customers. This approach makes it possible to develop products and services that exactly meet the needs of different segments.
Product Quality: Customers looking for high quality and performance.
Price: Price-sensitive customers looking for the best value for money.
Convenience: Customers looking for convenient and easy-to-use solutions.
Support and Services: Customers who require a high level of support and additional services.
Other types of B2B customer segmentation include tier-based segmentation, which divides customers into different tiers or bands based on factors such as their value to the company. Needs-based segmentation is a type of customer segmentation that divides customers into groups based on their needs.
To buy B2B data for customer segmentation, you can use Datarade Marketplace. Explore a variety of datasets such as:
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