Why a Customer Objectives based Segmentation is a fascinating approach

Customer Segmentation is the practice of segmenting customers based on common characteristics. The ultimate goal is to determine who makes a "good" customer for your company or product. At this stage no idea is far fetched as long as one can derive meaningful value out of it.

Most B2B buyers are considered to be more rationale which makes it much more challenging to segment in comparison to B2C markets. Segmentation schemes are centered around buying power, personas, location, size, nature of relationship, operations and even needs.

Customer Objectives based Segmentation presented here takes a different spin on needs-based segmentation

A buying customer looks at a product for different reasons and to achieve a specific objective. I've come across 3 most common types of objectives B2B customers can categorize into -

1. Customers with a real business problem and an objective to solve it: Regardless of the industry, size and demographics, a customer with a real business problem is in the market to shop for a solution. These customers often evaluate many products until all their boxes are checked and find their aha moment. This segment of customers will be a key driver for the product growth.
2. Customers who are looking to expand business: These customer's don't necessarily have a huge issue to solve but are in the market to buy a product as a leeway to expand their business either by growing their customer network or establish partnerships. Either way, this segment enables both lateral and vertical growth.
3. Customers who want to get on a new age bandwagon: This segment may be a small percentage but not to be discounted by any means. Small or big they are interested in exploring cool new technology that their peers may have adopted or want to be the first in line. The chances of getting a subscriber volume or the likes of it is less but makes up for the numbers in other ways.

The segmentation approach relies heavily on a customer-centric perspective and the core of it is to understand what the customer's objectives are and what success to them looks like. This creates an experience for the customer that focuses on enabling them to achieve their OKRs and thus it becomes a win-win world.