RESEARCH METHOD / PRACTICE GUIDE

Market segmentation

Which differences among customers imply genuinely different needs?

A repeatable workflow using Plan → Conduct → Report. Adapt recruitment, timing and depth to the decision, participants and evidence available.

1. 01

   Plan

   Define why segmentation is needed and which decision it will support. Choose candidate dimensions such as institutional context, responsibilities, deal activity and workflow. Check data coverage and avoid treating available attributes as automatically meaningful.

2. 02

   Conduct

   Compare cases and measures across candidate groups. Look for differences in needs, behavior and constraints, then test overlap and within-group variation. Review emerging segments with customer-facing colleagues and direct user evidence.

3. 03

   Report

   Describe each segment's distinguishing needs, evidence and uncertain boundaries. Explain the tradeoffs of prioritizing one group. Turn the model into recruitment, product or research decisions, with a clear trigger for revisiting the segmentation.