Psychographic Segmentation
Psychographic Segmentation divides the market into groups based on social class, lifestyle and personality/behavioural
characteristics. It is based on the assumption that the types of products and brands an individual purchases will reflect that persons
characteristics and patterns of living.
The following are examples of psychographic factors used in market segmentation:
Social class Is the single most used variable for research purposes, and divides the population into groups based on the
occupation of the 'Chief Income Earner' (CIE), as such it can be seen as a socio-economic scale. In the UK, The National Readership
Survey, provides the following standardised groupings.
The socio-economic scale
Social grade
Description of occupation
Example
A
higher managerial, administrative or professional
Company
director
B
intermediate managerial, administrative or
professional
Middle
manager
C1
supervisory, clerical, junior administrative or
professional
Bank clerk
C2
skilled manual workers
Plumber
D
semi- and unskilled manual workers
Labourer
E
state pensioners with no other income, widows, casual Unemployed
and lowest grade earners
Lifestyle Involves classifying people according to their values, beliefs, opinions, and interests. There is no one standardised lifestyle
segmentation model, instead market research firms, and advertising agencies are constantly devising new categories, which will best help target
possible consumers of their clients products.
One example of a life style classification model, is that developed by the advertising agency, Young & Rubican, called Cross
Cultural Consumer Characterization (4Cs for short). This classification model is presented in the table below
Psychographic Segmentation
The 4Cs
Resigned
Rigid, strict, authoritarian and chauvinist values, oriented to the past and to Resigned roles.
Brand choice stresses safety, familiarity and economy. (Older)
Struggler
Alienated, Struggler, disorganised - with few resources apart from physical/mechanical skills
(eg car repair). Heavy consumers of alcohol, junk food and lotteries, also trainers. Brand choice
involves impact and sensation.
Mainstreamer
Domestic, conformist, conventional, sentimental, passive, habitual. Part of the mass, favouring
big and well-known value for money 'family' brands. Almost invariably the largest 4Cs group.
Aspirer
Materialistic, acquisitive, affiliative, oriented to extrinsics ... image, appearance, charisma,
persona and fashion. Attractive packaging more important than quality of contents. (Younger,
clerical/sales type occupation)
Succeeder
Strong goal orientation, confidence, work ethic, organisation ... support status quo, stability.
Brand choice based on reward, prestige - the very best . Also attracted to 'caring' and protective
brands ... stress relief. (Top management)
Explorer
Energy - autonomy, experience, challenge, new frontiers. Brand choice highlights difference,
sensation, adventure, indulgence and instant effect - the first to try new brands. (Younger student)
Reformer
Freedom from restriction, personal growth, social awareness, value for time, independent
judgement, tolerance of complexity, anti-materialistic but intolerant of bad taste. Curious and
enquiring, support growth of new product categories. Select brands for intrinsic quality,
favouring natural simplicity, small is beautiful.(Highier education)
Behavioural Segmentation
Behavioural segmentation divides the market into groups based on their knowledge, attitudes, uses and responses to the
product.
The following are commonly applied behavioural segments
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
OccasionsGroups individuals according to the occasions when they purchase, use or think of buying a product.
Benefits SoughtGroups individuals according to the benefits they seek from the product.
Usage RateGroups individuals according to the level of usage they make of the product, be it Heavy, Medium or Light
usage.
User StatusGroups individuals according to wether they are non-users, potential users, first-time users, regular users,
or ex-users of a product
Loyalty StatusGroups individuals according to their level of loyalty to the product. 'Hard core loyals' always purchase
the product / brand in question. Whilst 'Soft core loyals' will sometimes purchase another brand, and 'Switchers' will not
specifically seek out a particular brand, but rather purchase the brand available to them at time of need, or that which
was on sale.
Buyer Readiness StageGroups individuals according to their readiness to purchase the product. This segmentation
model is particularly useful in formulating and monitoring the marketing communication strategies employed to move
consumers towards purchase of a product or brand.
Psychographic Segmentation
Stages in Buyer-Readiness
Stage
Description
Awareness
At the launch of a new product, the target market may not even be aware that the product exists, even
established products seeking to enter new segments of the market may need to raise awareness of
both their company and their product. The now infamous Benetton promotion campaigns had as one of
their objectives, raising awareness of the Benetton brand, and what ever you think of the methods the
company used, the fact remains that Benetton became one of the 5 most recognised brands in the
world.
Knowledge
The audience may well be aware of a product or company, but still have either very little knowledge of
what the product or company does, or possibly worse have the wrong impression of both the product
and company. Daewoo when it first entered the UK Car Market, had to go about educating the target
market about both its products and the company itself, early promotional material therefore informed
the audience about the size, history and strength of the company.
Liking
Knowing about a company or product does not mean the audience will necessarily like either, they
may well be ambivalent, have no feeling at all, or even dislike the product. An audience with
knowledge of a product must therefore be moved to the stage of liking the product. Promotion must
seek to develop a positive attitude towards the product, or if market research identifies a poor product
image in the market, promotion must seek to address these issues within its promotional campaign.
IKEA addressed head-on the target markets concerns, that much of their furniture has to be
assembled after purchase, and that there are limited staff available on the shop floor, cleverly turning
what the audience may well have originally perceived as negatives into positives of shopping at IKEA.
Preference
Given the level of competition in markets today, it is often the case that the potential customer will like
several competing products on the market, promotion must now therefore seek to develop within the
audience a preference for their product. Through research the business must establish the key
features of the product in the eyes of the target market, these might include efficiency, performance,
economy, value, and quality. Promotion will now therefore underline the advantages of the product in
terms of these key features, which differentiate it from the competition.
Conviction
An audience which prefers a particular product, may still not buy that product based on pure
preference. In fact many customers will purchase a competitors product which they did not prefer
purely because they were convinced it was the right decision at that time. Promotion must now build
confidence in the audience that their preference for the product is justified, and convince them through
a range of promotion tools including for example the use of positive press reviews, and expert
recommendations that their product is the right one to buy.
Purchase
The last stage in buyer-readiness is purchase of the product, unfortunately conviction to buy may still
not result in actual purchase, this may for example be due to the individuals current financial situation.
Many customers will need further persuasion to make the purchase. Promotion may offer Sales
Promotion discounts, or Personal Selling through Sales Representatives, in order to convert
preference and conviction into a sale.