Market Segmentation | Best Software for Analysis

Market Segmentation is the cornerstone to most marketing strategies. It the process of dividing respondents into groups (known as segments) based on shared characteristics. Market segmentation is often used for positioning brands and products. Whether you are conducting your first segmentation or want to hone the approach you already use, market segmentation software can be used to make the process easy and fast, while still using state-of-the-art analysis techniques.

Market Segmentation with Q

Q Research Software is a leading tool among market researchers. It contains has segmentation tools designed to make this process fast and easy for all skill sets:

• Latent Class Analysis
• Hierarchical Cluster Analysis
• Mixed-Mode Cluster Analysis
• Standard K-means cluster analysis

Latent Class Analysis is superior when the data is not numeric, or K-Means Cluster Analysis is a good technique if it is (Latent Class and K-Means algorithms have marginally better qualities then mixed-mode cluster). Although it is still possible to get a good solution with Mixed-Mode Cluster Analysis, and such a solution may be superior to those obtained via the other algorithms.

Market segmentation is often more about strategy then the choice of statistical technique. Consequently, the team at Q regularly publish ‘do it yourself’ guides and webinars on how to do market segmentation (and other advanced analysis).

The 4 secrets of a successful segmentation

Ultimately, the secret to having successful segmentation studies tends to come down to the following:

1. Having good data. If your data is uninteresting, your segmentation will be uninteresting.

2. Not doing dumb things. This is largely about avoiding making technical mistakes. There are lots of easy mistakes if you do not know what to do, such as dealing with missing data, nominal variables, weights, and local optima, to name but a few.

3. Creating lots of alternative segmentations. There is no magical best segmentation. Success comes with looking at lots of segmentation. The more the better.

4. Systematically evaluating the alternative segmentations, with a focus on choosing the one that will be most useful to the stakeholders.

5. Having fast and highly automated software to perform segmentation analysis without having to spend years learning new techniques.

Grab a personalized demo and see for yourself how Q can save you time and help find the best segmentation for your market.