When you go to the supermarket with your kid and your kid start demanding particular chocolate every time he or she visits with you in that supermarket than this act of the kid demanding particular chocolates every time at the superstore is the behavior of that kid. This behavior pattern is not limited to kids only as different people have different behavior patterns and companies constantly try to study this behavior so as to market their products according to the behavior of the customers and this process is called behavioral segmentation. In order to understand more about this concept, one should look at advantages and disadvantages of behavioral segmentation –
Advantages of Behavioral Segmentation
Grouping Customers according to Behavior
The biggest advantage of behavioral segmentation is that companies can group the customers according to their behavior and hence it can make marketing strategy accordingly. Hence for example, if a restaurant is located near the college and it offers items like pasta, pizzas, sandwich than it will make profits as the behavior of college students suggest that they will be more than willing to eat these type of food items as compared to other food items.
Helpful in Planning
Another advantage of this segmentation is that it is very helpful when the company makes plans. Hence for example if someone is planning to open a hotel near railway station and we all know that near railway station majority of people stay at hotels for one night only, now if hotel owner make luxury rooms than chances of people staying in that hotel are low because people look for budget rooms if they want to stay for 8 to 10 hours only in the hotel. Hence while making plans if the behavior of customers is studied than it can be of great help to a company in the proper execution of the plan.
Ease of Advertising
When you know that a particular group of people exhibit same behavior than you can easily market or advertise your product or service as it will have a greater effect on them. Hence for example if a mobile manufacturer knows that young people love mobiles having good cameras than if they put hoardings near college about good camera quality of their mobile than it can attract young people to purchasing their mobile.
Disadvantages of Behavioral Segmentation
Dynamic Behavior of Customers
The biggest disadvantage of behavioral segmentation is that behavior of people never remains same and it keeps changing which is the reason why if the company does not take into account dynamic behavior patterns of the consumers than there is no use of doing behavior segmentation. Hence for example when 3D television first came all people were going crazy and wanted to purchase 3D TV but within months its demand faded which is nothing but a change of behavior of customers.
It cannot be Measured
Another limitation of this segmentation is that behavior is something which cannot be measured or in other words it is qualitative and cannot be quantified which results in behavior segmentation being subjective and one cannot justify it with figures or estimates as you cannot put the number as far as the behavior of the consumers is concerned.
Specialist Job
Behavior is a tricky thing and one needs to have knowledge about the psychology and experience in reading behavior patterns which is a specialist job and hence company thinking of doing behavior segmentation of its potential consumers’ needs to appoint specialist for this job which results in expenses for the company.
As one can see from the pros and cons of behavior segmentation that a company cannot ignore this method of segmentation but at the same time making marketing strategy on the basis of only behavior patterns of consumers can result in the company making wrong decisions. Hence company has to maintain a fine balance where it can use the advantages of behavior segmentation and avoid the limitations of behavior segmentation so as to take maximum benefit from this method of segmentation.