Article at a glance:

Managing your business as if customer segments matter

• As markets polarize and customer needs fragment, customer segment management is becoming increasingly important.
• Effective segment management often requires collaboration across functions, which is difficult to facilitate and reward in product-, service-, and geographically oriented organizations.
• A few marketers have responded by adopting common, actionable segmentations, integrating segment-level goal setting into the planning and performance-management processes, and establishing clear organizational accountability for results.
• This approach can yield dramatic changes in customer experience and significant financial gains. But it’s easier to talk about than execute—which is precisely why effective segment management is a powerful basis for sustainable competitive differentiation.