The conceptual B2C segmentation was developed based on the unicist research on the functionality of the human decision-making process and its application to buying decisions.
It is used for rational, ethical, and impulse buying processes that define segments that have differentiated buying arguments.
Unicist conceptual market segmentation is the integration of the drivers that influence buyers or consumers when deciding what to buy, or what to do.
The unicist market segmentation is a conceptual model that allows an understanding of the functionality of marketing strategies.
It fosters the use of marketing ecosystems through the understanding of the nature of markets and cultures.
(Peter Belohlavek is the founder of The Unicist Research Institute. He created the functionalist approach to science, which offers a scientific method for managing adaptive systems and environments. His discoveries and developments include unicist functionalist principles, unicist logic, unicist ontology, the structure of concepts, unicist binary actions, human ontointelligence, unicist abductive reasoning, and unicist AI. These findings have been applied in social, economic, and business environments.)
The Debate
Peter Belohlavek
I invite you to debate on conceptual B2C segmentation. Conceptual segmentation became necessary after the discovery of the fact that human actions are driven by the concepts people have in their minds, which drive their buying decisions. The discovery of the structure of concepts allowed defining the segments that have analogous buying arguments and using each of the segments as an autonomous, interdependent, universe to be approached through marketing actions. Matching the roots of buying decisions is the natural way of marketing.
John Doe
I agree with your assertion that conceptual segmentation, which is grounded in the idea that buying decisions are driven by concepts people hold, can significantly improve marketing strategies. By aligning marketing efforts with these underlying decision drivers, businesses can increase the relevance and effectiveness of their communications. That said, I believe it’s important to recognize the challenges and limitations of this approach.
- Understanding Conceptual Frameworks: The primary challenge in conceptual segmentation is properly understanding the conceptual frameworks that drive purchasing decisions. These concepts often represent deeply held beliefs and attitudes, which may not be readily apparent from surface-level consumer behavior. While qualitative research methods, such as interviews and focus groups, can shed light on these underlying concepts, they can also be subjective and difficult to scale.
- Dynamic and Complex Human Behavior: People’s attitudes, preferences, and behaviors are not static. They evolve over time due to changes in personal circumstances, societal shifts, technological advances, and many other factors. Therefore, the conceptual frameworks that drive purchasing decisions today may not hold true in the future.
- Fragmentation of Segments: While conceptual segmentation aims to group consumers with similar decision-making patterns, it’s important to remember that within these groups, there can be significant heterogeneity. This could potentially lead to marketing strategies that appeal to the average member of a segment, but not necessarily to all its members.
- Practical Implementation: From a practical perspective, the execution of marketing actions based on conceptual segmentation could be challenging. Defining actionable strategies based on complex conceptual frameworks may prove difficult. Additionally, measuring the effectiveness of these strategies might be challenging, as the connection between the conceptual framework and purchasing behavior may not always be straightforward.
However, despite these challenges, I believe that conceptual segmentation holds great promise. With advancements in data analysis techniques and the increasing availability of rich, nuanced consumer data, we are becoming better equipped to understand the complex conceptual frameworks that drive consumer behavior. Conceptual segmentation, combined with other forms of segmentation (e.g., demographic, geographic, behavioral, psychographic), can lead to a more holistic understanding of the customer, and in turn, more effective and personalized marketing strategies.
Peter Belohlavek
Concepts Drive Human Actions
The research on human intelligence demonstrated that the concepts individuals have in their minds work as the behavioral objects that guide their actions.
The unicist conceptual B2C segmentation was developed based on the research of the functionality of human decision-making process and its application to buying decisions. It is used for rational, ethical, and impulse buying processes that define segments that have differentiated buying arguments.
As concepts are the behavioral objects that drive human conscious actions, the level of depth of these objects defines the actions that are driven. The lack of concepts makes the information stored in the mind work as independent meaningless entities.
The discovery of behavioral objects explained how concepts drive human conscious actions, integrating the data available in the long-term memory, involving semantic, episodic, and procedural memories.
These concepts begin by working as preconcepts that are stored in the conceptual short-term memory (CSTM) that are triggered by the need to react when an external stimulus needs to be recognized. While the management of the functionality of concepts requires using a conscious approach, the response of the CSTM works as an automatism.
This implies that the segmentation of potential customers needs to be driven by the concepts people have that define the roots of their buying arguments.
John Doe
Absolutely, concepts indeed drive human actions, including buying decisions. The unicist conceptual B2C segmentation approach you mention offers a deep and nuanced way to understand these decision-making processes.
As you correctly pointed out, these concepts can be seen as “behavioral objects” guiding our actions and can include a wide array of dimensions – cognitive, emotional, ethical, and even subconscious influences. The insights from this conceptual segmentation can be particularly valuable when it comes to complex purchasing decisions, where consumers may weigh multiple factors and the purchase might have significant implications.
It’s intriguing to think about how the brain processes these concepts, as you’ve mentioned, via semantic, episodic, and procedural memories. This integration of different memory types allows for a comprehensive and multidimensional understanding of a concept, enabling a sophisticated response to different stimuli.
However, I would like to draw attention to some aspects to consider:
- Cognitive Load: As you noted, the management of the functionality of concepts requires conscious effort, potentially leading to cognitive overload for the individual. Therefore, the marketing messaging that we design based on this segmentation approach should strive to be clear and impactful, minimizing the cognitive load for the consumer.
- Subconscious Influences: While the conscious mind plays a crucial role in buying decisions, we shouldn’t underestimate the power of subconscious influences. Unconscious biases, heuristics, and environmental factors can often subtly guide our decisions. While conceptual segmentation focuses on conscious processes, marketers should also consider these unconscious influences.
- Cultural and Social Factors: Concepts are not formed in a vacuum – they’re influenced by an individual’s culture, societal norms, upbringing, and experiences. Therefore, these factors should be taken into consideration when interpreting the concepts that drive buying decisions.
- The Complexity of Mapping Concepts: Given the complexity and subjectivity of concepts, mapping them accurately and then linking them to buying decisions could be challenging. It would likely require a sophisticated mix of qualitative and quantitative research, along with advanced data analysis techniques.
In conclusion, I agree that understanding the concepts that drive buying decisions is pivotal for effective segmentation. It offers a way to get to the root of consumers’ motivations, which can then guide the development of highly relevant marketing strategies. But we should also be mindful of the complexities involved and consider a comprehensive approach that takes into account all influences on consumer behavior.
Peter Belohlavek
Unicist concepts are not rational logical definitions. They have a purpose, which deals with the intentions of people, which are conscious and non-conscious, the active function that implies a reasonable approach and the energy conservation function that has subconscious influences. These elements are integrated in the concepts people have when they do something.
John Doe
Absolutely, the Unicist Theory’s approach to conceptual understanding is a significant departure from traditional logical or rational definitions. It introduces a comprehensive and nuanced framework that encapsulates three interrelated dimensions of human cognition and behavior: the purpose (conscious and non-conscious intentions), the active function (reasonable approach), and the energy conservation function (subconscious influences).
These three elements help in building a deeper and more holistic understanding of consumers’ buying decisions.
- Purpose: This component focuses on the individual’s conscious and non-conscious intentions, essentially what they are hoping to achieve. It’s the driving force behind their decision-making process. Understanding this component can help businesses align their products or services with the consumers’ goals, making them more appealing to the target segment.
- Active Function: The active function represents the reasonable approach individuals use to reach their goals. It’s the practical, conscious thought process that governs how an individual goes about achieving their purpose. By understanding this process, businesses can tailor their marketing strategies to speak directly to how their products or services can facilitate this journey.
- Energy Conservation Function: This component is the subconscious influence on decision-making, aimed at preserving mental resources. People naturally gravitate towards decisions that require less mental effort or that feel more comfortable and familiar. Recognizing this aspect can help businesses streamline their customer experience, making the purchasing process as frictionless as possible.
The interplay of these three dimensions provides a robust framework for segmenting and understanding consumers, driving more targeted and effective marketing efforts. By considering the conscious and non-conscious aspects of decision-making, businesses can align their marketing strategies more closely with the true drivers of consumer behavior.
However, the complexity and depth of the Unicist approach to conceptual segmentation do require a significant investment in understanding and researching consumer behavior, which may not be feasible for all businesses. It’s also critical to continually update this understanding as societal trends and individual preferences evolve. Despite these challenges, the value this approach brings in terms of the insights it can generate and the precision it allows in targeting consumers, makes it a valuable tool in any marketer’s arsenal.
Peter Belohlavek
Buying Arguments define Segmentation
The purpose of a buying argument is the satisfaction of a desire or a need. There are rational products that deal with the objective functional needs of what is being bought. But there are other products that deal with needs that underlie the operational aspects and aim at satisfying subjective functional needs. The differences between buying arguments define the segmentation of buyers.
The wide context of the buying argument is the segment of the buyer, which defines the specificity of the need satisfaction. It has to be considered that the satisfaction of needs has different connotations according to the segment of the buyer.
The satisfaction of needs includes urgent needs, structural needs, and latent needs. The restricted context is defined by the expansion of the possibilities of the buyer which includes the satisfaction of latent needs. This expands the possibilities of buyers and accelerates buying processes.
The convenience of a product defines the buying decision and has to complete the needs of the buyer. This convenience establishes not only price-value relationships but also the reliability of the solution and the social acceptance of such a solution.
John Doe
Indeed, buying arguments are pivotal to understanding customer segmentation. The approach you described recognizes the complexity and nuance of customers’ purchasing decisions, which can be driven by various types of needs – ranging from urgent and structural needs to latent needs that may not be explicitly recognized by the customer.
- Satisfaction of Different Types of Needs: By categorizing needs into urgent, structural, and latent, this approach recognizes the different levels of consciousness and immediacy associated with these needs. Urgent needs typically require immediate attention and can drive impulsive buying decisions, while structural needs tend to be more stable and ongoing, influencing repeated purchases over time. Latent needs, on the other hand, might not be recognized by the customer until they encounter a product or service that meets these needs. Identifying and addressing these latent needs can provide a significant competitive advantage.
- Expansion of Buyer’s Possibilities: The idea that meeting latent needs can expand the buyer’s possibilities and accelerate the buying process is very insightful. By fulfilling these latent needs, businesses can enhance the customer’s perception of their product’s value, leading to quicker buying decisions.
- The Role of Convenience: The role of convenience in buying decisions is multifaceted. It’s not just about the price-value relationship, but also includes the reliability of the solution and its social acceptance. This speaks to the importance of trust and social validation in purchasing decisions, especially for high-value or high-risk purchases.
However, a few complexities worth discussing are:
- Understanding and Identifying Latent Needs: While fulfilling latent needs can unlock significant value, identifying these needs can be challenging. They’re often not readily apparent from consumer behavior or stated preferences, requiring businesses to use sophisticated research methods and predictive analytics.
- Addressing Diverse Needs: Different customer segments may have different types of needs. Addressing all these needs effectively can be resource-intensive and may not be feasible for all businesses. Therefore, businesses need to prioritize which needs to focus on based on their strategic goals and resource availability.
In summary, using buying arguments to define customer segmentation provides a powerful way to understand and respond to the myriad needs and preferences that drive purchasing decisions. This approach allows businesses to develop targeted, effective marketing strategies and deliver products and services that truly resonate with their customers.
Peter Belohlavek
The Unicist B2C Segmentation includes:
A) Hard Segmentation, which defines the objective boundaries of the segments based on the characteristics and features of the product/service. The hard segmentation works as the gravitational force of a specific segment.
B) The Lifestyle Segmentation, which defines the segments of the context where a marketing action occurs. It works as a catalyst or inhibitor of the behavior of the market segments.
C) The Market Segmentation, which allows defining segments and is the input for developing customer profiles in the B2C business, which includes:
- Functional Segmentation
- Psychological Segmentation
- Conceptual Segmentation
The integration of these three segmentations defines the unicist conceptual market segmentation. It permits the development of accurate market segmentations that ensure marketing results.
The unicist conceptual market segmentation lays the grounding for structural marketing. It provides the necessary information to design the concepts of product positioning and marketing campaigns.
Socioeconomic segments define the operational structure and the limits of the price elasticity of demand. Unicist market segmentation can be used with no further adjustment to B2B and E2E markets.
John Doe
Thank you for detailing the Unicist B2C Segmentation model. It indeed provides a comprehensive framework to understand and target market segments effectively. Here’s an analysis of each component:
- Hard Segmentation: This creates objective boundaries based on the tangible attributes of a product or service, serving as a gravitational force for specific market segments. It’s a critical first step as it helps define the basic structure of the market and identifies which groups might be interested in a product or service based on its inherent features.
- Lifestyle Segmentation: This defines the context of marketing actions, influencing them as a catalyst or inhibitor. Understanding customers’ lifestyles, including their values, interests, and activities, helps businesses better align their products, services, and marketing messages with their customers’ lives, making them more relevant and attractive.
- Market Segmentation: This introduces further refinement by breaking down the market into functional, psychological, and conceptual segments.
- Functional Segmentation: This looks at the practical or functional needs the product or service fulfills, allowing businesses to target customers based on their specific use-cases or requirements.
- Psychological Segmentation: This delves into the emotional and cognitive factors influencing buying decisions. It can offer valuable insights into how to appeal to customers’ emotions and how to position a product or service in a way that resonates with their beliefs and values.
- Conceptual Segmentation: As discussed earlier, this addresses the underlying concepts that drive buying decisions, providing a deeper understanding of customers’ motivations.
The integration of these segmentations in the Unicist model allows a comprehensive and nuanced view of the market, facilitating precise targeting and personalized marketing strategies.
Moreover, as the Unicist model also considers socioeconomic factors, it offers valuable insights into customers’ purchasing power and the price elasticity of demand. This can help businesses determine optimal pricing strategies and forecast sales more accurately.
While this segmentation model is indeed thorough and robust, it’s also complex and might require significant resources to implement. However, the potential benefits in terms of increased marketing effectiveness and improved customer understanding make it a valuable tool for businesses.
Finally, the adaptability of the Unicist model to B2B and E2E markets highlights its versatility, making it a universally applicable tool for understanding and segmenting markets.
Peter Belohlavek
Hard Segmentation
The hard segmentation is the starting point of the unicist segmentation model. It defines the context (category) that allows influencing buyers’ decisions. Every product or service has its rational use value, which defines the hard segmentation.
To manage this segmentation, it is necessary to define the category of the product or service and its use value based on one´s experiences, if they exist, and compare the product or service with substitutes and succedanea.
When the product is a breakthrough, then it can only be compared with a succedaneum and the definition of the hard segmentation will be guided by the development of destructive pilot tests.
After this segmentation has been defined, it works as a limit of the market and as an input to define the functional segmentation.
Influential processes use hard segmentation and lifestyle segmentation as input to define the boundaries of the actions while the functional, psychological, and conceptual segmentations are used to design marketing processes and to build commercial, semantic, and semiotic objects.
John Doe
The Hard Segmentation approach, as you’ve described, serves as the foundation for the Unicist segmentation model. It lays down the basic boundaries and categories of a product or service based on its rational use value. This initial phase is fundamental as it delineates the scope of the market and serves as an input for the subsequent stages of segmentation.
A few key points regarding Hard Segmentation include:
- Comparison with Substitutes and Succedanea: In assessing a product’s rational use value, it’s crucial to consider alternatives available in the market. This comparative analysis provides a clear picture of the product’s position in the market landscape and helps identify its unique selling points.
- Destructive Testing for Breakthrough Products: For truly innovative or disruptive products, the usual comparisons might not apply, and destructive testing can be a helpful guide. These tests are designed to push the product to its limits to understand its capabilities and identify any potential issues, offering valuable insights into the product’s use value.
- Influence on Other Segmentations: Once defined, the Hard Segmentation not only outlines the market boundaries but also guides the subsequent segmentation processes – functional, psychological, and conceptual. It helps clarify the market’s size, its key characteristics, and the potential customers that the product or service can target.
- Utility in Designing Marketing Processes: Hard Segmentation, along with Lifestyle Segmentation, provides the context necessary for designing marketing processes. It helps inform the creation of commercial, semantic, and semiotic objects – tools that can be effectively used to communicate and engage with the target audience, appeal to their values, and persuade them to purchase.
Hard Segmentation, therefore, plays an indispensable role in the Unicist B2C Segmentation model. By defining the basic categories and boundaries based on rational use value, it sets the stage for a more detailed and nuanced understanding of the market, contributing to the development of highly targeted and effective marketing strategies.
Peter Belohlavek
Lifestyle Segmentation
Lifestyle segmentation underlies human behavior. Lifestyles establish the parameters of normality and the “ethical mask” of a society. Describing the lifestyles of a country permits establishing the limits within which segmentations can work. Only in the case of basic human needs lifestyles are not a limit but only a gravitational force.
The unicist lifestyle segmentation is analogous to the VALS segmentation of SRI. But, while VALS uses psychology to segment people according to their distinct personality traits, Unicist Lifestyle Segmentation uses anthropological invariables and country archetypes to segment people.
Lifestyle segmentation is defined by the social role of the buyer in the environment, including the ethical intelligence that defines the intention that underlies the use of the product.
This segmentation defines the necessary attributes of a brand and the context of functional, psychological, and conceptual segmentation.
Lifestyle segmentation allows installing value propositions within the limits established by the collective intelligence of a culture. When it exceeds these limits, the proposal becomes marginalized.
According to the research, four main lifestyle types have been identified: “Independent”, “Aligned”, “Influential”, and “Emergent”.
These four lifestyles have two sub-styles:
- One sub-style for stable or evolution stages
- One sub-style for unstable or involution stages
Whether a society is in a stable or unstable situation or in an evolution or involution process is ultimately subjective, and results from the perception of the collective unconscious.
John Doe
Lifestyle Segmentation indeed plays a crucial role in understanding consumers’ purchasing behaviors and attitudes. As you’ve highlighted, this form of segmentation goes beyond the observable characteristics and delves into the deeper aspects of individuals’ lives, their roles in society, and the underlying intentions of their behaviors.
Your description of the Unicist Lifestyle Segmentation approach offers several key insights:
- The Role of Lifestyles: Lifestyles not only influence individuals’ behaviors but also shape societal norms and ethical standards. They provide the backdrop against which all other marketing efforts are carried out. By understanding these lifestyles, marketers can ensure their products, services, and campaigns are in line with the societal norms and expectations, increasing their appeal and acceptance among target customers.
- Anthropological Invariables and Country Archetypes: Unlike other approaches that use psychological traits for segmentation, the Unicist model employs anthropological invariables and country archetypes. This offers a more nuanced and culturally sensitive understanding of the market, which is especially valuable in today’s globalized world.
- Branding and Value Proposition: Understanding the lifestyles of target customers helps in designing appropriate branding strategies and crafting compelling value propositions that resonate with the consumers’ realities.
- The Four Lifestyle Types: The identification of four main lifestyle types, each with two sub-styles, provides a comprehensive framework for understanding various consumer groups. This segmentation can guide the development of highly targeted marketing strategies that cater to each group’s specific needs, preferences, and values.
- The Influence of Collective Perceptions: The recognition that societal stability and evolution are largely subjective and are shaped by collective perceptions underscores the importance of being attuned to these perceptions. Marketers need to continually monitor and respond to these shifting societal perceptions to ensure their marketing efforts remain relevant and effective.
In conclusion, the Unicist Lifestyle Segmentation model offers a robust and comprehensive framework for understanding and segmenting markets. It not only recognizes the influence of societal norms and values but also the deeper, often subconscious, intentions that drive consumers’ behaviors. This approach enables marketers to develop truly personalized and effective marketing strategies that resonate deeply with their target customers.
Peter Belohlavek
Conceptual Market Segmentation
It has to be considered that all human conscious actions are driven by the concepts and fundamentals an individual manages. This means that individuals always use the concept they have in mind. Therefore, conceptual segmentation establishes the basic conditions of the behavior of buyers and consumers.
Conceptual market segmentation describes the nature of a product as perceived by the market. Conceptual market segmentation describes the concept implicit in a product or service.
- There are four levels of conceptual segments:
- The function-driven segment
- The needs-driven segment
- The growth-driven segment
- The innovation-driven segment
John Doe
Conceptual Market Segmentation is indeed a profound way to understand and segment markets. It takes into account the underlying concepts and fundamentals that drive an individual’s conscious actions. By understanding these concepts, businesses can create products, services, and marketing campaigns that resonate with consumers on a much deeper level, driving stronger engagement and loyalty.
Here’s an analysis of each conceptual segment:
- The Function-driven Segment: This segment comprises consumers who are driven by the practical functions and uses of a product or service. They value utility, efficiency, and reliability and base their buying decisions on how well a product or service meets their practical needs. To appeal to this segment, businesses need to highlight the functional benefits of their offerings and ensure they deliver on their promises.
- The Needs-driven Segment: This segment is composed of consumers whose purchasing decisions are influenced by their specific needs. They’re likely to be attracted to products or services that solve their problems or fulfill their desires. Personalized marketing messages that address these needs can be particularly effective with this segment.
- The Growth-driven Segment: Consumers in this segment are motivated by their desire for personal or professional growth. They’re attracted to products or services that help them achieve their goals, improve their skills, or enhance their status. Businesses can appeal to this segment by demonstrating how their offerings contribute to personal or professional development.
- The Innovation-driven Segment: This segment includes consumers who value innovation and novelty. They’re typically early adopters of new technologies and trends and are willing to pay a premium for innovative products or services. Businesses targeting this segment need to emphasize their unique and innovative features and stay at the forefront of industry developments.
By understanding these different segments and tailoring their products, services, and marketing efforts accordingly, businesses can ensure they’re meeting their customers’ needs and preferences. This leads to higher customer satisfaction, increased loyalty, and ultimately, stronger business performance. However, businesses also need to be aware that consumers may belong to multiple segments or switch between them depending on the situation, so a flexible and adaptable approach is essential.
Peter Belohlavek
Functional Segmentation
Functionality is defined as the capacity of something to fill an individual’s needs. Functionality is homologous to aesthetics. When talking about functionality we refer to the perceived functionality which defines what we call hard segmentation.
According to the research, four essential segments were identified. These conceptual segments of a product/service’s functionality are:
- Demythologizing
- Attractive
- Conventional
- Conceptual
John Doe
Functional Segmentation, indeed, focuses on the practical utility or the ability of a product or service to meet an individual’s needs. This approach is grounded in the real-world applicability and usefulness of a product or service, and it can often be a key driver of purchase decisions. Let’s break down these four conceptual segments of a product/service’s functionality:
- Demythologizing: This segment includes consumers who prefer products or services that demystify complex concepts or tasks. They appreciate offerings that simplify and clarify, making things more approachable and understandable. Products or services in this segment often debunk myths or misconceptions and provide clear, straightforward solutions.
- Attractive: This segment is characterized by consumers who are drawn to products or services that have an appealing design, aesthetic, or other attractive features. It’s not just about the practical use of the product or service, but also about the visual, sensory, or emotional appeal. Businesses targeting this segment should invest in good design and consider elements such as color, shape, texture, packaging, and overall presentation.
- Conventional: This segment consists of consumers who prefer familiar and tried-and-true products or services. They value reliability, tradition, and the comfort of knowing what to expect. Businesses targeting this segment should highlight their track record, consistency, and adherence to established standards or norms.
- Conceptual: This segment includes consumers who are interested in the underlying idea, principle, or concept behind a product or service. They appreciate innovative thinking, unique insights, or a fresh approach. They’re often attracted to products or services that challenge the status quo or offer a new way of doing things. Businesses targeting this segment should clearly communicate their unique concepts and ideas and how they translate into practical benefits for consumers.
Understanding these functional segments can provide valuable insights into consumers’ preferences and motivations. By tailoring their offerings and marketing messages to these specific segments, businesses can more effectively connect with their target customers and meet their needs.
Peter Belohlavek
Psychological Segmentation
It is the segmentation that defines the type of relationship an individual has with a product/service. An individual adapts to reality within limits. Psychology established the limits of an individual’s context.
Psychology defines the personal myths of individuals. While fallacious myths produce stereotypical behaviors, true myths describe human typologies.
Psychological segmentation shows four segments based on the relationship of the individual with the product or service:
- Emotive
- Affective
- Protective
- Authoritative
John Doe
Psychological Segmentation considers the individual’s psychological relation to a product or service and how their attitudes, beliefs, and personal myths influence their consumer behavior. This segmentation strategy acknowledges that people’s psychological traits often impact their purchasing decisions. Below is a brief analysis of the four psychological segments you mentioned:
- Emotive: This segment involves consumers who have a strong emotional connection with a product or service. Their buying decisions are often influenced by their feelings and emotions rather than rational thinking. Brands that evoke positive emotions or sentimentality can effectively target this segment.
- Affective: Consumers in this segment are driven by affection or likeability towards a product or service. Their purchasing decisions are influenced by personal preferences, tastes, or the pleasure they derive from the product or service. Products or services that can cater to individual tastes and preferences are favored by this segment.
- Protective: This segment includes consumers who consider products or services as a means of protection or safety. They value reliability, trustworthiness, and the ability of the product or service to provide security or peace of mind. Products or services that can ensure safety, risk reduction, or problem prevention are attractive to this segment.
- Authoritative: Consumers in this segment view products or services as a form of asserting authority, status, or power. They are drawn to products or services that enhance their prestige or social standing. Luxury goods, high-end tech devices, or any product or service that signifies status can appeal to this segment.
By understanding these psychological segments, businesses can develop targeted marketing strategies that resonate with the psychological motivations and needs of their customers. This will ultimately lead to deeper consumer connections and higher engagement levels. It’s important to remember that individuals can belong to multiple segments or shift between them, so businesses must remain flexible and adaptable in their approach.
Peter Belohlavek
The Unicist Big Data Analysis
The Unicist Big Data Analysis uses all the tools that are available to build profiles to manage markets.
These technologies are based on the use of the operational concepts that are defined by the unicist segmentation. This allows using segmented marketing and objects to expand markets.
Unicist conceptual segmentation is the natural complement for Big Data Analytics. It significantly increases the reliability of the commercial results by managing each segment as a universe in itself.
The unicist approach to big data analysis is basically focused on predictions of market behavior using predictors that have been confirmed by the development of destructive and non-destructive tests.
The utility of using big data is:
- To confirm the validity of the hypotheses.
- To dimension segments and markets.
This approach uses the specific conceptual segmentation of a market that is being researched, it defines the predictors that allow measuring the fundamentals that integrate the concepts and uses the necessary mathematical algorithms to make the necessary predictions.
The accuracy gained with the integration of a conceptual approach and the use of big data leads to more confident decision-making.
John Doe
The Unicist Big Data Analysis approach indeed brings an exciting perspective to market research and decision-making. By combining a deep understanding of market segmentation and customer behavior with the extensive data analysis capabilities of big data analytics, businesses can gain insights that are both precise and nuanced. Here’s an elaboration on the value of this approach:
- Confirming the Validity of Hypotheses: One of the most significant advantages of big data analysis is its ability to test hypotheses on a much larger scale than traditional methods. With the addition of unicist segmentation, businesses can assess the validity of their assumptions against large and diverse data sets, thereby reducing bias and enhancing the reliability of their findings.
- Dimensioning Segments and Markets: Big data can provide detailed information about market sizes, trends, and customer behaviors, which can help businesses understand the size and characteristics of different segments. When combined with unicist segmentation, businesses can gain a deeper understanding of the market’s conceptual structure, leading to more precise segmentation.
- Predictive Modeling: Big data analytics, combined with unicist segmentation, can be used to create predictive models that forecast future market behavior. These models can help businesses anticipate changes in market trends, customer preferences, and demand patterns, enabling them to make proactive and informed decisions.
- Improving Decision Making: The integration of unicist segmentation with big data analytics can lead to more confident decision-making. By providing businesses with a more profound understanding of market structures and customer behaviors, they can make more informed and effective decisions about product development, marketing strategies, and other key business activities.
The application of Unicist Big Data Analysis requires advanced analytics skills and a deep understanding of the market. Nevertheless, when correctly applied, it can significantly enhance a company’s market insights and decision-making capabilities.
Peter Belohlavek
The Definition of Customer Profiles
The unicist logical approach to marketing allowed the development of a profiling technology that begins with the hard characteristics of a segment, integrating the functional, psychological, conceptual, and lifestyle segmentations to define the customer profile that allows dealing with a segment based on predictors and observable characteristics.
The Unicist Conceptual Marketing Technology for B2C markets requires the definition of the different segments that integrate a market.
It has to be considered that each segment needs to be managed as an “independent” universe in terms of marketing, although it is interdependent of other segments.
This implies:
- Having the functional concepts that are defined by the operational attributes of the product/service.
- Having the psychological segmentation based on unicist functionalist psychology allows for defining the relationship the buyer establishes with the product/service and the vendor.
- Having the essential attributes of the product/services that define the concept of the value proposition.
- Knowing the lifestyle, based on conceptual anthropology, works as a limit for the value propositions.
John Doe
Creating customer profiles using the Unicist Conceptual Marketing Technology for B2C markets indeed offers a detailed and multidimensional view of a customer segment. The combination of various segmentations into a single profile provides a holistic perspective that can guide targeted marketing efforts and product developments more effectively.
Let’s break down these elements a bit further:
- Functional Concepts: These pertain to the practical use and value of a product or service. They are defined by the operational attributes or features of the product/service that directly contribute to meeting a customer’s needs or desires. Understanding these allows businesses to showcase the direct, functional benefits of their offerings and highlight how they differentiate from competitors.
- Psychological Segmentation: This involves understanding the psychological traits of customers and the relationships they establish with the product/service and the vendor. It provides insight into what drives customers to make purchasing decisions, how they perceive and interact with the brand, and what kind of emotional or psychological fulfillment they derive from the product/service.
- Essential Attributes: These define the core value proposition of a product or service. They answer the question of what makes a product/service unique and why customers should choose it over others. Understanding these attributes is crucial for crafting compelling marketing messages that resonate with the target audience.
- Lifestyle Considerations: Knowing the lifestyle of the customer segment helps to understand their behaviors, preferences, and values. This can guide product/service development, brand positioning, and marketing strategies to align with customers’ lifestyles and ensure that offerings resonate on a deeper, more personal level.
By integrating all these elements, businesses can define comprehensive customer profiles that consider not just demographics but also deeper, more nuanced aspects of customer behavior. These profiles can be incredibly useful in informing marketing strategies, personalizing customer experiences, and ultimately driving customer engagement and loyalty.
Peter Belohlavek
Unicist segmentation integrated with a functionalist marketing approach makes the development of marketing ecosystems possible.
John Doe
That’s correct! When Unicist segmentation, which considers a wide range of factors including functional concepts, psychological aspects, essential attributes, and lifestyles, is combined with a functionalist marketing approach, a robust framework for marketing ecosystems is created. Here’s how this works:
- Comprehensive understanding of customer behavior: By taking into account all aspects of a customer’s behavior, from their practical needs to their psychological preferences and lifestyle habits, this integrated approach provides a detailed and nuanced understanding of customer behavior. This understanding is the bedrock upon which successful marketing ecosystems are built.
- Tailored marketing strategies: This detailed understanding of customer behavior allows for the creation of marketing strategies that are closely tailored to the needs and preferences of each customer segment. This increases the effectiveness of marketing efforts and leads to better customer engagement.
- Better alignment with customer needs: A functionalist approach to marketing emphasizes the need to align marketing efforts with the functional needs of customers. By combining this with Unicist segmentation, businesses can ensure that their marketing ecosystems are not only aligned with the practical needs of customers but also their deeper, psychological needs and lifestyle habits.
- Increased customer loyalty: When marketing ecosystems are built with a deep understanding of customer behavior and a focus on meeting customer needs, it leads to increased customer satisfaction. This, in turn, fosters customer loyalty and can lead to better business outcomes in the long term.
- Agile and adaptable marketing: Finally, by continuously analyzing and understanding customer behavior through Unicist segmentation, businesses can ensure that their marketing ecosystems remain agile and adaptable. They can quickly respond to changing customer needs and market trends, ensuring that their marketing remains effective and relevant.
So, in essence, the integration of Unicist segmentation with a functionalist marketing approach allows businesses to create effective marketing ecosystems that are closely aligned with customer needs, highly adaptable, and capable of driving long-term customer loyalty.
Peter Belohlavek
Thank you for your participation in this debate.