Before you start researching your customers, it’s important to be clear about what defines them. You need to know who you are gathering information about, as there are probably certain characteristics that put someone inside or outside the circle of your target customers. For example, you may have products only for women, or you may exclusively sell in North America, or perhaps you provide services primarily to large corporations or to startups. 

We call each type of customer a business targets a “segment.” The diagram above represents a very basic example of what your customer segments look like if you were Microsoft. While these categories can and will be broken down further into subcategories, a basic breakdown like this is very helpful for getting ready for in-depth research. So before researching, come up with a high-level way to bucket them like this that will anchor you through your research. 

To learn about first-pass segmentation and the research that comes after, check out Winning Digital Customers by Howard Tiersky. The book provides a proven roadmap for harnessing customer research to create a visionary experience. Go to WinningDigitalCustomers.com to buy the book today!