Segmentation: choose who, then the race
Introduced| English | Meaning |
|---|---|
| positioning/pəˈzɪʃənɪŋ/ | positioning |
"Everyone" is not a target
- The 408 responses split four ways: busy professionals 179 (44%), fitness-focused 110 (27%), families 69 (17%), other 48 (12%). Only one of them gets the campaign's first £3,600.
- A segment is useful only if it is measurable, substantial, actionable — the criteria, not the demographics.
The criteria as a sieve
- Measurable: countable. Substantial: big enough to fund the campaign. Actionable: a channel and a message exist that reach them.
- "People who hate cooking" is substantial and fails actionable — no list, no slot. Busy professionals pass all three: LinkedIn targeting, 44% of responders, a message ("evenings back").
Which criterion does this segment fail?
Test candidate segments against measurable, substantial and actionable - each failure has a name.
179 of 408 respondents are busy professionals. The share, in % (nearest whole)?
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$179/408 = 43.9\%$ - the largest block, and it passes all three criteria.
Match each criterion to its question.
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Targeting is the three questions; positioning is the fourth.
Value = size x conversion x retention x margin
- The launch target: 180 reachable professionals in the pilot city, 27% trial rate, 5 meals a week, £2.70 CM → the annual ceiling at full retention ≈ £126,000 ✓.
- The ceiling is not the forecast: it is the number the funnel's reality will discount. Segment value is never size alone — retention and margin live in the multiply.
Why is the 126,000 annual figure called a ceiling, not a forecast?
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$180 \times 0.27 \times 5 \times 2.70 \times 52$ is the full-retention ceiling; unit 7.6's real funnel (15% trial, churn) does the discounting.
Which factor is NOT in segment value = size x conversion x retention x margin?
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Creativity moves the conversion and retention terms - it is an input, not a term. The formula keeps the comparison honest.
The fitness segment (27%, 64% weekly loyalty) may beat professionals at scale because:
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Value = size x conversion x RETENTION x margin: loyalty compounds. Segment choice is a portfolio, and the second bet is priced the same way.
Positioning: the race you can win
- The competitor sits at £6.90 on "healthy". Nimbus cannot out-health the health brand; it can out-convenience everyone: the bundle, the subscription, the 6 pm slot.
- Position: "Tuesday evenings, solved" — a specific moment, a credible difference, a reason to believe. On the perceptual map (convenience x health), the rival is high-left; Nimbus claims high-right.
The rival owns "healthy". Nimbus's defensible position is:
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Attack where the incumbent is structurally weak, not where they are strongest. The augmented layer (unit 7.3) is the moat that carries the claim.
On the convenience-health map, Nimbus deliberately claims the high-convenience corner rather than the centre.
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The centre is contested; the corner is ownable. Differentiation is choosing the race - the map just draws the choice.
Positioning the bundle on "quality" differentiates it from the 6.90 rival.
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Everyone claims quality - a difference everyone claims is not a position. Claim the moment and the systems: Tuesday evenings, solved.
Three segmentation slips
- Segmenting by demographics when behaviour differs. Age bands that buy identically are decoration.
- Choosing a segment you cannot reach. Fails actionable — the campaign is a wish.
- Positioning on "quality". A difference everyone claims is not a position.
Recap
- Measurable, substantial, actionable — then value = size x conversion x retention x margin.
- Position on a deliverable difference, owned against the map.
- A claim nobody can attack is a difference nobody can copy quickly.