A Targeted Consumer Strategy to Maximize Growth
Problem
A global retailer wanted to revisit a consumer segmentation study they completed in 2016. The company recognized there had been significant changes in the market and in consumer behavior since the previous study. They needed a data-driven approach to understand the buying decisions within their current audience segments – as well as potentially new segments – to inform and prioritize their marketing, digital, brand, retail, and product initiatives to maximize growth. Crucially, the company needed to identify which of the consumer segments offered the greatest growth opportunity and then develop specific strategies to effectively target, convert, and retain those customers. They engaged Excelerate to conduct the study, identify the consumer segments, and develop activation strategies for those segments.
Approach
Excelerate kicked off the project with a discovery phase, interviewing key executives and analyzing existing data to understand the current insights the company held into their customers as well as what information was lacking. The team then leveraged the gaps in knowledge to guide the structure of research along with a focus on identifying actionable outcomes. During the second phase of the project, the Excelerate Team launched a 30-minute global survey across 8 countries targeting current and potentially new customers. Analysis of the survey resulted in the development of five consumer segments, two of which the client had not previously recognized and represented the most viable growth targets.
Excelerate then conducted design thinking and journey mapping workshops with over 40 employees to immerse them into the new segments, their purchasing habits, and their motivations. The journey mapping workshops enabled employees to begin identifying new opportunities to attract, convert, and retain consumers from a new consumer centric POV.
Results
Excelerate delivered a proposal to key executives that targeted new consumer segments to drive the company’s long-term growth while not alienating existing customers. This represented a significant strategic shift for the company, requiring financial modeling and data to illustrate the proposal’s projected impact. The President approved the proposal and the company is in the process of implementing this new, targeted consumer strategy.
At the project close, the client confided: “Our efforts with Excelerate will pay off many times over what we budgeted.”