Segmentation is the process of dividing a large audience into smaller groups of people - or segments - who have similar needs, values or characteristics. It recognizes that different groups will respond differently to social and behavior change (SBC) messages and interventions. Segmenting audiences enables a program to focus on those audience members who are most critical to reach and also to design the most effective and efficient strategy for helping each audience adopt new behaviors.

Tailoring an SBC strategy to the characteristics, needs and values of important audience segments improves the chances for desired behavior change.  

Traditionally, audience segmentation in SBC has focused on dividing subgroups based on the demographic, geographic, psychographic, or attributional characteristics perceived to be significant in predicting behavioral outcomes. Advanced audience segmentation builds on traditional segmentation approaches by offering a rigorous process to identify the most meaningful characteristics on which to define and target sub-groups.

Advanced audience segmentation relies on a phased process of background research, in-depth qualitative research, quantitative research, and advanced statistical analysis to create a representative base of audience segments. It produces a framework to understand how certain beliefs, behaviors, or needs vary across a given population. This process offers greater nuance and insight into how to best identify and reach priority groups to drive behavior change. By employing this process, SBC interventions can improve their message tailoring and targeting, and other key considerations such as design, pricing, and positioning.

Camber Collective has been conducting advanced segmentation analyses for family planning initiatives in collaboration with the Nigerien Ministry of Health and Hewlett Foundation, as well as a part of the Transform/PHARE consortium. This Trending Topic includes sample materials from these studies and demonstrates how this approach can be used to create evidence-based SBC strategies to improve family planning demand and use. 

We also present a variety of tools and project examples for utilizing audience segmentation in family planning programs. In addition, we offer, below, a selection of journal articles.

We welcome your contributions to this topic - if you have materials which you'd like to share with your colleagues, please send them to the Health COMpass curator, Susan Leibtag, susan.leibtag@jhu.edu.

Additional Resources

• Strategic Segmentation—Bain.
• Segmentation and Positioning for Strategic Marketing Decisions, by James H Myers (1996). (for purchase on Amazon.com)
• Market Segmentation: Conceptual and Methodological Foundations, by Michel Wedel and Wagner Kamakura (2000). (for purchase on Amazon.com)
• Handbook of Market Segmentation: Strategic Targeting for Business and Technology Firms, by Art Weinstein (2004).  (for purchase on Amazon.com)
• Market Segmentation: How to do it and How to Profit From It, by Malcolm McDonald and Ian Dunbar (2012). (for purchase on Amazon.com)
• Cluster Analysis and Segmentation: by Theodoros Evgeniou at INSEAD.
• Latent Class Analysis: by MarketResearch.org.

Resources

• Tools
• Examples

Advanced Audience Segmentation for Social and Behavior Change

UPDATED September 2021

Introduction

Audience segmentation is fundamental to social and behavior change interventions. Segmentation serves to align messages, message delivery channels, products, and services with the needs and preferences of an intended audience to maximize program impact. Segmentation divides a population or market into subgroups that have, or are perceived to have, meaningfully similar characteristics, and significant differences from other subgroups. Audiences may be segmented based on demographic, attributional, psychographic, behavioral, or other key variables. Effective segmentation recognizes that the behavior change problem of interest may vary by segment and that different groups will respond differently to social and behavior change (SBC) approaches.

How to Do an Audience Analysis

An audience analysis is a process used to identify and understand the priority and influencing audiences for a SBCC strategy. The priority and influencing audiences are those people whose behavior must change in order to improve the health situation.

Audience Insights

Online Course

This website offers fact sheets describing the characteristics of specific US audiences. The fact sheets are meant to be used in order to identify the population segments that can benefit from a specific health behavior. Each fact sheet offers information about the size of the audience, their media habits, and insights into their behavior.

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How to Do Audience Segmentation

Audience segmentation is a key activity within an audience analysis. It is the process of dividing a large audience into smaller groups of people - or segments - who have similar needs, values or characteristics. Segmentation recognizes that different groups will respond differently to social and behavior change communication (SBCC) messages and interventions.

How to Create a Brand Strategy Part 1: Using Audience Insight to Drive Your Brand

Audience insight refers to an understanding of the emotional motivations and needs of the audience. An insight goes beyond descriptive demographic data, such as age, gender or income level, and describes a key piece of information about how the audience feels in relation to a specific product, service or behavior. An audience insight statement is comprised of two fundamental components: A summary of the understanding of the audience’s identified needs, and the key problem they have faced trying to fulfill this need.

Audience Characteristics and Behavioral Factors Template

Template

This template is used to organize the priority audience information by socio-demographic, geographic and psychographic characteristics. It also helps to organize current behaviors, knowledge, attitudes and perceptions, barriers and facilitators.

The form has space for the following information:

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Audience Insight Template

Template

Audience insight refers to an understanding of the emotional motivations and needs of the audience.  An insight goes beyond descriptive demographic data, such as age, gender or income level, and describes a key piece of information about how the audience feels in relation to a specific product, service or behavior.  

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Audience Messages and Materials Worksheet

Template

This worksheet walks the design team through various steps in developing materials and messages for a particular audience.

The sheet has space for providing the following information:

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Audience Segmentation Checklist

Checklist

This is a checklist to assess proposed audience segments for an SBCC activity. It describes seven audience characteristics and explains what that characteristic means, and why it is important:

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Audience Segmentation Template

Template

This template can be used when analyzing the characteristics of an audience to decide how to segment the intended audience when designing an SBCC campaign.

The characteristics of the audience can include:

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Audience Segmentation Tree

Template

An audience segmentation tree is a visual tool that is created by identifying the characteristics of the potential audience using an audience segmentation template, and then developing a graphic (which looks like a tree) to track those characteri

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Sample Audience Segmentation Table

Design Document

In developing a communication strategy, one of the initial steps is to define and segment the audience, identifying each audience segment's particular characteristics.

This is an eample of an audience segmentation table from the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) in South Africa and offers information about:

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Segmenting the Market to Reach the Targeted Population

Website

"Segmenting" is a marketing term for dividing up an audience into groups according to particular criteria. The members of each group have at least one important factor in common with the other members of the same group, and that factor sets them apart from all the other groups.

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Customer Segmentation Toolkit

Toolkit

Customer, or audience, segmentation allows organizations to divide a market into subsets of customers that have, or are perceived to have, common needs, interests, and priorities – then design and implement strategies targeted toward them.

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Market Segmentation Study Guide

Curriculum

This free study guide has been prepared to meet the information needs of university-level marketing students throughout the world.

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Audience Segmentation Guide

Guidelines

As an online email and marketing company, MailChimp specializes in reaching audiences with information, and offers helpful information about how to create those messages and how to identify those audiences.

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Accelerating Family Planning Demand Through Advanced Audience Segmentation (SPARK page)

Burkina

Cote d'Ivoire

Niger

This "SPARK" page illustrates several projects that used advanced audience segmentation (AAS) to increase demand for family planning.  The projects described are from Niger, Cote d'Ivoire and Burkina Faso.

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Using Customer Insights to Reshape Policy and Programming in Niger

Niger

This brief discusses a project in which the Camber Collective was tasked with developing a strategic analysis of the demand landscape in Niger, relying on in-depth qualitative research and a national survey, and complemented by a robust supply analysis.  The work’s objective was to provide a common factbase that Niger’s family planning community

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Increasing Contraceptive Use in Niger

Niger

This report describes a project, referenced in this article, to identify audience segments in Niger in order to increase use of modern family planning methods.

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National Survey and Segmentation of Smallholder Households in Bangladesh

Bangladesh

In cooperation with the Bangladesh Bureau of  Statistics, the organization Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP)  conducted a nationally representative survey of smallholder  households  in  Bangladesh  between February  and  June  2016.  This  survey  sought  to  comprehensively  map  the various activities, interests, aspirations, bar

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National Survey and Segmentation of Smallholder Households in Nigeria

Nigeria

To better understand the needs and aspirations of smallholder families in Nigeria, CGAP conducted a nationally representative survey of smallholder households between November 2016 and March 2017 in close collaboration with the Nigeria National Bureau of Statistics, local stakeholders in Nigeria, and InterMedia.

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Family Planning Questionnaire

Niger

This questionnaire was developed as part of a wider program to use advanced audience segmentation (AAS) techniques in order to properly direct family planning  (FP) messages to specific audiences. 

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Cartes Conseil par Segment [Segmented Counseling Cards]

Niger

These counseling cards were developed as part of a wider program to use advanced audience segmentation (AAS) techniques in order to properly direct family planning  (FP) messages to specific audiences in Niger. 

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Methodes de Contraception Flipbook

Niger

This flipbook was developed as part of a wider program to use advanced audience segmentation (AAS) techniques in order to properly direct family planning  (FP) messages to specific audiences. 

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Niger Male Segmentation Analysis

Niger

Cette recherche n'a pas été réalisée dans l'ordre Identifier les segments masculins au Niger qui étaient les plus susceptibles de changer leurs attitudes et comportements envers la PF, et fournir des principes de haut niveau pour la conception et la mise en œuvre d'interventions ciblant ces segments.

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Provider Survey and Segmentation Findings

Pakistan

Burkina

Tanzania

This is a report on the advanced audience segmentation activities carried out in Burkina Faso, Tanzania, and Pakistan.

The report covers:

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Beyond Bias: Provider Survey and Segmentation Findings

Pakistan

Burkina

Tanzania

Pathfinder International worked with Camber Collective, YLabs, and Behavioral Economics in Reproductive Health (BERI) to implement the 3-year project (November 2016 - October 2019) to better understand and address provider bias.

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