User/Customer Segments
All businesses (even decentralized ones) depend on profitable users/customers, so companies can hardly expect to survive (let alone thrive) for long without them. In order to satisfy their user/customer base, companies need to understand their needs and behavior. Dividing a company’s user/customer base into groups based on similar characteristics in a way that is relevant to marketing is a common practice called customer segmentation.
Effective segmentation is considered imperative for any company attempting to scale when trying to send messages to their target market. Marketing teams can then make the most of their marketing budget by making a conscious decision about which segments to serve (by reaching visitors who are most likely to become solid leads) and which segments to ignore (by not spending money on impressions that can hardly be turned into successful conversions.
There are many ways to segment the market in order to reach the desired consumer base for certain products or services. Some of these include:
- Demographic Segmentation (B2C & B2B)
This type of segmentation is based on certain characteristics of the audience, such as age, gender, education, income, occupation, etc. For instance, people with income < $100,000 would probably be considered crypto enthusiasts, while those (individuals, businesses or funds) operating with millions of dollars would most likely belong to the whales category. While the former would typically acquire tokens during ICOs, the latter tend to secure their assets during the pre-ICO period.
- Geographic Segmentation
Cryptocurrency market typically requires serious understanding of the specifics of different regions, mainly due to significant differences in the level of their regulation and saturation. For instance, in its genesis block distribution, ADA (Cardano) token vouchers specifically targeted the East Asian market and were mainly distributed to Japanese users.
Behavioral and Psychographic Segmentation
These types of segmentation are far less concrete than the previous two, as the characteristics used to segment are less tangible. While behavioral segmentation divides the market into groups based on their awareness, usage, loyalties, knowledge and purchase patterns, psychographic segmentation divides the market based on their social class, lifestyle and values.
According to Osterwalder and Pigneur (2010), customer groups represent separate segments if:
- They have substantially different profitabilities
(e.g. whales vs. crypto enthusiasts)
- They are reached through different distribution channels
(e.g. pre-ICO vs. ICO/TGE)
- They require different types of relationships
(e.g. B2B vs. B2C)
- Their needs require and justify a distinct offer
(e.g. various types of incentives, airdrops, etc.)
- They are willing to pay for different aspects of the offer
(e.g. using tokens within the ecosystem vs. reselling tokens for profit)
Generally speaking, blockchain platform business models are usually segmented as two-sided markets (two interdependent customer segments: a large user base and merchants or advertisers), niche markets (supplier-buyer relationships) and segmented markets (market segments with slightly different needs and problems), and less often as diversified customer business models (two unrelated segments with very different needs and problems) or mass market models.
