What Is Psychographic Segmentation? Definition of Psychographic Segmentation, Psychographic Segmentation Meaning and Concept
Psychographic segmentation is the way of grouping consumers according to psychological and demographic variables.
Marketing uses psychographics to divide the market . Psychographics is a science that uses aspects of psychology and demographics to better understand consumers. Among the psychological variables used we find personality, lifestyle and consumer values .
For its part, demographic characteristics are social, cultural, geographical, political or any other aspect that is shared by a population. For that reason, each population group has a different demographic profile.
In order to make a good psychographic segmentation, the company must have enough information. The more information you have about the psychological and demographic aspects of consumers, the better the segmentation process is .
psychological variables
The main psychological variables that are used in psychographic segmentation are:
1. Personality
Personality is the set of psychological characteristics that make one person different from another. These characteristics make each person respond differently to the environment in which they operate.
Of course, the characteristics of each person's personality influence their behavior. If we exemplify it, an extroverted girl will buy a miniskirt and an introverted girl will not. Personality characteristics are an important basis for segmenting markets, but they have certain limitations.
First, because these characteristics can be difficult to measure. In some cases it may even be impossible to measure these characteristics. That is, for example, what level of introversion or extroversion does a person have.
Second, it is very difficult to use the media to reach those people with those characteristics. If we send a communication message over the radio, it still reaches introverted and extroverted people.
2. Lifestyle
Lifestyle represents a person's pattern of living. This pattern is expressed through the opinions that are externalized, the interests that are expressed, and the activities that each person prefers.
The lifestyle of each person influences the convictions that a person has in the social, political and economic part. For this reason, it is decisive in the products and brands that people choose to buy.
The lifestyle of each person is more than the social class to which they belong or the personality they possess. It is a unique way of interacting with the world. For example, a person with a sports lifestyle may like soccer, whether he is poor or rich, low, middle or high class.
Segmentation by this variable has the limitation that it is difficult to measure the size of the population by lifestyle. Furthermore, if the segmentation is very specific, it can be very costly for companies to target their marketing strategies to each lifestyle.
3. Values
Values are the principles and qualities that allow us to identify a person. Values have a social component because they constitute the beliefs or principles that are shared by a social group.
They are also determining factors in consumer purchasing behavior. For this reason they also help to divide the markets.
Psychographic segmentation psychological variables
demographic variables
Demographic variables are all data related to the population. This data can be the age, sex, occupation, race, educational level and religion of the person.
All these demographic data facilitate the process of market segmentation. This is because they allow us to understand the behavior of consumers . But, they are not enough to explain consumer behavior, so it is necessary to relate them to psychological variables.
For example, a young person who likes an extreme sport like canopy. It's not that he likes this sport just because he's young, it also has to do with his lifestyle.
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Advantages of psychographic segmentation
The main advantages of performing a psychographic segmentation are:
- It helps to better understand the preferences and interests of consumers. This based on the type of personality, lifestyle, demographic aspects and the values they have.
- Psychographic segmentation is essential when looking to personalize products and services.
- It is a more complete form of segmentation than geographic, demographic and behavioral segmentation. Since it involves a greater number of variables from the psychological and demographic point of view.
- It allows to take more effective product strategies and marketing communication.
- Helps create a more effective and lasting relationship with consumers.
To finish, we can affirm that the use of psychographic segmentation allows us to have a better understanding of consumers. With this knowledge it is possible to create more effective product and marketing communication strategies. Since they address aspects such as the way of thinking, feeling and behaving of the consumer. Since it includes a greater number of variables than the other forms of segmentation.
