Customer segmentation
Segmentation is useful when it helps you see meaningful differences between customers and make a better product decision because of them.
The idea
Choose one or two dimensions that can actually change what the customer needs or what you would build for them.
More dimensions can make a segment sound precise while making it smaller, harder to reason about, and less useful. Specificity has a cost, so add it only when it changes the decision.
Why
The goal is not to demonstrate that you know a segmentation framework. It is to choose a group whose needs are coherent enough that the pain points and product choices that follow can be reasoned about deliberately.
In the room
“I want to segment by how constrained people are by the deadline. Someone planning months ahead has a very different problem from someone who has three days left, and that difference should change what we build.”
Practice
Practice with the coaching assistant
Try a new prompt, explain your segmentation, get feedback, and retry.