Reference · Phase 1 — Market Attractiveness & Fact Base

Customer Insight, Segmentation & Competitive Teardown

Load when segmentation lenses, jobs-to-be-done, customer research, competitor teardowns.

Part of the Product Strategy skill · loaded on demand from SKILL.md

Part of the product-strategy skill. See SKILL.md for the workflow spine and when to load this file.

III. Customer Insight & Segmentation Toolkit

Purpose

Ensure the product strategy is grounded in real customer needs rather than only market attractiveness or competitor activity.

Key Questions

  • Who is the target customer?
  • What job are they trying to complete?
  • What pain points are frequent, severe, and underserved?
  • What alternatives do they use today?
  • What triggers switching?
  • What would they pay for?
  • What adoption barriers exist?
  • What trust, risk, or usability concerns exist?
  • Which segments are most valuable and reachable?

A. Segmentation Lenses

Potential segmentation approaches include:

1. Demographic or Firmographic

  • Age
  • Income
  • Geography
  • Household type
  • Company size
  • Industry
  • Revenue
  • Employee count

2. Behavioral

  • Usage frequency
  • Spend level
  • Channel preference
  • Feature usage
  • Digital maturity
  • Purchase behavior
  • Engagement intensity

3. Needs-Based

  • Jobs-to-be-done
  • Pain points
  • Desired outcomes
  • Service expectations
  • Willingness to switch
  • Trust needs

4. Value-Based

  • Revenue potential
  • Profitability
  • Lifetime value
  • Cross-sell potential
  • Strategic importance

5. Risk-Based

  • Credit risk
  • Fraud risk
  • Compliance complexity
  • Churn risk
  • Operational complexity

6. Channel-Based

  • Direct digital
  • Sales-led
  • Partner-led
  • Marketplace
  • Ecosystem
  • Retail or branch
  • Embedded distribution

B. Good Segment Tests

A strong target segment should be:

  • Measurable

    • Can be identified and sized

  • Reachable

    • Can be accessed through realistic channels

  • Economically attractive

    • Has sufficient revenue or profit potential

  • Needs-distinctive

    • Has clearly different needs or behaviors

  • Actionable

    • Product, pricing, or GTM can be tailored

  • Defensible

    • Client has a reason to win against competitors

  • Scalable

    • Can expand over time

C. Jobs-to-Be-Done Framework

For each target customer, define:

When [situation],
I want to [job],
so I can [desired outcome].

Example Fields

  • Customer segment
  • Situation or trigger
  • Functional job
  • Emotional job
  • Social job
  • Current workaround
  • Pain point
  • Desired outcome
  • Frequency
  • Severity
  • Willingness to pay
  • Current alternatives
  • Switching barriers

D. Customer Research Methods

Potential methods include:

  • Customer interviews
  • Expert interviews
  • Surveys
  • Conjoint analysis
  • Concept testing
  • Prototype testing
  • Diary studies
  • Ethnographic research
  • Usability testing
  • Support ticket mining
  • Sales call analysis
  • Win/loss analysis
  • Funnel analytics
  • Product telemetry
  • Community or social listening

E. Customer Insight Outputs

  • Segment personas
  • Jobs-to-be-done map
  • Customer journey
  • Pain point prioritization
  • Needs hierarchy
  • Switching trigger analysis
  • Adoption barrier analysis
  • Willingness-to-pay evidence
  • Voice-of-customer summary
  • Customer-backed product requirements

IV. Competitive Teardown Template

Purpose

Understand how competitors serve the market, where they are strong, where they are vulnerable, and where white space exists.

Competitor Archetypes

Common competitor types include:

  • Incumbents
  • Digital attackers
  • Specialists
  • Platforms
  • Ecosystem players
  • Aggregators
  • Marketplaces
  • Infrastructure providers
  • Low-cost challengers
  • Premium challengers
  • Adjacent category entrants

Competitor Assessment Fields

For each competitor, assess:

  • Target segment
  • Core value proposition
  • Product features
  • Pricing and packaging
  • Revenue model
  • Distribution channels
  • Customer experience
  • Onboarding journey
  • Brand positioning
  • Partnerships
  • Technology stack
  • Data advantage
  • Regulatory position
  • Funding or scale indicators
  • Customer traction
  • Strengths
  • Weaknesses
  • Likely strategic intent
  • Likely response to client entry

Competitive Exhibit Types

  • Competitor matrix
  • Feature benchmark
  • Pricing benchmark
  • Positioning map
  • Customer journey comparison
  • UX teardown
  • Capability comparison
  • White-space analysis
  • Competitive threat map
  • Right-to-win comparison