When customers move like starlings - and what it means for segmentation | MarTech

"I have studied customer segmentation - from both marketing science and statistical viewpoints - for a few decades. But my big breakthrough, my big aha moment, came about 15 years ago when I was watching starlings. I wasn't even watching them live. I was just watching them on video. Starlings and several other species exhibit a fascinating flocking behavior known as murmuration. If you're not familiar with it, I recommend looking it up. (Although be warned, the videos are addictive.)"

"Describing a murmuration is difficult. Tens of thousands of birds swarm, creating giant structures out of nowhere. Just as quickly, they disappear and transform into new ones. What's amazing is the strength and clarity of each structure and the fluidity with which they form, morph and vanish. Watching these videos, I immediately realized this was a lens onto other complex behaviors - such as consumer behavior. Like the starlings, consumer behavior is highly influenced by the individuals around us."

Traditional segmentation divides consumers into coarse demographic or attitudinal groups, assuming homogeneity within segments. Consumer behavior is dynamic, heavily influenced by local interactions and social context, causing groups to form, morph and dissolve. Observations of starling murmurations show how large-scale coherent patterns can emerge from local interactions without central control. Applying murmuration principles suggests modeling consumers as agents whose behaviors and groupings evolve over time, captured through network effects, contagion, and context-dependent influences. Marketers should move toward fluid, emergent models that capture influence pathways and temporal dynamics rather than fixed buckets.

Read at MarTech