This document presents a proposed design for a customer segmentation interface tool. The tool allows marketers to easily define and edit customer segments through a simple compose field, without needing SQL knowledge. Marketers can create new segments, edit existing segments, and reference previous segments. The design aims to let marketers focus on marketing tasks, adapt segments easily, and see segment results in real time. A sample workflow takes a marketer through creating, editing, and referencing segments to target different customer groups.
2. This Design is...
...a tool to help marketers easily define and edit
customer segments.
This Design is not...
...for developers who have an extensive
understanding of SQL, and it does not accommodate
for logic past "and" + "or".
3. Editable Title
Name your unique
segment
Segment Feedback
The number of contacts in
a segment update in real
time
Compose Field
Users can type plain
English into the compose
field
Sidebar of Attributes &
Your Existing Segments
Attributes from your
database and your saved
segments are available to
drag and drop into the
compose field
Proposed Design
4. Goals of Design
1. 2. 3.
Let Marketers focus
on what they do best.
1. Marketers are good at
creating segments, not
SQL. We want to create
a simple and SQL free
interface.
2. Increase adaptability
after installation.
Most Marketers know
what they want.
1. Marketers typically know
their database, so let’s
allow them to enter in
their segment quickly &
easily.
Help marketers see
the results of their
query in real time.
1. Marketers can adjust
their composition of
attributes to increase or
decrease the number of
contacts in their
segment.
5. In Support of Design Goals
1. 2. 3.
Let Marketers focus
on what they do best.
Most Marketers know
what they want.
Help marketers see
the results of their
query in real time.
“Marketing people add value.
Every step between their
marketing decisions and real
data reduces their value.”
Alan Walsh
Functional Chief for Lifetime
Engagement for Indiana University
“[Marketers] generally know the
database well and know what is
available to use”
Carley Ostrand
Teradata Consultant
“...one telecom equipment company
provided its salespeople with CRM
software so they could pull up customer
details and price quotes in real time,
which improved their speed and
effectiveness while also reducing costs”
Bain & Company
http://www.bain.com/publications/articles/how-to-
make-the-most-of-your-back-office.aspx
6. Meet Gabrielle
Marketing Specialist
Gabrielle is building the
marketing segments for the
new Fall promotional
campaign.
She knows her customer
database very well and
understands logic, but does
not know SQL.
She has an idea of the
segment she wants to target,
but wants to validate that it is
robust enough for the
campaign.
Image sourced from: http://www.levo.com/articles/career-advice/business-myths-you-need-watch-out-for
Accessed on 9/12/2014. Used for educational purposes only
7. Create New Segment Edit Segment Reference Existing Segment
Scenario 1: Creating a Segment
The marketing team agreed that the target market
was young men age 21-28.
In addition, they’ve agreed that the sweater is
probably too warm for the southwest and Pacific
coast, so Gabrielle has been instructed to exclude
those from her search.
Finally, the marketing team has decided to focus
on people who have made a purchase in the last
three months, to target people who will need to
replace their summer wardrobe with something fresh.
Logic of Segment:
Men AND Age: 21-28 AND Regions AND Purchase
8. Create New Segment Edit Segment Reference Existing Segment
Gabrielle types “Sweater Weather 2014”
as a title.
She knows the exact segment she wants
so she types: “Men, 21-28 years old”
Gabrielle sees the customer segment
formulate live as she inputs her segment
information.
Overview: Flow of a new entry
Logic of Segment:
Men AND Age: 21-28 AND Regions AND Purchase
9. Create New Segment Edit Segment Reference Existing Segment
Detailed Interactions of Composing Segment (part 1)
1. The system auto-completes, presenting potential
attributes from Gabrielle’s database for her to select
from.
2. Once Gabrielle types a period, this signifies that she is
done with her first group of conditions in her statement. A
new line begins under the completed sentence to start
another logic statement. Alternatively, she can hit the
“Enter” button to achieve the same result. “OR” auto-
Logic of Segment: populates, but she can change “OR” to “AND”, as well.
Men AND Age: 21-28 AND Regions AND Purchase
10. Create New Segment Edit Segment Reference Existing Segment
Detailed Interactions of Composing Segment (part 2)
3. When Gabrielle enters a value outside of her
database, a red line appears to show her error.
4. The compose field allows Gabrielle to easily move
around attributes in her statement by dragging and
dropping. She can also delete attributes by clicking on the
“X” in the top right hand corner.
Logic of Segment:
Men AND Age: 21-28 AND Regions AND Purchase
11. Create New Segment Edit Segment Reference Existing Segment
Completed New Segment
GOALS ACHIEVED
1. Let Marketers focus on what
they do best.
Our compose field creates a simple
and SQL free interface.
2. Most Marketers know what they
want.
The compose field allows marketers
to just start typing what they want.
3. Help marketers see the results
of their query in real time
The queried results update in real
time and are displayed on a pie chart,
which reflects number of customers
targeted.
Logic of Segment:
Men AND Age: 21-28 AND Regions AND Purchase
12. Create New Segment Edit Segment Reference Existing Segment
Scenario 2: Editing a Segment
Gabrielle is now told that in addition to the young
men, research shows that parents, mothers in
particular, are still buying clothes for their children at
that age. She needs to modify her “Sweater
Weather 2014” segment.
Gabrielle needs to add mothers to the “Sweater
Weather 2014” segment. She begins by adding
women from 40-55 in the same regions as before.
She adds this set of data to aggregate the two.
Logic of Segment:
(Men AND Age: 21-28 AND Regions AND
Purchase)
OR (Women AND Age: 40-55 AND Regions)
13. Create New Segment Edit Segment Reference Existing Segment
Overview: Editing an existing segment
Gabrielle drags the attribute ‘Women’
from the ‘Attributes’ sidebar into the
composition.
The Region in her new logic sentence is
the same as the previous, so Gabrielle
can copy the “Region“ attribute from the
existing logic sentence into her new logic
sentence.
Continuing on, she adds additional
attributes to the new logic sentence.
Logic of Segment:
(Men AND Age: 21-28 AND Regions AND
Purchase)
OR (Women AND Age: 40-55 AND Regions)
14. Create New Segment Edit Segment Reference Existing Segment
Detailed Flow of Editing a Segment (part 1)
1. Gabrielle needs to select “Women”. From the
attribute “Gender”, she has the option of selecting
either “Men” or “Women”. In this case, she will select
“Women”.
Logic of Segment:
(Men AND Age: 21-28 AND Regions AND
Purchase)
OR (Women AND Age: 40-55 AND Regions)
2. Gabrielle drags “Women” into the compose frame, she
could also type it live, like she did in the first scenario.
15. Create New Segment Edit Segment Reference Existing Segment
Detailed Flow of Editing a Segment (part 2)
3. To copy a defined attribute from one logic sentence
to the next, Gabrielle can:
A. Hold “Alt” + Drag the attribute box, B. Right click +
copy + paste, or C. Hit “Control” + “C” & “Control + “V”
Logic of Segment:
(Men AND Age: 21-28 AND Regions AND
Purchase)
OR (Women AND Age: 40-55 AND Regions)
4. Gabrielle edits the rest of the segment in the compose
screen & saves the updated segment.
16. Create New Segment Edit Segment Reference Existing Segment
Completely Edited Screen
GOALS ACHIEVED
1. Let Marketers focus on what
they do best.
Marketers can easily drill more
deeply into an existing segment
without starting from scratch
2. Most Marketers know what they
want.
We know Marketers know their
databases well, but they can
reference their attributes on the side
bar to help with external cognition.
3. Help marketers see the results
of their query in real time
The queried results update in real
time to display an increase in
number of customers targeted.
Logic of Segment:
(Men AND Age: 21-28 AND Regions AND
Purchase)
OR (Women AND Age: 40-55 AND Regions)
17. Create New Segment Edit Segment Reference Existing Segment
Scenario 3: Creating a New Segment Based on
an Existing Segment
Gabrielle has to create a new segment that is very
close to an existing segment.
Marketing has decided that some sweaters are stylish
for young men, but some are more stylish for older
men. They’ve also decided that wives or girlfriends
should be targeted as well.
Using her previously created segment, “Sweater
Weather” as a base, Gabrielle adjusts the age of the
men to 30-55 and adjusts the age of the Women to
30-55.
These sweaters are more expensive, so Gabrielle
creates a filter that only targets people who make
more than $40,000 per year.
Logic of Segment:
((Men AND Age: 30-55 AND Regions) OR (Women AND Age: 30-
55 AND Regions)) AND Salary: >$40,000
18. Create New Segment Edit Segment Reference Existing Segment
Overview: Referencing an existing segment
Gabrielle drags ‘Sweater Weather 2014’
from the segments tab of the attributes
bar into the compose field.
‘Sweater Weather 2014’ is grouped, so
Gabrielle is able to expand the group to
see what attributes are included.
Reference Segment
After collapsing the ‘Sweater Weather
2014’ group, Gabrielle adds an additional
sentence to hone in on her target user
group with salaries greater than $40,000.
Logic of Segment:
((Men AND Age: 30-55 AND Regions) OR (Women AND Age: 30-
55 AND Regions)) AND Salary: >$40,000
19. Create New Segment Edit Segment
Detailed Flow of Referencing an Existing Segment (part 1)
1. Gabrielle has created a new segment. She wants to
base it on “Sweater Weather 2014”, so she drags it into
the compose field from the “Segments” tab in the
sidebar.
Reference Existing Segment
2. “Sweater Weather 2014” is grouped. Gabrielle can
expand the group by clicking on the plus sign in the bottom
right hand corner of the box.
Separate attributes can be grouped by holding “Shift” +
selecting the desired attributes, then clicking the “Group”
button.
Logic of Segment:
((Men AND Age: 30-55 AND Regions) OR (Women AND Age: 30-
55 AND Regions)) AND Salary: >$40,000
20. Create New Segment Edit Segment
Detailed Flow of Referencing an Existing Segment (part 2)
3. Gabrielle can now see the contents of the “Sweater
Weather 2014” group.
Reference Existing Segment
4. She edits the age of both men and women in this group
and closes it upon completion, using the “-” in the bottom
right hand corner.
Logic of Segment:
((Men AND Age: 30-55 AND Regions) OR (Women AND Age: 30-
55 AND Regions)) AND Salary: >$40,000
21. Create New Segment Edit Segment
Detailed Flow of Referencing an Existing Segment (part 3)
5. The star after the “Sweater Weather 2014” group
indicates that the group has been modified. Gabrielle
wants to add in an “AND” clause so she clicks on “OR”
to change it to “AND”.
Reference Existing Segment
6. She adds the statement that these people should be in
an income bracket above $40K. She finally titles & saves her
new segment as “Sweater Weather Upscale”.
Logic of Segment:
((Men AND Age: 30-55 AND Regions) OR (Women AND Age: 30-
55 AND Regions)) AND Salary: >$40,000
22. Create New Segment Edit Segment Reference Existing Segment
Completed: Referencing
an Existing Segment
GOALS ACHIEVED
1. Let Marketers focus on what
they do best.
Marketers have segments they’ve
previously created ready & available
for use.
2. Most Marketers know what they
want.
Grouping a segment allows
Marketers to consolidate and
condense.
3. Help Marketers see the results
of their query in real time
The results of a query can influence
how Marketers might adjust their
segment to reach a quota.
23. Conclusion
With this design, we allow marketers quicker access to
the data they already understand.
By allowing them to compose simple sentences in our
segmentation tool, we remove many of the interface
obstacles between their marketing decisions and actual
data.
(see full system diagram on the next slide)