Consumer segmentation has long been used in retail, fashion, online shopping, packaged goods, email marketing, and other internet-era commerce models.

One of the earliest forms of consumer segmentation was based on demographics: we knew that the needs and desires of a 28-year-old woman were different from the needs and desires of a 55-year-old man.

The rise of employee segmentation
Employee segmentation has been a late bloomer in the world of benefits. But it's finally coming of age. Marketing and communications experts are recognizing that - like consumer purchasing decisions - benefit enrollment decisions are more often driven by an employee’s values and beliefs than by the features and benefits of the products and programs themselves.

And demographics simply can't reveal those traits.

So, it’s not surprising that today’s market-leading firms are going well beyond demographics, to personalization by using psychographics.

Along the way, they started delving into behavioral propensity.

They started using sophisticated data tools to mine more deeply and broadly into the vast quantities of historical and readily available consumer data.

Because if they knew what an employee had chosen in the past, they could better predict what they'd be likely to choose in the future.

Rock 'n' roll vs. classical music
For example, if they knew someone had been to 60 rock concerts in the past 20 years, and no classical music concerts, they knew they probably wouldn't get very far pitching them on an upcoming Beethoven or Bach recital!

But now, to really change the game and take engagement to the next level, we must evolve our outreach to become both Values-Based and Neuro-Optimized.™ In other words, we have to move beyond just communicating benefits, and start marketing them. Otherwise, we'll have a much more difficult time getting to actual activation.

Wouldn't it be great to significantly improve the relevance and quality of your product and service recommendations? And you can still build on the principle that what someone has done in the past is a good indicator of what they’re likely to prefer in the future.

The power of values
Knowing how a given individual views their world – how they believe the world works for them – reveals how to align your guidance with their "why," so that they’re more likely to respond. By speaking to what's in it for them, you're not just educating, you're motivating!

Values-Based Communications™ is, therefore, the most powerful way to evolve your engagement strategy.

Most people have developed their core values and world views by their late teens to early 20s. At that point, their values begin influencing their behavior at the subconscious level: “The world is this and such a way, and I’ve therefore already decided that I need to engage with it in that and such a way.”

Activating the safety brain
Framing your recommendations and offers in terms of your employee's individual values propensity is the surest way to activate them to enroll and engage in your programs. It taps into the way their brain is already processing their experiences.

This is the foundation for more compelling outreach campaigns because, as we now know, people most often behave in the way that reflects their core values, so they feel safe.

Values-Based Communications™ are Neuro-Optimized.™ They increase response, enrollment and sales rates by 10%, 15%, 25% – or even more. And they're embedded in benefitpersonas.™

Without these, you'll keep hitting the same old “upper limit” problem. Your “logic” will keep colliding with their “I don’t wanna.” But at the intersection of their deep-seated values and our advanced segmentation techniques, there's a new frontier.

The last word
You can embark on a transformative journey that taps into the core of human decision-making.

• You won't be just reaching out; you'll be resonating.

• You won't be offering your best, you'll be connecting with what they already feel is their best.

• You won't just be trying to get their attention, you'll be catalyzing them to take action.

How cool would it be if, instead of hearing another "I don’t wanna," you started hearing "I'm in!"?

~ Mark Head
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