Breaking totals apart.
WHY SEGMENT
A total hides everything interesting.
WHAT TO SEGMENT BY
Product or service Customer type Acquisition source Location Period Channel
WHAT SEGMENTATION REVEALS
That overall flat revenue is one segment growing and another falling That one channel produces customers worth far more That one product carries the margin
WHY THAT MATTERS
Those are entirely different businesses inside one set of totals.
HOW TO START
Take your main figure and split it three ways.
Revenue by product, by customer type, and by source.
WHAT TO LOOK FOR
Segments behaving differently from the whole Segments growing or shrinking Segments that lose money
WHAT TO DO WITH FINDINGS
Concentrate where returns are best Address or exit where they are poor
WHAT TO BE CAREFUL WITH
Segments too small to draw conclusions from.
WHAT TO REVIEW
Segmentation annually, since the useful splits change.
