e 12-2: Structural Segmentation Organization of Structural Segmentation Although the base segmentation had to be very rigid in its application (mutually exclusive and all-inclusive), we require no such stringency in the definition of structural segments. Structural segments need not be all-inclusive. If we don't assign business units to certain groups of customers, there is no ill effect. For example, we might decide that there are certain remote regions of our coverage area or certain market segments of questionable value that we would rather not develop at this time. In this case, we simply assign no marketing or sales resources to that region or market. Neither do we have to worry about enforcement of exclusivity between structural segments. In fact, an overlap in structural segments is often necessary and desirable. For example, the structural segments for marketing, sales, and customer service units should overlap. Each of these groups should be covering the same customers in their own respective roles. Chapter 12 Building of Structural Segments Like the base segmentation scheme, the structural segmentation plan needs to be built and renewed on an annual basis. Development of the structural segmentation scheme, like the base scheme, should be a formal annual process; however, the segmentation does not need to be done by the CRM group. It usually makes more sense for the operational business units that will make use of it to create the segmentation. Components of the Structural Segmentation Scheme Like all segmentation schemes, structural segmentation has a combination of criteria from the behavioral, geographic, and demographic areas. In most cases, the first criterion is geographic, usually followed by demographic. For example, dividing sales and customer service coverage by geography and subsequently, within that, by industry and type of customer. The two main behavioral criteria are product usage (dividing territories by the types of products) and by revenue (separating high-revenue from low- revenue cust