Market segmentation research that ranks the segments to win first.

Market segmentation research is the study of how a market's customers divide into groups that buy, use and value a product differently. For payments and fintech, segments are cut by size, industry, sales channel and country, the business counterparts of demographic and geographic segmentation, then ranked on four criteria: need, economics, readiness to adopt and ease of acquisition. Nextyn builds each ranking from interviews and surveys with merchants, business buyers and payments executives, so product and sales teams know which segments to pursue first and why.

A Nextyn market segmentation study delivers three outputs: a ranked segment list, a profile of each segment and a target-first plan for product and sales. Each output comes from primary interviews and surveys with buyers in every segment, not from firmographic data alone:

• Ranked segment list: every segment scored on need, economics, readiness to adopt and ease of acquisition
• Segment profiles: the needs, volumes, fees and buying triggers of each group
• Target-first plan: the segments to pursue now, next and not at all

Nextyn interviews the buyers inside each candidate segment, together with the payments executives and experts who serve them, so every segment is ranked on first-hand evidence. Each study draws its sample to cover every segment in scope, by size, industry and sales channel:

• Merchants and business buyers in each segment, from a network of 10,000+ merchants
• Finance leaders who choose payment providers and pay the fees
• Payments and fintech executives, from 2,000+ reachable CxOs
• Industry experts who know each segment's volumes and switching patterns

Nextyn runs market segmentation research in the United Kingdom, across Europe and in North America, among other markets. Markets are agreed at scoping, and segments are defined the same way in each market, so geographic comparisons run directly from one country to the next. Recent Nextyn payments work includes a 300-merchant survey across 11 categories in the UK and a 13,000+ respondent merchant survey across 28 countries, split by merchant size, industry and sales channel.

Nextyn recommends commissioning market segmentation research before a roadmap, a sales plan or a marketing budget is set for the year. At that stage the ranking still decides where effort and budget go, instead of explaining afterwards why a chosen segment failed to convert. Other triggers include product and sales disagreeing on focus, a stalled pipeline in a segment that looked attractive and entry into a new market. Nextyn sends a research plan within 48 hours of the brief.

A Nextyn market segmentation project runs in four steps, from brief to read-out, and nothing is commissioned until the client approves the plan. The client sees the sample, method and price before any fieldwork, and reads every interview with the Nextyn team at the end.

1. Submit the brief: the product, the candidate segments and the targeting decision the research must settle.
2. Receive a plan within 48 hours: who Nextyn will interview in each segment, how, and what the work costs.
3. Approve the plan: fieldwork starts only after sign-off.
4. Review the read-out: every interview read together, showing where segments agree, where they conflict and what is still open.

Nextyn sends a market segmentation research plan within 48 hours of receiving the brief, stating who will be interviewed, how, and what the work costs. The plan sets the fieldwork length for the number of segments and markets in scope, so a single-market ranking and a multi-country segmentation each get their own timeline. Nothing is commissioned until the plan is approved, and the read-out ranks every segment in scope.

Nextyn's market segmentation research is a primary-research method that ranks segments on what buyers say about need, economics and readiness to adopt, while firmographic segmentation groups customers by size, industry and location alone. Firmographics show who is in a market, and the research shows which of those groups will convert and pay back.