From the mischief caused by Napster to the arrival of the iPhone and the (once improbable) reality of wearables and self-driving cars, our world has evolved – and so have your customers. Since the launch of Forrester’s Consumer Technographics® study in 1997, we have had a front-row seat for the dramatic changes in consumer behaviors and attitudes that have upended traditional business models and resulted in a chaotic marketplace where behemoths become bygones.

These changes are not as random as you might think: Forrester’s data analysis reveals five key shifts in consumer behaviors, attitudes, and expectations that fuel customer empowerment: willingness to experiment, device usage, digital/physical integration, information savviness, and self-efficacy. As consumers continue to evolve along these dimensions, business leaders must think differently about how to build and sustain customer relationships – more than simply analyzing historical behavior, demographics, and lifestyles, models of customer understanding must now account for the empowered customer’s expectations, emotional motivations, and contextual decisions.

Therefore, we are excited to launch Forrester’s Empowered Customer Segmentation, a model that measures how customers evolve along the five dimensions of change – and at what rate.

Empowered Consumer Segmentation

Business leaders who measure how their consumers map to Forrester’s Empowered Customer Segmentation and evolve along these critical dimensions will understand and anticipate customer demands for new services and experiences. Armed with that information, business leaders can prioritize their investments in digital innovation, pinpoint the customers most likely to reward innovation with new revenue, and identify which consumers threaten to churn.

My latest report explains the foundations for the Empowered Customer Segmentation, profiles each segment, and reveals how customer empowerment varies across countries and industries. To access the full research or learn more about how the segmentation applies to your customers, please contact us at data@forrester.com.