Market segmentation and product differentiation in political campaigns: a technical feature perspective

The perceived importance of five technical service
qualities (Gronroos 1984) or features (i.e. national
and local policies, leaders, values and candidates),
and voters’ ratings of the Labour and
Conservative Parties’ competence on each of these
parameters, were investigated during the 2001
British General Election using an a priori
segmentation method and the classification tree
statistical technique for data analysis. Voter
ratings of the technical service features were
found to be indicators of intention to vote. A
product differentiation approach is most likely to
influence voting intention, because the technical
service features are more readily manipulated
through marketing programmes than
demographic and customer characteristics
(Bucklin and Gupta 1992). Ratings of technical
service features are stronger indicators of voting
intention than voter demographics and
characteristics. A product differentiation
approach, based around technical service features,
would be the most effective focus for strategy
development in future political marketing
campaigns.