STUDY ON CONSUMER PROFILE OF

LAWYERS

Submitted to – Dr. Manoj Mishra

Submitted by – Ms. Aditi Soni
Roll No. – 1607
1st year, 2nd semester
2016 - 21
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................................................................... 3
RESEARCH DESIGN .................................................................................................................................. 5
CONSUMER PROFILING ........................................................................................................................... 6
MARKETING FOR LAWYERS................................................................................................................... 10
QUESTIONNAIRE ................................................................................................................................... 13
ANALYSIS OF QUESTIONNAIRE.............................................................................................................. 14
CONCLUSION......................................................................................................................................... 18
BIBLIOGRAPHY ...................................................................................................................................... 19
 DECLARATION
I, hereby declare that this research project title, ‘Study on consumer profile of
lawyers’, submitted by me is based on actual and original work carried out by
me.. Any reference to work done by other person or institution or any other
sources have been duly cited and referenced.
I further certify that this work has not been published or submitted for
publication anywhere else nor it will be sent for publication in the future.
Author’s name: Aditi Soni
Signature:
Institution: CHANAKYA NATIONAL LAW UNIVERSITY, PATNA

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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I take this opportunity to express my profound gratitude and deep regards to my guide and
teacher Dr. Manoj Mishra for his exemplary guidance, monitoring and constant
encouragement throughout the course of this thesis. The blessing, help and guidance given by
her time to time shall carry me a long way in the journey of life on which I am about to
embark.

I am obliged to staff members of Chanakya National Law University, for the valuable
information provided by them in their respective fields. I am grateful for their cooperation
during the period of my assignment.

Lastly, I thank Almighty, my parents, brother, sisters and friends for their constant
encouragement without which this assignment would not be possible.

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 INTRODUCTION
Market segmentation is the science of dividing an overall market into customer subsets or
segments, who share similar characteristics and needs. Segmentation typically involves
significant market research and can thus be costly. It is practiced especially in major
companies with highly differentiated product lines or serving large markets. The small
business tends to discover the segment it serves best by the trial and error of dealing with
customers and stocking products more and more suitable to its particular clientele.

Segmentation lies somewhere near the middle of a continuum of marketing strategies that
range from mass marketing—in which a single product is offered to all customers in a
market—to one-to-one marketing—in which a different product is specifically designed for
each individual customer (e.g., plastic surgery). Most businesses realize that since no two
people are exactly alike, it is unlikely that they will be able to please all customers in a
market with a single product. They also realize that it is rarely feasible to create a distinct
product for every customer. Instead, most businesses attempt to improve their odds of
attracting a significant base of customers by dividing the overall market into segments, then
trying to match their product and marketing mix more closely to the needs of one or more
segments. A number of customer characteristics, known as segmentation bases, can be used
to define market segments. Some commonly used bases include age, gender, income,
geographical area, and buying behaviour.

Determining how to segment a market is one of the most important questions a marketer must
face. Creative and effective market segmentation can lead to the development of popular new
products; unsuccessful segmentation can consume a lot of dollars and yield nothing. There
are three main types of segmentation bases for businesses to consider—descriptive,
behavioural, and benefit bases—each of which breaks down into numerous potential
customer traits.

Descriptive bases for market segmentation include a variety of factors that describe the
demographic and geographic situations of the customers in a market. They are the most
commonly used segmentation bases because they are easy to measure, and because they often
serve as strong indicators of consumer needs and preferences. Some of the demographic
variables that are used as descriptive bases in market segmentation might include age, gender,

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religion, income, and family size, while some of the geographic variables might include
region of the country, climate, and population of the surrounding area.

Behavioural bases for market segmentation are generally more difficult to measure than
descriptive bases, but they are often considered to be more powerful determinants of
consumer purchases.1 They include those underlying factors that help motivate consumers to
make certain buying decisions, such as personality, lifestyle, and social class. Behavioural
bases also include factors that are directly related to consumer purchases of certain goods,
such as their degree of brand loyalty, the rate at which they use the product and need to
replace it, and their readiness to buy at a particular time.

Businesses that segment a market based on benefits hope to identify the primary benefit that
consumers seek in buying a certain product, then supply a product that provides that benefit.
This segmentation approach is based upon the idea that market segments exist primarily
because consumers seek different benefits from products, rather than because of various other
differences between consumers. One potential pitfall to this approach is that consumers do
not always know or cannot always identify a single benefit that influences them to make a
purchase decision. Many marketers use a combination of bases that seem most appropriate
when segmenting a market. Using a single variable is undoubtedly easier, but it often turns
out to be less precise.

A target market customer profile identifies the customer most likely to buy your product or
service. While some companies create products around a customer profile, others identify the
customer profile once marketing strategies are developed. The target customer profile
identifies shared characteristics, behaviours and attitudes the target customers have, and this
knowledge is used when creating captivating marketing materials and promotions. Having a
solid and suitable target customer profile may increase your company’s profits because
people in need are buying the products or services.

1
Millier, Paul. "Intuition Can Help in Segmenting Industrial Markets." Industrial Marketing Management.
March 2000.

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 RESEARCH DESIGN

 METHODOLOGY

The researcher has used both doctrinal and non doctrinal method of research, i.e.
theories have been applied to questionnaire results in order to arrive to the conclusion.
This project has been done based on thorough research work based on intrinsic and
extrinsic aspects of the project.

 SOURCES OF DATA

The following sources of data have been used in the project.

1. Books
2. Websites
3. Articles
4. Journals

 SCOPE AND LIMITATIONS

As the work of lawyers and law firms is to recognise customers’ problems and solve
them, it is necessary to recognise a particular skill set and match it with a particular
set of problems. Therefore a study of consumer profile of lawyers has a wide ambit.
However due to some limitations like paucity of time, inadequate size of sample and
difficulty in contacting lawyers as the researcher is in an unfamiliar city, the results
may not be comprehensive in nature.

MODE OF CITATION

The researcher has followed a uniform mode of citation throughout the course of
this project.

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 CONSUMER PROFILING
Modern marketing is a highly-competitive environment. Today’s consumers are demanding
and discerning. They produce more data than ever before but at the same time demand a
better level of service. They expect relevancy of messaging and a good customer experience.
For marketers, a huge part of utilising this data is the ability to connect it to consumers and
group those consumers effectively - using common traits, characteristics and behaviours.
Grouping customers into such segments enables brands to more effectively focus tailored
marketing communications to specific types of customers, across channels. Customer
profiling and the creation of these audiences via segmentation enables brands to create
campaigns tailored to each group. These can be messaging a brand’s most valuable
customers, attempting to attract customers similar to those best customers or creating bespoke
campaigns for segments that might require different message. The concept of profiling your
customers is not new, however, the volume and complexity of data being generated and the
sophistication of available analytical tools means that it is now possible go deeper than ever
before. By doing this brands can carry out profiling exercises that produce actionable results
which are consistent across channels. Due to this advanced capability understanding audience
is now more valuable to a business than it has ever been before. The customer is key here.
Improving the customer’s experience will lead to more efficient and effective marketing
which leads to more loyal customers and greater ROI

To start, consumers can be identified by many different categories, such as:

 preference
 lifestyle
 stage of life
 attribute

Thinking about consumers in terms of the way they are represented by categorical tiers can
be useful. The first tier includes the most common categories for describing consumers, such
as demographics, socioeconomic status, and product usage. The second tier extends the
concepts of the first tier and includes psychographics, generation, geography,
geodemographics, and benefits sought. Basic definitions of these concepts are provided
below:

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Demographic: Attributes related to age, city or region of residence, gender, race and
ethnicity, and composition of household.

Socioeconomic: Attributes related to household income, educational attainment, occupation,

neighborhood, and association memberships.

Brand affinity / Product usage: Attributes associated with product engagement on the basis
of their behavior.

Psychographics: Attributes related to lifestyles, life stage, personality, attitudes, opinion, and
even voting behavior.

Generation: Attributes related to a specific identifiable generation cohort group.

Geography: Attributes related to the geographical area in which consumers reside and work.

Geodemographics: Attributes that combine geography and demographics which may cluster
into identifiable groups.

Benefits Sought: Attributes related to the benefits that consumers seek when they shop for
products and services.

Market researchers may develop proprietary consumer profiles or they may use panels of
consumers who have been classified according to their common attributes. Market research
provider firms often make their consumer profiles available for discrete market research
projects that are conducted for their market research clients at large companies.

These elements are not necessarily a chronological journey – many brands will be partway
down the process already. Regardless of where you start it is important to ensure you cater
for every element.

1. Start with your data. Consolidate and study factors such as revenue per customer,
email responsiveness, product mix and purchase channel. Remove duplications and
create Single Customer Views

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 2. Enhance and enrich first party data using third party data. This is an optional step but
it is advisable that you ensure your data is sufficient, thorough and strong enough
before proceeding to the next step.

3. Segment your customer groups so you can target your best customers or the
customers you feel represent the greatest opportunity.

4. Create a rich picture of these customers on and offline (and your competitors’
customers) so you can target them and ensure your campaign messaging, channels,
locations and times of day, are relevant.

5. Deploy your targeted cross-channel campaigns to the selected customer segments.

6. Measure the effectiveness of your campaigns over time by each customer group. Keep
track of changes in your competitors’ customers, spatial trends concerning where your
best customers are and where they interact with you.

In the modern world a brand’s customers are its greatest asset and its greatest challenge.
Improving their experience and the relevancy of the messaging – whether that’s email, social,
direct mail or digital advertising – is the optimum way to increase marketing efficiency and
effectiveness.

Knowing who your customers are is crucial. Knowing who they are, what they do and where
they do it enables a brand to better define its audience and more effectively engage with
them. The development of sophisticated online analytical software means that understanding
who is doing what online and where is easier than ever before.

Profiling consumers allows a brand to define a clear set of messages and imagery for specific
customers to improve their customer experience and boost marketing efficiency and
effectiveness.

The findings of a customer profiling exercise should be embedded within every department
across the business. In marketing, knowing your audience helps companies interact with
existing customers and find new ones. However, insights from a customer profiling exercise
will benefit customer service and product development.

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One size does not fit all’ is a widely accepted nugget of wisdom in modern marketing,
referring to the out-of-date tactic of marketing at everybody (or nobody, depending on your
perspective). It’s widely accepted that ‘spray and pray’ techniques are horribly ineffective
and that sending out mass communications, without any consideration about whether your
targets actually want the information you’re sending, can actually really annoy people. In
today’s world, customers expect a relevant, personal and ‘non-spammy’ experience. In
fact, they demand it.

To be effective, marketing communications should be tailored to individuals, regardless of

channel, and that the best way to do this is through customer profiling. Customer profiling is
a very important first step – however, it doesn’t provide marketers with the ability to market
to individuals. It provides the ability to market to groups of similar people, which isn’t quite
the same thing.

Customers are individuals and need to be treated as such. Customer experience is the key
battleground in marketing and the best way to improve the customer experience is to be able
to tailor it to the preference of each individual. This is where ‘segments of one’ come into
play. To treat customers as individual segments you have to think of them as such. A larger
segment may have several thousand customers in it, but brands still need to treat each one of
those within that segment as an individual. Just because they’re ‘similar’ in some aspects to
others in the segment group, it does not mean they are the same. They may differ wildly in
certain areas (football team supported, car driven, political empathy – the possibilities are
endless) and it depends on the original segmentation exercise – not only how detailed it was,
but also what factors the brand chose to differentiate on.

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 MARKETING FOR LAWYERS
Lawyers and law firms are service providers. Unlike retailers or manufacturers, lawyers sell
their skills, not products. Ultimately, a lawyer’s chief skills are his or her ability to solve
problems for clients. Thus, the essence of marketing and client development for lawyers is
identifying a particular skill set, to be matched with a particular set of problems. A lawyer
may have a seemingly unlimited set of skills. However, until prospective clients are aware
that a lawyer has the particular skills to solve a particular problem, those skills are, to the
prospective client, meaningless. Quite simply, a lawyer cannot exercise his or her skills
without clients. Clients cannot access a lawyer’s skills without knowing that a specific lawyer
has the specific skills needed. Hence, the importance of marketing and client development
cannot be understated.2

In our complicated, multi-tasking world, there is an increasing desire to have “one thing” to
satisfy multiple needs. The smart phone, for example, enables its user to text, call, email, take
photos, download and listen to music, access GPS and more. But in the world of professional
services, this trend tends to roll in the opposite direction. A savvy buyer of legal services
wants a specialist – an attorney who understands his or her challenges and has the most
relevant experience to deliver a successful outcome.

Market segmentation is a marketing strategy that involves dividing a broad target market into
subsets of consumers, who have common needs, and then designing and implementing
strategies to target their needs and desires using media channels and other touch-points that
best allow reaching them. It is sometimes referred to as “Target Marketing” or “Niche
Marketing.” A law firm practicing market segmentation will usually have a marketing plan
for each target market. While it may seem like more work, there are many reasons for having
distinct plans, which include:

1. Messaging: The messaging used in segment marketing plans should emphasize

“what’s most important” to a distinct target market. While a real estate attorney will
be focused on ensuring buy/sell agreements are accurate, complete and don’t leave
room for misinterpretation, a domestic relations attorney’s focus will likely include

2
https://www.lexisnexis.com/legalnewsroom/lexis-hub/b/how-to-build-your-professional-
skills/archive/2009/04/24/
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 more attention to the emotions involved, ensuring a client’s safety, or looking out for
the best interests of the child.
2. Methods: Buyers within the same market segment tend to favour certain methods of
communication. For example, one market segment may rely heavily on printed trade
magazines while another may turn to online content.
3. Purchase Process: The decision-making process or sales cycle for purchasing legal
services will be different depending on the market segment. The legal acumen of a
business attorney may be highly publicized and desired for a copyright case, but the
personal referral from a friend who was a previous client may be more desired when
seeking a divorce lawyer.

Focus on Practice or Industry

Effective segment marketing plans deliver compelling messages using the most effective
communication methods at appropriate points in the sales cycle. Full-service law firms often
create plans by practice group and /or by industry segment. A boutique law firm, like one that
only handles Intellectual Property matters, will usually create plans by industry. Which
market segments a law firm selects to invest marketing resources in will depend on its depth
of experience as well as a segment’s growth potential. Middle market and smaller law firms
should be careful not to target too many segments or they will only skim the surface and
never build penetration.

Won’t More Than One Marketing Plan Confuse the Message of the Firm?

In a word, “no” The firm’s brand and visibility in general can still be a marketing plan. The
commonalities in marketing that are used by all of the practices or industries served by the
law firm may include the following in their own plan or section:

 Visual brand and brand standards

 Website
 General brochure
 Promotional items
 Trade show materials
 Community outreach
 General advertising

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  General Sponsorships
 Contact management / marketing automation
 E-mail templates
 Overall newsletter
 General public relations

The size of firm may dictate the amount of marketing resources that should be put into the
overall marketing plan and general tactics. Hence middle-market and small firms may have
modest overall marketing plans, and instead should invest as much as possible into reaching
their target market segments for the biggest impact.

You may already know what makes your law firm special, and the various strengths among
practices and industries served. Why not allow your prospective clients to find you more
easily, know where your focus is, and discover why you are the right firm for their needs.
Whether you see it as several marketing plans, or one plan with special sections for each
unique market segment, there is no one-size-fits-all plan.

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 QUESTIONNAIRE

The following questions were asked to 10 lawyers of Allahabad city.

1. Is experience more important than qualifications for a customer looking to hire?

2. What do customers prefer more, personalized service or quality products?
3. Is social media a better medium for advertising than word of mouth and print media?
4. Does the cost of your service influence the decision of the customer?
5. Do customers make contact through emails, website, letters, visits or others?
6. What is the age range of potential customers?
7. Are potential customers likely to be male or female?
8. What is the geographical location of potential customer?
9. What are the most likely occupations of potential customers?
10. What makes your product more suitable to customer’s needs when compared to others?

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 ANALYSIS OF QUESTIONNAIRE
The lawyers contacted were further divided according to the areas of their specialisation.

Field of specialisation Number of lawyers

Criminal 2
Divorce 2
Intellectual Property Rights 1
Consumer law 1
Property Law 2
Arbitration 2

1. Is experience more important than qualifications for a customer looking to hire?

Yes
No

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2. What do customers prefer more, personalized service or quality products?

Personalized
Service
Quality Products

3. Is social media a better medium for advertising than word of mouth and print media?

Social Media
Word Of Mouth
Print Media

4. Does the cost of your service influence the decision of the customer?

Yes
No

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5. Do customers make contact through emails, website, letters, visits or others?

Emails
Website
Letters
Visits

6. What is the age range of potential customers?

20- 30
30 - 40
40 -50
50 - 60

7. Are potential customers likely to be male or female?

Male
Female

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8. What is the geographical location of potential customer?

Local Urban Residents

Local Rural Residents
Migrants
Foreign Nationals

9. What are the most likely occupations of potential customers?

Government Officials
Farmer
Private sector
Army

10. What makes your product more suitable to customer’s needs when compared to others?

Personalised
Service

Providing
Psychological
Support
Expert Knowledge

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 CONCLUSION

Market segmentation is the process of identifying clients and prospects with similar needs,
wants and purchasing behaviours. As law firms continue to refine marketing strategies in this
maturing industry, many are beginning to explore how market segmentation can add a
competitive edge to their marketing mix. The overall objective of using a market
segmentation strategy is improving a firm’s or a lawyer’s competitive position as well as
better serving the needs of clients. Specific benefits may include increased “sales”, improved
market share and the enhanced image of the firm. It also makes marketing clearer and simpler
for lawyers. It is known that long-term client relationships are the key to most lawyers’
profitability. Creating and maintaining those relationships requires a lawyer to satisfy the
needs and desires of key clients more effectively than any of its competitors. The results of
client feedback interviews and market research can assist the lawyer in determining whether
market segmentation is a worthy strategy.

The following are the findings from the questionnaire:

70% lawyers feel that experience counts for more than qualifications. It is their view that
more clients are attracted by the number of years of experience one has. 60% lawyers feel
that personalized service is more attractive to clients whereas 40% feel that the quality of
their services matters too. 50% lawyers feel that social media is the way to go for advertising
themselves, 40% feel that traditional method of print media is better, whereas only 10% feel
that word of mouth quenches their need for advertising. 70% lawyers are of the view that cost
does not influence the decision of the customer to avail the facilities. The majority of contact
between lawyers and clients has been seen to happen through visits i.e. 60%. The majority of
clients are male i.e. 70% and local urban residents. No significant conclusion can be derived
from the occupation of the clients as they vary according to the situation. 60% lawyers feel
that providing personalised service is what differentiates them from other lawyers.

After completing the survey process the researcher has the view that market segmentation has
more utility for law firms as compared to single lawyer practices. However consumer
profiling can be used by lawyers to understand the behavioural tendencies of their current
clients and for better understanding of future clients.

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 BIBLIOGRAPHY
1) Books
i) Brassington, Frances, and Stephen Pettitt. Essentials Of Marketing. Harlow,
England: Pearson, 2013.

ii) Hill, Elizabeth, Catherine O'Sullivan, and Terry O'Sullivan. Creative Arts
Marketing. Amsterdam: Butterworth-Heinemann, 2003.

iii) McDonald, Malcolm, and Ian Dunbar. Market Segmentation. Amsterdam:

Elsevier/Butterworth-Heinemann, 2005. Print.

2) Articles

i) Barry, James, and Art Weinstein. "Business Psychographics Revisited: From

Segmentation Theory To Successful Marketing Practice". Journal of
Marketing Management 25.3-4 (2009): 315-340. Web. 9 Mar. 2015.
ii) Thionnet, Stefani. "How Your Business Benefits From Demographic Market
Segmentation". LinkedIn Pulse. N.p., 2014. Web. 8 Mar. 2015.
iii) Venter, Peet, Alex Wright, and Sally Dibb. "Performing Market Segmentation:
A Performative Perspective". Journal of Marketing Management 31.1-2
(2014): 62-83. Web. 9 Mar. 2015.

3) Websites
i) www.managementstudyguide.com
ii) www.segmentationstudyguide.com
iii) www.thebalance.com
iv) www.mappinganalysts.com

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