Audience segmentation and climate change communication: conceptual and methodological considerations

TLDR

Engaging the public on climate‑change mitigation and adaptation is difficult, prompting interest in audience segmentation to tailor communications to subgroups with shared values and beliefs. The authors aim to review the history of audience segmentation, assess its suitability for climate‑change communication, and propose best‑practice recommendations. They conduct a literature review of segmentation in marketing, health, politics, and climate change, critically evaluate conceptual arguments, and examine methodological considerations. They find that while segmentation and targeted messaging can enhance climate‑change communication, practical use is hampered by conceptual and methodological complexities. The article is categorized under Perceptions, Behavior, and Communication of Climate Change > Perceptions of Climate Change.

Abstract

Engaging the public about mitigating or adapting to climate change threats poses significant challenges for scientists, policy makers, and others responsible for developing communication strategies. In response to these challenges, interest is growing in audience segmentation as a possible strategy to develop more effective communications that are tailored and targeted to subgroups of the public who share similar values, beliefs, behaviors, and/or policy preferences about climate change. In this article, we provide a brief historical overview of audience segmentation and its applications to marketing, health, politics, and most recently climate change. We then critically evaluate several conceptual arguments about whether segmentation is an appropriate strategy for climate change communications, review key methodological considerations associated with conducting segmentation analyses, and make several recommendations about best practice. We conclude that, in principle, audience segmentation and targeted messaging are potentially valuable tools for enhancing climate change communication. But, in practice, there are conceptual and methodological complexities of which practitioners and consumers should be aware when conducting and interpreting the results of segmentation studies. In addition, more research is required, particularly related to tailoring and targeting messages to identified segments, before these strategies can be considered to have a sufficient evidence base to warrant widespread adoption. This article is categorized under: Perceptions, Behavior, and Communication of Climate Change > Perceptions of Climate Change