---
id: "claim-rigid-segmentation-fails"
type: "claim"
source_timestamps: ["§ Designing Digital for Different Go-to-Market Models"]
tags: ["segmentation", "customer-experience"]
related: ["concept-flexible-boundaries"]
confidence: "high"
testable: true
speakers: ["Prabhakant Sinha", "Arun Shastri", "Sally Lorimer", "Saby Mitra"]
sources: ["attention"]
sourceVaultSlug: "hbr-seg-attention"
originDay: 4
articleStem: "hbr-new-31-tailor-digital-strategy-customer"
sourceUrl: "https://hbr.org/2026/06/tailor-your-digital-strategy-to-reach-every-customer"
sourceTitle: "Tailor Your Digital Strategy to Reach Every Customer"
---
# Rigid segmentation fails to reflect customer behavior

Organizations often attempt to strictly segment which customers belong to which go-to-market model. This **rigid segmentation fails** because it does not reflect how customers actually behave. It results in **overlaps** that create conflicting coverage, or **gaps** that result in incomplete coverage.

The remedy is [[concept-flexible-boundaries]]; see the supporting [[quote-rigid-segmentation]].

**Confidence: high** · **Testable: yes.**

> **Enrichment:** *Partially supported.* The supplied sources don't test 'rigid segmentation' as a standalone hypothesis, but Grainger's use of different operating models for different buying behaviors implies a single hard segmentation would be too coarse — consistent with broader GTM guidance to define an initial ICP and iterate rather than assume one static segment forever.