Case study: visualizing customer segmentations produced by self organizing maps

We describe a set of visualization programs developed for understanding segmentations of customer records produced by a self organizing map (SOM) algorithm. A SOM produces segments of similar customer records that can then be used as the basis of a marketing campaign. Since the characteristics that each segment will have in common are not specified a priori, visualization is essential to understanding the segment to design specific marketing strategies. Two different styles of visualizations were found to be useful for the two types of observers of the data. Abstract overviews of the entire segmentation were designed for analysts applying the SOM algorithm. Detailed scatterplots of individual records were designed for communicating the results to decision makers specifying marketing strategy.