Defining a productivity software audience by workflow and buying authority

A business productivity software target audience is not every small company with an internet connection. It is a group that performs the same important task in a comparable setting, can adopt the proposed change and has someone able to approve it. Defining those boundaries makes recruitment and product decisions much sharper.

What to take away

Define the audience by the recurring task, its setting, the current record and the role that can approve a purchase.
Use England business population data for broad context, not as a list of software prospects.
Separate daily users from budget holders and recruit across roles when their decisions differ.
Recruit for meaningful contrasts such as one site versus several or internal versus outsourced IT.
Test the audience card by asking whether one product and sales process would serve everyone on it.

Begin with the work

Describe one recent event the software would handle. An audience for stock reconciliation, for example, should be defined by who records movements, where discrepancies appear and who resolves them. Company age or sector may matter, but only if it changes that process.

Inclusion statement: four parts

Activity and how often it occurs
Operating settingfield, office, several sites
System or record used now
Role that can authorise trial or purchase

Write an inclusion statement with four parts:

the activity and how often it occurs;
the operating setting, such as field, office or several sites;
the system or record used now;
the role that can authorise a trial or purchase.

Add exclusions. A product designed for an employer-controlled rota may not suit a sole trader, a franchise network or an organisation whose client mandates another system. Exclusions prevent polite but irrelevant interviews from shaping the proposition.

Also specify a recent-use window, because memories of a process abandoned years ago may not describe today's buying conditions.

Use England data as a frame

The Department for Business and Trade's 2025 business population release estimated 5.0 million private-sector businesses in England. It includes businesses without employees and places each business in the region of its head office. That makes it useful for broad context, not as a list of software prospects.

Choose the right denominator

DBT population

Coverage: 5.0m England
Includes no employees: Yes
Best for: Independent workers
Use as: Broad context

ONS IDBR

Coverage: VAT/PAYE only
Includes no employees: May be absent
Best for: Employee workflows
Use as: Segmentation

For more specific segmentation, the Office for National Statistics publishes registered enterprises and local units by industry, employment band and region. Its source is a March 2025 snapshot of the Inter-Departmental Business Register, so businesses outside VAT and PAYE coverage may be absent.

Select the denominator that matches the product. An employee workflow may justify an employment-band filter. Software for independent workers may require the wider estimate. Do not merge the two populations or infer adoption from either.

Separate users from buyers

List the people who operate the current process, supervise it, maintain systems, release money and assess risk. In a small firm one director might fill every role. In a larger organisation the daily user may never see the contract.

Recruit across those roles when their decisions differ. A finance approver can explain budget evidence but may not know why staff keep a parallel spreadsheet. An administrator can show that workaround but cannot promise a purchase. Record which role supports each finding.

Recruit for meaningful differences

GOV.UK guidance on finding research participants recommends actual or likely users, clear criteria and more than one recruitment approach to reduce bias. For business research, useful contrasts could include one site versus several, internal versus outsourced IT, or recent versus long-established use of the current tool.

The guidance also asks researchers to include people with access needs. Recruitment questions should focus on how someone uses technology and what support is needed, not collect unnecessary medical detail.

Make a decision from the definition

Create a one-page audience card containing the workflow, eligible organisations, relevant roles, exclusions, evidence source and unresolved assumptions. Test it by asking whether the same product and sales process would serve everyone on the card. If not, split the audience.

The next action is a recruitment screener based on facts and recent behaviour. Keep this draft on hold until its statistical, accessibility and data-protection treatment has qualified review.

Before you act

Write an inclusion statement covering activity, setting, current system and approving role.
Add exclusions and a recent-use window to the definition.
Choose the denominator that matches the product and do not merge populations.
List users, supervisors, system maintainers, budget holders and risk assessors.
Recruit with clear criteria and more than one approach to reduce bias.
Draft a one-page audience card and split the audience if it does not hold.

Common questions

Why should a target audience be defined by workflow rather than company size or sector?

The article says a target audience is a group performing the same important task in a comparable setting, able to adopt the change, with someone able to approve it. Company age or sector may matter, but only if it changes that process.

What should a recruitment screener be based on?

The article says the next action is a recruitment screener based on facts and recent behaviour. It also says to keep this draft on hold until its statistical, accessibility and data-protection treatment has qualified review.

How should researchers handle access needs during recruitment?

GOV.UK guidance asks researchers to include people with access needs. Recruitment questions should focus on how someone uses technology and what support is needed, not collect unnecessary medical detail.