Commentary on Translational Impact: The Promise of Audience Segmentation for Enhancing the Dissemination of Online...

This commentary addresses Herman et al. (2024)'s article on applying the Knowledge-to-Action (KTA) model to the dissemination of evidence-based online mental health resources. Herman et al. (2024)'s article emphasizes the need for a decision-making tool to aid the intended audience in identifying their own problems and matching them to respective solutions. We propose the utility of audience segmentation research when designing and tailoring decision-making tools to the unique needs of heterogenous audiences. A conceptual overview of audience segmentation research is outlined, including two commonly used approaches (i.e., demographic separation, empirical clustering). In sum, audience segmentation prior to the development of a decision-making tool may aid in tailoring dissemination strategies and ultimately expanding the reach and adoption of evidence-based resources among the intended audience, which may more effectively minimize the know-do gap.