---
name: host-segment-profiler
description: "Segments a marketplace's host or supplier base into 5-7 distinct profiles based on listing data and behavioral attributes, then generates a tailored acquisition, onboarding, and retention playbook for each segment. Use when planning supply-side growth, prioritizing host acquisition channels, or fixing retention gaps across different types of hosts, suppliers, or property owners."
argument-hint: "[platform-type] [host-data]"
allowed-tools: ["Read"]
---

# Host Segment Profiler

## Purpose
Turn raw host or listing attributes into a set of clearly defined supply segments — each with its own acquisition channel, onboarding flow, and retention lever — so supply and growth teams stop treating all hosts the same and start allocating effort where it compounds. Solves the problem of undifferentiated supply strategy that over-invests in low-value segments and under-serves high-LTV ones.

## When to Use
Invoke this skill when the user asks to:
- Segment their host, supplier, or listing base for growth planning
- Decide which types of hosts to prioritize acquiring next quarter
- Build differentiated onboarding flows for different host types
- Diagnose why certain hosts churn while others stay active
- Allocate supply-acquisition budget across channels and segments
- Create a supply-side playbook for a new market or category

## Inputs Required
Before starting, collect:
- **Platform type**: What the marketplace connects (short-term rentals, freelance services, physical goods resale, equipment rental, etc.)
- **Host/supplier attributes available**: Fields you can segment on — listing count, tenure, revenue, response rate, category, geography, professionalization level
- **Current supply size**: Approximate number of active hosts and total listings
- **Primary growth goal**: More listings, higher-quality listings, better geographic coverage, or improved retention
- **Known problem segments**: Any host types that are churning, underperforming, or hard to acquire
- **Acquisition channels in use**: How hosts currently find and join the platform
- **Retention signals tracked**: What you measure — repeat activity, revenue trend, response time, review score

If host-level data is thin, build segments from the platform type and category norms, and flag which segments need data validation before acting.

## Instructions

### Step 1: Establish the Segmentation Axes
Identify the 2-3 dimensions that most separate host value and behavior on this platform. Choose from:
- **Professionalization**: Casual/hobbyist → side-income → semi-pro → full professional/multi-listing operator
- **Supply volume**: Single-listing vs. multi-listing/portfolio hosts
- **Tenure & lifecycle**: New (0-90 days), establishing (3-12 months), mature (12+ months), reactivation candidates (dormant)
- **Motivation**: Income-primary, income-supplemental, community/mission-driven, convenience/offloading

Pick the two axes that create the sharpest value and behavior differences, and state why. These form the backbone of the segmentation.

### Step 2: Define 5-7 Host Segments
For each segment, produce:
- **Segment name**: A concrete, memorable label (e.g., "Portfolio Operators," "Weekend Hosts," "One-and-Done Sellers")
- **Defining attributes**: The specific data thresholds that place a host here (listing count, tenure, revenue band, activity level)
- **Estimated share of supply**: Rough % of the host base — flag as estimate if data is thin
- **Value to the platform**: LTV tier (High / Medium / Low) with reasoning tied to revenue, listing quality, or coverage contribution
- **Core motivation**: What this host actually wants from the platform
- **Primary risk**: The single biggest reason this segment underperforms or churns

Segments must be mutually exclusive on the defining attributes — a host should map to exactly one.

### Step 3: Acquisition Approach Per Segment
For each segment, specify:
- **Best-fit channel(s)**: Where this host type is realistically found and won (referral, paid social, partnerships, direct sales/BD, SEO, community)
- **Acquisition message**: The one value proposition that resonates for this motivation type
- **Acquisition cost expectation**: Low / Medium / High CAC relative to the segment's LTV — and whether the ratio justifies investment
- **Priority level**: Acquire aggressively / Acquire opportunistically / Deprioritize — with a one-line rationale

### Step 4: Onboarding Approach Per Segment
For each segment, specify:
- **Onboarding depth**: Self-serve, guided, or high-touch/white-glove — matched to segment value and complexity
- **First key milestone**: The single activation event that predicts this segment sticking (first listing live, first booking, first payout, first repeat)
- **Friction to remove**: The specific onboarding step most likely to lose this segment
- **Time-to-value target**: How fast this segment must reach first value before drop-off risk spikes

### Step 5: Retention Approach Per Segment
For each segment, specify:
- **Retention lever**: The primary mechanism that keeps this host active (earnings growth, tooling, recognition, demand reliability, community)
- **Churn early-warning signal**: The behavior that predicts this segment is about to leave
- **Intervention**: The specific play to run when the warning signal fires
- **Expansion path**: How to grow this host's contribution (more listings, higher quality, upgrade to next segment tier)

### Step 6: Prioritization Summary
Rank all segments by strategic priority given the stated growth goal. Deliver:
- A priority ranking of segments (1 to N) with the reasoning for each rank
- The single segment to over-invest in this quarter, and why
- The single segment to deprioritize or manage passively, and why

## Output Format
- **Structure**: Segmentation axes rationale → per-segment profiles (each covering value, acquisition, onboarding, retention) → prioritization summary
- **Length**: 1,100–1,500 words
- **Format**: Structured document — each segment as its own labeled block with sub-headings; prioritization summary as a ranked list or compact table
- **Sections**: Segmentation Axes → Segment Profiles (5-7) → Acquisition Playbook → Onboarding Playbook → Retention Playbook → Prioritization Summary
- **Tone**: Supply strategy lead — decisive, data-grounded, willing to name which segments not to chase

## Quality Checklist
Before delivering output, verify:
- [ ] Between 5 and 7 segments are defined, and each has distinct defining attributes (no overlap)
- [ ] Every segment has all four playbook elements: acquisition, onboarding, retention, and value tier
- [ ] Acquisition channels are specific to each segment's motivation — not the same channel repeated for all
- [ ] Each retention approach includes a named churn early-warning signal, not just a generic "keep them engaged"
- [ ] The prioritization summary names one segment to over-invest in and one to deprioritize — no hedging
- [ ] Segment names are concrete and platform-specific, not generic ("High-Value," "Segment A")

## Notes
- The most common supply-strategy mistake is treating single-listing casual hosts and multi-listing operators as one funnel — they need opposite acquisition and onboarding motions
- High-touch onboarding rarely pays off for low-LTV segments; reserve it for the segments where the LTV:CAC ratio justifies human time
- If the platform is early-stage with thin data, lean toward fewer, broader segments (5) and validate before building segment-specific machinery
- Reactivation of dormant hosts is often cheaper than net-new acquisition — always check whether a dormant segment deserves its own play before spending on acquisition

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## How to use this skill

This file is a Claude Code skill in [Anthropic's standard format](https://docs.anthropic.com/en/docs/claude-code/skills) — markdown with YAML frontmatter at the top.

**Installing in Claude Code:**
- `~/.claude/skills/<folder-name>/SKILL.md` — auto-loads in every session anywhere on your machine (recommended for skills you'll use across multiple projects)
- `<your-project>/.claude/skills/<folder-name>/SKILL.md` — auto-loads only when working in that project (recommended for project-specific skills)

Restart Claude Code or open a new session to register.

**Using in Claude.ai, ChatGPT, Gemini, or other AI tools:**

1. Drag this file into a new chat, or copy and paste its contents
2. Send your task or request as your next message — the AI will apply the skill where it fits

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