NN/g: audience-based navigation "will often degrade usability" (Laubheimer, Aug 14 2022)

Quote (Page Laubheimer, NN/g, Aug 14, 2022):

"Segmenting a website's navigation by audience categories will often degrade usability, either because users belong in multiple categories, or because they feel the need to look at content targeted at several segments."

Source: https://www.nngroup.com/articles/audience-based-navigation/

Confidence: Verified (primary NN/g research). 2022 but foundational — remains NN/g's flagship guidance on this pattern as of May 2026.

The condition under which audience-based nav works: when categories are (a) mutually exclusive, (b) jargon-free, and (c) each section contains substantially unique content. Small service businesses rarely meet all three. The "for farmers / for fleets" carousel that visually segments a homepage often fails (a) and (c) silently — the same SKUs sit behind both buttons.

Used in: RULE: Don't use audience-based primary nav unless audience categories are mutually exclusive, jargon-free, with substantially unique content and the steel-man counter-argument in Research brief: Information architecture for service businesses with multiple verticals (piece 6 of 15).