LEGO® BrickLink
Segmentation Study

In 2019, BrickLink was acquired by the LEGO Group. I had the opportunity to lead the first comprehensive segmentation study of BrickLink's user base. By combining both a qualitative survey and qualitative interviews, we were able to deeply understand the underlying issues and distil them into user personas. This work also identified critical trust issues among power sellers. Our insights directly informed platform strategy, engagement approaches, and the creation of user panels. This resulted in improved community health metrics, NPS scores, growing platform revenue, and successful launches of new product offerings, while rebuilding trust with the diverse user segments.

When LEGO Group acquired BrickLink in 2019, they didn't just purchase a marketplace—they inherited a passionate community with nearly two decades of history, customs, and concerns. The platform, originally created by and for AFOLs (Adult Fans of LEGO), was its own ecosystem of power sellers, community champions, designers, and collectors who viewed themselves as the true guardians of LEGO culture. Many of these users had already developed frustrations with the previous ownership—a company established by a South Korean gaming entrepreneur who they felt didn't fully understand their needs. Now, with a corporate giant taking over—albeit the supplier of their favorite construction toy—tensions were running high.

Forum threads exploded with speculation: Would LEGO corporatize their beloved marketplace? Would they prioritize mainstream consumers over the dedicated hobbyists, collectors, and craftspeople with exacting demands and extensive brick catalogs? The divide between the passionate power users who formed BrickLink's foundation and the more casual adult consumers the LEGO Group increasingly targeted presented a significant strategic challenge.

Our mission was clear but delicate: understand who these users truly were, determine if the vocal critics truly represented the majority, and create a strategy that could honor BrickLink's heritage while enabling its future growth.

BrickLink, a marketplace with over 1 million users, was acquired by The LEGO Group in 2019. The acquisition highlighted several key challenges:

• Limited understanding of the user base and their usage patterns
• Significant mistrust among long-time users toward both the previous ownership and LEGO Group
• Fear among sellers of what changes the LEGO Group would make, and how the company's priorities would not meet their interests
• Need to balance new user growth with keeping core users satisfied

Before our intervention, there was no comprehensive segmentation of users, making it difficult to develop targeted strategies or address specific user concerns. Power sellers, who provided the majority of inventory, were particularly vocal about their frustrations with platform direction.

We needed more than data—we needed to understand the human story behind these passionate reactions. These weren't just users; they were guardians of a culture they had built brick by brick.

We developed a multi-method, data-driven research strategy that combined quantitative reach with qualitative depth:

1. Comprehensive Quantitative Survey

• Designed detailed questionnaire focusing on platform usage, purchasing behavior, and sentiment
• Deployed survey via email to active members
• Structured analysis plan for cross-tabulation by identified segments

2. Qualitative User Interviews

• Selected 10 representative members across buyer, seller, and designer segments
• Conducted in-depth interviews to understand engagement drivers, pain points, and jobs-to-be-done
• Recorded and transcribed all interviews to extract patterns

3. Sentiment Analysis

• Utilized AI-based text analysis tools to analyze open-ended survey responses
• Weighted sentiments by coding frequency of response topics
• Integrated findings with quantitative data to build comprehensive user personas

• Unprecedented Response Rate: 7.2% response rate
• Surprising Growth Pattern: While vocal critics had been on the platform for years, over half of members had joined within just the previous two years—a revelation that changed our entire perspective
• User Segment Identification: Successfully identified and profiled key user segments with distinct needs and behaviors
• Engagement Improvements: Increase in platform NPS following implementation of recommendations

We didn't just write a report that would gather dust on a shelf. We turned insights into action:

• Presented findings to BrickLink team and LEGO Group leadership overseeing the integration
• Developed detailed user personas for each identified segment
• Created scalable frameworks for expert user panels for each BrickLink product (Marketplace, Catalog, Studio)
• Established user panels with regular meetings to address concerns and preview new developments
• Incorporated findings into cross-functional product roadmap and community engagement strategy

• Combined traditional survey methodology with AI-powered sentiment analysis to process large volumes of qualitative feedback
• Developed cross-tabulation methodology to reveal hidden patterns in user behavior across segments
• Created engagement strategy and communication framework for rebuilding trust with skeptical power users while maintaining growth momentum
• Designed a continuous feedback loop through user panels to mitigate future trust issues

• Navigated complex stakeholder landscape between acquired company team, parent company leadership, and passionate core user base
• Built trust with sellers by creating dedicated channels for their feedback
• Aligned product and community teams around segment-specific strategies
• Balanced the needs of newer users (growth) with established sellers (supply)

• Understanding the tenure diversity of users (new vs. established) was crucial to addressing seemingly contradictory platform needs
• Community health and trust-building with power users required both listening forums and demonstrable action on feedback
• Segmentation allowed for more targeted product development and communication strategies
• Regular engagement with user panels proved more effective than one-time research

In the end, this wasn't just about data or market segments. It was about respecting a community's culture while helping it evolve. The true measure of our success wasn't in metrics, but in the rebuilding of trust and preserving what made BrickLink special in the first place.