Demographic Segmentation: Examples, Advantages + Variables

Understanding a group’s ethnicity helps to create products that appeal to their common beliefs and interests. In B2B marketing, occupation and role define what industry they work in and their decision-making ability. B2B marketers rely heavily on occupation demographics to target customers with specific professional skills or interests. A person’s occupation and role indicate their specialized skills and how they make money.

Based on these groups, they will clarify who their target market is and define their buying preferences. Marketers combine the answers to these questions and create groups of people with shared attributes and preferences. Additionally, integrating surveys into digital touchpoints can help address gaps by collecting more specific details. You can utilize website tracking and app usage analytics to gather valuable demographic information, including geographic location, device type, and browsing behaviors.

Demographic segmentation is marketing segmentation based on demographics. So, what does demographic segmentation look like today—and is it still worth doing? It’s hard to talk about customer data and marketing targets without talking about demographics. Personalisation at scale demands demographic segmentation, because – in lieu of being able to treat every single customer as a unique individual – segmenting them into smaller groups is the next best thing.

Why is Demographic Segmentation Important?

Marketers create more specific demographic groups by combining marital status, age, income, and other variables. For B2B marketers, this demographic data is critical to realtors, construction companies, and appliance manufacturers who need to tailor their products to this demographic. Education demographics can include the education level, languages, and occupations of the respondent and their family members. Geography can indicate a person’s income level and preferences, allowing marketers to target their audience better. Country and regional differences influence how marketers develop and sell their products.

We’re not saying demographics don’t matter. “I’ve been married six years, and now I’ve become a target for divorce ads,” one happily-married friend recently joked when their feed filled up with lawyers. Child-free friends hit their mid-twenties and are bombarded by diaper ads. In fact, not a week goes by that I don’t hear a friend or colleague joking about badly targeted advertising. Kosher Jews don’t want your cheeseburgers. The average age of marriage in the US is 28 to 30, so wedding planners—for example—may choose to target ads based on that average.

Test creative or product concepts using an automated approach to analysis and reporting This feature is valuable for demographic variable analysis, easily comparing data that clarifies your target audience. To maximize ROI by concentrating resources on the most profitable or strategic segments. Demographic targeting involves advertising to specific groups based on their demographics to reach the most receptive audience. Companies may use different methods to group their segments apart from demographics, including psychographics, lifestyle traits, and customer behaviors.

How to get started with segmentation

Companies can design custom surveys or gather public data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. For instance, the Tesla Model X targets male customers who earn over $143,000 per year, over twice the average U.S. household income. Marketers use income demographics to target their advertising, especially for high-end products.

• If you go with online surveys, you can distribute and collect them through different marketing channels like social media, email, and your website.
• Use AI personas of users and customers, including those hard-to-reach, to run surveys, interviews and market research.
• Nike, for example, creates distinct product lines and ad campaigns for teenagers, working adults, and seniors, each with different messaging, channels, and visual style.
• You can combine it with psychographic and behavioral segmentation to build a customer-centric marketing strategy.
• The other categories worth layering in are psychographic segmentation, geographic segmentation, and behavioral segmentation.

Demographic Segmentation Definition

With surveys and questionnaires, you can directly ask customers about their age, gender, income level, education, and other relevant characteristics. Surveys are a reliable data collection method frequently used by businesses to segment their audiences. There are several methods to gather relevant information for demographic segmentation. Now that you understand what demographic segmentation is and why you should do it, you’re probably wondering how to collect the data you demographic segmentation need.

After all, your team of 10 or 30 or even 300 isn’t going to be able to build individual campaigns for millions of customers. One person whose combination of behavior, demographics, and interests dictate what ads you show them, what messages you send, and when and how you send them. The truth is that personalizing ads for maximum impact doesn’t stop with behavioral data either. The point is that demographic segmentation isn’t enough. You still need to filter out people under 21 for your alcohol ads.

Take a look at our customer story to find out how ScottsMiracle-Gro achieved an 11 x campaign lift, and more than doubled buy actions, by scaling three key audience segments in its digital marketing campaign. By dividing your customer base into groups with shared characteristics, you can adapt your marketing strategy to speak directly to whatever is happening in their lives. In a competitive market, where people have seemingly endless choices, segmenting audiences enables relevant, personalized experiences that create meaningful connections. Understanding the difference in psychographics vs demographics vs behavioral segmentation is a crucial piece of this puzzle. Discover the differences between psychographic, demographic, and behavioral segmentation.