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The importance of Psychographics in marketing

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Reading time 4 minutes
By Patrick Schokker

Say you share an e-book or white paper on Facebook every week but no one downloads it or responds to your emails. What is the reason for this? Is there really no one interested? We can tell you that this is usually not the case. This is probably because you are ignoring the psychographics of your target audience. Discover in our blog the importance of psychographics in marketing and how you can use them to get more conversions.

What are psychographics and what do they have to do with marketing?

You can compare psychographics to demographics. Only psychographics say just a little more about a person. Instead of age, you get insight into a person's interests or lifestyle. Demographic data shows you who your target audience is based on standard values. Think of values such as; gender, age, income, marital status, etc. Psychographics answer the "why" behind a person's purchase. This includes habits, interests, hobbies, spending habits and the values, characteristics and traits of the target audience.

You can better reach your target audience if you understand both demographics and psychographics. In fact, the combination of this data forms your buyer persona. This is a detailed profile of an average person from your target audience. By forming one or more buyer personas, you will better understand your target audience, allowing you to reach them with a relevant message and content.

When you only use demographics, you only have a standard profile that is not specific enough to create specified content. Psychographics give much more insight into the motivations of individuals. There are lots of segments in psychographics, but the most popular ones are personality traits, life cycle stage, interests, attitudes or beliefs and activities. As a marketer, you can also differentiate between buying urgency, social class, income and more.

Do research on your target audience

differences demographics and psychographics

Demographics

  • Age
  • Gender
  • Marital status
  • Origin
  • Location
  • Education level
  • Religion

Pyschographics

  • Personality traits
  • Lifestyle
  • Social class
  • Attitude
  • Principles and beliefs
  • Activities and interests
Visitors segmented into psychographic data

Collecting psychographics in marketing


Nu je weet wat psychographics precies zijn, is de vraag: ‘Hoe verzamel je deze gegevens?’

This can be done in two ways:

1. Interview current customers.
If you ask the right questions, you can find out what your customers care about or where the pain points are. You can send out a customer survey within your current customer base stating that you want to understand your customers better to serve them better. Most customers are happy to help you with this.

2. Website analytics studies
Looking only at existing data? Then you can use your website's analytics. See what visitors clicked on, what pages they visited or what downloads were made? You can even see what interests those who come to the website have. This can be very effective.
Also, you can already ask for additional information in a request form. For example, why did someone download something? This way you can immediately start segmenting.

build a psychographic profile

Now that you know exactly what psychographics are, and how to collect them, a psychographic profile of the target audience can be created. It is similar to a buyer persona.
Personality influences much of our thinking and subsequent behavior, so understanding the psyche of your target audience can improve your brand's reach, ad style and content.

Psychographic data forms the basis of your buyer persona

When consumers make purchasing decisions, they are often guided by their emotions. Emotion plays a big role when it comes to making decisions. Demographic data is a good basis. You can broadly map your target audience based on standard values, but psychographics offer you much more insight into the behavior of your target audience.

Psychographic targeting in marketing

Psychographic segmentation is similar to behavioral segmentation. Segments are created based on more personal and individual criteria. Consumer psychology is particularly interested in lifestyle, behavior, and interests. Our unique psychological profiles - temperament, personality, and idiosyncrasies - greatly influence our behavior as consumers.

If you want to segment your audience by lifestyle, one of the things you look at is where individuals are in their life cycle. For example, are they still in school, are they working or do they have a family? Based on your prepared psychographic profile(s), you then determine the targeting of your audience.

A consumer's habits, interests or other characteristics can tell a marketer what these consumers think about a lot, look for and participate in on a daily basis. In this way, you can offer promotions or advertise your products or services on specific topics around individuals and interests.

The psychographic profile of your target audience allows you to make your audience even more specific and target them through various channels such as Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn. It is also important to consider the customer journey. What stage are they in and what content from my product and company best matches that?

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Patrick Schokker
Patrick Schokker

About this schurq

General Manager

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