At A Glance
Psympl explains how psychographic data improves financial marketing by revealing consumer motivations. This Q&A covers how tools like the Consumer Console™ and Psymplifier™ help financial institutions target, engage, and retain customers during the Great Wealth Transfer. The interview ends with practical steps for starting psychographic segmentation.In our Ask the Expert series, we interview leaders from our partner organizations who are helping lead their brands to new heights in AdTech. Today’s interview is with Brent Walker, Co-Founder and Chief Strategy Officer at Psympl.
What value does psychographic data add to financial marketing?
Demographic data tells financial marketers WHO a consumer is (like age, gender, or income), but it doesn’t predict decisions. Behavioral data shows WHAT a consumer does, but people can take the same action for different reasons. Understanding these reasons helps marketers engage consumers more effectively.
Psychographics reveal people’s attitudes, values, lifestyles, and personalities, the core of their motivations. This layer helps marketers understand WHY people act, anticipate needs, and connect in more meaningful ways.
This matters now as the “Great Wealth Transfer” unfolds: $124 trillion will be transferred from older to younger generations by the 2040s. Psychographics vary widely across generations, and up to 80% of heirs may switch financial institutions.
Using psychographic insights gives financial marketers a competitive edge during this historic wealth shift.
How can marketers apply Psympl Financial Segmentation?
Psympl Financial Segmentation groups households into five psychographic profiles, each with distinct approaches to money, investing, and engagement with financial advisors.
Psympl’s platform, the Consumer ConsoleTM, offers reference materials for understanding and engaging each Financial Segment, as well as access to extensive market research data conducted with Ipsos on the Segments to inform marketing strategy and campaign planning.
Psympl collaborates with Experian to map psychographic segments for all U.S. adults over 18. This allows financial services brands to enrich their consumer databases and find target customers based on psychographic, demographic, and socioeconomic profiles.
Experian Marketing Data also powers Psympl’s Geo-Targeting tool, which heatmaps the U.S. by psychographic segments down to the zip code, with filters for demographics, socioeconomic factors, and household counts.
Psympl’s platform also includes the PsymplifierTM, which uses Psychographic AITM to create, analyze, and rewrite marketing content tailored to specific segments or generate new content from simple prompts.
How do Psympl and Experian aid targeting strategies?
Psympl and Experian support targeting strategies by connecting psychographic insight with consumer data, geography, and channel preferences. That combination gives financial institutions a more actionable view of who to target, where to reach them, and what message is likely to resonate.
By connecting psychographic insights with consumer data, geography, and channel preferences, Psympl and Experian show financial institutions who to target, where to reach them, and what message will resonate, forming the foundation for effective targeting.
For example, a bank can pinpoint areas with consumers who prefer in-person service. Psympl’s Consumer Console™ highlights the Guided Mindset segment, those seeking expert financial help with $250,000+ in assets, as prime prospects. Psympl’s Geo-Targeting feature, powered by Experian Marketing Data, heat-maps where Guided Mindset households with $250,000+ in assets are concentrated.
In this example, one location stands out with a high representation (41.9%) and concentration (10,796 households) of the targeted Guided Mindset segment with $250,000+ in investable assets, shown in orange on the heat map. While nearby areas are dominated by Ambitious Mindset (blue) or Performance Mindset (green), the data suggests that ZIP code 45208 is an excellent candidate for a new branch, supported by targeted print, outdoor, or digital marketing.
Beyond location, Psympl’s research and Experian TrueTouch help firms choose the best channels for each segment and predict responses to direct mail, email, digital, and broadcast channels. Enriching customer databases with Psympl segments lets firms tailor messages—like notifying Guided Mindset customers about new locations, and use the Psymplifier™ to quickly generate targeted marketing content.
What are the top use cases for psychographic profiles?
By addressing customer motivations and priorities at every stage, organizations drive consistency, align communications, and deliver on customer expectations, whether acquiring, retaining, or upselling clients.
Relationships with Baby Boomer clients often do not carry over to younger heirs, who typically have Ambitious and Hopeful Mindsets instead of the Guided, Performance, and Self-Reliant Mindsets more common among older generations. Psychographics reveal these generational differences, distinct needs, values, and engagement preferences, so firms can anticipate, address, and communicate more effectively across generations.
Tools like Psympl’s Consumer Console and Psymplifier, combined with Experian TrueTouch Engagement data, equip financial professionals to tailor interactions and marketing content to each segment’s unique preferences, maximizing impact and receptivity.
Firms that fail to adapt to the needs and preferences of younger generations will inevitably lose AUM. The Psympl platform, enhanced by Experian data, positions organizations to turn The Great Wealth Transfer into an opportunity rather than a threat.
How can banks, credit unions, and wealth marketers start using psychographic segmentation?
Building a psychographic segmentation model is resource-intensive and challenging to scale, but Psympl’s collaboration with Experian addresses these challenges. After 20 years leading psychographic initiatives at Procter & Gamble, I wish I’d had Experian’s data and capabilities; they make planning and measurement much easier.
To start, enrich your CRM with Psympl psychographic Financial Segments from Experian. Analyze your customers to see which segments are over- or under-represented, revealing strengths and growth opportunities. Identify which segments most use specific products to target Prime Prospects. Then set a campaign goal and test psychographic messaging against a control group or with pre- and post-measures. Start small, earn, and adapt as you go.
Once you see results with relevant, psychographic-based content, expand this approach to prospecting, customer experience, and other applications.
Where can readers learn more?
I appreciate this opportunity! To learn more, readers can visit the psympl.com website, and more specifically, the Resources Page on the website, which includes videos, whitepapers, and guides for utilizing the Psympl psychographic Financial Segments for customer acquisition, retention, and enhanced engagement.
Contact us
About our expert
Brent Walker, Co-Founder and Chief Strategy Officer, Psympl
Brent Walker is Co-Founder and Chief Strategy Officer for Psympl, helping wealth management firms, banks, credit unions, and financial services enhance customer acquisition, retention, and cross-sell initiatives. Brent started his career in Brand Management at Procter & Gamble, and over 20 years he led teams in product management, customer marketing, and psychographic segmentation initiatives. In 2012, he cofounded his first company focused on psychographics in healthcare, which saw a series of multiple acquisitions. Brent has delivered a variety of publications covering critical marketing topics, featured in Forbes, The Ohio Bankers League, The Commonwealth Fund, and Healthcare Finance.
Latest posts
Everyone knows that it’s important for businesses to have a clearly defined brand. In the modern world, the personal brand has become just as important, and many professionals are trying to build up their public reputation, expertise and industry authority. In the digital age, there are many different methods and channels you can use to build your personal brand, but some are more efficient than others. According to Forbes Agency Council, here are some of the most effective ways to develop an authentic personal brand.1. Give More Than You Receive Whatever you do, always aim at giving more than you receive. When you build your network, try to bring value to each new person that you meet. When you get featured in some media, see what you can do for them in return. This is the best strategy because actions speak louder than words. People will remember you for what you are, not what your website is. – Solomon Thimothy, OneIMS 2. Define What You Stand For, Then Align Your Actions Define your mission. What is your purpose? What do you want to accomplish, and what is your key message? Once you have answers to those questions, use that mission as a guiding North Star to consistently reinforce your personal brand every day. This will come across in how you lead, how you interact with employees and peers, how you communicate, and how you give back to the community. – Preethy Vaidyanathan, Tapad 3. Develop A Creative Positioning Statement It’s all about positioning your company. You need to have creative positioning statements about who you are and what your company is doing to benefit its clients. Clients want resolutions to their problems, and that’s where you come to the rescue. It’s either sold or ignored. – Cagan Sean Yuksel, GRAFX CO. 4. Speak At An Event Becoming a keynote speaker gives you access to the things you need to elevate your brand: influencer status, large audiences and media profile. But access doesn’t equal attention. While speaking gives you the platform, you need to have something compelling to say. You’ll need a differentiated message, unique presentation style and a great agent to make this strategy successful. – Andrew Au, Intercept Group 5. Focus On A Specific Audience The most effective way to build your personal brand is to create content specifically for a very specific group of people. Create relevant content that details solutions to the unique needs of this audience so that it spreads quickly due to its hyper-relevance. This creates authority and credibility for your personal brand and helps you stand out as being the most relevant expert in your field. – Adam Guild, Placepull 6. Be Ruthlessly Consistent Developing a personal brand requires ruthless consistency in your subject matter and how you present yourself to the world. I go back to the early days of marketing blogs. In those days, some bloggers were all over the map with content. The ones who were consistent with their audience and their goals are the ones who had staying power. They became the authors, speakers and consultants. – Scott Baradell, Idea Grove 7. Follow Through Just like a traditional brand, the quality of your offering helps to build your brand. If you are clear on what you can and cannot deliver and always follow through on your word, your personal brand reputation will precede you and will be lifted by the recommendations of others. – Kieley Taylor, GroupM 8. Build A Solid Reputation “Personal brand” is just a new-age name for reputation. Doing your job exceptionally well, going above and beyond, treating people with respect and kindness, having a point of view—essentially any action that builds a solid professional reputation does the very same for your personal brand. – Jess Cook, TMV Group 9. Define Your Voice Establish your unique voice and personal point of view and stick to it in all you do and all you say. Personal brands must be consistent and have consistency in messaging, attitude and behavior. Express your personal brand through comments on articles, at significant events and important platforms where it can best showcase and support your personal point of view and brand persona. – Pat Fiore, FIORE 10. Create And Share Video Content Video is hard for many people. That’s why it can be your competitive advantage if you do it. Video allows you to be seen, heard and felt emotionally in a way that no other medium can. You may say, “That’s not for me” and that’s fine, but good luck competing with those who embrace it. Barriers to video are so low that building a personal brand without it seems as if you are hiding something. – A. Lee Judge, Content Monsta 11. Share Your Point of View In Everything You Do There are a finite number of topics that make for interesting discussion in our industry, so having a point of view and sharing it through crafted content is vital for building your personal brand. You don’t have to be controversial, necessarily, but considering themes and topics and providing honest commentary that demonstrates experience is the quickest way to build your reputation. – David Harrison, EVINS 12. Stay True To You The most effective way to build your personal brand is to be true to who you are. If you are wildly creative and outgoing, show that in your branding! Don’t hold back in your content; post that crazy Instagram picture that shows the world how you think. If you are conservative, then own that. This passion for who you really are—and what your company really is—authentically shines through. – Katy Boos, Remix Marketing Inc. Contact us today
OpenAudience™ will provide marketers the ability to easily plan and buy advertising for every digitally addressable consumer across the open web LOS ANGELES, May 2, 2019 /PRNewswire/ — For the past decade, the most effective way to advertise in digital media has been on Facebook and Google. Marketers in the U.S. now spend two-thirds of all digital ad spend on the “walled gardens”, despite the fact that they receive less than 36 percent of total consumer time spent online. According to eMarketer, addressing this massive asymmetry in advertising – where tens of billions of dollars are over allocated to the walled gardens – is the top concern of marketers in 2019. While programmatic technology has become the primary monetization system for the open web, it has lacked the simplicity and efficacy of walled gardens. Today, OpenX is changing that paradigm by bringing true people-based marketing to the open web for the first time with the introduction of OpenAudience. OpenAudience will provide marketers and publishers with an unprecedented, unified level of knowledge about consumer audiences – through a platform built on privacy by design principles that brings the efficiency and efficacy of walled garden advertising to the open web. OpenAudience is powered by a comprehensive proprietary data asset and supplemented by integrated partnerships with recognized leaders in data and identity like LiveRamp, Tapad, a part of Experian, and more. For marketers, OpenAudience will provide the ability to plan and buy people-based marketing campaigns that combine the impact and ease of use of Facebook advertising with the scale of the open web. OpenAudience is currently in active partner testing with multiple marketers in the U.S., including Fortune 500 financial service and consumer personal care companies, along with one of America’s largest online entertainment outlets, and will be generally available to the broader market in Q3 of 2019. For publishers, OpenAudience will deliver user-based knowledge that empowers them to value and sell advertising with unparalleled precision. With the ability to automatically place consumers into high-value audience segments drawn from the more than 240M U.S. Monthly Active Users OpenX reaches across the open web, OpenAudience allows publishers to maximize revenue like never before. “OpenAudience is a natural evolution of programmatic advertising, combining the unified knowledge of people-based audiences with the transactional power of programmatic to create a planning, buying and advertising experience that is unlike anything else in the market today,” said Todd Parsons, chief product officer at OpenX. “No exchange in the market today has enabled a unified view of publisher audiences,” said Travis Clinger, vice president of strategic initiatives, LiveRamp. “Now, OpenX is democratizing identity across all publishers on the open web, helping marketers to plan and buy audiences the way they do inside walled gardens. We are thrilled to be a key component of OpenAudience.” For more information, or to request a place in the private testing phase of OpenAudience, visit: http://www.openx.com, or contact your OpenX account representative today. About OpenX Nobody understands the open web better than OpenX. As the world’s largest independent advertising exchange, OpenX makes the efficient people-based marketing buying experience of the walled gardens available to all marketers across the open web. OpenX works with more than 30,000 advertisers across every screen and device, reaching nearly one billion consumers – including a quarter billion unique consumers in the US – and processing more than one trillion transactions globally each day. To date, OpenX has helped deliver more than $3 billion in total monetization to publishers. That’s the Power of Open™. Contact us today
Tom Rolph, VP EMEA at Tapad, part of Experian, says that ad-sponsored streaming services can be successful if they can deliver a higher quality viewer experience than other streaming services. Last week, Hulu, the streaming service acquired by Fox and now owned 60 per cent by Disney, announced it will be regularising its ad loads. The streaming service will be bringing ad breaks down to 90 seconds in an effort to deliver a better viewer experience. This is a positive move from Hulu and one which other ad-supported streaming services should follow in order to be successful in a competitive market. Previously ad breaks on Hulu could vary wildly, from 180 seconds to 240 seconds, due to existing deals with its three owners: Disney, Comcast and AT&T. Over in the UK, we haven’t suffered from quite as inconsistent an approach as in the US, but there is still viewer frustration with the ad experience on ITV Hub and All4, where the problem tends to be over exposure of the same ad. Therefore, this move to standardise ad break lengths for streaming platforms is one that should be embraced on both sides of the pond. An important shift in this space will be to limit the number of ads during each show, but have better ad targeting to minimise repetitive advertising and increase the ROI of ad spend. All of which can be accomplished by investing in identity resolution products that can support CTV devices. Last year Ofcom found that in the UK subscriptions to Netflix, Amazon and NOW TV have risen above those to traditional pay TV services. With Netflix and Amazon both ad-free and NOW TV only a limited ad funded model, it’s clear that there is a growing appetite for ad-free viewing models. A fact that is only further supported when you consider the role of the BBC and BBC iPlayer. But the picture isn’t entirely negative for ad-funded models. There is demand for great content on ad-funded services in the UK, with ITV Hub boasting over 1bn requests and 540m hours of TV watched. The ITV Hub mobile app has also been downloaded on over 27m devices across the country – with over 22m people now registered to ITV Hub database, including more than half of Britain’s 16-24 year olds. However, to continue to attract and retain younger viewers, the experience will have to improve. There are several areas where ad-supported streaming providers need to improve in order to remain top players in this space: Ad experienceAs explored above, both volume and repetition of ads can be a turn off for viewers, but with Brits already spending a total of £303.16m every month on TV streaming services, according to Finder.com, there is potential for free, ad-funded models to flourish as people hit a limit on what they are willing to spend. There are already signs of improvement with the ad experience, with ITV just signing a deal with Amobee to allow for addressable ads on ITV Hub, while Sky’s AdSmart technology remains best in class and has now crossed over the pond to be used by Comcast stablemate NBC. Server reliabilityA cursory search finds little evidence of ongoing reliability problems with Netflix, but much evidence of problems with ITV Hub and All4, which are both prone to crashing. To compete with bigger players with massive server farms, server capacity needs to be tackled. This is especially true when it comes to live events, where many people will recall ITV Hub’s famous fails during the World Cup. While even some of the larger players have had similar streaming issues (for example, Amazon’s move into live sports streaming when they had to pull UK streaming of the US Open Tennis due to user complaints), viewing experience should be prioritised as the space gets increasingly competitive. Getting the content rightAmazon and Netflix have huge content budgets, but UK broadcasters remain strong in this regard, Channel 4 has enjoyed viewing figures of 7.5m for the Great British Bake Off, while ITV pulled in 13.7m for I’m A Celebrity. By building on UK-specific content that speaks to UK audiences, ad-supported streaming services can continue to pull in more viewers. Mobile accessMore and more Brits are choosing to watch TV content on their smartphone or tablet, according to UKOM-approved comScore data. In fact, 6.5m adults visited the BBC iPlayer app to watch video on either a smartphone or tablet, edging out Netflix which attracted 5.8m Getting the experience right on mobile, with the option to download content so it can be viewed in areas of low or no signal, is key.If UK ad-supported TV stations can crack these key areas for their Connected TV offering then they will be set up to succeed and offer a true home-grown alternative to the US streaming giants. Full article here. Contact us today