Marketing data and identity

As a programmatic media partner for marketers and agencies, MiQ’s mission is to ensure their clients’ media investments are spent on the right audiences in the right environments. MiQ needed a stronger way to unify audience insights, increase scale, and improve efficiency amidst signal loss. To meet this challenge, MiQ integrated Experian’s Digital Graph into their Identity Spine, creating a more comprehensive view of their clients’ target audiences and ensuring their data-driven solutions remain effective, regardless of the signal source or identifier in use. What is Experian's Digital Graph? Experian’s Digital Graph is like a puzzle, connecting billions of digital identifiers to create a complete view of consumers. As signal loss makes targeting harder, our Digital Graph helps marketers stay connected by linking cookies, mobile ad IDs (MAIDs), hashed emails (HEMs), IP addresses, connected TV (CTV) IDs, and universal IDs, like Unified ID 2.0 (UID2) and ID5. We put the pieces together, matching first-party data to a variety of digital IDs for better targeting, measurement, and cross-device insights—so you don’t have to. Challenge: Strengthen targeting capabilities amidst signal loss MiQ needed to stay agile in its strategy and partnerships to ensure digital connectivity amidst ongoing signal loss. To maintain campaign performance and scale, MiQ sought privacy-first partners they could integrate into their Identity Spine. MiQ’s primary objectives included: Strengthen audience targeting across all digital environments, with or without cookies. Reach target audiences in privacy-compliant ways. Maintain or increase the scale — even as reliance on cookie-based targeting declines. The solution: Integrating Experian's Digital Graph into MiQ's Identity Spine MiQ incorporated Experian’s Digital Graph, licensing HEMs, UID2s, and third-party partner cookies, into their proprietary Identity Spine. MiQ’s Identity Spine seamlessly connects over 60 cookieless data feeds and 25 ID solutions. “Experian’s Graph has bolstered our already comprehensive, multi-ID Identity Spine with incredible data on cross-device ownership and cross-channel behavior.”Georgiana Haig, Strategy and Partnerships Director, MiQ Results: MiQ expanded the reach and scale of their Identity Spine The integration of Experian’s Digital Graph with MIQ’s Identity Spine enabled marketers to find, grow, and measure customers across screens even as signal loss evolves and traditional identifiers fluctuate. The integration allowed MiQ to: Create a unified view: MiQ now has a unified view of its clients’ target audiences, enhancing their audience understanding with the addition of 6.5 devices to each matched IP address, enhancing scale and targeting capabilities.  Increase scale: By matching first-party data to multiple universal IDs, MiQ expanded its reach across devices, contributing to a 51% increase in seed audience reach and and a 64% increase in reaching using universal IDs.   Improve efficiency: The combination of Experian’s data with MiQ’s Identity Spine improved cross-device ID resolution, leading to more accurate measurement and reporting with a 70% match rate in associating MiQ-provided IP addresses with universal IDs. Stay connected to you audience despite signal loss with Experian MiQ’s Identity Spine stays strong through their partnership with Experian, keeping audience targeting effective even as signal loss changes the landscape.  Download the full case study to learn more about how Experian’s Digital Graph enabled MiQ to strengthen audience targeting despite ongoing signal loss. Download the full case study Contact us About MiQ MiQ is a global programmatic media partner for marketers and agencies, with 19 offices across Europe, North America, and the Asia-Pacific region. They specialize in connecting data from multiple sources to solve business problems for their clients. They are award-winning experts in data science, analytics, and programmatic trading, focused on ensuring clients’ media investments are spent on the right audiences in the right environments. To learn more, please visit www.wearemiq.com. Latest posts

Connected TV (CTV) continues to expand as a dominant force in digital advertising. Streaming adoption is climbing, yet advertising budgets aren’t keeping pace. With the Newfronts and Upfronts presentations completed, advertisers are being asked to make big decisions with lingering questions still in the mix.  One of the biggest barriers? Persistent misconceptions about what CTV can and can’t do. That uncertainty can hold teams back from putting serious weight behind the most addressable screen in the house. Experian works with leading CTV partners to tackle those concerns head on - whether it’s improving measurement, reducing wasted impressions, or making audience data more actionable. To help marketers walk into Upfront conversations with clarity and confidence, we connected with industry experts from Ampersand, the Advertising Research Foundation (ARF), FreeWheel, and Madhive to separate fact from fiction. Here are four common CTV myths – and the reality behind them 1. CTV is not ready for performance marketing Why this misconception exists CTV was once seen as a branding tool—good for awareness, but hard to measure. Without clear attribution or precise targeting, it wasn’t built for the kind of performance marketing advertisers expect from digital media. What's actually happening In the not-so-distant past, marketers lacked a consistent way to connect CTV impressions to digital or in-store actions because of device fragmentation and limited signal sharing between platforms. Today, you can reach specific audiences on the biggest screen in the house—and know what happened after they saw your ad. Advancements in identity resolution and cross-device tracking now allow advertisers to measure everything from incremental reach to store visits and purchases. The growing use of universal identifiers like Unified ID 2.0 (UID2) makes it easier to connect ad exposure to real outcomes across screens.  "With better visibility into who’s watching CTV and what they do afterward, it’s no longer just about getting a message in front of people—we can actually understand if it drove real-world results, like a store visit or a purchase. By tapping into high-quality audience data—from behavioral to demographic to transactional—we’re able to improve match rates and reach, which ultimately leads to more meaningful outcomes for advertisers."Murphy Vandemotter, Director of Data Operations, Madhive That shift—from impressions to impact—is what makes CTV a true performance channel, not just a way to build brand awareness. How Madhive works with Experian to provide data that drives better targeting and measurement – at scale Madhive is helping local advertisers achieve better CTV outcomes by integrating Experian’s syndicated audiences directly into the Madhive Data Marketplace. Advertisers are using Experian’s data to better understand local audiences, deliver more personalized messaging, and extend campaign reach - in some cases, achieving 10x the reach compared to other marketplaces.  Combined with Madhive’s measurement tools and real-time optimization capabilities, advertisers can maximize their CTV investments by building lookalike audiences, quickly adjusting underperforming strategies, and personalizing engagement with viewers at the local level. 2. CTV advertising lacks brand safety and fraud protection Why this misconception exists CTV is sometimes lumped in with the broader digital ecosystem, where concerns around fraud, brand safety, and opaque buying paths are more common. Some advertisers worry they’re not getting what they paid for—or worse, that their ads could appear next to low-quality content. What's actually happening CTV has a much stronger foundation for brand safety and ad fraud than many marketers realize. The most effective way to minimize risk is to work directly with premium publishers and their primary technology platforms — not through long, complex chains of intermediaries that can open the door to fraud and low-quality placements. Platforms like FreeWheel provide direct access to premium CTV inventory across major broadcast and cable brands, helping marketers consolidate spend and significantly reduce exposure to risk. Working with primary supply partners ensures ads run alongside trusted, high-quality programming, not questionable or low-value content. By prioritizing direct paths to premium publishers, advertisers can take greater control over where their campaigns appear, achieving better transparency, higher quality, and stronger outcomes. "Advertisers can reach a broad collection of premium CTV inventory directly through FreeWheel. This not only greatly reduces a marketer’s risk, but it also provides certainty that they’re getting what they paid for in terms of quality content to appear alongside their brands.” Matt Clark, VP of Strategic Partnerships, FreeWheel In other words, cutting corners often increases risk—while consolidation and direct access to premium supply creates a cleaner, safer media buy. How Experian and FreeWheel match quality content with quality targeting Industry standards like OpenRTB 2.6 are evolving to give advertisers more control over where and how their ads appear. At the same time, Experian is helping advertisers maximize that control through our integration with FreeWheel. Advertisers can access Experian’s syndicated audiences directly within FreeWheel’s sell and buy-side programmatic advertising platforms. This gives advertisers the ability to create and activate campaigns across linear, digital, and advanced TV. Backed by a deep understanding of people in the offline and digital worlds, Experian’s data is ranked #1 in accuracy by Truthset, giving advertisers confidence that they are reaching the right people. Television audiences you can reach include cord-cutters and consumers who subscribe to free and paid ad-supported streaming TV services. 3. CTV audiences are too fragmented to manage effectively Why this misconception exists With so many streaming platforms and devices in play, US households subscribe to 4 paid video streaming services on average, it can feel nearly impossible to manage reach and frequency without overspending or annoying your audience. What's actually happening Advertisers don’t need to choose between scale and precision anymore. With the right audience and identity strategy, it’s possible to connect the dots across screens and unify fragmented viewing behaviors.  “We activate first- and third-party data across CTV, linear, and video-on-demand in a consistent way—making sure campaigns reach real households, not just devices. We also track unduplicated reach and frequency across platforms, so advertisers can understand what’s actually working. Together with Experian, we can measure whether those impressions moved the needle and guide media planning with full-funnel attribution insights."Anastasia Dukes-Asuen, Sr. Director of Advanced TV Data & Insights, Ampersand Experian Audiences are built on our household-level identity graph, giving advertisers a powerful tool to manage reach and frequency across screens. How Ampersand works with Experian Ampersand utilizes Experian Marketing Data to enhance audience-based media planning, activation, and optimization across linear and addressable TV platforms. By combining Experian Audiences with a footprint of 64 million data-enabled homes, Ampersand helps advertisers find the most valuable networks and dayparts to reach their intended viewers. Through its Addressable Simulator tool, powered by Experian data, Ampersand models different budget scenarios to show how reallocating spend into addressable TV can extend reach and improve efficiency. Using Experian-powered targeting has delivered real-world results, like helping a national cruise brand achieve a 14% lift in incremental reach, a 3.1x increase in frequency, and a 24% lower effective CPM. 4. CTV is only for younger, tech-savvy audiences Why this misconception exists Streaming was originally associated with younger viewers, leading advertisers to believe CTV wasn’t an effective way to reach older demographics. That impression stuck, but it’s no longer true. What's actually happening Smart TVs are everywhere, and CTV has gone mainstream. Across generations, households are tuning in to ad-supported streaming services in record numbers—and they’re doing it on the biggest screens in their homes. What ARF data shows New research from the Advertising Research Foundation (ARF) backs this up. According to the 2024 DASH TV Universe Study: 77% of U.S. households own at least one Smart TV 82% receive at least one ad-supported streaming service 62% of households receive at least one ad-supported subscription streaming service (AVOD) like Netflix or Max with ads “The audience with the highest Smart TV and ad-supported CTV adoption? Millennials and Gen Xers—Americans in their prime parenting years. Even Boomers have embraced CTV: 73% own a Smart TV and 72% receive at least one ad-supported CTV service.” Jim Meyer, General Manager of the Advertising Research Foundation (ARF) DASH TV Universe Study ARF and Experian gives marketers the most accurate understanding of who is watching We partnered with the ARF and its DASH universe study to create 18 TV audiences. By combining the ARF’s DASH data set with Experian Marketing Data, we developed one-of-a-kind TV audiences that reflect how viewers interact with digital devices and e-commerce accounts. We created this resource so our customers can align their marketing campaigns with media usage. These audience segments also yield insights that help marketers reach their audiences with the right messages and content. Make CTV work for you this Upfront season CTV is evolving fast, and advertisers who rely on outdated assumptions risk missing out on its full impact. If you're weighing where to place your bets this Upfront season, don’t let old myths steer you off course. CTV delivers reach, performance, and accountability—especially when powered by high-quality data. Experian helps advertisers get more from their CTV investment with household-level insights that control ad frequency and unified audience activation to maintain consistent messaging across platforms. Let’s make your CTV campaigns work smarter. Learn how Experian can help you understand your customers, reach the right audience, and measure performance. Get in touch Latest posts

As the days get longer and the weather warms up, spring’s revitalizing energy naturally leads to realignment. For marketers, it’s the perfect moment to reevaluate strategy, especially as consumer behavior changes ahead of summer and brings a renewed interest in travel, outdoor activities, and social events. Making seasonal adjustments to your marketing strategy helps you adapt to these shifting behaviors, capitalize on 2025 marketing trends, and keep your brand relevant year-round. When it comes to your marketing strategy, spring cleaning means clearing out outdated tactics, optimizing what works, and making room for smarter, more connected solutions. Take the time to ask yourself questions like: Are our audiences still relevant? Are we activating our data across the right channels? Are we collaborating with the right partners and using the right data clean room providers? If there’s room for improvement, now is the best time to audit, refine, and refresh your marketing strategy before the high-stakes summer and winter seasons. With identity resolution, data enrichment, data clean room collaboration, and omnichannel activation through Experian, you can clean up what’s outdated and prep your strategy for summer success! Rethink your data and identity resolution strategy Your data is foundational to your strategy and is a great place to start your marketing strategy spring cleanup. If your customer information is outdated, incomplete, or fragmented across systems, every campaign built on top of it risks underperforming. Before jumping into segmentation, activation, or partnerships, assess the health of your data and identity infrastructure. This is your deep clean and an essential first step in ensuring everything else works better.  With signals disappearing, buying channels proliferating, and customer journeys getting more complex, the key to maintaining addressability is investing in persistent identity, complete consumer data, and collaborative measurement strategies that can weather these changes. Here are some ways to rethink your marketing data management and identity strategies for the current environment. Set the data foundation A solid identity resolution strategy starts with high-quality, unified data. Consider a comprehensive refresh of your customer records by auditing and enhancing what you have for accuracy and depth.  As you’re thinking through spring marketing ideas, it’s an ideal time to enrich your first-party data by appending missing details, removing outdated records, and ensuring you enter summer with reliable, up-to-date profiles. Data enrichment Customer data naturally degrades, and eventually, you’ll need to dust it off by supplementing consumer records with current, high-quality insights and attributes. Experian data enrichment can help you seamlessly refresh records with updated demographic and behavioral data, giving detailed insights for precise targeting and relevant campaigns. With over 5,000 attributes available, covering everything from age and income to shopping habits and media preferences, you can maintain the deepest, most up-to-date view of your consumers through every season. Offline identity resolution and append Offline identifiers — like names, physical addresses, and phone numbers — are the most persistent identity markers as they rarely change compared to digital cookies and device IDs. They’re essential for a stable identity foundation, and you can use them to develop a consistent, unified view of each household and individual. Use this season to audit and tidy up your offline records. Are key identifiers missing? Are you relying on outdated addresses or duplicate names? Experian’s Offline Graph serves as the foundation to help unify those fragmented pieces, resolving identities across households and individuals to create a clean, consistent view of every customer. Think of this step as scrubbing baseboards or cleaning behind the fridge. It’s often overlooked but a prerequisite to a thorough spring refresh. You can also use Offline Identity Append to append missing identifiers to improve match rates, boost data accuracy, and ensure addressability so that when summer campaigns launch, you’re ready to confidently meet your audience where they are. Digital resolution via Digital Graph This next step is like replacing your air filter each spring. You won’t see it, but you’ll definitely feel the difference in performance. Digital resolution ensures persistent, accurate targeting across devices and channels in a fragmented omnichannel environment. Experian’s Digital Graph facilitates easy consumer identification and connection across the digital ecosystem. Our graph links digital identifiers like mobile ad IDs (MAIDs), connected TV IDs, and hashed emails to consumer profiles. So, when a customer interacts on a smartphone, a smart TV, and a laptop browser, those actions can all be tied back to the same individual or household in your database. Collaborate securely in data clean rooms to close gaps Matching partner data within your own secure space, a trusted third-party clean room, or Experian’s privacy-safe environment is an essential next step in your marketing spring cleaning strategy. But what is a data clean room? A data clean room is a privacy-first way to enhance marketing data in a secure environment that allows brands and partners to match and analyze data without exposing personally identifiable information. It’s almost like organizing a shared closet. You both bring what you have, sort it safely, and leave with something more valuable without mixing up or exposing what’s personal. Secure collaboration enriches your understanding of consumers, boosts match rates, and ensures the highest data security standards. Here are key data challenges you can tackle through data collaboration—whether in a clean room or across your broader data strategy. Lack of insights or usable data Without third-party cookies, marketers run the risk of losing valuable consumer insights. Collaborating with key partners lets brands enrich their first-party data and obtain a more comprehensive view of customer behaviors for informed decision-making. Let’s say, for example, that an advertiser with sales data but no exposure data struggles to attribute sales to specific campaigns. By collaborating securely with a measurement partner who provides exposure data, the advertiser can confidently link sales to ad exposure and optimize future campaigns with an understanding of who saw their ad and made a purchase. We anticipate that data collaboration will be a key marketing trend in 2025 alongside signal loss. Low or no match rates When businesses handle matching internally, discrepancies like name variations (e.g., John Doe vs. Jonathan Doe) or mismatched identifiers (hashed emails vs. MAIDs) often result in poor match rates. Experian’s identity resolution capabilities, meticulous hygiene processes, resolution logic, and comprehensive identity graphs significantly enhance these match rates. For example, if a data provider had physical addresses and a demand-side platform (DSP) had email addresses, they couldn’t collaborate with different identifiers. Using Experian Collaboration, however, their data could be resolved with offline identity data from our graph, enabling them to share their collaboration data and improve their marketing efforts. Data security When it comes to data collaboration, protecting your proprietary and customer information is non-negotiable. That’s why Experian operates with some of the industry's strictest data security, privacy, and compliance protocols. We support identity resolution and data collaboration within the most secure environments available — data clean rooms built to prevent sensitive customer data from ever being exposed. Instead of moving or sharing your raw data, we ensure all records are anonymized before any analysis occurs. Additionally, Experian’s clean room integrations with trusted partners give clients flexibility without compromising compliance. All solutions are designed to meet GDPR, CCPA, and industry-specific data governance standards, with full audit trails and customizable access controls. Connect and activate Once your data is clean, enriched, and resolved, the next step is to activate it efficiently across the channels where your audiences spend time. This step is like putting everything back in place after a deep clean so everything is functional, easy to access, and ready to deliver results. As you get ready to put your spring marketing ideas into motion, it’s time to streamline your activation approach and make sure your customer data is working hard for you. First-Party Onboarding With Experian First-Party Onboarding, you can ship data where needed using flexible data solutions for your activation strategy. This step is like labeling and organizing your freshly cleaned marketing closet, so each audience segment is ready to deploy wherever you need it. We make it easy to: Understand your customers on a deeper level Seamlessly onboard your customer data for use across programmatic, social, and advanced TV platforms Combine your first-party data with Experian syndicated audiences for enriched targeting Deliver those audiences to any destination that accepts Experian Audiences — whether a DSP, social platform, or publisher Increase match rates, extend reach, and lower activation costs Transact in the ecosystem with the Experian ID To aid in the activation process, Experian ID is a unified identifier that acts as a privacy-safe bridge between fragmented emails, device IDs, and addresses, helping you activate audiences across all media channels. Experian ID keeps your data protected and connected whether you send it to DSPs, social platforms, or data clean rooms. This allows for secure activation and performance tracking across the ecosystem without exposing personally identifiable information (PII). Like sealing and storing your seasonal belongings in airtight containers, Experian ID keeps your data clean, safe, and always ready for use. Use fresh audience insights to inform segmentation After deep-cleaning your data, enriching profiles, and resolving identities, you’ll want to ensure your segmentation reflects that renewed foundation. Just like clearing expired ingredients from your pantry, spring is an ideal time to toss outdated audience definitions and replace them with insights that are fresh, relevant, and ready to perform. With Experian’s modern audience tools, you can create smarter segments, power omnichannel strategies, and continue reaching high-value consumers even in cookieless environments. Our marketing data management tools make it easy to: Build detailed, personalized profiles using over 5,000+ behavioral and lifestyle marketing attributes that go far beyond basic demographics. Choose from 2,400+ pre-built syndicated segments or collaborate with Experian to create custom audiences tailored to your KPIs and campaign goals. Append fresh attributes to your CRM to keep profiles accurate, performance-ready, and reflective of current consumer behaviors and life stages. Together, these tools help sharpen your segmentation strategy and ensure up-to-date audience insights power every campaign. Let’s break down how smart combinations and contextual precision can further elevate your segmentation. Combine our identity graphs and Marketing Attributes for sharper targeting Combining Experian’s identity graphs with Marketing Attributes gives you both the who and the why behind your audience and helps you act on that insight with precision. It’s like giving your closet a total spring refresh — not just purging what doesn’t fit but also organizing what’s left into ready-to-wear outfits. Digital Graph + Marketing Attributes: Link real-time digital behavior (like CTV, mobile, or web activity) with rich consumer insights to create segments that perform across channels, from mobile to CTV to social. Offline Graph + Marketing Attributes: Tie persistent offline identifiers like name and address to behavioral and lifestyle data, making it easier to plan full-funnel strategies from direct mail to digital display. This approach gives you the clarity and flexibility to build richer personas, reach more qualified audiences, and target with confidence across any environment. Activate smarter with Contextually-Indexed Audiences Spring cleaning your strategy also means letting go of legacy tools, especially those relying on cookies or outdated tracking methods. With Experian’s Contextually-Indexed Audiences, you can reach consumers based on the content they’re engaging with, not their identifiers. We map millions of websites to real audience segments so you can target high-intent consumers in a privacy-safe, way. For example, an automotive brand looking to reach high-intent luxury EV shoppers can activate Experian’s “in-market for a luxury electric car” segment. With contextually-indexed targeting, that brand’s ads will appear on websites that over-index for visitors in that audience — such as premium car review sites or sustainability-focused blogs — without relying on user identifiers. This allows the brand to scale performance safely and efficiently in cookieless environments while achieving strong engagement metrics. Activate across channels with confidence After refreshing your data, segmentation, and partner strategies, the final step in your spring cleaning is putting all that prep work into action — efficiently and at scale. Think of this as your final sweep: optimizing where and how you activate your audience to ensure every touchpoint is aligned, accurate, and impactful. With your updated segments and sharpened identity framework in place, you can reach consumers across display, mobile, connected TV (CTV), and emerging digital channels. Experian provides the tools to activate seamlessly — backed by privacy-safe, high-quality data and flexible integration options. Third-Party Onboarding: Expand reach with external data sets Experian’s Third-Party Onboarding capabilities make it easy for brands to augment their first-party data strategies on their preferred activation platforms with easy access to high-quality, activation-ready third-party audiences. For you, this means you no longer have to manage the onboarding process yourself or worry about compatibility. Instead, you can: Enhance your first-party targeting with third-party data that’s already privacy-safe and activation-ready. Reach more qualified consumers by layering in external behavioral, lifestyle, or intent signals. Maximize scale across your preferred platforms using Experian’s established integrations and ecosystem support. With Experian as your trusted partner, your audience strategy becomes more flexible, more scalable, and more effective, giving you the power to engage the right consumers beyond your own CRM. Start preparing now for summer campaigns You’ve cleared out the clutter, restocked your toolkit, and optimized your data strategy, and now, you’re ready to get ahead of the summer rush. While summer is go-time for high-impact marketing campaigns, now is the time to clean, organize, and prepare. Another reason to start now? Tariffs, inflationary pressures, and changing consumer confidence are already impacting product demand, budget planning, and go-to-market strategies for the rest of the year. Brands need to be ready and agile in the face of economic turbulence. So, think of this as your final recap checklist before the season (and the economy) changes: a set of intentional steps that ensure all your prep work translates into real performance when it counts. Start now to: Cleanse and enrich your data: Make sure outdated records don’t weigh down your summer outreach. Refresh profiles with Experian’s latest attributes to stay aligned with consumer behavior. Solidify your identity resolution strategy: Transition to persistent, privacy-safe identifiers like Experian’s unified ID to maintain addressability across devices and channels. Collaborate with key partners: Run pilot campaigns with trusted collaborators to augment your data and maximize scale ahead of peak season. Refresh audience segments: Update personas and segments based on the latest data insights. Trial omnichannel strategies: Use spring to test messaging across display, CTV, social, and mobile so your summer creative hits with precision. Confirm measurement readiness: Double-check attribution and analytics tools so you can optimize in real time and prove ROI. Tailor creative to the season: From backyard barbecues to road trips, ensure your messaging taps into the themes and activities consumers care about most this summer. Spring is the warm-up. Summer is the performance. Start today to improve your marketing data management and overall strategy, and you’ll be ready to hit the ground running. Let’s plan your seasonal strategy together Whether you’re looking for more spring marketing ideas or want to launch a high-impact summer campaign, Experian is ready to help. From strategy to segmentation and data clean rooms to real-time activation, we partner with you to build a marketing engine that performs now and keeps growing through the seasons. Connect with us today, and let’s turn your seasonal refresh into long-term momentum Latest posts

Not all customers are the same, so why waste your budget marketing to them like they are? McKinsey research shows that 71% of consumers want personalized shopping experiences, and 76% get frustrated when they don’t have them. That’s where demographic segmentation comes in. But what is demographic segmentation, exactly? We define it as a process that helps you categorize your audience into meaningful demographic groups so you can reach the right people with impactful custom messages. Businesses across industries are partnering with Experian to power smarter decisions and better results through solutions like demographic segmentation — but what does this look like in action? This article breaks down five real-world demographic segmentation examples, showing how businesses have worked with us to drive measurable success so you can see exactly how it can work for you. What is demographic segmentation?   Demographic segmentation involves dividing your audience into smaller, more specific groups based on shared demographics like income, education, gender, job, family status, and more to gain a more granular understanding of your brand’s target segments. The better you know your audience, the better you speak to their unique needs — and the more effective your campaigns will be, as you’ll be able to target each segment with highly personalized content that resonates. For instance, a company might market a new tech gadget to young adults in one way while promoting the same product to families with young children in a completely different way, ensuring the message speaks to each group’s lifestyle and priorities. Demographic segmentation attributes Some of the most common attributes used in demographic segmentation include: Age Each age group has different wants and needs. A new video game might catch the eye of teenagers, while a retirement plan is more likely to appeal to someone in their 50s or 60s. Gender Gender impacts preference for certain products, from fashion to gadgets, so knowing who you’re talking to helps make your marketing more relevant. Income Someone with a higher income might be more likely to purchase premium products, while someone on a budget will respond better to discounts or value-based offers. Education The level of education a person has can influence what kind of messaging will resonate with them, whether it’s complex or more straightforward. Occupation A marketing message targeting busy professionals might differ from one aimed at students or retirees. Occupation can tell you what’s important to a person in terms of their needs and lifestyle. Family Status A family with young kids likely has different priorities than a single person or a couple without children. You can adapt your messaging to be more relevant to what matters most to them, like convenience or value. Benefits of using demographic segmentation Demographic segmentation offers several valuable benefits for marketers. Here’s why it’s one of the most commonly used and effective ways to target audiences: Improved targeting and personalization: Demographic segmentation powers highly customized campaigns so you can cater to different income levels, family structures, job types, and so forth. B2C brands can provide offers based on factors like age, income, and gender, while B2B brands can target by occupation to reach decision-makers. Better product and service development: Understanding which demographics use your product or service is a great way to inform future improvements. Higher engagement: With highly customized content, you can speak directly to specific demographic groups and increase engagement. Cost efficiency: As you target the most relevant segments, you optimize your spending around the most likely buyers and will see better returns. Increased conversion and retention: Relevant, targeted messaging leads to higher conversion rates, and when people feel understood, they’ll want to keep coming back. Clearer customer insights: Demographic data provides precise, actionable insights for refining your marketing strategy. Simplicity and effectiveness: Demographic insights are immediately actionable and easy to implement, which gives you a great starting point for focused campaigns. When to use other segmentation types While demographic segmentation provides valuable consumer insights, there are times when other approaches may offer a more effective strategy: Your business provides location-dependent services. If you strictly serve a local area, geographic segmentation would be more effective in targeting customers based on location. Your business offers hobby-centric products or services. Psychographic segmentation (based on interests, lifestyle, or values) may be more relevant than demographics alone for products related to specific interests or hobbies. You have access to detailed behavioral data. If you collect data on customer behavior (like browsing history or purchase patterns), behavioral segmentation would allow for more personalized targeting than demographics. You're selling high-end luxury products. While income is a useful demographic variable, psychographic factors like values, aspirations, and lifestyle better capture the desires of luxury consumers. Your target audience shares similar behaviors, regardless of demographic factors. Behavioral or psychographic segmentation might offer more insight if your customers engage with your product or service based on shared behaviors rather than demographic traits. Your product or service targets specific needs or pain points. Segmenting by need or issue rather than traditional demographic variables would likely yield better results if you're offering a solution to a particular problem (like a health-related product). How our customers are using demographic segmentation to produce tangible results               Demographic segmentation is about knowing your audience and using data to create marketing strategies that drive measurable outcomes. Let’s look at some real-world use cases from brands like yours that have been successful in this effort, working with Experian to translate demographic insights into significant business growth. Use case #1: Identifying customer spending potential to boost growth for a retail chain Objective A large retail chain wanted to understand the spending potential of each customer in their stores. Their goal was to uncover and maximize untapped spending potential. Solution Experian conducted an analysis to identify the top demographic factors that drove spending in the retail store the previous year. Our consultants found the four key drivers were: Age Income Family structure (household composition) Location/region Results By combining these attributes to create segments, we uncovered two valuable annual estimates: Potential spend: A conservative estimate of how much a customer could spend if they reached the top 20% of spenders within their specific demographic segment (based on data from the highest spenders). Unrealized spend: The difference between a customer's annual potential spend and their current spend. An estimate of how much more they could be spending each year. These demographic segments provided the marketing strategy the retail chain used to target $1.1 billion in unrealized spend. This revealed how much additional revenue could be captured by targeting the right customers with tailored marketing and offers through demographic segmentation. Use case #2: Helping a financial institution identify regional DE&I opportunities Objective A large financial institution needed help identifying regional diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I) opportunities. They wanted to better prioritize their outreach to underserved communities in the Los Angeles area. Solution Experian's Custom Analytics team provided the data and insights to pinpoint specific areas needing attention. We used three key indices to analyze the region: Income index: Measured each underserved economic group by comparing the percentage of low-to-moderate income consumers against the entire L.A. area. Ethnicity index: Measured the percentage of consumers by ethnicity, such as African-American, Hispanic, Asian, and others, against the entire L.A. area. Credit index: Identified potential credit disparities by looking at the average FICO score and the percentage of customers with credit accounts against the entire L.A. area. Results Our client received an analytics dashboard to track and report these metrics, providing clear, traceable data to prioritize DE&I outreach. This dashboard helped them measure progress toward more inclusive practices. Use case #3: Segmenting a health supplement ambassador program for enhanced engagement Objective A health supplement company wanted to identify specific segments within their ambassador program to provide better support and increase engagement. Solution Experian’s Custom Analytics team developed tailored customer segments to address specific needs and behaviors. These segments included: Young and independent: Younger, lower-income singles or starter households who are just beginning to establish their own lives. Families with ends to meet: Young and middle-aged families with kids who are budget-conscious, often using coupons and enjoying fast food. High-end families: Middle-aged families with kids and high incomes, financially secure big spenders who also give to charities. Empty nesters: Older households with no kids who focus on cooking at home and may have more disposable income. Results Segmenting at registration allowed for more effective communication and engagement with prospects. Customized messaging, guided by customer demographics and purchasing behaviors, improved acquisition and retention by helping the right messages reach the appropriate individuals through their preferred channels. Use case #4: Comparing customer bases: Insights for a retailer across two cities Objective A national retailer with locations in two major cities (their home base city and a recent expansion city) wanted to understand how different their customer base was in each city. They aimed to uncover key demographic and behavioral differences to refine their marketing strategies and ensure each location received the most relevant messaging and promotions. Solution Experian’s Custom Analytics team analyzed each city’s customers across a wide range of characteristics:. Demographics: The expansion city had a younger population with more families, while the home base city had an older and more established customer base. Purchasing behavior: Customers in the expansion city spent more per transaction than those in the home base city. Preferred marketing approach: Customers in the home base city were likelier to be Brand Loyalists, responding well to familiar, trust-driven messaging. Shoppers in the expansion city were Savvy Researchers who responded better to value-based content and product comparisons. Results Using these insights, the retailer tailored its marketing approach to align with each location’s customer base: Home base city: Focused on maintaining loyalty by emphasizing brand trust and highlighting long-term customer benefits. Expansion city: Positioned marketing to appeal to younger, family-focused consumers to showcase high-value purchases and competitive pricing These adjustments led to improved engagement and higher sales in both cities. Use case #5: Optimizing direct mail to help a nationwide retailer maximize impact on a limited budget Objective Facing a shrinking marketing budget, a nationwide retailer needed to refine their direct mail strategy to reach the right customers while reducing costs. Solution Experian’s Custom Analytics team developed a comprehensive dashboard summarizing two dozen recent direct mail campaigns, which allowed the retailer to: Understand the demographic composition of high-response customers across different regions. Identify key patterns in response rates, helping them pinpoint the most receptive audiences. Discover that the Power Elite Mosaic Group representing affluent, high-spending households comprised only 17% of their mailed audience but accounted for 47% of responses. Results With these insights, the retailer restructured their direct mail strategy to target the highest-performing segments. Changes like these led to a 30% reduction in mailing costs while retaining 92% of sales, proving that strategic segmentation can drive efficiency without sacrificing revenue. Explore demographic segmentation with Experian’s Analytics Consulting team Now that we’ve provided a demographic segmentation definition and given you some real-world demographic segmentation examples, it’s time to get a deeper understanding of your audience. Our experienced consultants utilize Experian Marketing Data to create the demographic segments you need to enhance targeting and uncover hidden opportunities. Key features Expertise and experience: Our consultants bring a wealth of analytic knowledge and industry expertise, so you can utilize the latest techniques and best practices. Customized solutions: We provide tailored, custom solutions like demographic segmentation to address your specific needs and challenges. Data-driven insights: Our expertise in Experian Marketing Data quickly delivers valuable insights to optimize operations and identify new opportunities. Industry perspective: As external experts, our consultants offer the unbiased perspective necessary to see beyond internal biases and make objective decisions. Competitive advantage: Utilizing our analytic consultants gives your business a competitive edge by understanding market trends, customer behavior, and potential risks faster than your competitors. Connect with us today to see how our data and expertise can improve  your targeting, personalization, and campaign performance. Connect with us Latest posts