Tag Archive for 'Household Geodemographics'

Census Changes in Canada Will Jeopardize Data Quality

Published on July 22, 2010 in Tom Exter. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , .

Tom Exter, Ph.D., Chief Demographer, Pitney Bowes Business Insight

Recently, the Canadian government announced its decision to eliminate the traditional long-form Census questionnaire with a voluntary National Household Survey (NHS) in conjunction with Census 2011. While some supporters in the government agree with the change, the news has garnered backlash from demographers, geographers, statisticians and much of the population, including Canada’s Chief Statistician, who has resigned his post due to the Minister’s decision.
 

As a professional demographer with Pitney Bowes Business Insight in Toronto, I have used Canadian census results for the past 12 years, especially those generated by the long-form census questionnaire. Without the long-form census sample, valuable information used in both the public and private sector will be lost. In addition to the arguments for reinstating the long-form census presented by many Canadian organizations and professional societies including the Canadian Population Society, I would like to contribute the following considerations:

  • A voluntary survey, such as the proposed National Household Survey, would not be a sufficient alternative to the mandatory census sample survey. The traditional one-in-five household sample provides good information for every neighbourhood in Canada. In contrast, information from a voluntary sample survey would be biased, even at the provincial and national level.
  • A voluntary sample survey would have a much lower response rate, relative to the mandatory long-form census, and those who do respond would be, by definition, self-selected. Using information from a self-selected sample of unknown and really unknowable bias in health care planning, for example, would have adverse impacts on health care delivery in Canada.
  •  Filling out the long form may be onerous, but it is not an “invasion of privacy.” The rigorous confidentiality standards of Statistics Canada actually protect the privacy of Canadians because the individual responses are highly protected and only used in privacy-friendly ways (aggregated to relatively large geographic boundaries, for example) to generate information for businesses and government agencies.

Overall, the long-form census data are a significant contributor to the Canadian economy in both the private and public sectors. Businesses rely on census information to grow and help their customer base. Government agencies plan the delivery of services and the allocation of funds to government programs. The quality and utility of the long-form census data are also a testament to the highly professional staff at Statistics Canada who collect, compile, analyze, and disseminate the data to businesses and communities alike.

The significance of this decision for all users of Canadian demographic data cannot be overstated. Readers are encouraged to voice their concerns directly by writing to:
The Honourable Tony Clement
Minister of Industry
House of Commons
Ottawa, ON
K1A OA6

PBBI Canada is interested in your perspectives and questions as well. Please address them to tom.exter@pb.com.

Spotlight on the Customer: Prizm LP

Published on May 13, 2010 in Leslie Nogue. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , .

Leslie Nogue, Pitney Bowes Business Insight

The Challenge

Priszm’s KFC restaurants have achieved a coupon redemption rate unprecedented for QSRs, as well as the overall restaurant industry. To continuously improve this rate, Priszm needed to update its 10-year-old trade zones and develop a repeatable system to drive its direct mail campaigns.

The Solution

Priszm enlisted the help of Pitney Bowes Business Insight (PBBI), the leading global provider of location and communication intelligence solutions, to help the company more accurately target flyer distribution, which would increase the coupon redemption rate and drive sales. PBBI focused on the modeling and underlying data analysis to improve the planning aspect of Priszm’s direct mail program for its 430 KFC restaurant locations. Now, the company is able to utilize a wealth of information for each trade zone, including customer demographics and psychographics, store performance and competition, enabling the company to more accurately target direct marketing efforts. With the help of PBBI predictive analytics solutions, Priszm has broken all industry records, sometimes achieving as much as a 17 percent coupon redemption rate. [Full Story...]

Spotlight on the Customer: Schoolcraft College

Published on March 17, 2010 in Leslie Nogue. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , .

Leslie Nogue, Pitney Bowes Business Insight

The Challenge
Schoolcraft College, a comprehensive, open door, community-based College in Livonia, Michigan was seeking to target their mass mailings to neighborhoods with the highest concentrations of potential students.

The Solution
Through in-depth analysis of customer, geographic, and demographic factors, analysts at Pitney Bowes Business Insight were able to weed out under-producing carrier routes, allowing Schoolcraft College to focus their energies on the neighborhoods most likely to produce students. As a result of the segmentation analysis, Schoolcraft College gained a deeper understanding of its target student, enabling them to communicate with with prospects more effectively.  Using Pitney Bowes Business Insight’s comprehensive customer segmentation analysis, Schoolcraft College was able to identify concentrations of in-profile students, ultimately boosting enrollment and reclaiming valuable marketing dollars through targeted mailings.

To find out how Schoolcraft was able to quantify and utlimately increase their ROI, download the case study.

Customer Segmentation: Canadian Style

Published on November 3, 2009 in Sebastien Rancourt. 2 Comments Tags: , , , , , .

Sebastien Rancourt, Pitney Bowes Business Insight

Canadian privacy laws set ground rules on how organizations may collect, use and disclose personal information. Under the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act, for example, personal information can only be collected when it is gathered with the knowledge and consent of the consumer—and only used for the reasons for which it was gathered.

Despite these data challenges, marketers and strategic planners have found effective ways to understand customer needs and create actionable customer segments. These insights and best practices—while particularly germane in Canada—are relevant to anyone looking to improve results by targeting more effectively.

Today’s leading solutions begin with geo-demographic clusters. While cluster segmentation strategies have existed for decades, contemporary clustering methods use robust statistical data and advanced analytical power to capture, create and measure more precise customer segments based on geography, demographics and lifestyles. With the right data and analytical tools, organizations can characterize the behavior of every clustered customer—from their favorite movies and foods to their preferred attire and avocations—enabling users to more accurately predict customers’ responses to every campaign.

Professionals in retail, financial services, media planning, real estate and restaurants, among others, rely on cluster segmentation to improve decision making and business results. Yet with the enhancements made in recent years, some marketers have yet to incorporate the latest advances which can boost overall performance. In speaking with experts across Canada, we’ve identified a series of best practices to help guide your next steps.

Segment by neighborhood, not postal codes. Some segmentation strategies rely on postal codes, which can lead to problems down the road. Each month, as many as 5% of the roughly 850,000 six-digit Canadian postal codes change, as Canada Post updates this system solely on the basis of their mail delivery needs. Not only does this taint campaigns in the short-term, it makes it nearly impossible to manage year-over-year modeling and analysis.

The best neighborhood segmentation clusters begin with census data at the dissemination area levels—which are the lowest levels for which reliable census data are published—providing hundreds of reliable data variables. In addition to data accuracy, these neighborhood-based models offer year-over-year consistency, so marketers can build on past success over time.

Incorporate household-level insights. This past year, leading cluster models have found ways to use more comprehensive household level data, incorporating consumer information that goes far beyond census findings. These inputs, which conform to Canadian privacy laws, represent an unprecedented level of detail and behavior-based data—and create a more high-definition view of customers and prospects.

Maximize data points. Not all household level data is the same. Some cluster models are built extrapolating data from as few as 8,000 surveys across the full population of 33 million Canadians. More reliable cluster models will analyze self-reported data from as many as 10 million individuals—providing for more accurate targeting and a lot less guesswork.

Overall, organizations that employ these best practices will benefit from a multidimensional framework that makes it possible to sort through the complexity of Canadian consumer culture without having to manipulate literally hundreds of census and survey variables.

One such solution is PSTYE HD, the Pitney Bowes Business Insight segmentation system created using an innovative two-step clustering process. The 59 clusters identified, including Canadian Elite, Joie de Vivre, Urban Verve and Next Gen Rising, leverage the largest and most robust repository of Canadian consumer intelligence to date—making it easier for organizations to locate new opportunities, connect with customers and communicate more efficiently.

Learn more about PSYTE HD at www.pbinsight.com/psytehd. As always, we look forward to your feedback!

Notes from the ICSC Research Conference 2009 in Phoenix

Published on October 29, 2009 in Devon Wolfe. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , .

Devon Wolfe, Pitney Bowes Business Insight

About 170 researchers and industry professionals gathered in Phoenix for the annual ICSC Research Conference, which is a gathering that has always been part networking, part content. The numbers this year were down considerably from years past, but the group was still spirited and engaged.

The ICSC group has long been dominated by the department store and shopping center research departments, yet this year, the higher numbers of attendees were from value, low-price point retail, just as we’re seeing in the sales results posted by various chains. Drug stores, dollar stores, and discount apparel were all well-represented. The conspicuous absence was big-box specialty retail. Very few attendees came from that segment of the industry, likely due to the slowdown in large store construction.

Instead, many operators I talked with are opportunistic and looking for great deals in the marketplace, while the developers and shopping center owners are hoping that the coming commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS) storm doesn’t wreck the rest of their business. Economists presenting at the conference were quick to point out that while we’re nowhere near recovery at this point, it’s inevitable that things will start to pick up within the next year, but slowly. Even though we want to think that this recession is drastically different than all others in the past, it isn’t necessarily. In the past, just as today, job recovery tends to follow market recovery, which of course means that it’s going to take a while for retail spending to recover completely.

On the methodology front, one thing to watch and prepare for is the 2010 U.S. Census, which has the distinction of being the first where the American Community Survey (ACS) will replace the long form in its entirety. Without listing all the details here, the important thing to remember about the ACS is that it uses sampling gathered on a periodic basis at different levels of geography. This means that while state level information will be reported annually for the previous year, block group information is reported each year for an average of the previous 5 years’ surveys. Sound confusing? It will be. We at PBBI are working on solutions to help take the guesswork out of using these data. Stay tuned . . .

In the meantime, we welcome you to download a free whitepaper on the impact the ACS can have on your business.  We also encourage you to visit the census website for more information on the ACS.

Recommendations from PBBI’s Predictive Analytic Practice Leaders

Published on September 4, 2009 in Leslie Nogue. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , .

The July edition of Response Magazine features an article by Al Beery and Brian Hill, Practice Leaders in Predictive Analytics for Pitney Bowes Business Insight, on the importance of companies gaining a better understanding of their target customers to enhance their marketing campaigns. The resulting article highlights the benefits of location intelligence through the use of demographic, psychographic and macroeconomic data to help companies make smarter, more strategic decisions.

For more on the recommendations from our Predictive Analytic experts, visit Response Magazine.

Response Magazine is a monthly publication geared toward professionals involved in all facets of direct response marketing (circulation: 18,626)

Deadline Approaches for Broadband Communications Stimulus Funds

Published on July 28, 2009 in Chris Cherry. 2 Comments Tags: , , .

Chris Cherry, Pitney Bowes Business Insight

The Federal government has allocated $7.2 Billion in stimulus funds for use in expanding broadband infrastructure in un-served and underserved areas across the United States. Applications for funding are due August 14, 2009.

To apply, enterprising telecom companies must complete a 39-page application and supply very specific information about the markets they will serve. This information includes maps of areas to be served as well as data on numbers of households, population, population density, and average income—all at the Census Block level. The data must illustrate both market need and market type, and companies must demonstrate that 75% or more of the funds they receive will be used in rural areas.

Previously, the effort required to compile this level of precise data could have been overwhelming. Today, however, Pitney Bowes Business Insights (PBBI) is making this aspect of the application process simple. We offer “Demographic Data Bundles” specifically designed to compile and present the required maps and Census Block Level Data for these applications.

Dozens of telecom providers have approached us since news of the stimulus funds application came out, and many are already using this solution to garner their fair share of these much-needed funds. It’s very exciting for us, because not only are we helping them turn these applications around faster and more painlessly, we’re showing them how location intelligence can help them identify where to grow their businesses and do so most profitably.

Time is running out. Information on the application for broadband infrastructure funds can be found at http://broadbandusa.sc.egov.usda.gov/.

To learn more about PBBI’s Location Intelligence Solutions and Demographic Data bundles, click here or give us a call us at 1-800-FAST MAP (1-800-327-8627).