What is psychography?

Psychography is a term used to refer to data collected about groups of people that involves how those people think, feel, act and believe. You can think of cultural data as opposed to demographic data, which focuses on things like age, geography, race, gender, and annual income. It's also different from behavioral data, which documents things like brand loyalty, behavior in groups of similar individuals, and so on.

People in the marketing industry use psychography extensively, and it can also be part of the social sciences, with people like sociologists interested in the culture of the people they study. Psychography includes things like opinions, values, beliefs, interests, personality and lifestyle, looking not just at who people are and what they do, but also at the culture that informs their attitudes and choices. It can be studied in a variety of ways, including through surveys, interviews, and studying the media they consume.

For marketing, psychography is important because it allows people to identify and target a specific group of people. Just looking at demographics is often not limited enough when it comes to a good marketing campaign. For example, if a company wants to market to women aged 20-25, this is a broad category that includes many psychographic groups. If, instead, the company targets a specific group within that demographic, it can develop products that respond to the customer's psychographics, appealing to values ​​to make a sale. For example, a company may decide to position itself as "green" to capture people who are environmentally conscious.

Profiles of individuals discussing their psychographics can be prepared, and companies can also profile much larger groups. Surveys designed to test new products and explore marketing possibilities often use psychography as part of their framework to understand who people are, what influences their purchasing decisions, and how a product can be designed to appeal to them. Psychographics can influence things like product size, packaging design, and where products are sold.

Lifestyles and attitudes can have a profound impact on people's behavior when buying or evaluating products. The psychographics category is designed to capture and quantify these aspects of potential customers so that a company can better serve its customers and position itself more effectively in the market. Companies that do not take into account psychographic concerns may find that their customers are directed elsewhere, to companies that provide them with a more personalized experience.