FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Nielsen Segmentation Solutions
Copyright ©2013 The Nielsen Company. Confidential and proprietary.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
1. Why is Nielsen PRIZM the most common choice for advertisers, agencies and media companies?
• Nielsen Segmentation has the broadest adoption: PRIZM® has been adopted by advertisers across every industry as a tool for understanding, managing and marketing to their customers. • Nielsen Segmentation is widely available for advertisers to utilize across all mediums –
Nielsen TV Ratings, all of the major newspapers, major direct mail list companies, online, via eXelate, Blue Kai or other DMP or can assist reaching that same audience online.
• PRIZM (lifestyle segmentation), Nielsen P$YCLE (financial behaviors) and Nielsen ConneXions
(technology adoption) are the most robust segmentation tools in the market. With more than 6000+ brand and lifestyle behaviors, the breadth and depth of the data is unequaled. Nielsen incorporates more research data in more key ad categories such as financial services, automotive and general lifestyle, than any other segmentation system. • That means any advertiser in virtually any category will be able to find a brand‐level target, e.g. not just “luxury cars” but “Audi A4”. In fact, PRIZM can create targets based on how heavily the segments spend—not just “has a mutual fund” but “has $X in a mutual fund.” In some categories channel preference is available: “obtains mutual fund from brokerage” or “obtains mutual fund via Internet.” This provides an advertiser with maximum flexibility.
Copyright ©2013 The Nielsen Company. Confidential and proprietary.
• Nielsen Segmentation uniquely incorporates Urbanicity: In addition to incorporating income and life stage, urbanization (urban, suburban, and rural) offers a critical dimension into predicting behavior. For example, consumption habits are significantly different if a household is in downtown New York vs. rural Texas even with identical income and household composition. • Nielsen Segmentation delivers precision marketing, yet privacy is maintained. There is no Personally Identifiable Information (PII) attached to Nielsen segmentation. • PRIZM is proven. PRIZM has been successfully supporting clients for more than 30 years.
• Nielsen segmentation can reach complex targets containing various criteria important to the advertiser. This helps make segmentation‐based campaigns more scalable, flexible and efficient. An example would be:
• likely to purchase satellite TV+ likely to have a HD TV and home theatre system + likely to be interested in the NFL programming package
Prepared for: [Client Name] Source: XXXXXX
2. How often is Nielsen Segmentation updated?
Nielsen Segmentation is updated annually, generally in the October timeframe.
3. How many segments are there?
PRIZM = 66, broken into 11 life stage groups
ConneXions® = 53, broken into 10 life stage groups
P$YCLE® = 58, broken into 12 life stage groups
4. What is the main focus of each segmentation system? How do I choose?
PRIZM offers the broadest coverage, designed to segment general consumer purchasing behavior, covering more than 6,000 unique brands & lifestyles. It’s the best fit for general consumer products ranging from retail to automotive. P$YCLE is specially designed for financial marketing and wealth identification. It’s 58 P$YCLE segments cover 12 lifestage groups based on age, family structure, income and assets. Advertisers that typically would be a good fit for P$YCLE would be all major credit card companies, banking institutions and insurance companies.
ConneXions is ideal when advertisers focus on technology adoption and consumption. It breaks down consumers into 53 segments based on voice, video and data consumption, as well as a consumer’s tendency to adopt technology. Advertisers that typically turn to ConneXions, for example, would be wireless and cable providers, consumer electronics manufacturers and energy companies.
5. How are the Nielsen segments different to behavioral or in‐market segments?
Copyright ©2013 The Nielsen Company. Confidential and proprietary.
PRIZM is based on a wealth of survey and demographic data or a client’s analysis of their customer database. It is not based on collecting sufficient online or mobile behavior to build a model. As a result, PRIZM reaches a high quality target consumer regardless of the availability of in‐market behavioral data. 6. Can a household fall into multiple segments codes? No. Each household or Zip+6 will be assigned one PRIZM, one ConneXions, or one P$YCLE code only, respectively.
7. Should you combine PRIZM with P$YCLE or ConneXions for a certain campaign?
In most cases, you would only use one segmentation system per campaign. Each system is developed independently of one another, and there is no link between segments. For example, PRIZM Segment 3 will never equal ConneXions segment 6. Furthermore, the same household will be assigned one code for each system, so there is potential to market to the same household multiple times if more than one system at a time is used.
Prepared for: [Client Name] Source: XXXXXX
8. How do the advertisers use the data?
• Any clients who have their own database of addresses will append their customer file with Nielsen segmentation to determine which segments are buying their products. If a company does not have a database (e.g. quick service restaurant), they will utilize survey data, or ‘surrogate’ profiles, such as MRI
• The data is also used for Strategic planning, Marketing, Messaging, Real Estate analysis (i.e. where to open the next store) or new product development
• Measurement of how successful a campaign performed 9. Can you provide an example of how a client may utilize the data offline?
ABC Hardware Store example
The Challenge: Establish ABC as the “Most Helpful Hardware Retailer on the Planet”, increase loyal customers through their customer loyalty program, increase the number of stores, drive sales and increase store traffic
The Solution: Performed segmentation analyses at the national and local levels
The Results: • Increased retail sales by 5.4%
• Grew to 10.5 million loyal customers through the recruitment of new customers
• Opened 132 new stores and relocated 30 stores to better locations Copyright ©2013 The Nielsen Company. Confidential and proprietary.
• Conducted 65 grand openings
10. I have a client who has developed a custom segmentation scheme using PRIZM. Can we support the client’s custom segmentation model?
If the custom system is built from PRIZM, the client can provide you with a list of the preferred segments. Ideally they will provide you a different creative for each group focused on the lifestyle messaging they are likely to respond to.
11. Where do you find descriptions of each segment? Go to www.MyBestSegments.com for a list and description of all PRIZM, P$YCLE and ConneXions codes. You can also look up the segments that make up your zip code. Note: Please do not use these descriptions to pick segments to advertise to. Please use the SMS Prepared for: [Client Name] planning tool described below.
Source: XXXXXX
12. How many segments should I pick for a campaign?
• It depends on the client and consumer behavior. Our recommendation is to focus on 15‐20 segments.
• Ideally, we recommend clients aim for over‐indexing segments with a score of 120 or higher. This creates clear separation from the general population. The higher the index, the more likely that segment is to engage in the behavior.
13. What are all these other numbers on the Segmentation & Market Solutions reports? Does this tell me my universe size?
No, these are counts for the offline world. It is best to just use index to choose segments.
14. What if I can’t find a behavior I am looking for? There are several options. If you prefer to investigate on your own, we recommend identifying proxy behaviors that closely parallel the ideal behavior. For example, you may explore high‐end travel or travel on competitive airlines if (hypothetically) travel on Virgin Airways more than 3 times per year is not available.
If you need additional support, do not hesitate to contact the Nielsen PRIZM Digital support inbox: PRIZMDigital@nielsen.com
15. What is an index? How do I interpret?
An Index is a basic statistical tool designed to show the proportional differences between two groups. In the case of PRIZM, the index shows the difference or propensity to participate in a lifestyle, demographic characteristic, or to use or buy a product compared to an average of 100. Copyright ©2013 The Nielsen Company. Confidential and proprietary.
For example, an index of 120 would imply that a segment is 20% more likely to participate in a certain behavior. For an index of 200, we would say the segment is twice as likely to participate in a behavior. The index is calculated by dividing the percent penetration for the behavior by the percent penetration for the base and multiplying by 100.
16. What are the sources of the behaviors?
Nielsen provides access to the 7 survey databases listed below. Each survey respondent on each survey has been coded with a Nielsen Segmentation code, which is utilized in the creation of the profiles available via Segmentation & Market Solutions. The survey data is projected to the entire U.S. by segment to understand consumers.
For example: MRI is a major survey fielded annually, which covers questions ranging from brand purchases to lifestyle behaviors to media consumption. Profile example: Did you shop at Best Buy in the past 3 months? This profile in Segmentation & Market Solutions indicates which PRIZM segments had the highest number of respondents who Prepared for: [Client Name] shopped at Best Buy.
Source: XXXXXX
SOURCE INFORMATION
MRI (MediaMark Research) – Available for PRIZM,® P$YCLE® and ConneXions ® MRI has a singular goal: to provide the clearest and most detailed view of American consumers‐‐
who they are, what they buy, how they think, and the best ways to reach them. MRI is the country's leading provider of magazine audience ratings, multimedia research data and penetrating insights into consumer behavior and motivations. MRI interviews approximately 26,000 U.S. adults in their homes each year, asking about their use of media, their consumption of more than 6,000 products in 550 categories, their lifestyles and their attitudes.
Financial Product Profiles – Available for PRIZM & P$YCLE
The Nielsen Financial Product Profiles provide product‐usage information for more than 100 financial products. These include all basic banking products and auxiliary services, such as paying bills using the telephone or Internet, and non‐traditional banking services, such as investments.
The Profiles are based on Nielsen Financial Track™ survey data. Nielsen Financial Track is an online survey that collects detailed information on household financial‐product usage and behavior and household demographic characteristics. Annually, more than 80,000 households participate nationwide. The survey, designed to generate a national representative sample of United States households, also collects information about channel usage, balance information, and institutional relationships.
Copyright ©2013 The Nielsen Company. Confidential and proprietary.
Insurance Product Profiles‐ Available for PRIZM & P$YCLE
Nielsen Insurance Products Profiles provide product usage information for insurance products and services. Nielsen Insurance products covered include automobile, term life, universal life, variable and whole life, medical, residential, accidental death and dismemberment, disability and long term care policies. The product also presents channel information, premium information, and consumer attitudes towards insurance.
The Profiles are based on the Nielsen Insurance Track™ survey. Nielsen Insurance Track is an extensive online survey that collects detailed information on household insurance product usage, behaviors, and insurance attitudes. The survey is designed to generate a national representative sample of U.S. households and to collect information about insurance products used and owned, number of policies, and policy premiums and value. The Nielsen Insurance Track survey is fielded bi‐yearly with approximately 35,000 participants.
Prepared for: [Client Name] Source: XXXXXX
Nielsen Technology Behavior Track™ ‐ Available for PRIZM & ConneXions
The Nielsen Technology Behavior Track enables you to identify consumers based on various behaviors associated with voice, data, and video consumption. By using these profiles to develop groups of ideal customers, you should experience a greater return on investment of marketing dollars in customer acquisition and retention (CACR), and channel management. Nielsen Technology Behavior Track Profiles are created for the Nielsen PRIZM and Nielsen ConneXions segmentation systems.
The survey is fielded annually to over 35,000 respondents via Internet and mail. This mixed methodology was implemented in 2005 in response to requests for more frequent updates, given the dynamic nature of the voice, video, and telecom industries. The 2011 Nielsen Convergence Audit online sample is augmented with a mail survey sample in order to represent households with and without Internet access, due to differences in technology product ownership between online and offline households. This augmented sample is used in conjunction with other demographic characteristics to develop sample adjustment weights.
Nielsen Energy – Available for PRIZM
The Nielsen Energy Behavior Track survey is a wide‐ranging study focusing on household‐level energy consumption. Fielded online once a year, the study contains a robust sample of more than 32,000 households and includes content on nearly 200 variables ranging from “green” initiatives to energy program usage to monthly utility spend. Copyright ©2013 The Nielsen Company. Confidential and proprietary.
With Nielsen Energy Behavior Track you gain insight into consumer behaviors and attitudes related specifically to energy activities at the most granular level, so you can recognize which energy efficiency programs and “green” technologies are being adopted by which consumers; inform and educate consumers about energy conservation with tailored messaging that resonates with them and determine how satisfied your customers are with your service as well as how you compare to your competitors and the industry.
Prepared for: [Client Name] Source: XXXXXX
Household Demographics ‐ Available for PRIZM, P$YCLE & ConneXions
Nielsen Household Demographic Profiles enable you to reach consumers based on demographic traits. By using Household Demographic Profiles to develop groups of ideal customers, you should experience a greater return on investment of marketing dollars in customer acquisition and retention (CACR), media strategy, and channel management.
The Nielsen Household Demographic Profiles are built from self‐reported demographic data collected by the MRI Survey of the American Consumer. Self‐reported data is proven to be more accurate and representative than any modeling technique available. Nielsen strongly recommends that customers do not trend Nielsen Household Demographic Profiles from year to year, as the profiles present a best picture of what is available today, and are methodologically not built for trending purposes. Profiles can change for a variety of reasons due to sampling, segment coding, questionnaire design, and the like. Previously created groups of ideal customers should be reevaluated using the new data available in Nielsen Household Demographic Profiles.
Neighborhood demos ‐ Available for PRIZM, P$YCLE & ConneXions
The 2013 Nielsen Neighborhood Demographic Profiles present data from the Nielsen Pop‐
Facts®/Census estimates summarized by segment for the Nielsen PRIZM, Nielsen P$YCLE, and Nielsen ConneXions segmentation systems. Pop‐Facts® uses proprietary Nielsen methodologies combined with census data to accurately estimate demographic counts at smaller geographic areas.
Copyright ©2013 The Nielsen Company. Confidential and proprietary.
The Nielsen Neighborhood Demographic Profiles can be used for several purposes, including:
•
Determining criteria for deciding which segments to pinpoint.
•
Creating profile ranking reports such as Rank Order Correlation (ROC) and Profile Ranking Index (PRI) that rank demographic data by segment.
•
Identifying segments that meet specific demographic criteria, such as high income families with children or segments with high penetration of Hispanics.
It is important to note that there are three times as many Nielsen Neighborhood Demographic Profiles as Nielsen Household Demographic Profiles. This allows marketers to develop groups of ideal customers based on a wider range of demographic data. For example, the Nielsen Household Demographic Profiles product presents income profiles, whereas the Nielsen Neighborhood Demographic Profiles product presents not only income profiles, but also income profiles by race and ethnicity.
Prepared for: [Client Name] Source: XXXXXX
For more information contact your Nielsen SLMS representative at PRIZMDigital@nielsen.com