Demographics vs. Psychographics
Demographics vs. Psychographics

Demographics vs. Psychographics

What’s the difference between demographics and psychographics? Which one should I be looking at? When should I be looking at demographics vs. psychographics?

If you have any of these questions, you’ve come to the right place. Buckle in for a quick walkthrough.

Demographics

Demographics data is about the external characteristics of an individual. These are quantitative data points.

Examples of demographics:

  • Age
  • Sex
  • Race
  • Ethnicity
  • Household Income
  • Education Level

An easy way to think about this is if I can get the information without talking to the person, chances are that its demographics.

Demographics are good for getting a high level overview of a segment of people, but not so good to understand the internal psychology of people. As marketers and brand strategists, understanding demographics is important because you can target people at the surface level with demographics.

As an example, if you’re opening up a convenience store like 7/11 - some key demographics to know to help you make a good decision on your location would be the population in a 1 mile radius, average household income, and average age. You’ll want to open in a location that gets good amount of traffic of people that have spending power. You don’t necessarily care so much about the people’s goals and aspirations in life because you’re selling things that most people need.

Another example of demographics coming in handy is if you have more mass market product that targets males ages 20-35, you can hone your targeting and the copy in your creatives to only target those people.

Demographics can be very useful to help you get in front of the right people, but what if the space you’re in already has a lot of competitors? What if you have something a bit more targeted that doesn’t apply to all men ages 20-35? How do you make sure your message gets in front of the right people and resonates with them?

That’s where psychographics come in.

Psychographics

Unlike demographics, psychographics deal with the intangibles - the qualitative elements of a person. These can’t be measured with numbers, and you can’t get this information until you actually talk to people.

Examples of psychographics:

  • Career aspirations
  • Interests
  • Values
  • Hobbies

Basically psychographics gives you an insight into the psychology of a person. Understanding the way a person thinks, what they’re interested in, etc. gives you a lot of power as a marketer or brand strategist.

Instead of creating a wallet for men ages 20-35, you can make your wallet brand an aspirational brand for men ages 20-35 that really appreciate leather goods. Positioning yourself like this allows you to charge a higher premium for your products, and also creates a deeper relationship with your consumer base. You’re appealing to less people, but the people that do buy are way more invested in your brand.

In short, understanding both the psychographics and the demographics of your customers will help you provide more value to your customers.