TrueTouchClassifying consumers by their channel preference and promotional orientation

Communicating effectively with consumers in

today’s multi-channel world is a complex process.

The growth of digital and direct response media,

and the increasing importance of more informal

networks such as family and friends, presents

organisations with new challenges in the way

they communicate with consumers.

Understanding an individual’s channel preferences,

and how media informs their choice of product

or service and their purchasing behaviour, is of

fundamental importance to anyone wishing

to maximise the effectiveness of every

customer contact.

Experian Business Strategies’ TrueTouch consumer

classifi cation addresses this challenge.

TrueTouch is a new segmentation solution that

classifi es individuals by their channel preferences

and promotional orientation. It helps you to develop

smarter and more relevant contact strategies.

Classifying consumers by their channel preference and promotional orientation

TrueTouch

TrueTouch

Understanding why consumers choose

your product or service is fundamental

to the growth and development of any

organisation. Understanding an individual’s

channel preferences, how responsive they

are, how they like to be contacted and

where they are likely to go for information,

means that you can improve the quality

and efficiency of your communications.

TrueTouch enables you to do this by

classifying every UK consumer into one

of 22 detailed behavioural segments,

aggregated into six groups based upon

their channel preferences, motivation and

promotional orientation.

Developed by Experian Business Strategies

and its team of leading consumer forecasters

from the Future Foundation, TrueTouch helps

you identify the optimum channels for faster,

more effective communication.

Understanding consumers’ motivations and decision making

To develop your dialogue with consumers,

you need to know how consumers make

decisions, particularly when faced with

ever increasing choice and the continued

development of media.

Using its extensive programme of socio-

cultural research, from which it monitors

trends in consumer behaviour, the Future

Foundation has identified a series of

key consumer behaviours that influence

the use of media in decision making.

These inform our thinking and have

been used to provide a framework for

the development of the TrueTouch

classification. Key behaviours include:

Complicated lives – people are developing

their own coping strategies to manage the

complexity that comes with increased choice.

New ways to engage – consumers are

moving from consumption to active use

of media for self expression.

Social networking – social networks

are becoming more important in raising

awareness of products and services.

The experience economy – consumers

increasingly value intangible rather than

material experiences.

Self-service society – independent

consumers are ‘doing-it-for-themselves’,

using interactive media to proactively

control their dialogue with organisations.

Flexible customer journeys –

increasingly complex lives impact on

preferred communication channels,

opening up new pathways.

Participation media – successful media

need to create two-way interaction and

participation with consumers.

These behaviours inform the classification

and help it to keep pace with consumers’

changing attitudes towards media.

The TrueTouch media behaviour matrixFor example, TrueTouch type 11 ‘Cellular

Society’ highlights the role that mobile

phones play in the planning and

enhancement of consumers’ social

lives, furthering the growth of

social networks.

TrueTouch type 1 ‘Information@speed’

illustrates the increasingly flexible

way in which consumers interact with

organisations through the use of new

technology such as mobile phones,

wi-fi computing and PDAs.

How is TrueTouch built?

TrueTouch is built using over 700 individual

data variables. These are chosen for their

ability to illustrate an individual’s range of

behaviours in relation to media consumption,

including use of different channels,

responsiveness and exposure to media.

These are distilled into two core data sources:

Quantitative data

Experian’s UK Consumer Dynamics database

compiles information on all UK individuals,

their demographics and lifestyles, attitudes

and responsiveness to media. It includes

known data on demographics and lifestyles

from publicly reported sources such

as the ‘edited’ electoral roll, company

directors, shareholders and council tax,

as well as Experian’s proprietary lifestyle

information taken from its programme

of consumer surveys.

This data provides a comprehensive and

unambiguous view of every UK individual’s

key demographic and lifestyle characteristics.

Information on media consumption is taken

from authoritative sources of media and

market research including BMRB’s Target

Group Index (TGI), MORI’s Financial Research,

Forrester’s Technographics and Internet User

Monitor, Hitwise internet research and Future

Foundation’s nVision.

Propensity models link media and channel

behaviour to Experian’s demographic and

lifestyle characteristics so that every individual

in the UK is assigned a propensity to exhibit

these behaviours.

Qualitative research

Without an understanding of consumers’

motivations, you could choose the right

channel but the wrong message and style

of communication.

To address this issue, the Future

Foundation has conducted new research

into the different ways in which consumers

make decisions. This supports Experian’s

quantitative data and provides an in-depth

analysis of consumers’ motivations when

using different media and the processes

they go through in deciding about

products and services.

An initial representative sample of 1,500

consumers was surveyed, followed by a

more in-depth analysis of 1,000 respondents

and their decision making processes.

Responses from the research were then

used to augment Experian’s understanding

of an individual’s media consumption.

The Future Foundation’s research is based

on the principle that there are four key

dimensions that shape the decision

making process:

Engage – your level of participation

in society

Learn – methods for information gathering

and processing

Communicate – media for information sharing

Conclude – processes for making choices

Respondents were asked a series of questions

on each dimension. For example, in relation to

‘Learning’, they were asked:

’Thinking about the information you gather

and process prior to making purchases or

lifestyle choices, to what extent do you

agree or disagree with the following:

• There’s no such thing as too

much information

• I mostly act on instinct in an emotional

rather than rational way’

The research was used to identify the six

decision making styles that sit within the

TrueTouch solution.

TrueTouch classification groups, types and decision making styles

TrueTouch classifies all adults in the UK

into one of 22 individual behavioural types.

These are then aggregated into six groups.

These groups and types are also linked to

the six decision making styles.

TrueTouch decision making styles

TrueTouch Family Tree

The TrueTouch family tree illustrates the

polarities in channel consumption between

each of the groups and types. It shows how

Linking the TrueTouch groups and types

to the decision making styles

the TrueTouch types relate to each other,

and illustrates the correlation between

TrueTouch types and decision making styles.

Type 9: Gadget-mad Technophiles

Type 1: Information@speed

Group A: Experienced Netizens

18.99% of UK Adults

(Types 1 – 4)

Experienced Netizens are established citizens

of the internet and love the functionality of

new technologies. They have embraced new

communications tools in every area of their

lives, from work to leisure and personal lives.

They have an Inquiring decision style which

reflects their fascination with new technology

and are often among the first to adopt new

devices. Their motivations vary between the

practical applications of technology and

enjoying its entertainment value.

Group B: Cyber Tourists

22.59% of UK Adults

(Types 5 – 8)

Cyber Tourists are part-time internet users.

They have found that the internet can help

them with certain key areas of their lives such

as access to shops or a social community,

but have not yet made it their central

information source.

The types in this group often have a

Perfectionist decision style. This inclines them

towards the internet because of its ability to

give them information in their pursuit of the

perfect solution.

Group C: Digital Culture

14.88% of UK Adults

(Types 9 – 11)

Digital Culture have made modern

communication channels an intrinsic part of

their social world. The fast pace of their lives

and demand for immediacy of information

makes the mobile phone the preferred

method of communication with their

network of family and friends. They have

a strong Experiential bias in their decision

style. This means they are looking for

entertainment, and communications that

are fun or amusing have the greatest

potential to get their attention.

The TrueTouch Groups and Types

Group D: Modern Media Margins

14.98% of UK Adults

(Types 12 – 15)

Modern Media Margins are not up to date

with all the latest technological advances

and tend to have older, lower specification

equipment. Those that have computers and

access to the internet use it for peripheral

entertainment and social purposes, such as

making an online bet or downloading ring

tones. They are still inclined towards traditional

communications and purchasing media –

shopping through catalogues or by visiting

stores. There is no single, dominant decision

style in this group and motivations vary.

Group E: Traditional Approach

19.62% of UK Adults

(Types 16 – 20)

Traditional Approach are predominantly

offline. They use traditional methods of

purchasing such as post, visiting shops

or using catalogues. They source their

information from newspapers, TV or

radio and will be most responsive to

communications through the post. They

tend to be either Adamant or Accepting

in their decision styles, meaning that they

are either sure of their own opinion, or they

are not confident in their ability to embrace

the benefits of new technologies.

Group F: New Tech Novices

8.94% of UK Adults

(Types 21 – 22)

New Tech Novices are an ageing but

progressive group. Whilst they are late

adopters, they see the benefits of new

technologies and are committed to learning

and getting online, either through work

or in their own leisure time. They are still

influenced by traditional media channels

and will happily use post or telephone for

communicating. New Tech Novices tend to

have Adamant and Perfectionist decision

styles which drive their self-belief and desire

for the wealth of information available online.

Support materials

To help you get the most out of TrueTouch

and to illustrate the classification, we have

created a set of comprehensive

support materials.

TrueTouch e-handbook – a detailed

electronic and printed guide that explains

our research methodology and the structure

of the typology, lists the input variables

and provides illustrations and detailed

descriptions of the TrueTouch types

and decision styles.

TrueTouch website – online access to our

support material, including a white paper

from Prof. Melanie Howard, Director at

the Future Foundation, on the background

to our decision style research, detailed

descriptions of the TrueTouch types and

decision styles and example applications

for TrueTouch. For more information visit

www.truetouch.co.uk

Delivery

TrueTouch classifies every individual in the

UK based upon their channel preferences,

motivation and promotional orientation.

It is available as:

• A classification of individuals by each

of the 22 TrueTouch behavioural types

and six groups

• Six individual-level decision making style

propensity scores

• Eighteen individual-level media behaviour

propensity scores

• An array of data for every UK

postal sector

Data directory and coding services

TrueTouch can be matched to your database

of customer names and addresses to enrich

your view of consumers and help develop

contact strategies. Customer names and

addresses can be matched to Experian’s

universe of adults, coded with TrueTouch

types, media propensities or decision styles.

Experian’s iCoder PC or server-based

application allows you to batch process large

volumes of name and address data in-house.

iCoder can append any TrueTouch data to

your customer database.

Bureau services

Access to TrueTouch is also available through

our bureau and consultancy services.

Our Customer Insight Reports provide

detailed profi le analysis of customer

information using the TrueTouch

classifi cation and propensity models.

Our Consumer Insight team of consultants

and analysts can help you undertake more

detailed predictive modelling and analysis

of your customer data using TrueTouch,

and help you optimise your use of

the classifi cation.

To contact a member of our Customer Insight

Team call us on T: +44 (0) 115 968 5094

About Experian Business Strategies

Experian’s Business Strategies Division provides

a detailed understanding and analysis of

consumers, markets and economies in the

UK and around the world, past, present

and future. Its focus is consumer profi ling

and market segmentation, retail property

analysis, economic forecasting and public

policy research, supporting businesses, policy

makers and investors in making tactical and

strategic decisions. As part of the Experian

group, it has access to a wealth of research

data and innovative software solutions.

The division’s economic research team is

devoted to analysing national, regional

and local economies for a range of public

and private sector clients. Its statisticians,

econometricians, sociologists, geographers,

market researchers and economists carry out

extensive research into the underlying drivers

of social, economic and market change.

About Future Foundation

The Future Foundation is a leading

international consumer think-tank

and strategic consultancy. Specialising in

understanding socio-economic change and

consumer behaviour, the Future Foundation

provides intelligent research, analysis and

commentary. Its research and analysis is

used in the development of new products

and services, to inspire marketing and

communications programmes, and to

instil awareness of the wider operating

environment throughout client organisations.

Clients range across most sectors and

many countries. They include over

140 organisations including fi nancial

services, manufacturing, automotive

through to advertising agencies and

government departments.

About Experian

Experian is a global leader in providing

analytical and information services to

organisations and consumers to help

manage the risk and reward of commercial

and fi nancial decisions.

Combining its unique information tools and

deep understanding of individuals, markets

and economies, Experian partners with

organisations around the world to establish

and strengthen customer relationships

and provide their businesses with

competitive advantage.

For consumers, Experian delivers critical

information that enables them to make

fi nancial and purchasing decisions with

greater control and confi dence.

Clients include organisations from

fi nancial services, retail and catalogue,

telecommunications, utilities, media,

insurance, automotive, leisure,

e-commerce, manufacturing,

property and government sectors.

Experian Group Limited is listed on the

London Stock Exchange (EXPN) and is a

constituent of the FTSE-100 index. It has

corporate headquarters in Dublin, Ireland,

and operational headquarters in Costa Mesa,

California and Nottingham, UK. Experian

employs more than 12,500 people in 34

countries worldwide, supporting clients in

more than 60 countries. Annual sales are

$3.1 billion (£1.7bn/v 2.5bn).

The word ‘Experian’ is a registered trademark in the EU and other countries and is owned by Experian Ltd and/or its associated companies.

www.truetouch.co.uk

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