Technology demographics
Published on: August 9, 2006 by Paul Boag
For a long time marketers have made use of various demographic scales to classify different types of people. Well now, thanks to research carried out at the University College London it is possible to classify people by their use of technology.
Using information from the most recent UK census and data firm Experian, the researchers at UCL have created 23 "e-types". These 23 e-types are themselves organised into seven broader categories including:
- E-unengaged
- E-marginalised
- Becoming engaged
- E for entertainment and shopping
- E-independents
- Instrumental E-users
- E-business users
- E- experts
However, the researchers have gone further than simply creating the 23 e-types. They have mapped those types onto the 1.7 million British postcodes. By entering a postcode on their site, you can see the e-type for that postcode. This provides an incredible granularity down to approximately 17 households!
Unsurprisingly the ability to see the e-type of your individual postcode has created a lot of interest in the press. However, it is not the postcode functionality that particularly excites me. Although knowing the technical literacy of a postcode is interesting, it does not really help me as a web designer. I cannot think of a single site, which I have worked on that is aimed at a specific geographic area.
What I find more interesting is the definition of the e-types. This could prove a very powerful tool for web designers to understand the target audience for a site. Used in conjunction with personas I see this as an excellent way quantify how users will interact with your site.
Comments
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Post by Simon on August 9, 2006 10:52 AM
Post by Mark Stephenson on August 9, 2006 1:27 PM
Post by Richard Quick on August 9, 2006 7:59 PM
Post by Mark on August 10, 2006 8:32 AM
Post by Simon Brookes on August 25, 2006 2:53 PM