As we return the 2011 census forms even the most bizarre responses will help provide greater insight in to customer behaviours says Callcredit Information Group, the consumer insight specialist.
Take Religion for example where Callcredit is predicting that more people than ever will register their religion as that of ‘Jedi’, following its surprise ranking within the 2001 census as the fourth largest reported religion!
But whilst many people simply see such responses as useless or misleading Callcredit believes there is real value to be taken from such data.
With social media websites becoming the breeding ground of countless campaigns encouraging people to declare their religion as Jedi on the 2011 census, following the success of other similar grass-roots campaigns, it’s expected that the effects of such campaigns will have a definite impact on the 2011 census results.
“In the 2001 census almost 400,000 people confirmed their allegiance to Jediism, by looking at the reasons behind why people declare their religion as Jedi, we can glean quite a lot of information from this data” says Adam Leslie, Head of Marketing Data at Callcredit.
Due to the large number of campaigns online ‘Jedis’ are likely to be frequent users of social networking sites and many will fit the general profile of sci-fi fans – young male adults.
As many consider their response to be a rebellion, self-certified Jedis are likely to be politically active or have a political interest.
“Consumer insight is key for marketers with even unusual responses being particularly useful for accurately targeting marketing communications” continues Adam. “With this extra insight about the soon-to-be-declared Jedis, companies such as retailers, leisure brands and political parties may recognise that ‘Jedis’ are potential targets who may be likely to respond to their marketing messages. These data variables could therefore help such companies increase the effectiveness of their marketing activities and subsequently improve their response rates.”
www.callcredit.co.uk/
