Market research case study:
Super segmentation and persona development
Woodland Trust
Featured in this case study: Environment & sustainability, Climate change & environment, Customer segmentation, Customer profiling & personas
The challenge
The green segment of the UK, which comprised of 24% of the UK population when this project was conducted, was – and remains – the primary target audience for the Woodland Trust. Engaging an audience of over 12 million requires both targeted marketing and tailored communications. The Woodland Trust sought to identify key audience sub-segments to help inform its messaging and approach and the work of its marketing, communication and delivery teams.
The core objectives for this research were to:
- Bring the green segment to life: to enable the client to better understand the audience by exploring who they are, what they do and what they value.
- Identify the best routes of engagement: to understand how to reach the audience including what channels to utilise and what messages resonated most to build engagement and support for the Woodland Trust.
- Explore levers and barriers: to uncover the challenges and motivations of different groups regarding their environmental attitudes.
- Involve stakeholders at all stages: to ensure final outputs were fit for purpose, user-friendly, and effective in guiding marketing and communications activities.
The approach
A range of research methodologies was used across three distinct stages to deliver insightful and actionable findings for the client.
These stages comprised of:
- Secondary analysis: included a review of previous WT research, desk research on the environment, the outdoors, and charitable support, and cluster analysis of previous PAS and supporter survey data.
- Qualitative deep-dives: included 30 telephone or Skype in-depth interviews – 15 supporters and 15 non-supporters.
- Population study and supporter survey: collected responses from over 3,000 individuals using a nationally representative online panel, with quotas based on age, gender, and SEG within each region.
The results
The outputs included a final report detailing key sub-segments with life-like personas, as well as a range of concerns and topics to deepen understanding and support future campaign development such as varying degrees of environmental concern and urgency, specific types of concern (species decline, extreme weather, deforestation, global warming), connections to their community and the perceived benefits of green spaces.
A video summary of the project was created by the in-house creative services team and the creative services case study.
