The world as we knew it before COVID-19 is forever changed. But that’s not to say that everything we knew in that world has changed. Humans are still humans and past behaviours can speak volumes about what people will actually do once lockdowns are eased and the rhythms of daily life start to return to ‘normal’.
As part of ‘The changing behaviour series’ we introduced how understanding previous habits can help predict future behaviours. In this post we’ll dig into the enduring nature or lifestyles, lifestages and niche hobbies and interests.
The things that define us (whether we choose them, e.g. hobbies; or are labelled with them whether we like it or not, e.g. demographics) aren’t changing anytime soon. COVID-19 has created a change in context, not a change in people. Whether a person is a pet owner, just had a baby, recently moved home, regularly enjoyed live sporting events or shopped for children’s clothing, these life stages, lifestyles and passions will still hold true and can provide relevant audience profiling.
Understanding these nuances helps brands to paint a picture of what consumers are likely to do first when life goes back to a version of the normal we knew before.
For example, historic data can help find segments of consumers who frequently visited stadiums or pubs in the past six months, those who habitually visited gyms or other centres for wellbeing and health or regular coffee shop goers.
These places that we return to over time reveal more than just our preferences. Historical location data can highlight frequency of visits, length of stay and the time of the day or week consumers go to and from a location. Such insights can be used to retarget consumers not only at the right place, but also at the right time. Campaigns can be enhanced by granularly targeting a particular demographic, with specific lifestyle attributes, that have previously been seen at a certain location on a number of occasions.
In our next post we look at how using historical data can help with competitor conquesting to win back loyalty that may have shifted over the lockdown period. Read it here.
