Delivering an audience segmentation to support a £400million charitable ambition
Revisiting and diversifying audiences
As part of Oxfam’s new strategy ‘Transforming for a Radically Better World’, and in the light of radically evolving social behaviour, Oxfam needed to revisit the way they segmented and could diversify their audience. The overriding ambition was significant: grow annual unrestricted income to £400 million while providing a cohesive supporter experience for millions of supporters. To achieve it, the segmentation needed to be a holistic exercise, incorporating the needs of key teams within Oxfam including Retail, Digital, Brand, Engagement, Communications and Fundraising and provide actionable implementation outputs.
Oxfam opted to work with Glew following a competitive tender process. Richard Thorne, Head of Insight for Oxfam, said:
“This was a significant project which needed both specialist skills and project oversight and management for a period of several months. We did not have the research skills internally, so sought a partner to lead the project. Glew’s values-based approach aligned to the culture here at Oxfam. Georgie made it clear that she would take time to understand our strategy and re-use existing assets and insights to best effect.”
Glew led on all elements of the project which was carried out in three phases:
Understanding use cases and internal audience needs
Internal stakeholder consultation to understand the challenges of the existing segmentation approach and define user requirements for the new one, which involved:
- Workshops, interviews and a survey of circa 100 Oxfam staff
- On-site and virtual visits to 18 retail stores.
- Designing a segmentation hierarchy that aligned with Oxfam’s engagement framework.
Developing a new segmentation hierarchy
Phase two involved developing a new segmentation approach and carrying out market research to fill data gaps. This included:
- Designing a survey and liaising with one of Oxfam’s research agencies to distribute and analyse the results. This was completed by a nationally representative sample of 4,000 members of the public and 3,500 Oxfam supporters.
- Collaboration with DataMonet to arrive at the new segmentation model, involving the following data analysis methods: Pearson correlation, multiple linear regression, factor analysis, K-means clustering, discriminant analysis.
- Identification of distinct attitudinal segments and behavioural sub-segments and strategic prioritisation of sub-segments for acquisition and engagement purposes.
- Qualitative interviews with representatives from target segments to support the development of target personas.
“Georgie’s approach was very personal; she spent time with stakeholder teams and individuals to understand their needs through workshops, 1-1 calls and discussions. She was also very proactive in creating proposals for research, analysis and design purposes, and organising project plans and resources.” Richard Thorne, Oxfam
Producing and rolling out core segmentation resources
The final stage involved creating a set of segmentation resources to host on an online portal and a series of roll-out workshops, including:
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- Interactive data tables and quick reference guides.
- A set of ‘golden questions’ to apply the segmentation and a proxy model for retrospective segment assignment.
- A detailed User Guide and action plans to help colleagues navigate the materials.
- A dedicated Agency User Guide and Webinar.
- Publication of a project report linking the approach to strategic objectives.
- Interpretation and scenario planning with key Oxfam teams.
- The design and development of resources in collaboration with Caffeine Creative to conform to AA accessibility standards.
- Attitudinal segment profiles with detailed stats and visualisations.
- Target audience personas which consolidated quantitative and qualitative insights into named characters.
- Accessibility was a key requirement of the creative brief.
“Caffeine Creative provided a visually diverse range of characters, representing different age groups, ethnicities, disabilities and classes which fit brilliantly with our commitment to tackling inequality. Accessibility was considered throughout with the team working closely with Oxfam’s digital accessibility lead, to deliver against requirements.” Richard Thorne, Oxfam.
Integrating the new segmentation for success
Oxfam are now utilising the segmentation resources Glew delivered to:
- support the recruitment strategy of around 500,000 new supporters each year – activated through products such as donations, retail and petitions.
- drive income generation focused on optimising regular giving and legacy donations worth over £40m per year.
- build loyalty amongst 250,000 online shoppers and an estimated 9m visitors to Oxfam’s 560+ high-street shops.
Oxfam have already integrated the ‘golden questions’ – which are used to ascertain a prospective or active supporter’s attitudinal segment and behavioural segment – into multiple internal processes.
“I’m thrilled with the segmentation work that Glew has delivered. Georgie’s approach was values-based from the outset, which made her a great fit for Oxfam. She took time to understand our organisation, strategy and culture, making colleagues feel seen and included. This was pivotal in ensuring the work was adopted by a range of teams. A particular highlight was the way Glew and Caffeine Creative brought the target segments to life; the character assets have made the insights memorable and accessible.
“Georgie’s focus on the organisation’s strategy helped us to collaboratively shape the project to maximise impact, and she delivered extremely high-quality work to a schedule which delivered against the project’s objectives.
“The segmentation is a fantastic piece of work which will deliver value to Oxfam for many years to come.” Richard Thorne, Oxfam.