psychographics

(sī'kə-grăf'ĭks)
n.

1. (used with a sing. verb) The use of demographics to study and measure attitudes, values, lifestyles, and opinions, as for marketing purposes.
2. (used with a pl. verb) The data obtained from such study.

[PSYCHO- + (DEMO)GRAPHICS.]

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Criteria for segmenting consumers by lifestyle, attitudes, beliefs, values, personality, buying motives, and/or extent of product usage. Psychographic analyses are used like geographic (place of residence or work) and demographic (age, income, occupation) criteria to describe and identify customers and prospective customers and to aid in developing promotion strategies designed to appeal to specific psychographic segments of the market for a product. For example, the market for shampoo may consist of various psychographic segments described by their primary purchase motives (beauty, health, grooming), usage styles (daily, weekly, salon-only), or lifestyle (frequent travelers, parents with young children, empty-nesters).

The psychographic characteristics of the market affect not only advertising copy but also packaging (travel size, child-proof, decorator pump) and channels of distribution (supermarkets, pharmacies, specialty stores).

Psychographic data can be gathered firsthand through personal interviews, focus group interviews or questionnaires, or purchased from research companies in the form of list overlays for direct marketers or market profiles for general marketers. See also customer profile.

Determining market segmentation based on consumer psychological profiles. The two general areas include how the consumer views himself or herself in relation to the rest of the world and income characteristics.

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