Case Study: How audience segmentation can up your game…

When I first started working at the RNCM in 2006, segmentation wasn’t overly sophisticated, it was mostly segment by genre and sometimes demographics; the logic was if people normally attended jazz then sending more jazz their way would hopefully have a positive return… it didn’t always work out this way though and after much soul searching and research, the RNCM joined forces with Morris Hargreaves McIntyre (MHM) to identify a better method for engaging its audiences and producing better ROI for its marketing resources. Thankfully, MHM had developed Culture Segments, an audience segmentation model based upon people’s behaviour and attitudes towards consuming arts & cultural experiences - otherwise known as psychographic segmentation - and it didn’t take long for the marketing team to realise this was a much more sophisticated way of segmenting audiences and it actually produced better results and engagement.

RNCM Case Study

This is a story about an early music opera called Theodora. Opera is a tough sell at times and early music operas by Handel can sometimes feel like you’re flogging a dead horse (whilst secretly planning in the background how you’re going to ‘comp’ the place out). However, the saving grace in this instance was looking at the opera differently, not as an event that would only appeal to a narrow demographic of people over a certain age who liked opera, classical music or early music and lived in Didsbury, but through realising how it could appeal to different people and segments simply by how it’s presented: same opera, same creative, but different messaging.

By this point, the RNCM had started using Culture Segments to tag and segment it's ticketing data and use it to inform creative, copywriting, print, social media and distribution plans and so on, so it was easier to identify these segments in the CRM system but it did take a shift in mindset to see how one production could appeal to a wider group of people. The core Culture Segments for the RNCM were Essence, Expression and Stimulation and here’s how the same opera and creative (image) was tailored for each segment through email marketing and direct mail:

Essence don’t read marketing copy and hate being marketed to in general so there was no need to ‘sell’ it to this segment. They already know the opera, who wrote it, when it was written. All they need to know is when it’s happening, how much tickets are, running times, brief synopsis, reassure them of the quality of the production by including production and cast personnel and let them discern the quality for themselves and whether they want to attend. The email subject line was simply: “RNCM Opera: Handel’s Theodora”, because there was no need to embellish anything.

Expression are, by their very nature, expressive creatures and have emotional expectations from shared cultural experiences. By using the subject line “Handel’s Theodora: A tale that speaks to our hearts and minds…” and through additional free events running alongside the opera (Come & Sing and pre-event talks) this gave them the opportunity for self-expression and delve deeper into the experience and tapped into their desire to learn more and get involved.

Stimulation was going to be a tougher nut to crack than Essence or Expression, mostly because opera isn’t really their bag, in fact they’re quite wary of it, but for this segment it was all about finding the unique, quirky and attention grabbing elements that would get them through the door The subject line “Opera in a Library? Why not!” was a good starting point to grab their attention. The next step was to draw them in with the modern, edgy setting for the opera, let them know it’s performed in English (no pesky surtitles!) and a crazy fact about Handel and Hendrix to keep things interesting. Stimulation attend events and cultural events for the social experience and so there even a cheeky plug to “make a night of it” and upsell the bar & restaurant and a quote about the buzz and excitement of attending an event at the College.

The impact?

Compared to the control group the open rate of the segmented emails, which were tailored to each segment, rose from an average of 35% to 50% and the click-through rate doubled. It’s safe to say that it worked and this was the first Culture Segments campaign of many I was involved with and even if you don’t have a CRM system or MHM’s amazing TagTool, the fundamentals of using Culture Segments to inform your marketing campaigns can still be used and to great effect and return.

If you’re curious how the Culture Segments work, you can take the survey for yourself here and find out which segment you’re in. I’m Expression if you’re wondering…