{"id":178721,"date":"2012-04-24T22:44:59","date_gmt":"2012-04-25T05:44:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/?post_type=blog&p=178721"},"modified":"2025-08-15T16:19:31","modified_gmt":"2025-08-15T23:19:31","slug":"micro-targeting-with-the-updated-tapestry-segmentation-data-on-the-community-analyst-api-part-i-of-ii","status":"publish","type":"blog","link":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/apps\/analytics\/micro-targeting-with-the-updated-tapestry-segmentation-data-on-the-community-analyst-api-part-i-of-ii","title":{"rendered":"Micro-Targeting with the Updated Tapestry Segmentation Data on the Community Analyst API (Part I of II)"},"author":4231,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_searchwp_excluded":""},"categories":[23341],"tags":[34731,24571,25821],"industry":[],"product":[36591,36601],"class_list":["post-178721","blog","type-blog","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-analytics","tag-apis","tag-demographics","tag-tapestry-segmentation","product-apps","product-developers"],"acf":{"short_description":"You heard last week that you can access new data through Community Analyst.","flexible_content":[{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"

\"Some<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Community Analyst Data Release<\/strong><\/p>\n

You\u00a0heard\u00a0last week<\/a>\u00a0that you\u00a0can access new data through\u00a0Community Analyst.<\/p>\n

Well, in celebration of this Community Analyst data release, I\u2019m going to talk about accessing one of my favorite datasets through the Community Analyst APIs\u2014the\u00a0Esri Tapestry Segmentation\u00a0<\/a>\u00a0dataset\u2014and discuss\u00a0how<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0why<\/em>\u00a0it\u00a0should be leveraged by organizations large and small.<\/p>\n

Before we get into the nitty gritty, let me describe a real life use case of Tapestry Segmentation.\u00a0 I\u2019m confident that this use case will inspire your own!<\/p>\n

Charity Outreach<\/strong><\/p>\n

OK. So, what is this Esri Tapestry Segmentation stuff and what makes it so special that a geek like me gets excited?<\/p>\n

Well, let me use the example of a charitable organization.<\/p>\n

Many charitable\u00a0organizations rely on individual donors to sustain them.\u00a0 Many of these organizations are constantly under pressure to identify potential donors and solicit donations from them to keep their bills paid and pass on value and consideration to\u00a0the causes they are advocating.<\/p>\n

Well, this can be a delicate balance.\u00a0 With increased public scrutiny, some charitable organizations are under fire for what many perceive as\u00a0spending too much time and resources on this marketing aspect and not enough on the actual charitable work and\/or direct aid\u00a0to their causes.\u00a0 How can they responsibly balance these competing priorities?<\/p>\n

One obvious solution is to\u00a0really know\u00a0who<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0their donors are and know\u00a0where<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0to find more of them.\u00a0 So what does this really mean?<\/p>\n

Esri Tapestry Segmentation \u2013 Outstanding Enterprise-grade Data for Profiling\u00a0People, Communities, Areas, and Locations\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

If they have a good idea of the profile of their\u00a0\u201cbest\u201d<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0\u201cmost reliable\u201d<\/em>\u00a0donors\u2014their \u201cdonor base\u201d\u2014then,\u00a0they can\u00a0more effectively seek\u00a0them out\u00a0in outreach efforts while greatly minimizing the chances\u00a0of\u00a0needlessly\u00a0spending\u00a0valuable time and resources on fruitless efforts.\u00a0 I guess what I\u2019m really saying here on a meta-level\u00a0is that,\u00a0the most\u00a0responsible and\u00a0effective organizations thoughtfully coordinate their\u00a0efforts, decisions, and strategies based on\u00a0reliable and\u00a0actionable intelligence rather than\u00a0on whims, feelings,\u00a0or \u201cknee jerk\u201d reactions<\/em>\u2014because, of course,\u00a0having a better picture, model, or view of reality\u00a0significantly\u00a0increases your chances of success!<\/p>\n

OK.\u00a0 Let me put it bluntly.\u00a0 I\u2019m not a professional marketer, statistician, demographer, or data miner\u00a0(even though I work with a lot of them<\/em>)\u2014I\u2019m actually a GIS geek with enough of a technical background to make me slightly \u201cdangerous.\u201d\u00a0 With\u00a0Tapestry Segmentation, you can be all of that and more with relatively little effort.\u00a0 Just imagine\u00a0leveraging advanced market segmentation methodologies which were once only accessibly to the largest and most lucrative\u00a0organizations who are able to hire these crazy people and crunch a lot of (expensive) data\u2014and,\u00a0no<\/em>, you don\u2019t need a marketing MBA to understand it either!<\/p>\n

Esri Tapestry Segmentation \u2013 What is It?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The dataset behind Tapestry Segmentation \u201cclassifies\u201d every area into one of 65 household categories or segments.\u00a0 Each segment represents a set of dominant characteristics among the households within the area.\u00a0 These characteristics can represent a broad base of attributes including demographic, lifestyle,\u00a0spending, interests,\u00a0and behavioral traits.\u00a0 From my perspective, the individual attributes themselves\u00a0are not so important here\u00a0(although, the API supports querying\/analyzing these individual attributes in other tasks).\u00a0\u00a0<\/em>The value and \u201cwow\u201d factor\u00a0behind Tapestry Segmentation is\u00a0the fact that, the segments\u00a0effectively\u00a0describe\u00a0\u00a0households which share a common set of characteristics<\/strong>\u00a0(almost like a \u201ccluster\u201d).<\/p>\n

Why is this amazingly powerful?\u00a0 Well, let\u2019s go back to the example of charitable organizations.\u00a0 What\u00a0if, based on prior knowledge or records,\u00a0they have a list of areas, locations, or addresses\u00a0which represent\u00a0the greatest donor activity?\u00a0\u00a0Using Tapestry Segmentation, the charity can take this list of their \u201cbest and most reliable\u201d donors\u00a0and classify them into one of the 65\u00a0Tapestry segments.\u00a0 This\u00a0classified list may contain several different Tapestry Segments at which point, the charity\u00a0can take the \u201cdominant\u201d tapestry (the Tapestry Segment which describes most of the analyzed areas, locations, or addresses)\u00a0or the \u201ctop\u201d tapestries (which\u00a0often is described as the\u00a0top three) and\u00a0have a good indication of who these\u00a0households are and\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026.where they can find more.<\/em><\/p>\n

But, before I discuss\u00a0finding more of these\u00a0households<\/em>\u00a0which represent your charity\u2019s lifeblood, I should note that you can\u00a0now look at some information\u00a0associated\u00a0with\u00a0the dominant tapestries of your donors\u00a0which may give you an general idea of who they are and what are some traits, behaviors,\u00a0and characteristics which are common between them.\u00a0 To do\u00a0this, you can\u00a0leverage these resources:<\/p>\n