From Good to Extraordinary: How EASI’s Demographic Data Elevates Research

January 14, 2025 By

Whether you’re a marketer seeking to refine your strategies, a product developer aiming to meet consumer needs, or a policy maker looking to address community issues, the right demographic data can transform your approach from good to extraordinary. The quality of your research data can make the difference between simply scratching the surface of an idea and uncovering profound insights for your business. 

At EASI, we know that high-quality demographic data is the backbone of insightful research, enabling today’s businesses to understand their primary audiences more deeply. We’re committed to providing comprehensive and curated demographic data that empowers businesses across industries to make informed decisions that drive success. 

Quality data equals better decisions

Basic demographic data is fine if you want to make basic decisions. The complex decisions you need to make in today’s markets require more nuance. Sure, following the basic demographic stats of a local area is fine if you want to see how many people live there and if they live in apartments or houses. But do you know when that data was collected and last updated? 

If it’s from the last national Census, the data is four years old. So you don’t know that an area still zoned industrial in 2020 is now undergoing gentrification and is filled with bistros and loft condos. You’d miss out on potential new customers or business opportunities unless you physically drove through the area. 

What about the data itself, is it complete and unique? Or does it contain duplicates that are inflating some numbers and downsizing others? For example, does the location you’re looking at data for have a college or military base in it? If so, those people might be counted twice in the data, between their home and work or school location. It might also seem more populated than it is, depending on when the data was collected. So, a city like Madison, WI might seem very populated from September to May, but then seems empty in the summer when students go home after the school year. 

General population data said they’d both be good areas for new sales volumes, but this would have been wrong. The data was correct but not detailed enough to give you a complete picture. You’d have drawn misleading conclusions and potentially made a serious mistake. Better quality data and analysis help you make better business decisions. 

What to look for in exceptional demographic data

When using demographic data for research and decision-making, we know that not all datasets are equal. Exceptional data is characterized by its depth, robustness, accuracy, and relevance to your industry and needs. Anything less won’t give you the necessary insights to drive strategic initiatives, and will lead you to make decisions with half the information you need. 

At a basic level, your demographic data provider should offer:

  • The latest data sources that are updated frequently
  • Relevant data sources that cover the entire scope you need
  • The right level of data granularity so you can go as deep as you need
  • Regular data cleaning to ensure the data is correctly formatted, complete, and usable
  • A variety of reporting options to create relevant visualizations to power your decision-making

Advanced data options for even more exceptional analysis

To make even better decisions, it takes advanced data options and analysis. 

You’ll want to ask your demographic provider about their data granularity. Does it only include high-level subsets, or can you go deeper and look at individual pieces? E.g., do you only have city- or state-wide data, or can you go smaller and look at ZIP Codes or Block Groups or even ZIP+4s? 

You’ll also want to know how they integrate and combine datasets to pull in even more data for analysis. Are they only using the national Census data that’s only done every 10 years, or do they update their data with the annual American Community Survey like EASI does? Do they also integrate the National Health Interview Survey and the Bureau of Labor Statistics data? Do their databases include ZIP codes, ZIP+4, Cities, CBSAs, Counties, States, Census Tracts, and Block Groups? Or only ZIP codes and Cities? 

EASI’s long history in the industry means we’ve got the expertise to deliver the precise information your business needs in the way you want it. We offer comprehensive coverage from national numbers down to the Block level in the entire country. Add in our proprietary variables to create the right combination of reports that answer the precise questions you may have for your unique business.

EASI’s specialized datasets bring nuance to your reporting

Our long history in demographics and expert analysis are two of the reasons why businesses come to EASI. We take the same data everyone has access to, and use proprietary modeling, cleaning, and estimation techniques to deliver unique insights to our customers. Our analytics experts ensure that all the data we deliver to customers is complete, robust, and accurate. Customers can be confident in knowing they’re getting the best data possible to discover the insights they’re looking for.

Custom datasets

We’ve crafted bespoke datasets to help customers view their business, customers, and products in new ways. 

  • EASI Life Stages cluster life stage data like age, income, and family status into a format that helps customers visualize their primary market differently than other available reports. With it, customers can see how many people in an age bracket live in a detached house and have a mortgage, and how that number changes over time. 
  • EASI Profiles identify socioeconomic concentrations and predict household behaviors through 39 profile categories like education level, wealth, and home ownership.
  • Consumer Spending Analytics represents a model of spending potential in areas to help businesses identify opportunities for products, services, and more. 
  • Sales Potentials are another custom EASI dataset containing individually derived variables that measure an area’s relative concentration of key buying characteristics and cultural characteristics (museums, schools, medical facilities.)  
  • ZIP+4 data helps businesses dive deeper into ZIP codes by breaking them down into ZIP+4s for hyper-local information and insights. 
  • Quality of Life variables include over 20 variables like weather measures and relative indices to help our customers evaluate the quality of life in specific geographies.

Ways to use these custom datasets include:

  • Insurance companies use the Life Stage data and quality of life data to identify risk factors in potential customers. 
  • Financial services companies can use EASI’s advanced-level reporting to determine new locations or customer segments for a new product. 
  • Self-storage companies could look at homeownership data to determine whether an area with recently closed large employers might need more storage if people have to move quickly. 

Expert data management

EASI also maintains the highest database quality possible through data cleaning, standardization, and multi-reference vetting. Our Master Database contains the complete data publishing library from EASI and includes over 2,500 variables. We cross-reference and normalize all data to ensure our customers get the highest reporting accuracy possible, and the best performance from our estimating and forecasting models. 

We’ve also developed several data add-ons that expand our customers’ datasets and analysis possibilities, including Major Merchandise Lines and Minor Store Group Sales, Healthcare and Death Database, and EASI Mediamark Propensity Reports. 

Transformational data insights are waiting for you

The difference between good and extraordinary research today lies in the quality of your demographic data. Only with quality demographic data can you discover previously hidden insights and grow your business how you want. Advanced-level reporting and custom datasets help you see beyond surface-level ideas, revealing opportunities and trends others might miss. 

That’s why customers trust EASI. We’re committed to demographic data excellence in every aspect of our services. EASI provides the granularity and specificity you need — from the comprehensive coverage we offer nationally, to the hyper-local Block Group or ZIP+4 insights. We incorporate annual community surveys and vetted multiple data sources to provide the most updated information possible. We’re committed to rigorous cleaning, standardization, and multi-reference vetting to ensure accuracy and reliability. Our team of demographic data analytics experts have the skills, knowledge, and expertise to help you uncover insights unique to your business. 

Don’t let inferior data lead you to the wrong decisions. Partner with EASI to transform your research from good to extraordinary. Contact EASI today to discover how our exceptional demographic data can drive your business forward. Let’s turn your data challenges into opportunities for growth and success.