Customer Knowledge
Customer Knowledge is a research and intelligence service designed to help users achieve a better understanding of citizens, customers and communities. We provide access to OAC - a geodemographic classification covering the whole of the country.

Key benefits
  • Open and transparent geodemographic system
  • Common language for understanding citizens, customers and communities
  • Growing supply of local data estimates, based on nationally tagged surveys
  • Cost and efficiency savings in customer insight and community-based analysis
Visualising OAC
Customer Knowledge contains an interactive toolkit, designed to help visualise OAC and bring it to life.


Local Data Estimates
We provide access to a range of local data estimates, created by modelling the findings of national surveys using the Output Area Classification. The findings are available at a Census Output Area level and include the following:

ONS Expenditure and Food Survey: a range of local area estimates of income and expenditure

British Population Survey: a range of demographic, education, economic activity data and estimates of internet usage 		Geodemographics is widely defined as the 'analysis of people by where they live'. The term has come into common use to describe the classification of small areas and the use of geography to help draw general conclusions about the characteristics and behaviours of people who live there.

The underlying premise is that similar people live in similar places, do similar things and have similar lifestyles - in other words 'birds of a feather flock together'.

Geodemographics is often referred to as neighbourhood classification and the process involved as segmentation.
OAC Classification