A successful back-to-school campaign strategy starts with identifying the key audience segments to target. Over half of all searches related to back-to-school happen within a select group of consumers – knowing which ones can go a long way in forming an effective marketing strategy. Focus on this smaller, targeted set to maximize your efforts.
With over $72 billion projected in total U.S. back-to-school retail sales this year, you can capture more spend than ever before during this big shopping season by tailoring your strategy to a smaller set of targeted shoppers. Experian data can help you make the most of your back-to-school campaigns by uncovering the top five back-to-school audiences.
Five audience segments for 2023
Our data provides key insights into who these shoppers are and how to reach them, allowing you to create personalized content tailored to their needs. What are the top five audiences you should add to your 2023 back-to-school campaign?
- High-Net-Worth Households
- Bilingual Multi-Generational Households
- Suburban Savvy Shoppers
- Young Suburban Families
- Tech-Savvy Families
What do these audiences look like? Who are they? Where do they shop? Let’s review each audience in a little more detail.
High-Net-Worth Households
This group consists of households with above-average income and education levels. They often lease luxury cars, purchase products in every channel, travel extensively, and are philanthropic supporters of the arts.

Key features
- Wealthy
- Highly educated
- Lease luxury cars
- Purchase products in every channel
- Travelers
- Philanthropic supporters of the arts
Bilingual Multi-Generational Households
Large households in multilingual neighborhoods, filled with married parents and their kids. They are financially cautious, bilingual, and participate in team sports.

Key features
- Bilingual
- Large households
- Married with kids
- Financially cautious
- Team sports
Suburban Savvy Shoppers
Middle-aged couples and families who earn above-average incomes, maintain active lifestyles, and spend their money on quality home products and furnishings.

Key features
- Affluent
- Athletic activities
- Home products & furnishings
- Sporting goods
- High-priced children’s clothing
Young Suburban Families
This segment includes households in the middle child-rearing stages of life, typically with a dual income household and multiple children of school age. They typically have spacious single-family residences in suburban neighborhoods that are slightly above average in housing values. On weekends, these suburban young families often engage in activities like skateboarding, biking, and video games with their children.

Key features
- Comfortable lifestyle
- Children’s games
- Wholesale members
- Family-centric activities
Tech-Savvy Families
Highly educated, affluent couples in their peak earning years, with a preference for both traditional and digital media, who live in upscale housing and are savvy investors and environmental philanthropists.

Key features
- Highly educated
- Affluent
- Upscale housing
- Savvy investors
- Environmental philanthropists
- Tech apprentices
Watch our 2024 video for tips from industry leaders for back-to-school
In our new Q&A video with Experian experts, we explore changing consumer behaviors surrounding back-to-school shopping in 2024. In the video, we discuss:
- Anticipated shifts in consumer behaviors and shopping habits
- Tactics we predict marketers will employ to navigate signal loss
- Which channels will be the most successful
- And more!
Latest posts

Leading data insights and cross-device-powered services bridge mobile insights with connectivity to drive real-time consumer intelligence NEW YORK, May 17, 2017 /PRNewswire/ — Tapad, now a part of Experian, the leader in cross-device marketing technology, has partnered with Resonate, a leading provider of real-time consumer intelligence and activation SaaS solutions. Through this partnership, Resonate will leverage the Tapad Device Graph™ to capture a deeper understanding of its mobile app audiences and provide brands with a more direct connection to their intended consumers. The integration of Resonate and Tapad's technologies equips mobile app brands with insights into their consumers' values, beliefs, motivations and purchase drivers. As a result, mobile app brands will better understand how to tailor messaging, drive advertising engagement, increase lift in performance across mobile consumers and ultimately boost revenue and returns. Utilizing the advanced data that the Tapad Device Graph™ provides, Resonate will create an Identity Service that connects mobile IDs to Resonate IDs for reporting insights both in-platform and out. To date, Tapad and Resonate have already driven incremental device connections for nearly 60 percent of customer profiles with an amplification rate of more than 120 percent, resulting in more than 400 million net new IDs within Resonate's user base. "After testing multiple partners over the course of 12 months, it was clear that Tapad was the partner for us, given their ability to provide cross-device connectivity for more than one billion unique IDs against our consumer base," said Joel Pulliam, SVP and chief product officer at Resonate. "In addition, Resonate customers have an inherent trust in Tapad's mix of probabilistic and deterministic mobile connectivity data to provide a unified understanding of their mobile audiences." "Partnering with Resonate will not only provide its brands with a more in-depth and actionable understanding of its consumers, but it will also allow our clients to connect with mobile consumers on a deeper level," said Pierre Martensson, SVP and GM of Tapad's global data division. "Resonate is not just answering the question of 'how' consumers are making purchases, but also tackling the more difficult question of 'why' they make certain buying decisions to best inform mobile brands about their audiences." Contact us today!

Marketers should focus on three core areas in their email marketing strategies, preference data, message relevancy, and a mobile-first approach.

Partnership leverages industry-leading Tapad Device Graph™ for more effective video marketing across all connected devices NEW YORK, April 11, 2017 /PRNewswire/ – Tapad, a part of Experian, the leading provider of privacy-safe, cross-device marketing technology solutions, has announced its partnership with Innovid, the world's leading video marketing platform. This integration enables Innovid to bring cross-device personalization and a more unified viewer experience to its video marketing clients including Bank of America, L'Oréal, Microsoft and Procter & Gamble. Innovid's proprietary technology is the only platform optimized for video, enabling marketers to thrive in an ever-changing digital television landscape. Since its launch last year, Innovid's Marketing Cloud Suite has helped marketers increase message relevance and the opportunity to drive conversions, retention and acquisition through video personalization. By leveraging the Tapad Device GraphTM, Innovid's marketers can now benefit from the ability to drive consistent, personalized user experiences across all devices, creating more impactful connections with consumers and increasing ROI. "Personalization is a must for every data-driven marketer and really needs to happen across all devices to ensure a unified customer journey," says Ronnie Lavi, SVP of product at Innovid. "At Innovid, we recognize one size does not fit all when it comes to video. As an open platform, we are always looking to add best-of-breed capabilities through integrations and partnerships, and we've chosen Tapad because of its superior cross-device expertise." "Innovid has long paved the way for effective personalization in the video marketing space," says Pierre Martensson, GM of Tapad's data division. "As video continues to gain popularity across digital formats, we're excited to see how our technology empowers Innovid to bring that renowned personalization to more customers across all of their devices." Contact us today!