Seer Analytics

5x Revenue Growth Fueled by PopStats

Before building Seer Analytics’ two innovative analytics products, VP of Product Development, Nate Valentin conducted extensive research on today’s demographic data products. He came to one conclusion: Only STI: PopStats provides the depth, breadth, and accuracy the company needed to deliver high-impact analytics to its clients — including the YMCA.

Seer Analytics has been the premier provider of research and analytical tools to YMCAs for over 15 years, combining custom research with proprietary software to transform data into clear, concise, understandable, and actionable information that drives mission performance and financial results. In particular, the firm uses powerful spatial analytics tools and demographic data to help 500-plus YMCAs across the country better understand their communities.

“Thanks to PopStats’ methodology and frequent updates, its demographic data is more accurate than any other data I’ve seen, including the U.S. Census data,” said Nate. “This was critical, because we absolutely want the latest and greatest demographic statistics for our clients. They depend on the insight that our analytic products provide to make decisions that directly impact their budgets and their communities.”

What’s more, thanks to PopStats’ unique quarterly updates, Seer Analytics’ clients can create reports that show quarterly trends. This helps them see how growth is occurring and demographics are changing in nearly real-time.

“PopStats’ unique level of granularity allows us to perform that type of trend analysis, which is not available anywhere else,” noted Nate.

New Site Analysis Studies

Seer Analytics’ New Site Analysis product provides demographic studies that predict which market areas are ideal for proposed YMCAs. By applying Seer Analytics’ proprietary YMCA membership predictive model to specific markets, the analytic product estimates the number of households that will join the facilities, and identifies potential overlap and the effect it will have on neighboring YMCAs.

“It’s a quick and inexpensive way to understand the potential of new YMCA locations,” noted Nate. “Our product shows how a demographic analysis can go from just a list of numbers to something meaningful that can support making significant investment decisions — such as, should we build a new building or rehabilitate an existing site?”

It’s also a highly effective tool. Seer Analytics has experienced a five-time increase in product revenue since launching its web-based analytics tools fueled with PopStats data.

New Site Analysis Success Story

One example is the New Site Analysis conducted for a large YMCA in the Midwest. As a large and well-respected YMCA association, it is often approached about building new facilities in neighboring communities. Taking on this expansion requires extensive market research on population density and community growth. The entity must first determine if there are enough homes to justify the expense.

In addition, the association had a number of facilities that were not performing as expected. It had been building locations for nearly 30 years and in that time the populations living nearby had changed. For example, at one YMCA, there were fewer children in the programs. The organization had a hunch that fewer families lived in the community compared to prior years. Seer’s demographic analysis confirmed the hunch.

At another facility, fewer families lived in the area, negating the need for certain programs. One formerly low-income area now served a younger demographic that now included young families with higher household incomes than in the past. In another YMCA location, gentrification had completely changed the demographics of the community.

With an accurate lens on the problem of shifting demographics, the YMCA could now view key demographic variables in the markets around its locations, and make informed decisions on investing in building retrofits, and the program changes needed to better serve the actual community living there now.

Further, this YMCA has gained a birds-eye view of new developments being built in the community and the potential for population growth. “With the market analysis, we can see, for example, that in three years a particular community will be ready for a new facility,” said Nate.

“It’s always a risk when you add a new program or build a new building, but now the YMCA is taking more calculated risks,” he added. “This is game changing.”

Bracnhing Out into For-Profit

Seer Analytics’ web-based analytical tool has not only been a huge success for the company and deepened its partnership with YMCAs, but also it has widened Seer’s business scope. Bolstered by its success helping YMCAs conduct high-quality trade area research, fueled by PopStats data, the firm is now ready to take the next move on its own growth trajectory — for-profit organizations in digital marketing and healthcare.

“We’re working on developing our products for more companies, such as health clubs,” said Nate. “Thanks to the superior quality of PopStats, we believe that our product will be robust enough to help commercial enterprises make high-dollar decisions. In addition, we see applications in digital marketing, as well as healthcare with advanced network adequacy analysis needs.”

“After all, both for-profit and progressive non-profit organizations, like the YMCA, need the same kind of dependable, data-driven insight, including household counts, income levels, and children in the home,” Nate said. “In both cases, we’re analyzing and deriving a better understanding of the communities of consumers living within specific neighborhoods, so we can all make smarter data-driven decisions.”

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