Improve Social Performance
Once an organization has collected and analyzed PPI data, the next step is to act upon it. An organization may, for example, analyze its PPI data and determine that it needs to enhance its outreach to the poor. It can use the PPI as a quick, efficient screening tool to target clients based on their likelihood of being poor. Client selection can be based on PPI data alone or on a combination of criteria as part of a more complex screening process. Our Guide to Targeting with the PPI explores different methods of using the PPI to target clients, discusses recommended targeting practices, and describes limitations to consider.
One size does not fit all when it comes to serving poor clients. Organizations can use PPI data to develop new products and services or redesign existing ones to better serve the needs of specific groups of poor clients. Using PPI data in conjunction with other information such as demographics, past usage patterns, and behaviors can help organizations improve product offerings for specific client segments.
Conducting a segmentation analysis involves dividing an organization's target market or its existing clients into groups that have common needs, behaviors, or other characteristics. Client segmentation allows organizations to design and implement segment-specific strategies that more appropriately and effectively serve these groups. The PPI Guide to Segmentation is a comprehensive resource that includes an overview of common use cases for segmentation, a breakdown of the three main methods for grouping segments based on the PPI, and illustrations from hypothetical examples. Additional resources include this Video on Segmentation Analysis and Course Intro from an +Acumen course on market segmentation at the bottom of the pyramid.
Related Content
- Friendship Bridge - This case study describes how Friendship Bridge, a MFI based in Guatemala, used data from the PPI to segment its market and build customer personas.
- Barriers to Uptake of Free Pediatric Cataract Surgery in Malawi - This blog describes how researchers conducting an assessment of a pediatric cataract surgery program in Malawi analyzed uptake of the free service by identifying various characteristics of potential patients’ families, including poverty status using the PPI. They found that the poorest were unable to take advantage of the free service. The researchers were able to make specific suggestions that might increase uptake of pediatric cataract surgery services amongst the poorer families.
- CARD Bank - This case study looks at how CARD Bank, a Philippines-based MFI, used the PPI to analyze the success rates of a product with different client groups. The results were instrumental in helping the organization strategize the scale-up plans for the product.
- Fonkoze - This case study describes how Fonkoze, a Haiti-based MFI, used the PPI to design and support its Earthquake Recovery Program.
- RUMA - This case study examines how PT Rekan Usaha Mikro Anda (Ruma)—an Indonesian social business that builds a network of Indonesian entrepreneurs to retail products and services in their communities—has actively used the PPI to target and recruit poor entrepreneurs into its network.
- Katalyst - This blog examines how Katalyst, one of the oldest and largest pro-poor market development projects in Bangladesh, used the PPI to test its assumptions when designing market interventions intended to reach poor farmers and easily screen for poor households to include in research studies.
