Who they are

Someone who wants local data and keeps up to date with the latest economic and population trends to help them make practical, strategic business decisions.

They often do not know exactly what to search for, until they come to it.

Likely to say

“I want to enhance my understanding of the UK economy and structure using data. Summary reports are too vague.”

What motivates them

They want to improve their understanding of the UK economy and structure, and look for official data from reliable sources to help their organisation. They need a reliable data source, with methodology they can trust.

What they want

Information foragers want to:

• keep up to date with the latest economic and population data
• use local data, with demographics, to compare with national data
• copy and share content that is easy to understand
• find data within the day of publication
• use data to make graphs and support infographics
• have trust in our methodology, and they will follow changes in it
• be confident they have the latest data
• know upcoming release dates for planning purposes

Behaviour and preferences

They know what they are looking for but sometimes have to search for this. They can find locating the correct dataset problematic and may rely on email alerts to guide them. They find email alerts useful for finding unusual things that spark their interest. They often rely on email alerts to lead them to newly released data.

They prefer data but will use written reports.

How they find information

These users prefer to access data via a desktop computer. They will download data in XLS or CSV spreadsheets – they find Json formats too technical.

What they like

• Browsing by theme and seeing data organised in this way.
• Quick access to data, especially spreadsheets.
• Clear titles, good metadata and precise keywords.
• Tracking methodology changes.

What they do not like

• Too many sites covering the same topics.
• Too many links or unclear organisation.
• Content that assumes users know what to look for.
• Being presented with technical tools or jargon.