Make your cross-channel marketing and strategic business decisions more effective with advanced, data-driven consumer classification.
Find out more Actionable insight to support UK climate change goals
Overview: Actionable insight to support UK climate change goals
How Nesta built a segmentation framework to identify and engage future heat pump adopters
To meet the UK’s climate goals, around 3 million homes must switch to low-carbon heating by 2030 – a twelvefold increase from current adoption rates.
Nesta, the UK’s innovation agency for social good, is driving this shift by helping energy, tech, and finance sectors better engage future adopters. But to do that effectively, Nesta need to pinpoint who’s ready to adopt and what’s holding others back.
Challenge overview
While only around 360,000 homes are currently heated by heat pumps, they are a proven low-carbon technology. They are three times more efficient than a gas boiler, work in the coldest UK temperatures, and use electricity, which can be generated from renewable resources. To meet climate change targets we need to be installing 450,000 heat pumps per year by 2030.
We are moving into a phase of early adoption of this technology. The innovators have tested it, but heat pumps are not yet the norm.
View Nesta Profile
Company Bio:
Nesta is the UK’s innovation agency for social good. They design, test and scale new solutions to society’s biggest problems, changing millions of lives for the better.
Nesta conducts experiments with public and private organisations, builds and invests in early-stage ventures, and shapes policy.
| |
|---|---|
| Mission 1: | Give every child a fair start |
| Mission 2: | Help people live healthy lives |
| Mission 3: | Create a sustainable future |
Working with Experian gave us access to deep segmentation expertise and layered data insights that were critical to understanding heat pump adoption. The team felt like an extension of ours - collaborative, flexible, and focused on finding the right solution. The result is a robust framework with actionable insights we can build on for future work.
Solution overview
Nesta partnered with Experian to build an actionable segmentation framework that helps identify and engage future heat pump adopters.
The segmentation drew on Experian’s geodemographic Mosaic segmentation, covering 30M UK households, as well as attitudinal survey data, via YouGov, distilling insights from 7,000 respondents (awareness, appeal, affordability, barriers). Installation data from the Microgeneration Certification Scheme (location, property type, uptake trends) was also drawn upon.
By combining policy expertise with rich consumer data and insights, the team identified eight distinct segments of future adopters, each with unique motivations, barriers, and behaviours. The segmentation supports Nesta’s goal of predicting future adoption trends and ensuring that information and services evolve with changing consumer profiles.
By understanding which segments are most likely to adopt heat pumps next, Nesta can guide training and capacity-building for installers and help manufacturers and suppliers forecast demand and plan accordingly.
For more information on the segments, visit the Nesta site.
The benefits included:
Insights grounded in reality: Built on actual adoption and attitudes, segments reveal who’s most likely to adopt and what’s holding them back.
Supports targeted messaging: Informing marketing and education campaigns as each group has different motivations from cost savings through to sustainability.
Cross-sector program design: Insights are being leveraged to support planning across energy, finance, and tech sectors.
Consistent framework: Segmentation lays the foundation for future research and projects to accelerate heat-pump adoption.
Nesta started by identifying who’s most likely to adopt heat pumps - and why. Now, the focus shifts to testing what works, refining engagement, and scaling impact through partnerships.
See how Mosaic works as a powerful segmentation framework
Results
- Segments reveal who’s most likely to adopt and what’s holding them back
- Insights are being leveraged to support planning across energy, finance, and tech sectors
- Segmentation lays the foundation for future research and projects to accelerate heat-pump adoption
Related Products
Not the right solution for your business? Browse all our products
We have solutions we can tailor for your business needs.
Speak to an expert
Case Study
Data migration is rarely straightforward, but partnering with Experian is.L&Q, one of the UK’s largest housing associations, focuses on developing affordable homes, managing properties and supporting communities. To handle the extensive data generated from this, L&Q relied on Experian’s services.
By combining migration with data quality efforts, L&Q have experienced a seamless migration and established a strong foundation for future growth.
See full story >
Case Study
How did our integrated credit risk solutions help The Right Fuel Card Company achieve their goals?The Right Fuel Card Company (RFC), part of the Edenred Group, supports around 20,000 active customers and processes 1,000 new fuel card applications each month. Their customers range from sole traders to fleet managers – all of whom rely on RFC for streamlined payments and credit to manage fuel costs.
RFC needed a smarter, real-time view of affordability. That’s where we helped.
See full story >
Case Study
Redefining the finance first journeyThe car finance ecosystem, like others, has undergone significant changes over recent years, driven by digital innovation, shifting consumer expectations, and increasing regulation. As a result, dealers, brokers and lenders have had to rethink traditional processes.
In assessing potential data partners, EnquiryLabs recognised Experian’s strong position in the market. With most UK vehicle finance lenders already dependent on Experian’s data, it would provide a consistent link between pre-qualification checks and lenders’ own decisioning processes.
Find out how Experian and EnquiryLabs delivered innovation through partnership.
See full story >
Case Study
A modern mortgage journey – Results that speak for themselvesExperian’s mission is to help lenders integrate digital mortgage journeys to drive automation, speed up decisions, and support financial inclusion – giving consumers more control and support.
Since 1875, Leeds Building Society has focused on putting homeownership within reach of more people, especially for first-time buyers. Recently, it began a digital transformation to streamline mortgage applications and improve credit decisioning using new data sources. Central to this is Leeds Building Society’s partnership with Experian, further evolving the automation in the mortgage landscape through the integration of Experian’s Open Banking Service, for seamless bank statement retrieval and underwriter assessments.
We explore the challenges faced and the collaborative journey with Experian to create a modern, consumer-focused mortgage experience in an increasingly competitive digital marketplace.
Download the full case study >
See full story >
Case Study
Streamlining background checks: Faster, smarter, and tailored for every roleExperian’s HR team faced growing delays and resource challenges in managing in-house background checks.
To improve speed, efficiency, and candidate experience, they transitioned to a tailored, automated solution delivered by Experian’s own Background Checking consultancy team.
The result: faster onboarding, reduced costs, and a more scalable, compliant process—without compromising on quality or care.
See full story >
Case Study
Learn how Bunches improved their delivery rates Bunches is one of the growing online florists in the UK.
Find out how Bunches significantly improved their delivery rates and operational efficiencies using Experian address validation technology and eCommerce integration.
See full story >