Customer Intelligence

Reading Your Customer Heatmap

Once your customer data is uploaded, your map fills with color. Each color tells you something specific about your relationship with that neighborhood.

What you're looking at

Each colored area on your map corresponds to a census block group — a small geographic cluster of roughly 600 to 3,000 households. The color tells you your penetration rate in that block group: the percentage of households in that area that are your customers.

The three zones

Stronghold — 8% penetration or higher

These are your home-base neighborhoods. A meaningful share of households here are already your customers. Protect this territory — it's where your brand is strongest and your word-of-mouth is most active.

Contested — 2% to 8% penetration

You have customers here, but so does everyone else. These neighborhoods are in play. Consistent marketing can push contested areas toward stronghold status over time.

Unconquered — below 2% penetration

Little or no customer presence in this area. Unconquered doesn't necessarily mean "bad opportunity" — it might mean untapped. Check the demographics before writing off a gray block group.

What penetration rate actually means

Penetration rate is calculated as:

Your customers in this block group ÷ Total households in this block group

So if a block group has 800 households and 64 of your customers live there, your penetration rate is 8% — right at the Stronghold threshold.

8% might sound low, but for a local business it's actually strong. Most of your block groups will have penetration rates well below 5%. The chart doesn't need to be wall-to-wall green to tell you something useful.

Adjusting the thresholds The 2% and 8% thresholds are defaults. You can adjust them in the Heatmap panel if your business type calls for different expectations — a specialty destination business might have naturally lower penetration rates than a neighborhood coffee shop.

How to read the pattern

Don't look at individual block groups in isolation. Look for patterns:

A cluster of green to the north — your customer base is concentrated there. Why? Something about those neighborhoods connects with your business. Demographics, proximity, a shared community characteristic. Worth understanding and doubling down on.
A nearby gray cluster that looks similar on paper — similar demographics, similar distance, but few customers. This is your most actionable opportunity. You've proven the concept in a similar area. Now you need to show up there.
Speckled green spread thinly across a wide area — your customer base is diffuse. You may be drawing from a wide area but with shallow roots anywhere. This calls for focus: pick a couple of neighborhoods and commit to them.

What to do with what you see

The heatmap is most powerful when connected to action. Here's what to do with it:

Identify your two or three best block groups — these are your strongholds. Invest in them. Consider loyalty programs, local events, or referral campaigns targeted here.
Find the highest-potential unconquered area — a gray block group with the right demographics and low competitor density. Target it with a focused Facebook campaign.
Ask your TerritoryIQ agent — open the Agent tab and ask "Which neighborhood should I focus my next marketing campaign on?" It will interpret the heatmap data alongside your competitor picture and demographics.