By Joyce Adams, Senior Customer Success Manager at Attest
Class, income, and demographic segments have long been used as stable inputs for audience targeting, based on the assumption that people can be understood through consistent categories that hold over time.
But new Attest research suggests that assumption is weakening in practice. Consumers increasingly shift how they present themselves depending on context, and many now operate with overlapping identities rather than a single fixed one.
This creates a challenge for segmentation models built on static profiles. Two consumers with the same income or job title may interpret their social class differently and respond differently to the same messaging.
As a result, static attributes are no longer sufficient for understanding audiences. To reach consumers effectively, marketers need a more connected view of behavior that reflects how people shift across contexts over time.
Identity is increasingly situational
Nearly a third of Americans say they adjust how they present themselves depending on the social setting, shifting how they speak, dress, and signal status based on context. As a result, the same person may show up differently at work, with friends, or at home depending on what fits the moment.
This fluidity extends to social identity. Sixteen percent of Americans say they identify with more than one social class. Instead of moving neatly between categories, people often hold overlapping identities at once, such as a working-class background alongside a middle-class income, or shifting self-perceptions depending on context.
This “polyclass” dynamic shows that demographic indicators like income are unstable markers of who someone is.
Why income isn’t a proxy for identity
Income remains the most common way Americans define social class, with 46% citing it as the primary factor. On a surface level, this makes sense. Income is measurable, comparable, and widely used in segmentation models.
But it does not consistently reflect how people actually perceive their situation. Even at similar income levels, individuals may interpret their circumstances differently depending on expectations or whether they feel they are moving up or falling behind.
This gap is revealed in the data: just 35% of Americans say they feel financially comfortable, while another 35% say they are just managing, and 24% say they are struggling to make ends meet. In other words, a large share of consumers are living with some degree of financial pressure– something that is often flattened or missed in standard audience labels.
A similar tension appears in perceptions of mobility. Half of Americans who want to improve their class position describe doing so as very difficult, while nearly a third (29%) say they feel stuck with no clear path forward. Aspiration and constraint often coexist, with consumers striving for change while not necessarily feeling any closer to achieving it.
So while people may have similar income levels or aspirations, they can experience their circumstances very differently, and those differences often shape how they respond to the same message.
This suggests that income alone is an incomplete proxy for how people experience their financial reality. It captures earnings, but not stability, security, or perceived momentum, which are all factors that often shape how consumers interpret and respond to messaging.
How marketers can meet audiences where they are
Marketers need to build a connected understanding of audiences over time. Resetting that understanding with every campaign or activation reinforces a fragmented, outdated view of the consumer.
The first step to reaching audiences is changing how audience understanding is built in the first place. It starts with treating every interaction, behavior, and signal as something that updates existing knowledge of the consumer.
That can look like maintaining persistent audience profiles updated after each activation, and using live behavioral signals like browsing patterns, engagement, or purchase recency to them current.
This creates a more complete spectacle of the audience that reflects real actions as they happen. As a result, marketers can align messaging and timing more closely with how people are actingin the moment, rather than how they were previously defined.
Teams that do this can segment more accurately and make decisions with more confidence, because they’re working from a view of consumers that reflects change rather than a static snapshot.
Rethinking Audience data
The research makes clear that people move across contexts, carry multiple influences, and adapt depending on the situation. They don’t fit neatly under a single label. This challenges what marketers can reasonably expect data to capture.
Once marketers recognize this, the focus shifts from fixed segmentation to understanding how audiences change over time and across moments. Marketers already have the data they need. The key is using it in a way that reflects how people make decisions.
The result is a more accurate foundation for decision-making, grounded in how consumers behave in real time.
