Understanding a customer’s needs is essential to good business – it is a basic tenet of marketing. But add to that insight into how different types of customers behave, react, respond and buy and an organization won’t out miss out on valuable opportunities to do further business, expand relationships and maximize revenue potential.
E-communications have a huge benefit over traditional marketing channels. The marketer can track if their message has been delivered, has been read (opened) and then what the reaction or response has been – even in real time! But historical log files and transaction histories can also yield a vast amount of data that can be turned into essential business information to deliver both a fast start and the basis for a data-driven communication strategy. It is vital to understand the customer experience:
• What communication or stimulus drove them to your landing page?
• Have they perhaps been referred by a current customer?
• What was their interest?
• What did they enquire about?
• Did they eventually buy?
• At what point were they lost?
No matter where data is located, you can use it to deliver actionable information that increases efficiency and effectiveness of sales and marketing. You need to evaluate your existing data and enhance it from external sources as appropriate to ensure depth and breadth.
Seven key elements to be achieved through applying data management and analytical techniques:
• Qualification
To optimize the proposition so as to maximize the volume of potentially profitable new customers responding and establishing an interest.
• Customer acquisition
To implement online and DM communications with propositions that will be relevant to the individual and so maximize the conversion of prospects into customers.
• Retention
To implement on and offline communications to promote overall customer retention whilst determining compelling cross-sell and up-sell propositions, thereby increasing purchase frequency and order value.
• Loyalty
Integration of market research to understand the psychographics – the attitudes and aspirations of different segments of customers to ensure their customer satisfaction is maintained; in our view satisfaction is the pre-cursor to true loyalty.
• Modeling
Using such tried and tested techniques such as Recency Frequency and Value, Customer Lifetime Value and Market Basket Analysis overlaid with learning acquired from analysis of web-logs and campaign histories to construct models that can be used to predict churn, to build segmentation and determine product propositions for up-sell and cross sell.
• Reactivation
Delivering communications with the right message to reactivate customers who have either ceased purchasing or those whose behavior indicates likelihood for lapsing or churn.
• Measurement
To monitor communications, response and customer behavior not only to determine ROI for campaigns but to add to the learning about customer preferences so as to continue to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the strategy.
Imagine how much more effective your organization would be if it could:
• Quantify customers’ current and long-term value to the company
• Identify niche customer segments, providing potential for improved communications and promotions
• Understand product-purchasing habits, leading to development of new sales propositions and new products
