Second only to the people
working in a company, the most valuable asset any business has is its customer
database. The customer is still 'king' and all businesses are ultimately driven
by customer demand. In order to maximize every sales opportunity, a business
should focus greater attention on understanding its customers, their
preferences, and requirements and then maintain a database with up to date
intelligence
A skilled marketer will start an effective marketing campaign by establishing a target audience of key decision makers to ultimately engage with. By asking the right questions, or purchasing consumer demographic data on these customers, you should be able to establish the customer's contact details, income, housing information, age ranges, children at home, etc. In the case of B to B customers, firmographic data is available identifying key personnel, sales volume, the number of employees, age of the business etc. Your own customer data should be able to reveal product or service preferences, buying trends and requirements.
Once you have profiled your customers, it is also possible to “match” them to prospects that look and act like, your best customers. This will allow you to send personalized messages to prospects to engage and convert them more effectively.
Research suggests the better you know your customers the easier it is to sell more to them. Additionally, future profits could depend on providing customers and prospects with a rewarding experience that caters to their requirements. This not only creates customer loyalty, but it increases the rate of new customer acquisition, and keeps them coming back.
Data is power, but the question becomes, how will you use this power and to what end? As marketers experiment with data-driven methods of reaching their target audience with the right offer at the right time and customers begin drawing lines in the sand about just how far they want companies to go with these efforts, we’re learning some important lessons in personalized marketing defining what’s helpful, what’s annoying, and what’s creepy.
A skilled marketer will start an effective marketing campaign by establishing a target audience of key decision makers to ultimately engage with. By asking the right questions, or purchasing consumer demographic data on these customers, you should be able to establish the customer's contact details, income, housing information, age ranges, children at home, etc. In the case of B to B customers, firmographic data is available identifying key personnel, sales volume, the number of employees, age of the business etc. Your own customer data should be able to reveal product or service preferences, buying trends and requirements.
Once you have profiled your customers, it is also possible to “match” them to prospects that look and act like, your best customers. This will allow you to send personalized messages to prospects to engage and convert them more effectively.
Research suggests the better you know your customers the easier it is to sell more to them. Additionally, future profits could depend on providing customers and prospects with a rewarding experience that caters to their requirements. This not only creates customer loyalty, but it increases the rate of new customer acquisition, and keeps them coming back.
Data is power, but the question becomes, how will you use this power and to what end? As marketers experiment with data-driven methods of reaching their target audience with the right offer at the right time and customers begin drawing lines in the sand about just how far they want companies to go with these efforts, we’re learning some important lessons in personalized marketing defining what’s helpful, what’s annoying, and what’s creepy.
Just
because you know or think you know something about your customer doesn’t mean
you have to tell them.
You need to know when to hold back to avoid being annoying,
creepy, or just plain wrong. Take for example, retail super store Target’s
efforts to “target” soon-to-be-mothers based on recorded purchase patterns. One
teen’s father complained about the company insulting his daughter by sending
her baby coupons in the mail only to later acknowledge that his daughter was in
fact expecting. In this particular case, Target had accurately predicted its
customer’s condition and sent her relevant offers, but at what expense?
Being sneaky is tantamount to being creepy, right? Not always. Sometimes, being inconspicuous in your personalization efforts is a good thing. This is something Target learned from their pregnancy promotion. After the incident, the company reworked its strategy and decided to send a variety of coupons to customers they had identified as expecting rather than just offers directly related to their “big” news. That way, the recipients would view the coupons as randomly compiled rather than personally prepared. The same results are accomplished, but without the creep factor.
Perhaps most importantly, rely on the tried-and-true marketing principle of simply putting yourself in your customer’s shoes. As you’re making elaborate plans for how to use all that “big” data, always ask yourself how you would respond if you were the target of these personalized campaigns. If the thought provokes goose bumps or leaves a bad taste in your mouth, then it may be a sign that you need to revise your strategy.
If you would like some assistance in creating relevant and timely personalized campaigns that really work or if you are ready to start profiling customer data to identify the best prospects, give me a call. I can help.
Learn: www.intelimailer.comBeing sneaky is tantamount to being creepy, right? Not always. Sometimes, being inconspicuous in your personalization efforts is a good thing. This is something Target learned from their pregnancy promotion. After the incident, the company reworked its strategy and decided to send a variety of coupons to customers they had identified as expecting rather than just offers directly related to their “big” news. That way, the recipients would view the coupons as randomly compiled rather than personally prepared. The same results are accomplished, but without the creep factor.
Perhaps most importantly, rely on the tried-and-true marketing principle of simply putting yourself in your customer’s shoes. As you’re making elaborate plans for how to use all that “big” data, always ask yourself how you would respond if you were the target of these personalized campaigns. If the thought provokes goose bumps or leaves a bad taste in your mouth, then it may be a sign that you need to revise your strategy.
If you would like some assistance in creating relevant and timely personalized campaigns that really work or if you are ready to start profiling customer data to identify the best prospects, give me a call. I can help.
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Ed Glaser
Chief Marketing Officer
252.321.5805
ed.glaser@acculink.com
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