Dont Forget the Basics
| Category: Database Marketing | Date: 2001-08-07 |
Speaking at the Direct Marketing to Business (DMB) in March and the National Center for Database Marketing (NCDM) last December, I was amazed that so many people practicing database marketing neglect the basic principles needed to make database marketing work.
Here is a list of ten principles that every marketer schould to use to be successful:
Tests and controls.
Every marketing campaign should include a test. Without testing, we never learn anything. To conduct a test, you need to separate your mailing (or e-mailing) universe into two groups: a test group that gets the promotion and a control group that gets something else.
Capturing E-mails.
E-mail is so inexpensive and easy to use, it is a shame that most marketers today are still not capturing this vital piece of information. Ask people for it and give them a chance to say Please don’t send me any promotional emails.
Publicizing your Web site.
How to you expect people to use your web site if you don’t tell them about it? Eighty percent of the 152 business cards I collected at the DMB did not have the company web site on them. That is probably also true of the corporate stationery and advertisements. It is time to throw out the old stock and get serious about the web.
Using RFM.
Recency, Frequency and Monetary Analysis (RFM) has been around for more than 50 years and it is still the most powerful and least expensive predictor of customer behavior. Yet only about 5 percent of database marketers are using it. Free software is available at www.dbmarketing.com.
Lifetime Value (LTV).
The principles of lifetime value calculation are well known by now. It is one of the most useful ways to classify customers, and measuring marketing strategies, yet less than half of all marketers append this value to their customer database records.
Customer Segmentation.
Some customers are GOLD. Some are worthless. Everyone knows this, but few marketers have taken the time to code their customers into profitability segments using lifetime value. Once they have done this, they can devise different strategies for each segment.
Dont treat all customers alike.
Why spend money trying to retain worthless customers? Why not concentrate on retaining your best customers, and getting your customers with potential to move up to higher spending levels? Marketers need to spend more time thinking about where their marketing dollars should be used.
Know the retention rate.
One of the easiest customer analytical measures to keep is the retention rate: the percentage of customers who bought from you that are no longer buying this year. This is usually not too difficult to find out. Once known, it can be a powerful measure of marketing success.
Use Cookies.
Recognition, relationship and rewards are the basics of good retention marketing. One of the best ways to recognize customers on the web is to use cookies, so that you can say Welcome Back, Arthur whenever they visit your web site. That is what the old corner grocer used to say whenever customers came into his store. It worked then. It works today.
Use Caller ID for incoming phone lines.
Whenever customers call your customer service, tech support or telesales lines, why not use Caller ID to know, in advance, who they are and get their record up on the screen before you begin to speak? Then you can say, Mrs. Webster, so glad to hear from you again. How did your granddaughter like that sweater you sent her last October? If you can say things like this to your business or consumer customers, you will have them for life.
About the author.
:To contact see details below.
DBMarkets@aol.com
http://www.msdbm.com
Here is a list of ten principles that every marketer schould to use to be successful:
Tests and controls.
Every marketing campaign should include a test. Without testing, we never learn anything. To conduct a test, you need to separate your mailing (or e-mailing) universe into two groups: a test group that gets the promotion and a control group that gets something else.
Capturing E-mails.
E-mail is so inexpensive and easy to use, it is a shame that most marketers today are still not capturing this vital piece of information. Ask people for it and give them a chance to say Please don’t send me any promotional emails.
Publicizing your Web site.
How to you expect people to use your web site if you don’t tell them about it? Eighty percent of the 152 business cards I collected at the DMB did not have the company web site on them. That is probably also true of the corporate stationery and advertisements. It is time to throw out the old stock and get serious about the web.
Using RFM.
Recency, Frequency and Monetary Analysis (RFM) has been around for more than 50 years and it is still the most powerful and least expensive predictor of customer behavior. Yet only about 5 percent of database marketers are using it. Free software is available at www.dbmarketing.com.
Lifetime Value (LTV).
The principles of lifetime value calculation are well known by now. It is one of the most useful ways to classify customers, and measuring marketing strategies, yet less than half of all marketers append this value to their customer database records.
Customer Segmentation.
Some customers are GOLD. Some are worthless. Everyone knows this, but few marketers have taken the time to code their customers into profitability segments using lifetime value. Once they have done this, they can devise different strategies for each segment.
Dont treat all customers alike.
Why spend money trying to retain worthless customers? Why not concentrate on retaining your best customers, and getting your customers with potential to move up to higher spending levels? Marketers need to spend more time thinking about where their marketing dollars should be used.
Know the retention rate.
One of the easiest customer analytical measures to keep is the retention rate: the percentage of customers who bought from you that are no longer buying this year. This is usually not too difficult to find out. Once known, it can be a powerful measure of marketing success.
Use Cookies.
Recognition, relationship and rewards are the basics of good retention marketing. One of the best ways to recognize customers on the web is to use cookies, so that you can say Welcome Back, Arthur whenever they visit your web site. That is what the old corner grocer used to say whenever customers came into his store. It worked then. It works today.
Use Caller ID for incoming phone lines.
Whenever customers call your customer service, tech support or telesales lines, why not use Caller ID to know, in advance, who they are and get their record up on the screen before you begin to speak? Then you can say, Mrs. Webster, so glad to hear from you again. How did your granddaughter like that sweater you sent her last October? If you can say things like this to your business or consumer customers, you will have them for life.
About the author.
:To contact see details below.
DBMarkets@aol.com
http://www.msdbm.com
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