The evolution of a CRM solution, particularly the aspects that will fuel the marketing efforts of a company, begins with the decision to advance beyon...
The evolution of a CRM solution, particularly the aspects that will fuel the marketing efforts of a company, begins with the decision to advance beyond traditional and “one off” functionality and move into an integrated and enterprise wide solution. The end result of this journey is not possible without a commitment to success.
The way companies usually grow into their marketing activities is based primarily on delivering their product rather than their company message or branding ideas. Products and services purchased by loyal and new customers are the lifeblood of the organizations success. Facing this reality, owners and executives rightfully place a priority on delivery and customer service, but a close second priority is proper communication with those same individuals over the life of the relationship. Building a CRM out of the internal operations system can provide a foundation, but building on that foundation is the next great step forward.
Disparate data sources contribute to the challenges of an enterprise-wide marketing database. Siloed departments don’t share or access information easily. In many instances different departments manage retail, direct, email, mobile and telemarketing communication. Fortunately, the first phase of building a CRM will not require a company to clear this hurdle. The first phase is more narrow in scope, otherwise it would doom the project from the outset.
In Phase One, the walking phase, the database must facilitate the core execution of the company’s communication through its major channel. Whether it is retail or direct, email or telemarketing, the communication must be deliverable, targeted, and measurable. The database in this phase may be used for campaign management by one area of the company but all areas should have access for reporting capabilities. Accessing the data will also improve the learning curve for the respective channel groups who will be engaged in Phase Two and Phase Three. The database will be cleansed and depuped, with customer and prospect records residing in one repository. All USPS and proprietary cleansing services can be bundled for address standardization and correction. Improved data quality will allow for more and more accurate duplicates to be found as well as improving the match rates to demographic, lifestyle, and behavioral data append services. Information is available on more than 95% of US households today, compiled from multiple public and transactional sources. Data enhancements include fine tuned demographics, like actual age or new mover information, ethnicity, hobbies and interests, property and financial characteristics and buying behavior by channel. Utilizing this data model scores or deciles are applied to improve response rates, including the use of specific personas.
During Phase One the frequency of data updates is evaluated based on a cost versus reward analysis. Monthly updates have been acceptable for years, but with new channels challenging for quicker data compilation, weekly and nightly updates are beneficial. The possibility of real time updates is not far from reality, with some solutions existing today. However, with high costs preventing some updates it is even more critical to reduce schedules when possible. By combining traditional merge processing with optimization modeling the seamless integration of targeted ranking can be folded into the merge purge process. Those least likely to respond can be eliminated and replaced with more promising prospects, lowering the cost of acquisition and improving response rates at the same time. Finally, no amount of marketing intelligence is complete without accurate backend performance measurement. It is harder than ever to pinpoint customer’s preference for communication, but this is becoming a greater competitive advantage when it can be accurately allocated. One to one marketing has moved from a fringe-marketing concept to the forefront. Making a customer feel appreciated is critical to successful client retention. Companies have to understand that there is no longer a one to one correlation between responses and a single promotion effort. Each piece of the puzzle helps determine the true business drivers, whether a client receives a direct mail piece or has a retail experience; the key is collecting the information from your promotional efforts and comparing it to your related order channels. Controlling the response analysis gives a clearer picture of your customer’s path to purchase.
Stay Tuned for Part 2 of Building A Marketing Database.
Little Know Tips to Improve Data Hygiene Processing
As the multi-channel marketplace grows in complexity there are a few bedrock principles that continue to make sense.
The mystery of channel preference
It is increasingly more difficult to manage communication with customers and prospects because of the following conditions; new channels are introduced as technology advances, old channels are made obsolete and perceptions change, branding and image are no longer controlled solely by that company or it’s marketing department, and the pace of business in general is accelerating.
Getting “hands on” with today’s marketing efforts
For many years the operations and activities of the catalog marketers have stopped as their data files have been delivered to their services bureaus or printers.
