| Looking across the spectrum of small and | | | | 1. Identify the right customer for my mailing |
| medium sized retail businesses, it is rare to find a | | | | 2. Make the offer attractive and compelling |
| business that does not capture customer data. | | | | 3. Make the messaging attractive |
| Even rarer is and SME that does not want to | | | | 4. Make the timing perfect, and ideally coincide |
| capture customer data. The idea of course is to | | | | with a customer need |
| use that customer data to understand customer | | | | You might break it down further to say, these |
| behavior, needs and wants - and use that | | | | would in turn require me to - |
| understanding to drive more intelligent | | | | 5. Clean up existing database names, addresses, |
| conversations and interactions with customers. | | | | emails, mobile etc |
| These interactions could be through appropriate | | | | 6. Make sure from now on we are capturing clean |
| sales approaches, targeted and timely marketing | | | | data (...garbage in garbage out) |
| or superior customer service. Or even indirectly, | | | | 7. Send out timely reminders to customers... etc |
| by using customer intelligence to design relevant | | | | etcb |
| products and services. The intention is noble. | | | | What emerges are 2 parallel tracks of activity |
| There is no doubting that. | | | | that are ongoing by nature. A backend track that |
| Sadly, the reality is far from where it should be. | | | | is focused on maintenance of quality customer |
| Most small to mid sized retailers have databases | | | | data - completeness of names, accuracy of |
| with poor and incomplete data. Or misfired | | | | contact details etc. And a frontend track - that is |
| attempts in the past at running a few mailer | | | | focused on targeting the right customer, at the |
| campaigns with much money spent but little | | | | right time, with the right products and services, in |
| returns. Almost all our clients had experimented in | | | | an effective yet cost-efficient way. |
| some ways with mailer campaigns, referral or | | | | While the customer database is your single |
| loyalty schemes. But results were typically poor | | | | biggest asset at the backend, the customer |
| to mixed in terms of response, sell-through and | | | | treatment plan becomes the single biggest asset |
| most important - driving sustained loyalty from | | | | at the frontend. The treatment plan is simply a |
| the customer base. | | | | plan that shows various segments of customers, |
| What's heartening is - the fire has still not gone | | | | and how and when they should be targeted. |
| out. Most retailers (certainly from amongst our | | | | By following established best practices in defining |
| client base), readily acknowledge that they have | | | | customer segments and creating customer |
| been flying blind, and tactics have been misguided | | | | treatment plans, companies gain rapid competitive |
| in the past. They continue to be vociferous | | | | advantage over their competition. Think of a |
| supporters of the power of database mining, | | | | neighbourhood customer with two retail |
| firmly believing the driver was not trained enough, | | | | businesses selling identical products. One business |
| nothing wrong with the car. Thankfully. | | | | makes the effort to send out targeted and |
| In fact most would today view their customer | | | | relevant communication, recognize the customer |
| database as a source of competitive advantage | | | | when he visits, setup appropriate reminders and |
| designed to deliver a number of benefits including | | | | alerts for this customer, and reward him |
| - | | | | appropriately for his business. The other does |
| 1. Get more customers (acquisition) | | | | nothing. Who do you think will take leadership |
| 2. Keep these customers (retention) | | | | position in the customer's mind? |
| 3. Get them to spend more money | | | | As businesses commoditise and differentiation |
| 4. Recruit other customers through word of | | | | decreases, the one with superior customer |
| mouth referrals | | | | relationship wins. Gone are the days when |
| 5. Make the advertising and mailers more | | | | customer satisfaction was the ultimate goal. |
| effective and cost-efficient over time | | | | Today its the price of entry. The real challenge is |
| A good starting point is to baseline your efforts | | | | how to go from simple customer satisfaction to |
| at the start of your journey i.e. write down what | | | | driving sustained customer loyalty. The kind that |
| you believe you need to do to get a good | | | | delivers multiple revenue streams with decreasing |
| customer database marketing program going. | | | | cost to serve. |
| Your list should look something like this - | | | | |