Do you know your customers?

BY DONNA KAPLAN

Sounds like a strange question, right? You’d be inclined to say, “Of course I know my customers.” The fact is that most people do not know their customers well at all. In terms of your marketing, “knowing your customer” means tracking their purchase history in detail, knowing their birthday, gender and likes or dislikes. While this sounds like a lot of information to keep, it’s vital to your long-term marketing plan. You can use the information you have – or gain the information you don’t – to increase your ROI almost instantly.

If you have a database full of information on your customers, you can send relevant targeted mailings to your customers that not only fit their interests, but also increase your ROI. If you don’t, never fear – you can still target your customers with personalized mailings right away. With a data overlay, your database can be analyzed using over 650 criteria and a virtual spider web will be cast over your list with as much information within the criteria as possible, thereby instantly providing you with a data file full of information. You can learn about your customers’ spending habits, their group affiliations, specific interest groups and more. In fact, most of this information is more than you would ever get simply by watching their spending with your company.

Having a great database is the first step; the most amazing part is what you can do with the data. Utilizing the information, you can do different versions of a mailing where you change the text and photos based on their interests and your event. You can also personalize it with their name throughout the mailing for an added personal touch. For example, using one postcard template, you can have nearly unlimited versions by changing the background colors based on the customer’s gender, the photos and text fields based on their interests as they relate to your business, and place their name throughout the card to remind them that you know who they are. Statistically, personalized mailings will provide you with double the response rate over a static, generic mailing. In the end, any type of marketing that you do needs to constantly be relevant – if you have a good data file, you can have versioned mailings that will be relevant for years to come. You automatically increase your ROI by saving on design costs and by bringing more customers in thanks to the relevance of the message to them.

Donna Kaplan and the team at Curley Direct can help you dissect your database and teach you how to get the biggest return on investment from your marketing dollars. Call (508) 398-4580, ext.17, or visit CurleyDirect.com to learn more.


Published in Cape & Plymouth Business August 2010