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How to Maximize Your Customer Base
One of the most valuable assets you hold as a company is your existing database. The collection of information detailing current customers should be treated like the gold it is and nurtured to maximize sales and communication.
But simply having a database with a lot of names isn’t enough. Whether conducting direct mail marketing campaigns or e-mail marketing campaigns or using other platforms for communication, steps need to be taken to ensure that your database is working effectively for your company and that your business is, in fact, doing its best to provide quality services for the customer. This can be done in many ways, but we’ll narrow in on the three most vital areas your business needs to focus on if you intend to maximize your customer base.
- Creating Unique Reference Numbers: This is an important initial step that will help in so many other facets of managing your database. Each customer should have a unique reference number (URN) that tracks their transactions and interactions throughout their lifespan with your company. Creating a URN will not only help with present marketing efforts, but will assist in future product offers and sales strategies. Reference numbers will also assure you are up-to-date with details pertaining to your customers, like changes of address and purchasing habits.
- Segmenting Groups Precisely: In order to truly give your marketing campai
gns the best chance at success, your database must be segmented correctly. Being able to group individuals by purchasing habits, length of time as a customer, and other more detailed segments helps with coordinating how you set about communicating with each group. Who makes regular purchases, who purchases only when there is a sale, who hasn’t purchased anything over the last 12 months: all of this data needs to be analyzed and used to segment groups so that communication to each segment is different and relevant to their current habits.
- Enhancing Existing Data: The more you know about your customer, the better you can focus your marketing campaigns. You need to ask yourself if you’ve captured all the data possible, and if not, what can be done to get more information. The logical step would be to ask: do they have children, pets, and/or any special hobbies or interests? This will take a degree of tact and going back to our last tip, these questions may differ depending on the segment. In this age of privacy, people are wary of just giving out personal information without you first establishing some kind of trust; as such, only you can make the call as to who to ask these questions and the appropriate time to do so.
Macromark Can Do More
Being able to successfully manage your database can be a difficult and tedious task. As such, it would be a worthwhile investment to consider a company like Macromark, who has well over 20 years of experience in brokering and managing lists and can effectively coordinate your direct mail or e-mail marketing campaigns to maximize the return on investment.
David Klein