Databases: The Secret to
Success A database is
more than a simple list of names and addresses.
What turns a list into a database is the
additional information, coupled with your ability
to select names from or report on the list using
any combination of data elements.
In this report, you'll see some
examples of the benefits of developing and
maintaining a database. Then, the specific
information that a database can contain will be
detailed.
BENEFITS OF A
DATABASE
By maintaining your list as a
database, you can segment in many ways for
targeting. Targeting improves the productivity of
your offers. You can use a database to isolate
the segment of your list most likely to respond
to a particular offer. With a good database,
you're not "mass-mailing" your offer to
parts of your list that may have no interest in
it (based on their characteristics). Because the
number you're mailing is smaller, your response
rate (number responding/number mailed) - one
measure of productivity - should be higher. (And,
of course, you'll save on printing and postage
costs.)
WAYS TO USE A
DATABASE
There are many ways to use the
information in your database once you have
collected it and entered it. Here are two simple
examples of targeting using database information:
- You're the owner of a
neighborhood beauty salon. For each
customer, you keep a record (with dates)
of all the services you've provided to
that customer. You're planning a special
pre-summer promotion on permanent waves
for the month of May.
Instead of mailing an
announcement of the sale to your entire
customer list (many of whom don't have
their hair permed), you select only those
customers who had a permanent at least
three months ago. In this way, you're
targeting those customers who are most
likely to take advantage of your upcoming
sale.
- You're the dinner
chairperson of a local fund-raising
organization. Your mailing list is made
up of a wide range of contributors, from
those who've donated only a few dollars
to those who give annual gifts of
thousands of dollars. For each
contributor, you maintain a record of all
past donations and functions he/she has
attended, in addition to basic mailing
information.
This
year, you're asking for donations of $100
a plate for the annual dinner dance. To
get the best response to your invitation,
you first target those contributors who
were at last year's dinner dance. Then
you target those who weren't at the
dance, but who donated more than $100 in
the past year. Depending on the response
you expect from these first two groups,
you may next want to target those names
on your list that didn't attend the last
dance, but contributed $50 in the last
year. You may even want to have a phone
follow-up to the first two groups but use
the mailing only for the third group.
A properly set up
database can provide many benefits for
your business or organization. But the
usefulness of a database depends entirely
on what elements you include in it.
WHAT TO
INCLUDE IN THE DATABASE?
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