How to use data to target your customers

19/09/2011

At the heart of any successful direct mail or cross media marketing campaign is data. This creates the essential link between your offer and the needs, interests, beliefs, attitudes and intentions of your customers or prospects.

Your first objective should therefore be to gather data. In the world of campaign targeting, there are two main categories of data: declared data and observed data.

Declared data is information that is added into databases by consumers themselves. For example, there are visitors to your website who provide name and email information, consumers who take your online surveys or questionnaires, and people who create social media profiles. All of these individuals are contributing data that can be invaluable to you when you’re looking for direct and relevant access to an audience based on areas of interest.

Observed data, on the other hand, is information on consumer needs and desires collected during anonymous website visits. For example, there are many different markers that visitors leave behind when they visit a website including:

• time of day a site is visited
• topics of the individual pages visited
• keywords used to find sites
• total amount of time visitors spend on sites and individual pages
• technology (computer, operating system, browser, etc.) used to reach the web pages
• IP address targeting that can reveal geographical information about visitors

Cross media marketing is a very good way for businesses to collect declared data. Campaigns are based around a PURL or personalised URL. This is a personalised web page which has been specifically created and tailor-made for each individual customer. It is designed and populated with content that reflects that customer’s unique personal tastes.

This PURL can then be used to consistently gather data through surveys and questionnaires to build up a complete picture of the customer.

Then you will be able to send out marketing that’s tailor made to suit the individual needs of every single one of your customers. You could include offers on all of their favourite products – in the style, colour and size that they want. You could offer all of the brands they love. You could cross sell other products, and offer special purchases and discounts for special occasions and family celebrations.

All in all, accurate data enables you to get the right message to the right person at the right time.

For more information on cross media marketing and how it can improve you response rates, call David Thacker on 0115 950 0510 to request a brochure.