SERVICES

Sometimes viewed as the preserve of direct marketing businesses, with its long history of enriching direct mail and catalogue companies, database marketing is also a vital skill to realise customer insight. As with most change endeavours, a culture of test & learn is needed to test actions and refine them until an optimal return is generated. Because even if analysis and research converged can reveal an accurate understanding of customers and of the offers and communications that would be welcomed at the right time, without a robust way of testing such a hypothesis, it remains theoretical.

Database Marketing brings the scientific method to bear on customer insight work. Effective control groups, feedback loops, statistical significance and measurement ensure an understanding of marketing payback as evidenced by Shaw & Merrick. As most businesses now operate multi-channel, with through-the-line media mixes, this discipline has expanded to benefit from econometrics and other more complex measurement techniques.