Leveraging Customer Information to Drive Measurable Results in Revenue Growth and Loyalty: The Power of Personalization and Relevance

Introduction

Sustaining brand loyalty and consumer demand has become increasingly difficult for marketing practitioners. Millions of dollars are invested annually in marketing and merchandising programs only to see declining consumer response rates and lower campaign returns on investment.

The traditional one-size-fits-all approach to Direct Marketing has lost its effectiveness. Industry results have shown that traditional direct marketing response rates have plummeted from their historical 2% factor to less than 0.6% for many of today’s mailings. And the National Do Not Call Registry is driving an increase in direct mail campaigns, thus making it more difficult for marketers to break through the consumer’s crowded mailbox to get desired levels of attention and consideration.

Even e-mail marketing, which has also exploded in volume, has been met with an equally significant decrease in response rates.

In spite of these challenges, marketers have alternatives available to leverage the data they have about their customers to create highly targeted direct marketing communications that drive significant increases in response rates, revenue and loyalty. This white paper provides you with an introduction to a new way to think about how you communicate with your customers.

What’s the Problem?

The problem with traditional direct marketing campaigns is that they are typically product-centric and not customer-centric. Clearly not all consumers are alike. They have different demographic profiles, income levels, and lifestyle and travel choices. These factors drive buying behavior. Yet most marketers ignore these differences by not tailoring direct-to-consumer communications to individual customer preferences or characteristics.

These issues point to the importance of personalization and relevance in leading marketers’ direct marketing efforts. The ability to create individualized and relevant communication will have a significant bearing on the results of your direct marketing (DM) campaign.