Customer Development
Have you ever heard the phrase “true one-to-one marketing?”
I always want to know what separates plain old one-to-one marketing from true one-to-one marketing. And better yet, is it worth it?
My first decade of work experience was in finance. As great as marketing ideas sound I am always doing the math in my head as to whether or not the proposed solution is worth the investment. At the end of the day each investment needs to have a payoff. Now some results will take longer to realize than others and it is prudent to be patient but sooner or later the money has to come home.
So what is one-to-one marketing?
One-to-one marketing is a customer engagement strategy emphasizing personalized interactions with customers. But here is where it goes from black and white to mostly 50 shades of grey.
There are many different forms of personalization that marketing can take.
- Hey they addressed the message to me! The most rudimentary form of personalization. The customer’s name on a credit card solicitation. That piece was personalized.
- Wow, it’s like they know something about me! The offer extended to the customer is selected out of many potential offers based on what they know about the customer; again further personalized.
- Whoa, I might even take them up on this offer! A million different customers receive their own personal portfolio of grocery offers on a weekly basis, selected according to each customer’s personal relevancy based on predictive analytic scoring.
What is the potential payoff? Some of that can be determined by the answers to these questions:
- How often do your customers shop?
- How much do they typically spend per trip?
- How much variety is there in your assortment?