Identifying Customers

Nilesh Joglekar
Setting The Context

1. All enterprises use

information about their
customers to make
smarter decisions.

2. But for most traditional

marketing decisions
and actions,
information is really
needed only at the
aggregate, or market,
level.

3. The enterprise then

uses this information
to plan its production
 Relationship
Before any relationship
can start, both parties
have to know each
others identities and
be able to build a
comprehensive view of
the other.
 What it involves
Making decisions and taking
actions at the level of the individual
customer, using customer-specific
information in addition to information
about the aggregate characteristics of
the market population.

This is because a relationship

inherently implies some type of
mutual interaction between two
individual parties.
 Individual Information Requires
Customer Recognition

The essence of
managing customer
relationships is treating
different customers
differently
 The Purpose of Identification
1. Recognizing each
customer as that
customer, each time we
come in contact with
that customer
2. Linking those different
data points to develop a
full picture of each
particular
Refers not socustomer.
much to figuring out which customers we
want (that comes later).
 Steps in identifying customers

Step 1 Step 2
Take inventory of Get Customers to
existing customer data Identify Themselves
Step 1: Take inventory of existing
Customer Data
Take an inventory of all of the customer data already available
in any kind of electronic format. Customer identification information
might be stored in several electronic places, such as on the Web
server or in the contact center database.

Find customer-identifying information that is on file but not

electronically compiled.
Data about customers that has been written down but not
electronically recorded should be transferred to a computer
database, so that it will be accessible internally and protected from
loss or unnecessary duplication.
Step 2: Get Customers to Identify
Themselves
To engage a customer in a genuine relationship, a company
must also be able to

1.Link the customer to her own

specific purchase and service
transaction behavior.
2.Analyzing past behavior is
probably the single most useful
method for modeling a customers
future value
Ways to get customers to identify
themselves
Sales contests and sponsored events are
often designed for the specific purpose of gathering
potential and established customer names and
addresses.

A one-time contest or promotion might help a company

identify customers it did not previously know the
customer
Company needs to link the customers identity to her
actual transactions is also important.
Frequency marketing programs
Suit both purposes, providing not only a mechanism to
identify customers, but also a means to link customers,
over time, with the specific transactions they undertake.

Such programs have been used for years to strengthen

relationships with individual customers, but its important
to recognize that a frequency marketing program is a
tactic, not a strategy.
What Data Do We Need When We
Identify a Customer?

Behavior Attitudinal Demograp

Demograp
Attitudinal
al Data Data hic
hic Data
Data
Data
Behavioral
1. Purchase and buying habits
data 2. Clickstream data gleaned from
the way a firms website visitor
clicks through the firms website
3. Interactions with the company
4. Communication channels chosen
5. Language used
6. product consumption Company
share of wallet
Attitudinal
data 1. Attitudes about products, such as
satisfaction levels
2. Perceived competitive positioning
3. Desired features
4. Unmet needs as well as lifestyles
5. Brand preferences
6. Social and personal values
7. Opinions
Demograp
hic data 1. Age
2. Income
3. Education level
4. Marital status
5. Household composition
6. Gender
7. Home ownership
Data Classification
Stable Data
Birth date or genderwill need to be gathered only once. Once verified
for accuracy, these data can survive in a database over long periods and
many programs.
Updates of stable data should be undertaken to correct errors, but,
except for errors, stable data wont need much alteration.

Adaptive Data
Persons intended purchases or even her feelings about a particular
political candidate that will need constant updating.

Note: This is not a binary classification, of course. In reality, some data are relatively more
stable or adaptive than other data.
What Does Identify Mean?

The purpose of identifying individual

customers is to facilitate the
development of relationships with
them individually.
we are using the word identify in its
broadest possible form.
 Activities Enterprise can undertake
as a part of identifying Customers
1
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0

Integra Recogniz Analyz Make It

Define Collect Link
te e Store Update
e available
Secure
 Define and Collect

Collect Data using

Define Collect
1. Frequent shopper
Decide what Arrange to bar codes
2. credit card data
information collect these 3. paper applications

will comprise customer 4. Web-based

interactions via
the actual identities. Web site, blog
comments,
customers Facebook, Twitter

identity
 Link and Integrate

Link Integrate

Customers Identity need to be

identity must be integrated into the
linked to all information
transactions systems the
and interactions enterprise uses to
with that run its Business.
customer, at all
points of contact
Recognize and Store

Recognize Store
Identifying
The customer who
information about
returns to a
individual customers
different part of must be linked,
the organization stored,
needs to be and maintained in
recognized as the one or several
same customer, electronic
Update and Analyze

Update Analyze

All customer data, Customer

is subject to identities must
change and must serve as the key
be regularly inputs for
verified, updated, analyzing
improved, or individual
revised. customer
Availability and Security

Make it Available Secure

The Customer data Customer data is

both competitively
must be shared to sensitive privacy
the people and is critical to
functions within prevent its
the enterprise unauthorized use.
whenever needed
Summary
The first task to accomplish in building
relationships with a customer is to recognize
Each one at every point of contact, across all products
purchased or locations contacted, through every
communication channel, over time.

Doing this requires knowing the identity of each

customer at every contact point in the organization.