The 7C’s of data

To develop strategic marketing through which to exploit customer data and drive measurable value, a thorough understanding of who your business is attracting, what their needs are, why they might buy from your organisation, where they are likely to be engaged and also how many of them or what value of customers is required. 

Having gone through these processes to clarify the type and extent of insight frameworks necessary, the shape of a communications budget required to deliver it and the mix of business propositions most likely to drive customer engagement – most of this activity will be dependent on the organisations customer and market data.

There is no right or wrong way to construct a data strategy but that said, for the data to be usable for in this context, there are a number of points that should be tracked and managed to ensure data is always properly fit for the business and marketing purpose.

For organisations to succeed, a balanced view of the 7C’s of data is critical. Read more

DbG appoints new Head of Marketing

Database Group (DbG) has appointed Hannah Graham as new Group Head of Marketing.

With over seven years experience in marketing and data, Graham joined DbG on 23rd February 2010 following six years as Marketing Manager at Experian QAS, and one year at Government Office London.

In her new role Graham heads up the marketing team which oversees marketing for both DbG (marketing services provider) and the group’s digital arm, Database Group Interactive (DbGi).

Her immediate responsibilities will be to drive marketing strategy with a focus on increasing awareness of the group’s brands, services and propositions.

Brett Isenberg, CEO of DbG, says:  “We are delighted to welcome Hannah on board to help us consolidate and grow recognition of DbG as a leading customer data company and our digital arm, DbGi, as a market leader in e-marketing strategy and delivery.” 

Graham adds: “DbG and DbGi have a great solutions portfolio and loyal customer base, with an opportunity to make an impact in the market.  I am excited about implementing a marketing strategy to accelerate company growth and support both brands.”

DbG launches Verify online data cleansing solution

Database Group (DbG) has launched Verify, a new online data processing service which makes use of the UK’s most comprehensive range of suppression files and allows businesses of any size to improve their data cost-effectively from their own premises. 

To celebrate the launch of Verify, DbG is offering discounts to new Verify sign ups, with reduced licence fees for the first 12 months.  DbG’s e-marketing division DbGi and DbG’s internal bureau team are already making use of the new service.

Brett Isenberg, CEO for Database Group, explains:  “In 2010 one thing will be more important than ever - keeping in touch with customers.  As budgets are squeezed and acquisition becomes more difficult, making sure you have the most up-to-date contact details, including postal, email and telephone, for customers will be a critical factor for marketing success.

“Our new online data processing service Verify, which is the only solution on the market with an integrated email hygiene capability, allows businesses to cost-effectively audit, clean and ehance their data, reducingtheir marketing costs and improving their response rates.”
Verify features:

• The UK’s first multiple file, super-user web-based data processing tool;
• The UK’s most comprehensive range of suppression files with over 330 million records;
• The only online solution in the market with an integrated email hygiene capability;
• An easy to use interface;
• 24/7 availability;
• Easy access via the web;
• The ability to process multiple files;
• A free data audit – clients can view results before choosing which services to apply; and
• The ability to only pay for what is downloaded

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To see Verify in action and learn how to improve data quality, call us on 0117 918 3500 or email

Renault UK launches online trade partner programme

Database Group (DbG) has launched an online trade partner programme for Renault UK to help maintain after sales brand loyalty and provide critical business intelligence.

Renault’s new Trade Partner Programme website, which went live 1 February 2010, acts as a portal for dealers, its field force and head office, allowing them to input and share sales data, and providing a single, easily accessible, view of all parts sales to trade customers for the first time.

James Szczepanski, Trade Programme Manager at Renault UK, says “Our Trade Partner Programme is a key aspect of our UK business, offering support to our trade centre network and maintaining Renault brand loyalty in the independent aftermarket.  The distribution of aftermarket products is a highly competitive arena and our UK Trade Partner Programme, along with the benefits offered by the loyalty scheme, is key to maintaining and growing our position.”

“We look forward to continuing to work with DbG to ensure we maximise the potential for building brand loyalty which this new system brings.”

Karen Harding, Strategic Account Director for DbG, adds: “We’ve worked with Renault UK to build a website for the Trade Programme which brings together all UK trade sales information in a very accessible and user-friendly way.  All aspects of the trade programme can be reported on and we are also running a dedicated hotline for Renault dealers, field force and head office staff, providing support on the service, as well as ad-hoc reports analysing trade performance over time.”

Database Group promotes Neil Evans to Sales Director

Database Group (DbG) has promoted Neil Evans to the new role of Sales Director.

With over 14 years of experience in sales and marketing, Evans has been with DbG for two years as Head of Sales & Marketing.  His previous experience includes: Vice President of Marketing for Merrill Lynch; four years with marketing agency The Response Team; and prior to that, roles at Target Direct, Zurich Financial Services and Endsleigh Insurance.

Evans will be responsible for growing DbG’s business and he will head up the Marketing Services sales team.

The move follows a restructure within DbG which separated its sales and marketing functions.  Managing Director Brett Isenberg has overall responsibility for DbG’s marketing.

Brett Isenberg, Managing Director of DbG, explains: “Database Group provides integrated marketing solutions to an impressive list of blue chip clients within the automotive, retail, financial and travel markets.  But we are looking to expand and help more companies to get the best from their data with our wide portfolio of services.  I and the other DbG board of directors look forward to continuing to work with Neil to reach new clients and to grow our business with existing clients.” 

Premium spirits business goes global with DbG

In recent months, Database Group (DbG) has launched a global relationship marketing platform for premium spirits business and independent family distillers William Grant & Sons Ltd (WGS).

The objective is to help WGS and each individual brand get to know their consumers better and build long lasting relationships that will encourage engagement with the brands. Operating in over 90 countries across 5 premium drinks brands – Glenfiddich, Grants, Balvenie, Hendrick’s and Sailor Jerry the solution is complex and has required a thorough understanding of each local market.
                                   
At the heart of WGS’s needs was the desire to have a true single consumer view across all their brand and data sources which would allow them to carry out marketing on both a local and global level more effectively. WGS also had a need to understand their core consumers by brand and territory and to meet their growing needs. Add to this the individual requirements of the local and central marketing teams the demands of the solution are complex - but delivered as simply as possible.

DbG have also driven strategic communications planning activity by interrogating and acting on the data collected within the solution – directly driving communications activity based on the behaviours exhibited by consumers.

Linking the platform to DbG’s ECOS email delivery solution has meant closed loop reporting on campaign activity – the initial results of which have exceeded industry benchmarks.

To find out more request a copy of the case study email us at beyond@databasegroup.co.uk or call us to discuss how you can have a solution that combines both consumer and product insight together to create value.

About William Grant & Sons

Established in 1887, family owned William Grant & Sons is a premium spirits company based in Glasgow, Scotland with a portfolio of award-winning brands that are enjoyed worldwide. William Grant and Sons features wide portfolio of spirits with super-premium brands including the world’s best-selling single malt Scotch whisky Glenfiddich, The Balvenie range of handcrafted single malts, Grant’s blended Scotch, Hendrick’s® Gin and Sailor Jerry® Spiced Navy Rum.

Database Group deploy new online insight solution

December 2009 Marketing Week

Speed-Trap, the online customer insight provider, has partnered with Database Group, the customer data company, to provide the online data capture element of The Database Group’s multi-channel customer data collection and analysis.

The Database Group will recommend and sell Speed-Trap’s patented and tag-free Dynamic Collection™ products so as to provide a reliable and deeper source of online customer data to its clients, before integrating this data with that of other channels.

Neil Evans, Sales and Marketing Director at Database Group, explains, “Speed-Trap provides us with a renewed understanding of a client’s online customers, which we can integrate with the data we have gathered from other channels, to provide the full picture of the customer base. This multichannel view allows marketing departments to confidently adjust their campaigns for maximum impact across a range of channels.

Evans continues, “Where Speed-Trap stands apart from its competitors, many of whom we have used in the past, is its ease of implementation and the breadth and depth of data collated. It seems counter-intuitive that a product that captures such a vast amount of information from the online channel should be so quick and easy to implement. However, because of its lack of reliance on tagging, Speed-Trap’s single line of code can be inserted into the web page in minutes, and instead of gathering only selective information relating to a set of tags, all possible data on the interaction with the website is captured and then stored – one per customer.”

Malcolm Duckett, VP Operations at Speed-Trap, comments, “There is currently a dawning realisation within the marketing arena, arguably driven by recent economic conditions, that data is absolutely critical, and that the depth of this data has to go beyond generic high street store transactional data or the number of monthly website visitors and average basket size. The data has to be accurate, up-to-date and personal – until you have a single view of the individual customer and the specific ways he or she interacts with your brand across all channels, there is no way of knowing whether or not your communications are hitting the mark, or even how your business is faring as a whole.”

Evans concludes, “Customer data has for too long only appeared on the board level agenda as a faculty of the IT department, or as a minor point on the Marketing department’s list. Without acting on accurate and reliable data on your customers’ dialogue with your brand and products, then company strategies can never be anything more than guesswork.” 

To find out more Contact us.

About Speed-Trap

Speed-Trap is a provider of software that uses Web 2.0 technology to capture and analyse interaction at the user interface – whatever the device e.g. mobile, iPhone, PDA, gaming console, or technology deployed e.g. webpage, Adobe AIR, Silverlight, Flash, Flex, AJAX etc. – to deliver complete real-time data on every visitor and user of all your online applications – complete online customer insight.

Surviving the Recession

With negative news about the global financial situation a rather depressingly daily occurrence, there would appear to be few equations adding up to business success these days. However, in fear of coming across as one of the “Happy Smiley People”, I would advocate that what the economic downturn really offers is the chance to take stock of existing collateral and to delve deeper to extract the value from existing customer data. The situation demands innovation in marketing, customer experience and product, but all or any of this is not possible without a closer understanding of customers and their needs right now. Using behavioural and attitudinal insight to develop a picture of how consumers are currently thinking and operating will mean that marketing departments can act effectively and prosper in the current ‘crisis’.

But how is this possible in the face of budget cuts and calls for greater efficiency…. The simple answer lies in using automation to do the leg work – using tools and applications to process tasks more quickly, efficiently and cost effectively than is possible through human endeavour. There will always be certain straight forward tasks within any project that can be successfully and cost efficiently automated. For example, profiling “look-a-like” consumers within certain parameters of age, income and lifestyle demographics can be carried out within shorter timescales than the two or three days it previously took to write a brief, liaise with the IT department and process results. And, rather than this leave marketing departments feeling vulnerable and disposable, deploying automated processes won’t replace marketers but rather free up time to focus on proposition, offer and creative. It is precisely these elements that will make the difference in difficult times and is where marketing effort can be focused.

However, whilst automation can deliver cost and time efficiency, there are other tasks that require more insight, interpretation and guidance. As the markets plateau, so it becomes increasingly imperative to focus on consumer experience, relevant products and customer led marketing strategies. At the heart of all three lies customer insight. With consumer confidence at an all time low, understanding the needs of your best customers and building on already established relationships is vital to weathering any storm. Fundamentally, this is a critical retention opportunity to deliver a show of self-assurance through all communication channels. It’s essential to maximise the opportunity by reacting to attitudinal changes, bringing the customer closer to the business, rather than leaving them to coast away. One of the most straightforward ways to achieve this is to avoid bringing out products and services that have little, or no perceived value to the customer. Yes, it’s tempting to be seen to be pro-active in a time of market flux in order to protect your position, but it will more likely have the affect of greying out the proposition. Customers need certainty and trust in such uncertain times and. if not offered precisely that, will either drift away, or switch off.

There has been a lot of talk recently about the falling numbers in direct marketing volumes, something that was initially perceived as the demise of a once pertinent industry, fading in the face of cheaper digital options. However, whilst it’s fair to say that the major players in terms of volume, such as the financial services industry, are moving away from their traditional blanket mailing approach – high volumes generating small response rates – the reality of lower dm volumes now lies in greater segmentation and targeting, leading to more relevant and timely communications.

And this is all for the good at a time when budgets are tight and the understandable response would be to “avoid the eye” of customers rather than take them in and get to know them better! By all means sort the wheat from the chaff, but focusing on top tier, best performing customers will always generate better return on investment than ploughing good money after bad in the acquisition market. Database Group recently did some spatial analysis with a FMCG company who wanted to find out the geo-demographics of their best clients. Customer mapping showed that in certain areas they already had made great inroads into their target market. The message here has to be, keep those existing consumers happy and use their profile to find others like them – most likely in the near vicinity.

In reality, many businesses are, quite frankly, giving lip service to customer insight with most reporting carried out by analysts equipped to provide the figures but not the understanding behind the results. It would probably seem counter-intuitive to press for investment in an insight project at a time when budgets are being cut and money is short, but the return on investment in the mid to longer term will more than justify the outlay – there can be no substitute for customer insight. What I would stress however, is that it really isn’t about spending more money, but more about driving the maximum value from every effort. By enhancing, consolidating and maximising the use of data, it will be possible not only to survive this current financial downturn, but hopefully emerge maintaining, or even growing, sales performance – it’s all there for the taking!

Highlights from Today’s Relationship Marketing Seminar

Exceeding turnover of £350m…
...from a brand portfolio of 5 premium drinks brands…
...William Grant & Sons (WGS) has faced and overcome many relationship marketing challenges for sustained brand equity and company growth.


In today’s Relationship Marketing breakfast seminar, which was held in Central London:

• Utadi Murphy, Global Relationship Marketing Manager for WGS, shared some key insights on their multi-brand relationship marketing strategy
  
  
• Neil Evans and Guy Hanson outlined the key facts behind the delivery of that strategy
  
  
• Whilst DbG Chairman Richard Lees drew a vivid picture illustrating the business case for diligence in planning and insight before any technical solution is sought

 

There were also some fun moments including a surprise prize draw for a bottle of The Balvenie Rum Cask whisky, randomly chosen through our data selection tool and announced via the use of our ePIC (personalised image creative) tool. You can see the personalisation effect on the bottle shown above.

We will be arranging a webinar version over the next week to give you the opportunity to learn the top highlights from the mornings presentations.

If you had any particular questions about Relationship Marketing that you wanted to have answered, please do not hesitate to make contact with our sales and marketing team by calling 0117 918 3500 or emailing beyond@databasegroup.co.uk.

To join next week’s webinar, request details via our contact form.

Beyond Data Seminar

Welcome to the first instalment of our Beyond Data Seminar Programme. Over the next 12 months we will be hosting a total of six seminars on a bi-monthly basis that will focus on a range of marketing topics including customer loyalty, creating value through insight and a data processing master class.

Each seminar will feature real examples from our range of blue chip clients with guest speakers and project teams to bring the challenges, solutions and results to life.

The first part of our programme kicks off with leading whisky producer, William Grant & Sons (WGS).

2 hours that will change your relationship marketing…

Join us for a breakfast seminar on “Relationship Marketing for Brands”

Featuring guest client speaker Utadi Murphy, Global Relationship Marketing Manager for WGS . Utadi will discuss how WGS are taking on the challenge of coordinating their marketing efforts across 20 markets and 5 well established drinks brands – Grants, Glenfiddich, Hendricks, Sailor Jerry and The Balvenie.

Reserve a place on the seminar and in just 2 hours you will learn 5 invaluable insights that could transform your approach to relationship marketing;   

1. How to deliver a RM programme that will maximise your brand preference
2. How WGS are tackling the challenge of building consumer relations across multi markets
3. Ways to make quantifiable improvements to your email marketing program.
4. How to use data to drive RM value
5. Why a Single Customer View is central to improving consumer marketing.

Registration

Fill in the form below to reserve your place

* First Name
* Surname
* Job title
* Telephone
* Email address
Company Name
Questions/comments

The economic downturn means fewer new customers and tighter budgets. Therefore, it is critical for businesses to find effective ways of communicating with consumers.  To prosper and grow companies need to focus on building long-term relationships with existing consumers.

By attending the seminar you will discover first hand the motivations, challenges and objectives of Williams Grant & Sons when they set out to implement a relationship marketing solution.

The seminar will also feature speakers from our very own project team who will give you insight into methods that can make your relationship marketing more powerful.

There will also be the opportunity to pose questions on how the solution was designed, delivered and continues to grow across William Grant & Sons 20 markets and 5 brands .

The Programme

The seminar will take place on Wednesday 4th November 2009 from 8.30am to 11.00am at RIBA, 66 Portland Place, Central London, W1B 1AD.

• 8.30 Registration, drinks & breakfast
• 9.00 Introduction
  Richard Lees, Database Group
• 9.15 Why RM?
  Utadi Murphy, William Grant & Sons
• 10.00 Putting RM in your hands
  Neil Evans, Database Group
• 10.30 Making email count
  Guy Hanson, Database Group Interactive
• 11.00 Q & A, networking and refreshments

Spaces are limited so register now and also gain entry to our prize draw to win a bottle of ‘The Balvenie’ Rum Cask whisky.

 

Case Studies

Travelbag Land New Database

The Challenge

Two years ago Travelbag split from e-Bookers, its former parent company. 

This meant Travelbag needed to transfer their data from e-Bookers into Travelbag’s own marketing database to ensure marketing campaigns could continue without interruption. 

Travelbag chose Database Group (DbG) to undertake the building of a marketing specific database, tailor-made to fit the company’s marketing objectives.

The Solution

Database Group developed a full marketing solution including a database for Travelbag customised to their specific needs to generate campaigns. 

Key requirements for Travelbag were:

• Improve data visibility
• Increase data cleanliness
• Efficient Campaign Turnaround
• Campaign Automation
• Ability to increase sophistication of campaigns (controls, tests, segmentation, profit analysis, etc).
• Business-relevant Campaign Reporting
• To be up and running with first phase functionality within 2 months of sign

To see the results, click to launch the full case study. 

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One North East Increase Email Response Rates

The Challenge

ONE wanted to promote autumn holiday offers in North East England. They enlisted the expertise of Database Group to assist with the campaign and to help them make the most of their customer data.

DbG had been chosen to support ONE in the development and build of a data warehouse.

The Solution

In addition to this DbG had been supporting ONE investigate new ways of targeting customers and individuals who had requested brochures or entered competitions.

One of the proposals to increase the response rate to such campaigns was to use e-PIC to promote the picturesque landscapes in the North East and to personalise the mailing by using customized text.

To see the results, click to launch the full case study.

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Renault UK Accelerate Forward with New Database

The Challenge

Renault UK (RUK) set an objective to improve Marque Identity and Customer Retention through direct communications. In order to achieve this they wanted to develop a contact programme to manage customers and prospects through their purchase cycle and support the marketing team.

The Solution

DbG designed and built a flexible database to meet RUK requirements. The system provided the full functionality RUK required, whilst also allowing for any necessary future development.

Renault now has a single integrated database which allows for better targeting and customer segmentation.

To see the results, click to launch the full case study

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Dyson Tidy Up with Database Build & Insight

The Challenge

Database Group (DbG) created a database of all Dyson registrations in order to create a single view of their customers with feeds taken from the internet, call centre and data capture.

The Solution

The solution consisted of five key phases:

• Data Discovery
• Project Workshop
• Product Classification
• Development of Segmentation Model
• Creation of Profiles

The segmentation identified 8 key segments that were applied across the database and each segment was given a descriptive name.

The relationship between DbG and Dyson is now wider than the creation of Dyson’s segmentation. DbG also provide a technical
and analytical service including campaign reporting, database health reports and dashboards, all with the view to increase visibility of their customer data.

To see the results, click to launch the full case study

Data Strategy Q&A

Richard Lees, Chairman of Database Group speaks to Data Strategy to share his views on the trends and challenges regarding data marketing.

A major trend this year appears to be a switch towards retention marketing and away from acquisition. Are you seeing this among your clients?

What we are seeing is less of a switch from acquisition to retention. Rather, we are seeing a switch away from under-performing acquisition principally into on-line acquisition, because in many instances it is delivering more for the budget and is also very measurable. There is also an enhanced focus on retention as well, but not to the detriment of acquisition.

What are the implications of this shift in terms of the data needed, queries applied and cycle times?

There is a requirement for understanding the whole customer better. Businesses need to have the ability to capture online behaviour, then categorise it and then append it to existing offline customer data. Akin Arikan, in his book “Multichannel Marketing”, describes the differences in these two worlds very well by likening the online world to the movie The Matrix, where there is so much data in real time (or right time) that making sense of it is a real challenge. With offline data there is more time to understand and explain it. Merging these two data worlds is not easy and it is why very few businesses have done it.

Does it change the way you work with clients or indeed the skills base DbG needs?

Yes, on both counts. Many of DbG’s clients have the digital marketing function operating in a totally separate division, which makes the concept of developing a single customer view across multiple channels a cross divisional
discussion, which is never easy. In terms of skills, it has changed the analytical requirements for the business, where traditionally statisticians and data analysts were dealing with mail responses and descriptive data, they are now dealing with aggregate web log/page tag information and a raft of new descriptive categories never seen before. They use the same statistical skills, but their understanding of the customer journey has to be very different and more enhanced.

During the boom years, was best practice in terms of data management, data quality and customer insight neglected because it was so easy to get growth?

I think neglected is a strong word. Most business that are serious about marketing and have employed an MSP like DbG have taken the required steps to ensure data quality is acceptable. What few businesses have done is raise the awareness of the value of data to the corporate agenda. What has possibly been on the back burner is really understanding the customers beyond simple response modelling and segmentation by integrating research, integrating with other areas of the business such as call centres, help lines, complaints, branch systems, on-line web activity.

A lot of organisations have run theironline and offline operationsseparately. What challenges does this create in customer retention?

This poses a number of challenges to the retention efforts of the business, but crucially,this depends on the nature of the business. What underpins the entire multi-channel philosophy is that, while these businesses are run as a collection of single channels, the customer is a multichannel customer with no consideration to the fact that they are moving across divisions within the host organisation. Using all the available data that these customers are generating is crucial to truly understanding their value and where they are in their commitment cycle.

Can clients achieve a single customer view across channels within their data without having to fight internal battles over who “owns” the customer?

This depends entirely on how the organisation is structured, as well as the nature of purchasing choice that the customer has.Firstly, where customers can shop both offline as well as online, but the online and offline customers are managed in two different divisions, this is likely to be a contentious issue. Where customers have no online purchasing capability, there are not two sets of customers,so this is unlikely to pose a challenge. In my 20 years in this industry, where customer management projects have failed, the reason has almost never been the data itself, it has been organisation limitations related to process, procedure, buy in, roles, metrics, support etc.

One customer, many channels, limited budget. What are you recommending to clients this year?

Cut out the waste and redeploy it to lower cost,more measurable channels and then use the redeployed spend to develop the multichannel,integrated view of customers. In most cases,we can achieve this with a redirection of spend and not require additional budget.