Database Marketing

Focus on the data points that directly lead to profit as your top priority. Focus on customer actions as your second priority. Everything after that contributes much less value.

Contact data impacts many aspects of the retailer/customer relationship. If that data is inaccurate, future sales could be inhibited.

My boss thinks that free shipping and 20 percent off promotions are the key to competing with brands online. My team thinks we're giving our business away for free. Who's right?

Dear Dr. pROfIt: My CEO thinks we’re failing with our multichannel initiatives. We recently ran a report that showed that 15 percent of

There are very simple methods for evaluating file strength. Maybe the easiest is to grade your customers.

Contact data quality plays an important role in the retail market as it touches every part of the business, from package delivery to decisions around new store locations. But when contact data is managed incorrectly, costs are wasted and customer relationships are damaged.

But now, Sam’s Club, Wal-Mart’s warehouse chain, is offering a program called eValues that strives to offer bargains tailored to each member, based on that member’s buying history. Industry experts said they expected other retailers to move toward more individualized offers, too. Today, most retailers offer across-the-board discounts or deals aimed at categories of customers.

Retailers and direct marketers must do more for less while providing concrete proof that their programs deliver results. That brings personalization to the forefront. Done right, personalization consistently delivers higher return on investment. But “done right” is the operative phrase.

Q: In this multichannel environment, how do you measure success and allocate promotion dollars? While you spend money on your catalog, for example, you may get many orders through search. So, do you allocate more promotion money to catalog or search each year?— Sam Fong, circulation manager, School SpecialtyA: The answer, in my opinion, is…

With company-record net income of $58.4 million and sales gains of 15.2 percent (including comparable store sales rising 8.9 percent) for its fiscal year that ended Jan. 31, JoS. A. Bank was a rare 2008 success story.