Certainly these R-F-M elements are important but like all available data they have to be used in-concert. Wouldn’t newer customers be more likely to have spent less? Wouldn’t the ‘buying cycle’ be different for people of different financial means? What about saturation, customer burn-out and external market forces?

The clusters we talked about earlier — statistically grouped into manageable customer segments — will exhibit different sales behaviors. The sales potential, sales cycle, profitability and communications preferences for each one will be different. They need to be handled as such from a marketing perspective.

The bottom line is this: There is a way to target and manage your customer contacts to make them more cost-effective. However, to do so it is imperative that you accurately understand who your customer is and how they behave. Gaining this understanding is doable but is not nearly as simple as some would like to believe. Only by approaching your customer marketing from a scientific standpoint will you be able to see the kind of results your organization has been working toward. It's up to you to make the leap.

                                          

  

 

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