In the communications industry, effective acquisition is a multi-step process, best begun by asking (and accurately answering) simple, but critical questions:
- Who are our best prospects?
- Where can we find them?
- What should we offer them and how?
Of course, the “why” is obvious—beating competitors to the punch. The similarities of today’s increasingly undifferentiated products and services make attracting high-quality customers more critical than ever.
On the surface, the “who” seems equally straightforward. But it’s surprising how many communications companies still blanket the nation with ads and offers without knowing whom they want to reach or which messages to lead with.
This brings us to the “how” of effective acquisition.
Banks get it right
Banks provide a good acquisition model. In these days of tight budgets and high expectations, most would never dream of investing in a campaign without first creating a well-defined, data-driven segmentation strategy.
To get the results they want, institutions usually establish some credit-score threshold, check past payment history and assess other factors and behaviors, before starting up their marketing machine. Not surprisingly, the rewards for this foresight often include higher response rates, lower costs and greater value per promotional dollar.
What’s next?
Once you zero in on a fresh crop of qualified prospects the “whats” come next: what’s the best marketing channel? What products or services should we offer? What terms? Again, clean historic data, combined with up-to-date information from surveys and questionnaires can reveal surprising insights into why customers choose your company or offer over your competitors’.
In communications, as in banking, reliable data is a proven source for answers to a whole slew of customer-acquisition questions. But does it offer similar value in other phases of customer lifecycle management? And if so, how? Funny you should ask. Because that’s exactly what future posts here will cover, so please check back often.