ABC Software’s three in-house databases help contrast traditional database clean-up/marketing with PointClear’s approach. Table 1 describes a license customer database, a maintenance customer database, and a prospect list purchased from a technology list vendor.

Table 1

A traditional database marketing program targets all cleaned names in the database, when only a fraction of the names warrants investment.

ABC Software knows there are many opportunities for new sales, up-sells, crosssells, and point sales in its databases. It has the following objectives for Phase I database clean-up:

• Call and update “firmographic data” for companies in the databases
• Verify decision-makers and contact information

… along with these objectives for Phase II database marketing:

Using a traditional database clean-up and database marketing approach, ABC Software cleans up one list at a time and runs a lead-generation program into it. Predictably, less than ideal outcomes occur.

While the cleaned database now has updated contact information, the lack of a strategic targeting approach means the clean-up has added no segmentation or prioritization value to records. The large investment of dollars and resources has failed to provide high-return direction or projected potential for Phase II database marketing. This assumes, of course, the clean-up initiative hasn’t broken the budget and left nothing for a Phase II marketing initiative.

Without the intelligence needed to hierarchically rank the valuable records that deserve to be contacted, a traditional database marketing program targets all cleaned names in the database, when only a fraction of the names warrants investment.

There may be limited success with lead generation, as shown in Table 2.

Table 2

But return will never match potential because there is no deployment of dollars and resources against segments known or predicted to generate best return. No one knows why small successes were achieved or what portions of the list generated above or below average returns. Without benchmarks, there are no performance metrics and no wisdom to measure success and apply to future programs.

Bottom line: a lot of dollars, resources, and time are wasted as results fall

… along with these objectives for Phase II database marketing:

While traditional clean-up and marketing initiatives take a freestanding “flat file” approach, PCRS marketing links multiple customer and prospect databases in a relational manner.

The underlying assumption is that various “cubes,” (groups of like companies) can be tested with differentiating characteristics to determine the most valuable segments, and the knowledge can be predictively applied to generate higher return on future programs.

Steps include the following:

• Identify discriminating characteristics among the databases and lists
• Segment the lists into small homogeneous cubes, or layers, of like companies
• Conduct tests to profile and uncover opportunity in the cubes
• Analyze cubes to find high-return segments and rank them as separate mini markets
• Use this intelligence to fully fund the right model for future programs

Table 3 takes ABC Software’s three databases and relationally segments them into five cubes for testing and analysis.

Table 3

Companies often struggle with disparate customer, prospect and partner databases as they try to leverage existing lists to drive cross-selling, up-selling and new sales. Often, traditional clean-up programs only replace outdated data with fresh data, but do not target “best names” to ensure profitable campaigns.

Now, there’s a better, more effective alternative to either contacting all names in the databases or throwing out every name and starting over. PointClear’s sophisticated relational segmentation techniques balance the principles of statistics with the realities of today’s marketing budgets. They can predict the likely success of B2B marketing programs, helping eliminate wasted dollars, time and resources.

Ultimately, PointClear clients can achieve a higher number of more profitable sales in a timely manner at a lower cost.