Your Most Valuable Asset: Your Database of Customers

Have you ever wondered why some businesses are successful at providing excellent customer experiences while others fail? The answer lies in a database of customers.

A database of customers is more than a collection of just names and email addresses. In fact, it’s an informational gold mine and perhaps the most valuable asset of your company. However, many small business owners tend to neglect the importance of their existing customer database. Instead, they spend their marketing dollars on attracting new customers. The big “aha” is that it is much easier and cheaper to add-on sales, or increase the frequency of purchases, to your existing client base than it is to find new prospects.

In this post, I’ll discuss the invaluable benefits of maintaining a well organized, up-to-date, and highly productive database of customers.

1. Effective Target Marketing

Every profitable business must answer one fundamental question: who is my target market? As your business grows, so does your target market. How can you keep track of changes and make sure your brand continues to be relevant to the people who buy your product or service?

To execute and improve your target marketing campaign, you need to have an accurate profile of your customers. Who are they? Where do they live? What does their demographic and psychographic information tell you? What have they bought in the past? When did they buy? What is the right timing to approach them again for another sale?

A well-cultivated database of customers allows you to identify, analyze, understand, and energize your target markets. This makes the process of customer tracking more precise and realistic. You’ll be able to recognize groups of customers showing buying interest and offer products or services that are most appealing to them. Likewise, you can use the database to project future sales and predict market opportunities, thus enabling well-informed and data-driven business decisions.

2. Improved Customer Relationships

When you understand your customers, you’ll serve them better. When you have a good idea of your customers’ buying habits, you’ll deliver what’s right for them and better personalize their buyer journey. You’ll also be able to keep an open line of communication and streamline inquiries so that any existing customer issues can be solved quickly by any member in your company. This is the backbone of great customer relationships.

3. Build Brand Loyalty

Customers are the lifeline of every business, but not all customers are right for you long-term. That’s why it’s important to have a robust database of customers in place so you can identify and differentiate one-time customers from loyal, valuable customers.

Pay attention to your loyal customers. Those are the people who appreciate and will stick with your business no matter what. Not only do they make repeat purchases, but they are also great advocates for your brand. They are more willing to make recommendations and will be eager to help your company grow. Once you win the trust of your loyal customers, you win them for life.

Effective use of a database of customers will increase profits; encourage repeat visits and spending; help establish strong, long-lasting customer relationships; and overall, improve your bottom line. If you haven’t started building a customer database yet, there’s no better time than now. Unleash the unharnessed power that is at your fingertips.

Source: B2C