Database marketing at its core is customer relationship management. It is a form of marketing that uses data collected from customers to create personalized and relevant communications.
Customer database marketing provides insights for businesses into what customers value, and in turn provides additional value to customers by helping you better meet their needs.
Database marketing benefits
Analyzing the data you already have on current and past customers can provide relevant insights. For example, using purchase history and billing address data, you could discover that 30% of your business comes from one state. These types of insights from data you already have in your customer database can help build a picture of your ideal customer who purchases or creates the most business for your company.
Adding additional information to your database, like results from surveys of current customers, can also help flesh out what your ideal customer looks like. Collecting more information can reveal why customers choose your business, why they keep coming back, and help you create accurate customer journey maps.
Database marketing data
Typically, the basic information you’re collecting is:
- First and last name
- Phone number
- Email address
- Mailing address
- Purchase history
Additionally, you can collect demographic data such as:
- Age
- Gender
- Income
- Location
There are many ways to collect customer data, but what if you need a quick and cost-effective way to gather information from your customers?
Pathfinders has put together some resources below that can help you collect insights and drive your business forward if you do not have the time or money for fancy research.
Which survey tool should I use?
There are quite a few free survey tools available, but one Pathfinders likes because of its ease of use for marketers and a “people-friendly” survey experience for customers is Typeform. Typeform is free to use for most basic surveys and can be integrated with Airtable or other common business database software.
What if I need a customer database?
Airtable is a good option that is an easy, no-code database that can connect to apps you already use like Slack, Gmail, and Google Sheets. Airtable can also link to most survey platforms so you can make the most out of your data analysis and remove the manual transfer of data from your survey responses. It is also free to use for personal and business use, and you can upgrade if you need additional features.
Free tools to add insights to your data
Google’s “Find My Audience” Tool allows you to search demographics and interests of customers in your industry so you can continue to create the definition of your ideal customer completely free!
U.S. Data and Statistics is a free resource to find government statistics like demographic data for cities, states, and countries. You can also use the Census Bureau’s Quick Facts section to access similar information on specific counties, towns, and zip codes. This information can help you understand and target customers more accurately when you match it to customer data you already have collected.
In this real world example see how leveraging database marketing helped this brand gain valuable, brand-defining insights for zero-additional budget invested. Read More
Your customer database is ripe for research
In this real-world example featuring one of our partner brands, see how digital ad agencies like ours leverage our existing customer database to gain insights that guided their branding decisions, and drove positive customer sentiment!
