Direct mail continues to score big points with business and nonprofit marketers, as response rates reach 3.7% using a house list and 1% with a prospect list – outperforming all digital channels combined at 0.62%.
Selling more to existing customers is naturally just easier, and should be balanced with your efforts to reach new buyers or revive dormant ones.
As a general rule of thumb, a stable business with solid products/services and good customer service can expect the average relationship to last five to seven years before a customer is lost through natural attrition: a death, relocation, job change or another business relationship develops.
This loss, also known as customer churn, is normal. Consequently, you want to have a plan in place with solid lead generation marketing activities. And one of the best places to start lead gen is by knowing the attributes of your current “best” customers.
Today’s savvy marketers can’t afford to waste time or money reaching out to prospects that have little chance of becoming buyers. Even if you have a pretty good idea of who your best customers are, can you define them in terms that will help you find the next “like kind” business or consumer?
Your company’s house files can offer a gold mine of information for “cloning” customers and minimizing the waste associated with marketing to the wrong prospects.
Using your house files, you can take the basic information you have about your best business or consumer customers that reflects the existing relationship, and working with your marketing services provider, add demographic information to enhance your customer profile.
