valued customer

6 Ways to Acquire Customers With Above-Average Loyalty and Lifetime Value

Data is at the heart of a modern communications company’s

marketing programs. Today, successful marketers and data

analysts at these firms leverage data across their initiatives — from

segmentation strategy to customer acquisition models to churn

prevention programs.

There are times, however, when a communications firm’s standard

approach to data-driven marketing may fall short. These companies,

for example, face an extremely competitive market landscape

where constant price undercutting is a fact of life, and where many

customers are all too happy to jump on a competitor’s deal.

As a result, marketers and data analysts are asking hard questions

about their marketing strategies: Is it possible to find and target

customers with above-average loyalty and lifetime value?

Can a communications company uncover the right customer insights to break the usual cycle of customer churn and commodity pricing?

Can marketers use data to better identify and reach currently

untapped market segments without taking on increased risk?

In fact, advanced data and analytics now allow marketers at

communications firms to achieve these types of goals — and, in the

process, optimize the revenue impact of their marketing budgets.

Read on to learn the six things your communications firm can do —

and should be doing today — to get enhanced bottom-line benefits

from advanced data and analytics.

26 Ways to Acquire Customers With Above-Average Loyalty and Lifetime Value

Data sets are meant to be leveraged in as many

ways as possible. You likely have multiple different

data sources across your company — containing

different types of customer or prospect information

in various disparate databases or business units.

Your relationships with customers may span mobile

service, cable or satellite TV, internet service, and

other related products, but your data about those

relationships is likely in pieces and parts. By keying,

linking, and standardizing the data, you can better

overcome the challenge of disjointed or partial

views of your customers spread out across the

various business units of your enterprise.

A linked view of your existing customers empowers predictive analytic modeling for a greater understanding of customers across the full customer lifecycle.

This modeling can help you take crucial steps to

improve customers’ experience of your brand. In

some cases, the same, comprehensive view of a

customer relationship may reveal untapped market

opportunities; in other cases, such a view may offer

new insights into credit and collections risk.

In a merger or acquisition scenario, linking

customer data can also help you make sense of

new company acquisitions and draw more out of

customer relationships that are being brought to

the table.

1Use linking to leverage the power of in-house data sources.

36 Ways to Acquire Customers With Above-Average Loyalty and Lifetime Value

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2 Consolidating disparate data and information into

a single, standardized platform is the first step to

getting a truly holistic view of your customers. Most

of the time, however, it’s not enough. You’ll need

additional insights from advanced, third-party data

sources to help pinpoint your best customers.

The goal in doing so is to append the right types of unique data, in the right ways, to gain truly predictive insights into your customer relationships.

Third-party data may include a variety of data with

predictive capabilities: estimated discretionary

spending, income, and other measures of financial

potential, as well as demographic and geographic

attributes. Your own internal data, for example, may

provide current average revenue per user (ARPU);

you can then overlay direct-measured, anonymized

consumer data to develop a more robust

segmentation model that assigns consumers to

identified customer segments — for instance,

customers more likely to buy additional services.

The key to getting value from this process isn’t just

what you learn — it’s how you use those insights.

The process of generating “lookalike” prospects

from detailed customer profiles, for example, allows

you to better find high-potential new customers.

You can also address untapped market segments

where it may have been previously too difficult

to separate low-risk and high-risk consumers.

With the right insights to make these distinctions,

marketers can grow a base of high-potential, high-

value customers while optimizing marketing spend

and reducing attrition and risk.

Add the predictive power of unique, appended consumer data.

6 Ways to Acquire Customers With Above-Average Loyalty and Lifetime Value

Customer loyalty — or lack of loyalty — is one

of the biggest marketing challenges for any

communications company. When so many

customers are willing to switch providers for a

modest discount or plan enhancement, marketers

must take advantage of every opportunity to

promote positive relationships with consumers,

encourage loyalty, and retain customers with the

highest potential lifetime value.

This process begins with the decision whether

to engage a consumer in the first place; nothing

creates a bad impression with consumers faster

than receiving an offer for a product or service,

responding to the offer, and then getting turned

down based on credit history.

This is where credit data traditionally shows its

value, allowing a firm to prescreen prospects

based on credit score criteria and tailor

campaigns accordingly.

More firms, however, are discovering non-regulated,

direct-measured household economic data as a

way to identify and assess customers.

This type of data gives marketers a powerful set of tools for targeting and assessing consumers — but without the same restrictions and compliance concerns of regulated data.

Direct-measured household data can also give

firms additional, potentially useful ways to assess

risk and reward for certain consumers.

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3Identify better-qualified customers for products or services.

6 Ways to Acquire Customers With Above-Average Loyalty and Lifetime Value

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4 Every customer and prospect appreciates a brand

that doesn’t waste their time with irrelevant offers.

Using insights from robust segmentation, you can enhance personalization and tailor messages or offers to customers encouraging them to check out relevant products and services, instead of just reacting to consumer interest.

For example, if you are offering a new service in

a particular geographic area that will appeal to

consumers with a certain discretionary spend, you

can proactively offer it to the right people because

you have those profiles at the ready.

The data can also help you identify channels that

better align with consumer preferences. You can

focus marketing spend on the people most likely

to respond, and suppress marketing to prospects

unlikely to respond or subscribe — which can help

improve lift and optimize your marketing spend.

Build personalized offers and experiences.

6 Ways to Acquire Customers With Above-Average Loyalty and Lifetime Value

For the omnichannel marketing campaigns you are

already running, advanced data and analytics can

further enrich them to help improve conversion.

By onboarding an offline list of segmented, best customers for digital use, you can create messaging that is optimized for each channel and provides a consistent brand experience.

The data allows you to identify consumers’

preferred channels, including digital channels such

as email, mobile, social media, and addressable TV,

as well as offline channels like onsite promotions,

direct mail, and point of service. And all can use

the existing target segments you have already. You

can then drive engagement by building messages

that have a consistent focus or set of offers, and

distribute to the same individuals across channels.

Let’s examine this in practice. One company

wanted to adopt a more data-driven approach

to build awareness of its new brand positioning

and drive new business through more precise

segmentation. This included segmenting customers

to target through offline and online branding and

business development.

With data, analytics, and modeling expertise from

Equifax, the company enhanced its existing set

of attitudinal targeting segments and assigned

customers and prospects to those segments.

The segments were digitally onboarded so they

could be applied to multiple channels, and the

company targeted its desired audience through

an addressable TV campaign. After conducting a

post-campaign, closed-loop attribution analysis,

the company found that the campaign resulted in

a more than 30 percent lift in the number of new

accounts opened — and a greater than 500 percent

lift in new account assets.*

That is the power of a data-driven omnichannel

marketing campaign.

*Stated results are based on prior Equifax customer projects. Results are not guaranteed and your results may vary based on actual customer data and situation. 7

5Create better omnichannel marketing campaigns.

6 Ways to Acquire Customers With Above-Average Loyalty and Lifetime Value

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6 The value of advanced data and analytics extend

beyond customer segmentation and targeting, and

into evaluating results.

Identifying your most effective campaigns will help you better allocate marketing budget, but being able to accurately attribute offline sales to online campaigns adds another level of insight.

While most companies can measure the digital

results of digital campaigns, understanding the

influence of online programs on offline, brick-and-

mortar sales will more clearly illuminate winning

strategies and help optimize marketing spend.

Develop robust measurement and attribution efforts.

6 Ways to Acquire Customers With Above-Average Loyalty and Lifetime Value

For more information: [email protected] | www.equifax.com/DDM | 800.210.4323

Copyright © 2017, Equifax Inc., Atlanta, Georgia. All rights reserved. Equifax is a registered trademark of Equifax Inc.

Data-driven Marketing for Real World Results. Equifax has grown from a consumer credit company into a leading global provider of insights. We leverage our unique data, innovative analytics, technology and expertise to power decision-making and drive better business outcomes across our clients’ enterprises. For the next step in data-driven marketing enablement solutions that help you drive profitable growth — rely on a trusted partner. Rely on Equifax.

Advanced data, analytics, and insights are powerful tools in your marketing toolkit. These best practices may seem daunting if your organization doesn’t have the internal resources or data to support more advanced segmentation, predictive modeling, and robust measurement.

The good news is, it is possible to not only acquire the data, but also to use it to your advantage to help find and retain your most profitable customers. You’ll create a more positive customer experience, reach consumers on the most effective channels with the right messages, and optimize your marketing spend.

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