Recency, Frequency, Value
It is oft quoted in the Mail Order industry that it is 4 times harder to recruit
a new customer than it is to sell to an existing one. The ability to work your
loyal customer base as hard and efficiently as possible can make the difference
between a successful and a struggling business. By using tried and tested
methods of assesing your customer list based on the volume and value of past
purchases we can determine which customers are likely to be profitable on a more
freqent contact basis and which are better left to their own devices
Buying Motivators
Taking the RFV concept further, we can analyse your customers based on their
purchase patterns:- Are they sale buyers, do they always purchase in the spring.
Do they like to buy in bulk, are they attracted by free postage etc.. Only by
performing complex analysis on your data can these patterns be identified. We
have a range of standard and bespoke tools for processing your data to uncover
these gems of information.
Data Cleanse and Purge
One of the quickest ways to lose customer loyalty is to send them multiple
mailings under different names or addresses. Not only are you wasting money on
these communications, you are also losing the ability to accurately analyse your
RFV. Using complex pattern matching techniques we can identify actual and
potential duplicates and apply data merge and purge to your customer lists.
Where your customers have moved away, registered with the Mailing Preference
Service or been recorded as deceased, we can also match against these lists and
validate and update postcodes against exsisting addresses.
Open Source Software:
Software solutions for your business do not have to be expensive.
There is a plethora of FREE or low cost software developed by the
Open Source Community.
Open Source Software means software who's underlying programs
are available to change should you so desire, and any changes you make
should be delivered back to the community. Most packages are free for
single or low numbers of users and may have additional features and
support that can be turned on for a fee. The most famous open source package
is probably Linux - the operating system that powers the majority of web
servers. Other packages of note include Open Office and Firefox - A Web browser
to rival (beat) internet Explorer.
Unfortunately Free doesn't necessarity mean no cost. The software will be free
in the sense that you don't have to pay for it, but often it will come with a
steep learning curve, little or no support and you will require your own 'tame'
developer to integrate additional features that you require. At E4-consulting,
we are great advocates of Open Source software for the small but growing
enterprise who perhaps cannot afford to spend thousands of pounds on a software
package but likewise does not have the time or expertise to implement a package
internally; therefore we have made it our business, not only to know and
understand the 'commercial' solutions for multi-channel businesses, but to also
become experts in the Open Source solutions available. Some of the packages we
have experience in are:
- Turbo Cash - Fully featured accouinting system
- 12Pay - Payroll
- OS Commerce - Web Store builder
- Code Igniter - PHP solution for rapid development of Web Sites
- MySQL - Databases for office and web
- Open Office - Word Processing and spreadsheet solutions
- Open Bravo - ERP
- Open Taps - ERP
- FreeCRM - Contact and Sales Manager
- ERP5 Express - ERP
If you are interested in hearing how Open Source software could solve some of
your business headaches, please get in touch.
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