Understanding the trends and Customer Relationship Marketing (CRM)

Sell more to existing, loyal customers with whom you can expand your relationship

Trend: There is too much information to absorb

If all printed knowledge doubles at least every 4-5 years, you can see how humans would get to a point where they could not absorb any more. In fact, that time is now. With messages coming from TV, newspapers, magazines, books, radio, billboards, the Internet and mail, the normal reaction has been to glaze over and not pay attention.

Trend: Old marketing methods no longer work

Unfortunately, mass marketing has been caught in this changing trend and response to marketing material has hit an all-time low. Marketers, more than any group, must be able to get your attention to be successful. Mass marketing nowadays gets a 1.5% to 2.0% response. Direct mail is increasing, but the number of pieces sent must increase to gather enough responses to convert to sales. Sending more pieces at increasing postage costs results in an expensive cost per sale. Meanwhile, direct mail is being discarded as “junk mail”.

Trend: Movement away from market share

Marketers have noticed, with the help of relationship marketing gurus such as Peppers & Rogers, that it is no longer as profitable to try to get greater market share. In their book, The One-to-One Future: Building Relationships One Customer at a Time, Peppers & Rogers pointed out that it is more profitable to sell more products to existing, loyal customers. Increasing the relationship with customers is what will get their attention. Remembering what they like when they buy, and offering specials that are relevant to them personally. Expand the product line and sell more products to fewer customers.

Trend: The customer economy

Meanwhile, customers do not have a difficult time finding products. They are in the driver’s seat. Customers have some clear preferences that, if companies do not deliver, will result in declining sales. Some of those requirements are to make sales “easier.” That means each customer wants easy access to products in which they have an interest, the information they want, when they want it, and everything as soon as possible. They want customized, personalized, individualized marketing — like having a personal shopper. For specific requirements, companies have to become more familiar with their customers and address those needs.

Trend: Movement towards relationship marketing

Is your customer list in a database and up-to-date? Fortunately the technology tools are here today to help companies get to know their customers. It takes a database of relevant customer information that is updated on a regular basis, which can be “mined” for meaningful trends. Selected data is then extracted and used to support marketing campaigns.  Multiple databases (Sales, Service, Marketing, Accounts Payable) are combined into one super database. Customer relationship management (CRM) often involves industrial-strength computer servers and powerful tracking software. Companies have been investing billions of dollars over the past 5 years to set up and utilize these systems. Some of the software you may have heard of is from SAP or Oracle.

Back to Top

Useful Information

NexPress Specifications

What is Variable Printing?

Understanding the Trends

Variable Printing — Start Me Up!

Variable Printing Adds Value

Target Marketing: One-to-One and Customizing

Additional Reading

The Challenges of Variable Printing

A Cynics View of Response Rates

Frequently Asked Questions About Databases

Variable Printing Glossary

Home