The Drill Down

Another tip: Select a group of customers by any user-defined characteristics, then save the selection characteristics for future reference and for re-use. Compare this group to any other group or statistically determined segment — or to your entire file — to determine distinguishing factors.

The most critical components here include customer level order tracking to analyze product purchasing behavior and product affinities. Customer level detail should include RFM designations and demographic data to allow for multiple views of the customer, including ZIP code/geographical area, seasonal purchase behavior, channel affinity, and original source. Also important: customer-level contact history through all channels, with the ability to cross these data with purchase history for campaign management applications. Generate any report at the customer-segment level (e.g., P&L by segment), and exclude specific customers, groups or segments from a report.