Can your data and Customer Insight help you avoid the credit crunch?

There’s no doubt about it, it’s tough for most UK businesses at the moment, we’re in the middle of an economic downturn and consumers are becoming increasingly cautious with their money. But do businesses already have the means to help them avoid the worst of what may become a full blown recession without knowing it?

So what am I referring to? (And no it’s not Mervyn King’s mobile number!) Well in a word… data, and more specifically, consumer and transactional data.

Most businesses have a huge amount of information at their finger tips. Every time a customer buys your products or services you collect information on them, whether it is their contact information, details of the products or services they have bought, when they bought them or the communications they have responded to. All this information can be collated into a marketing database and through the use of Customer Insight, really help you to understand your customer’s behaviour.

“So what” I hear you say, “how is knowing what my customers buy going to help me avoid tough times ahead?” Well it all comes down to relevance, by using Customer Insight to help you market relevant products through relevant communication channels to people who are statistically likely to buy them, you can seriously increase the level of responses to your marketing campaigns and remove the reliance on above the line marketing. All this equals less expense and more return from your marketing budget.

So before you begin to worry about your customers spending less and going to the competition look at the one thing already in your possession and make your data work for you.

I’d like to hear you thoughts on the topic I’ve discussed. Is Customer Insight helping you during the credit crunch?