How to profile customers for marketing purposes

What does it mean to "profile" a customer?

Profiling a customer means simply that you find out the details about a customer's life and place him or her into a category that will help you bring him or her better service. "Profiling" is (in general) nowadays a pretty negative term, but only because people have practiced it negatively. Positive profiling goes on every day in schools, hospitals, and businesses, for example. The more specific you can be about a person's situation, the more specifically you can address their needs.

What are some examples of profiling customers for marketing purposes?

Well, we can start with a simple example-"new" customers versus "old" customers. Let's say that you qualify a new customer as someone who's been with you for less than a year, and an old customer as someone who's been with you for more than a year. What needs would new customers have as opposed to the needs of old customers? Maybe new customers will need extra assistance in learning the ins and outs of your company, your ordering service, and so forth, whereas an old customer will need a way of expressing satisfaction and dissatisfaction with their experience so far. Whatever answers you come up with, they'll be sure to serve both old and new customers for some time to come, and help to create a cycle of success for your company.

What are some other examples of profiling customers for marketing purposes?

Companies profile customers by age, occupation, interests, hobbies, majors in school, and so forth. In this way they learn the little details about a customer's life that really help when it comes to approaching a customer as an individual rather than as a digit in the computer, a faceless number, a mere generator of income.

How do we go about profiling customers for marketing purposes?

There are several ways of doing this, but one simple way is by asking your customers to fill out a small form (via direct mail, email, etc.) answering a few questions about themselves. It's crucial, when you do this, that you are explicit with the customer as to why you want this information. People are rightfully jealous of their privacy, and don't want interference, botheration, and so forth, where they don't absolutely have to have it. So, be sure to let your customers know that filling out the little form is an option, and that your only interest is to serve them better.

What do we do with the information once we have it?

Once you've got a good profiling of customers going for marketing purposes, you'll need of course to organize the information and begin using it practically. Now, you may not be able to use all the information you gather at once! Remember, though, that the goal of your company is growth and expansion, and that what seems superfluous now may well be seen as vital and fundamental later. Be sure, then, that you safely store all the information you gather, whether you're able to immediately use it or not. The next step is to decide exactly what you can use; for example, the "old" versus "new" profile that we briefly outlined above. No matter what it is, no matter how tiny a detail it is, if you can use it to send your customer a certain message, that is, we care about you personally, you've already taken a large step forward.

Any last thoughts?

Profiling customers for marketing purposes is a colossally important element of marketing. You'll need an enthusiastic, dedicated, thoughtful, creative, tireless marketing force in order to treat this element in the proper manner, and give it the attention it needs and deserves.