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Market Share Dynamics and Analytical Solutions

Do you know what percentage of the local market your company currently holds for a specific good or service? If you don’t know, it might be time start investing in analytics! Knowing your company’s current market share and market goals can help you plan for effective, cost-efficient marketing strategies. When contemplating the benefits of market research analytics, a perfect place to start is with the question, “what decisions can I make with market share data?” Fortunately, we’re here for you. This blog is about the specific questions and decisions different industries can address using analytics.

The Food Industry

• What changes can I make in order to take market share from my competition? • Should I increase or decrease marketing expenditures, is my marketing even working? • What foods/drinks should I have on my menu in order to increase customer satisfaction?

For businesses that are in the food and restaurant market, there are plenty of decision to be made on a small budget. Understanding market share allows you to evaluate the efficiencies and deficiencies with marketing, competition and menu variety. If your diner knows how much of the market you have a share of, you can evaluate your decisions based on goals that you’ve previously set. Do you need to find ways to reach your goal? Try increase spending, adding new items or changing your service. Using analytics, in general, will allow you to collect data on potential changes in spending, items or service with customer preference in mind. Having specific foods and drinks on your menu that suit the market is extremely important. There are many ways that you can use analytics to track the preferences of your customers. You could develop a controlled experiment that utilizes a taste test. This tactic is useful when you are making a decision on whether to alter a current food product. Marketers may also use conjoint analysis to determine preference. During a conjoint, multiple attributes will be given values based on the preferences of the customers. You will be able to determine needs for your restaurant/food vendor using those values. For example, a specific target market may have a preference for cheap, salty and low calorie (as shown by attributes with high values). With that data, you could look to add pretzels to the options that customers can order.

The Clothing Industry

• What are the newest trends for each age range? • Where should I place clothing in my store that I want to sell more frequently? • Will this proposed design be wanted by my target market? • What sales promotions can I run to increase sales of a specific brand or clothing item?

Clothing stores across the world use analytics to make vital business decisions. In order to make these decisions, clothing companies analyze their current place in the market. Companies that have a low level of market share are looking for ways to be innovative and set themselves apart from other clothing stores. Therefore, data on trends and selling patterns are more influential than ever. In an industry that is rapidly changing, like clothing, staying up to date on trends and fashion is the key to success. Marketing analytics can gather data on demographics and segments, and customer preference, perceptions and attitudes. With a wealth of target market knowledge, clothing stores are able to make informed decisions about the clothing they offer. Analytical experiments and tests can also help gather feedback on the attitudes customers have about newly proposed designs. Surveys allow marketers to gain information about customer preference, but another option is neurotechnology (which allows you to track the unconscious thoughts a customer may have about a design). Neurotechnological tests track consumer attitudes/preference using brain signals. Neurotechnology is not bias and it produces data that is based off of the emotions that someone has about an item/service. This is particularly useful in clothing design studies because the volunteer’s brain activity is a great indicator of preference. Eye tracking technology can be useful in the clothing industry as well. Have you ever wondered which areas of your store are the most visible and compelling to your customers? Eye-tracking technology is one way to figure that out! Using pictures of your store and eye-tracking technology, volunteer’s eyes can provide information on where you should place items that you want to push. Areas that have more concentrated eye traffic will show up in the study and your business can make placement decisions based off that research.

The Entertainment Industry

• What events in my area are receiving the most attention? • At what ticket price can I maximize profit and attendance? • What individuals are most likely to attend my show/event? • What should I sell at my show/event and at what price?

Whether you’re in the business of sports, theater or even opera, analytics can help you make decisions that maximize profits. Once you understand the market share that your business is receiving, you can explore ways to entice other customers. In any given area, there are people who would enjoy your form of entertainment, but that doesn’t mean they will attend. If you know that 20% of your target market attends your event, there are a few steps that follow. First, survey the market to find out how many people would be interested in your business. That number will show you your opportunity for growth. Next, use analytics to evaluate the reasons for interested people to not attend. You may find that they were not aware of your event. Knowing your current market share also allows you to compare yourself to other entertainment competitors. Setting ticket prices is an excellent use of analytical solutions, as well. If your prices are too low, you’ll most likely boost attendance but ultimately lose profit. If the prices are too high, your business will lose attendance and profit. Therefore, finding the right equilibrium is essential. Judging customer preference using analytics will allow you to figure out a price before you try to implement it. Recruiting customers becomes easier when you know which people are more likely to buy. Using the data from past sales, market researchers are able to pinpoint trends and commonalities for future customer acquisition. Imagine recruiting peoples who you know are interested in your business! In addition, surveys and analyses are useful when determining what your customers would like to buy at your event. The entertainment business is associated with clothing, food and other forms of product placement that increases market awareness for their brand. Businesses should utilize market research tools to predict what items they should sell at their events.

The Education Industry

• What is my institution associated with?

• How do I increase the number of students that choose to attend my institution?

With over 4,000 colleges in the Unites States alone, competing for market share (students) is not an easy task. If your institution wants to increase enrollment, you should start by understanding your typical student. In other words, how do your students reflect the college as a whole. For Ivey League schools, it’s very obvious that being smart and successful are two traits that represent the colleges. For a smaller school who may lack an recognizable identity, using analytics to understand student perception is very useful. Through data analytics, you may find the odds that a 30 ACT score student would consider your college, or maybe whether or not a small-town student would consider enrolling. Student identity data is a major competitive advantage because it helps your recruitment teams target high schoolers that are most likely interested. On the other hand, analytics can help you understand why some students would not consider your college. For example, a college may have only 6% minority students. On average, what percentage of Hispanic students would consider that college knowing it has a low minority percentage? Depending on the market, it may be difficult to recruit Hispanic students in that example, but uncovered data will help you make recruitment related decisions. With the use of marketing, scholarships and other college functions, you will be able to attract students that may have never considered your college. Without information on student perception it may be hard to pin point students that need to be swayed differently.  If you want to make decisions that affect the type of students that attend college, data analytics are extremely valuable. 

The food, clothing, entertainment and education industries are all unique, but analytical solutions can produce common benefits. Analytics can be useful in many different businesses and industries. If you are unsure where to begin and what questions to ask, contact Kwantum Analytics! Kwantum works with companies of all sizes to help reach company goals. Market share is a complicated data analysis that can be used in a variety of ways to benefit business. Whether your company needs to attract new customers, make complicated business decisions or challenge competitors in your market, analytical solutions can assist your business. Contact Kwantum Analytics today to see how our expertise can help your company thrive!

Visit www.kwantumanalytics.com to see how our solutions can improve your company’s marketing operations! Check us out on: Instagram: @kwantum.analytics Twitter: @KwantumA Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/Kwantum-Analytics-171249476887895/

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Finding and Attracting New Customers

One of the most frequently asked questions in business is, “How can I increase revenue?” The question seems obvious, but the answer is far from easy. One of the largest challenges for businesses is to attract new customers, especially in markets that are extremely saturated with similar businesses. Marketing to and attracting new customers doesn’t have to be a shot in the dark. Try using analytical solutions to find new customers and ways to entice them.

The first step in attracting new customers is to market to the portion of the market that does not have loyalty to a specific business. The goal is to get those people to develop a bond with your business where you are their number one option. After that, you need to take market share from other businesses. Marketing analytics solutions are useful when determining which consumers are likely to change from your competitors to your business, and for what price.

There are four segments of consumers that need to be considered: consumers who like the business and plan to continue working with them, consumers who like the business but do not plan to continue working with them, consumers who dislike the business but plan to continue working with them, and people who dislike the business and do not plan to continue business with them.

The first segment is your typical, loyal customer. They come in and enjoy the business, the atmosphere, the workers and the products. They most likely spend a lot of money at the business and refer the business to other consumers. In your business, you want these people, but you probably don’t want to target other businesses’ loyal customers. These customers are not easy to sway and would likely only consider another option if the price was drastically decreased compared to their first option.

The segment that consists of consumers who like the business but do not plan to continue to work with them is a very small segment, but an important one when considering new potential customers. It is a weird combination, which explains why it’s such a small segment. Why would anyone like a business but refuse future partnership? It most likely pertains to the price of the product being out of budget, or a change in consumer needs. For your business, this means that you can compete for this share of the market if you are a price leader (or whatever factor the consumer is looking to fulfill). If your competitor is driving away some clients because of high prices, it creates an opportunity for you to offer your products or services. If your company has consumers in this segment, it’s not necessarily a bad thing either. Your price might be set at the demand level and it is not always going to satisfy every customer. It’s important to consider that these customers still like you! Keep in contact with them if anything changes and remember that they will most likely talk highly of your business to others.

Consumers who dislike a business but do not plan to discontinue work with a particular business, often feel trapped. They know they don’t like the service or products they are receiving, but they are unaware of alternatives or unwilling to look elsewhere. This segment of consumers is an essential target of marketing efforts. They like the simplicity of doing business with one company, but they are open to switching to a different business if you can find a way to entice them. Superior service, products and prices are great things to advertise to this segment, but it needs to be done in a way that evokes a response. If you’re Burger King and there are customers that absolutely hate the waiting times at McDonalds, you have to find a way to reassure those customers that your service time is quicker. What’s in it for them? How do they know that your business is any different? If your business has customers who feel trapped, it’s not too late. They are most likely a substantial share of your customers, so it’s important that you take extra time to ensure their concerns are met. Understanding the disagreements between you and your customers is important when making decisions based on price, quality, etc. You may not be able to make them completely satisfied, but it is always important to give the best customer service possible. Remember, far more people will visit your business as a result of word-of-mouth than other marketing efforts.

The last segment is the people who dislike a business and do not intent to repeat purchase. If you’ve ever had awful service and swore you’d never go back to that company, this is you! This segment is basically the unallocated portion of market share; they are not loyal to any business, yet. For your business, these are the people that you want to spend a majority of your recruiting time on. This segment is interesting for many reasons. The first reason is they present a large opportunity. Any time that a customer is extremely dissatisfied, another company has an opportunity to show them why their product or service is better. That can lead to a high chance of developing customer loyalty and positive word-of-mouth marketing. On the other hand, there are a TON of similar companies that are competing for this segment of consumers. It is important to consider that this segment can be hard to please and you need to be extremely active to compete for their business. Every business has customers who identify with this segment. Ideally, you’d love to keep all your customers, but that isn’t always feasible. If your customers don’t like you and do not plan on doing further business with you, make sure to hear their concerns so you can contemplate their validity. Changes may be in order, but chasing customers that are unhappy with your product or service is most likely a waste of time and money. Move on and focus on improving your business for other customers.

Knowing these four significant segments of consumer loyalty opens up a window for target marketing. Your company will be able to reach the customers who are most likely to change over to your business. The only question that remains is, “How do I identify these segments?” Analytical solutions of course! Using analytics to segment a market is the present and future of marketing. With the use of surveys, analyses and experiments, market researchers are able to identify segments, understand motivations and uncover preferences. Once your company understands which of your competitors’ customers are “switchable”, you can easy target them with marketing efforts. This knowledge leads to maximized marketing success and minimized waste coverage (marketing efforts that don’t evoke a response).

Analytical solutions can also uncover how to entice new customers. Primarily through the use of surveys and conjoint analyses, market researchers are able to see what features of a product, service or overall business are the most influential in buying decisions. For example, surveys may show that 81% of customers say that service is the number one reason they choose a specific automotive shop and 74% of Goodyear Automotive customers say they have adequate service. How does that information help your competitive automotive company? First, you know that service is extremely important. Second, you know that 26% of Goodyear’s customers are worth targeting. Third, you are able to market “great service” to potential customers. Analytics can also help you make product line decisions. Have you ever had to decide which product to use at your business: the slightly cheaper one or the premium one? That is a tough decision because you may not be able to understand how it affects consumer perception. Fortunately, you can understand consumer perception with the use of analytics. Like I stated before, don’t take a shot in the dark. Make the informed decision. Use analytics.

At what price will customers choose your company over the competition? Generally, if you go too low you are wasting profits, but if you go to high you may be lowering market share. Price description is a staple of marketing analytics. In order to take market share from your competitors, it is important to analyze the cost it would be to your company. Yes, you could get more customers by drastically lowering prices, but would that lead to higher revenue? Analytical solutions are valuable when determining a price that entices customers to buy and determining how that price impacts your company.

Kwantum Analytics is a La Crosse, Wisconsin based company that specializes in partnering with your business to provide analytical solutions that fit your need. Whether you have an extensive data background and need extra help, or you are completely new to analytical research, Kwantum is there to help. Increasing revenue is not an easy task for any business, and far too often companies make decisions based off hope. Making knowledgeable, analytics-based decisions can ensure that your company is always on track of success.

Visit www.kwantumanalytics.com to see how our solutions can improve your company’s marketing operations! Check us out on: Instagram: @kwantum.analytics Twitter: @KwantumA Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/Kwantum-Analytics-171249476887895/

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Managing Public Relations with Analytics

In today’s fast-paced and technological marketing environment, creating and maintaining a positive public image is essential for your business’ success. Both large and small companies can be positively, or dramatically, effected by their public relations efforts. Nike can attest to that! They are a perfect example of a company who has seen very negative press negated by good PR work. Other companies, like Wells Fargo, are going through drastic public relations work to halt their recent downfall. With information at the touch of consumer’s fingers, it is more important now than ever for companies to remain transparent and effectively deliver messages to the public. Using analytical research to anticipate and interpret public opinion is the secure way to manage your company’s public image.

Before addressing the details about how to track public opinion using analytics, it is important to understand the benefits of positive public relations. According to the Public Relations Society of America (2018), there are 12 disciplines within PR: Brand Journalism/Content Creation, Corporate Communications, Crisis Communications, Events, Executive Communications, Internal Communications, Market Communications, Media Relations, Multimedia, Reputation Management, Social Media and Speechwriting. It is apparent that there are many ways that a business can connect and relate with their surrounding market. Not all public relations benefits are reactions to a crisis. In fact, companies that maintain an effective public relations effort most likely deliver a consistent, positive message to the public, regardless of their current position in the public’s eye. The following are examples of PR benefits.

Reaching Your Target Market Public Relations are important when persuading a customer to choose your product or service over your competitor’s. Social Media, Content Creation and Multimedia are great ways to relate to the modern technology user. With the millennial user, relation to a brand is a key selling point. They want to buy brands that correspond with their individual identity. Humor and social media trends are tools that companies use to relate to millennials. Wendy’s does an excellent job of using their twitter account to create awareness with users. The fast food chain is famous for their quick-witted and clever tweets that are good for a chuckle (and 100K retweets). Social Media, Content Creation and Multimedia are useful tools when relating to the baby boomer and Generation X consumers as well! Websites like YouTube have created a platform for business to share their public relation efforts with millions of viewers across the world. In order to set your business apart from the competition, you need to be able to relate your consumer.

Building Connections Building connections with the public is an important step when establishing brand loyalty. As a business, you are trying to not only sell your product or service, but also grow consumer loyalty. Customer loyalty can ensure repeat purchases and positive word of mouth marketing. There are plenty of personal selling activities that can promote brand loyalty, but most businesses do it with public relations. For example, companies create or sponsor events in order to relate with the public. A company may create an event to promote a new product like Apple does with their Worldwide Developer Conferences. At these events, Apple is able to engage with the audience, build trust and excite customers, all while promoting their company. Companies may also choose to sponsor an event, even if the event does not directly relate to their products or services. Sponsoring an event does more than make your company visible. It allows event participants to make connections between the event and your sponsorship. At an NFL football game, you will see sponsorships everywhere. Why? Because it makes an attendee associate those brands with the fun and excitement of a football game. Marketing is all about relating to your target market, so finding ways to sponsor events that promote your brand are vital when trying to build connections. Connections can be derived from public relations throughout disciplines other than events, as well. Journalism, Speechwriting and Media Relations are all ways that a company can relate and build connections with their consumers. Speaking and writing are skills that good public relations teams utilize to establish connections with a large group of people. Blogs and public addresses are widely viewed as a reflection of the public’s opinion.

Creating a Positive Business Image Being a positive leader and influencer is an effective way of relating to the market. Companies like Patagonia display ideas of transparency and environmental efficiency. Patagonia’s loyal customers love the clothes and what the company stands for. Companies that promote a positive business image connect with their customers by finding what values are important to them. If your company sells farming equipment, you should probably consider donating to a farming cause. Donations and community service show your customers that you are more than a business; you’re a sustainable partner. Creating a positive image for your business does not always require a monetary investment. It might be ideal for your company to donate a Saturday to local food pantry or environmental cleanup. Although donations are important for your company’s image, awareness is equally important. Using platforms like social media, events and communications are ideal when spreading your company’s good image. If you believe in free bikes for kids, show the market that you are giving free bikes to kids. Positive brand images can only promote business if your company can effectively communicate your activities.

Overcoming Negative Publicity Negative press can be hard to avoid. Big companies and small companies struggle with scandals, mistruths and offensive content that could potential cripple them in the long run. Therefore, it is important that your company can utilize public relations to avoid a crisis. When a company faces a setback, they must be able to apologize, implement a plan to react and be sincere with the public. In 2017, video footage of United Airlines dragging a man off their plane surfaced, which sparked protests and boycotts. To combat negative press, United’s public relations team apologized and proposed changes to their staff and booking process. Addressing the public, along with new advertising, allowed United Airlines to overcome the crisis. They are currently ranked by Forbes (2018), as the 4th best United States Airline. Companies should always avoid situations that reflect negatively on the company, but if consequences ever present themselves, public relations are significant.

Public relations can be an important asset in marketing, selling and brand imaging, so how can your company make sure that your PR efforts are effective? Analytical solutions of course! Analytics are the key to anticipating and interpreting public attitudes or anything that may impact your operations. Using analytical tests, a business can uncover motivations, awareness levels, unconscious influencers and target market behaviors. 

Understanding motivation is crucial when trying to gain business. Any company needs to interpret their customers by seeing why they chose to buy. Using surveys and conjoins, market researchers are able to understand which components of a service or product are important to consumers. The same can be said for public relations. Your company may wonder what kind of event they should sponsor in order to increase revenue. Analytics allow your company to prove which groups of people are most likely to be motivated by an event sponsorship. Also, you can figure out which events are the most influential by analyzing consumer perception. 

Calculating the reach of your company’s social media, or other forms of public relations, are important during the company decision making process. Social media accounts allow your business to track views, interactions and trends, but your company has to be able to interpret those results in order to make a positive change. Businesses with strong social media presences track consumer attitudes in order to see if their social media plan is working. IF you have ever wondered if your tweets, instagrams or Facebook posts have driven sales, it may be time that you invent in analytical testing. Don’t assume that your social media is making a difference, get proof based on viewer reactions.

Influencers can be associated with people, companies, events etc., and they are an effective way to relate to the public. For example, celebrities are a great way to increase sales, but it can’t be any celebrity. It wouldn’t be wise to choose Ozzie Osbourne to represent a bat preservation group! Use analytics to determine the plausibility of using a celebrity for your company. Surveys are especially useful when gathering consumer preference data. Using a carefully constructed survey can uncover traits that a consumer looks for. With that information, your company can make influencer decisions based off of the preferences that your customers laid out for you!

Managing public relations with analytics is an effective way to maximize revenue and positive brand association, while minimizing wasted efforts. See if your company is relating to their target market successfully by allocating a portion of your budget to conduct market research. Use the tools that allow your company to promote your positive brand image today!

References Bloom, L., B. (2018). Ranked: The Best And Worst Airlines In America. Forbes. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/laurabegleybloom/2018/03/06/ranked-the-best-and-worst-airlines-in-america/#2e57b59ae953 Public Relations Society of America. (2018). About Pubic Relations. PRSA. Retrieved from https://www.prsa.org/all-about-pr/

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Analytics! The Key to Business Success

How does your company make strategic business decisions? Perhaps, you may rely on a hunch, or what feels right. 

If you do, you’re not alone. A study shows that 40 percent of major business decisions are based on a manager’s gut instinct, instead of facts and insights (Rich et al., 2009). That being said, businesses are now, more than ever, incorporating analytics into their business model to improve operational efficiency, grow revenues, and improve their position in the market. Analytics allow your company to carefully weigh a variety of actionable insights (both proactive and re-active) in order to make decisions that best suit the company.

Having insights available during the decision-making process benefits a company in two distinct ways. The first umbrella of benefits are pro-active benefits. Pro-active insights are those that concern decisions that a company may not currently be aware of. Analytics allow a company to discover new trends in the market without having a specific decision in mind. Having data about new trends can allow a company to get a head start in achieving market share and avoid falling behind competitors. For example, a t-shirt company may use pro-active analytics to see the values of their current target market. They may find that red is now the most preferred color in a certain style, and with that information, a company can make decisions with customer values in mind. It is important for companies to constantly preform pro-active analytic research, so they can forecast upcoming trends. Another benefit of pro-active insights is providing evidence to back up a proposed decision. If the same t-shirt company thinks that trendy shirts should have a rip in the shoulder, they should gather data on the trend before they confirm a decision. Therefore, the company can make sure the decision is in the best interest of the target market. Pro-active insights are vital to the success of any company because they spot trends and help you make decisions based off of those insights. Access to data and information is a beneficial tool that every successful business should budget for in order to understand the current position of their company.

On the other hand, re-active insights are linked to decisions about current operations. Re-active insights benefit the company by allowing you to improve operational efficiency. Improvement is achieved because these insights help you decide what areas to pursue with the company’s available resources. To evaluate the many insights, market researchers use a variation of an Analytical Framework. According to Marco Vriens, the founder of the market research firm, Kwantum Analytics, the Analytical Framework consist of four segments: market size dynamics, market share dynamics, campaign dynamics and customer dynamics (Vriens, 2012). Vriens (2012) shows how each segment of the framework allows a company to choose paths that help them improve their operations.

Market size dynamics addressed the questions, “how big is our market and how dynamic are the market(s) we are operating in?” According to Vriens, “Analytics can be used to define and size markets and to forecast how these markets will grow/shrink as well as what is driving that change” (Vriens, 2012). This segment is all about measuring the market that your company is currently in. Forecasting the size of the market is important when considering the demand of your service or product. Using analytics to forecast demand is important when trying to avoid drastic mistakes. Over-estimating or under-estimating demand costs your business money, and possibly, repeat business. The market size dynamics segment uses analytics to forecast the size of the market, but it also highlights major contributors that drive the forecast. If your company is impacted by a new regulation or an increased unemployment rate, analytical research would expose those drivers and estimate what the current market size looks like. Understanding the current state of your target market is important when making any decision in the company.

Market share dynamics measures the drivers behind market share. Using quantitative research, a business can understand why, or why not, their product or service is selected instead of their competitor’s. This data is vital when uncovering competitive advantages and downfalls. Knowing your company’s current market share is important because it gives you a feel of whether you need to allocate more money towards expansion or if your need to maintain your current position. That being said, knowing the business’ market share is only important if you know how to improve it! For example, a local restaurant figures out that they have 6% share of the market during lunch hours, but their competitor down the street has 11%. That’s good information, but it doesn’t tell you what you need to improve in order to reach the market share that your competitor boasts. Understanding the drivers behind market share are ultimately important because they explain where your business’ shortcomings arise. Customer service, price, or food quality may be the downfall of our hypothetical restaurant, but analytics allow their business to make decisions based on what drives market share.

Campaign dynamics track how effective a business’ current marketing efforts are. Have you ever wondered if your current marketing campaign made a noticeable difference in customers and profits? A successful business uses analytics to track whether or not their current marketing strategy is beneficial. In this segment, analytics can be used to determine “the total effect of promotions, the components of this total effect (switching from other brands, stockpiling, and incremental lift from the store, i.e., the extent to which it increases sales of other categories in the store), and the net unit and profit impact of the promotion” (Vriens, 2012). The insights extracted from this data are influential when determining the effectiveness of the promotional strategy and why, or why not, the promotion was effective. A business can estimate the cost of advertising, as opposed to the expected return in revenue. If the current campaign is faltering, the company may consider cutting the loss and ending the promotion. On the other hand, if a campaign is gaining momentum and increasing revenue, a company may increase the circulation, or reach, of the promotion. The campaign dynamics segment also addresses the question “How are price and distribution affecting sales and profits?” According to Vriens (2012), analytics can determine how sales vary as a function of price. Knowing the most opportunistic price for your service or product allows your company to find the equilibrium of price and demand. To maximize revenue, analytics is used to determine the price where revenue is maximized.

Lastly, customer dynamics identifies opportunities and issues with current customer satisfaction. A business must understand their relationship with the customers in order to grow as a company. Customer dynamics is broken down into three applications: customer acquisition and selection, customer development, and customer retention (Vriens, 2012). Customer acquisition focuses on the sales aspect of your company. How do you optimize the use of a sales force and territory in order to acquire new customers? If your company’s territory is too large for the size of your sales force, analytics will highlight that problem. Fluctuating the size of a sales force to match the needs of a territory can maximize revenue because it allows your company to reach the maximum number of customers with the sufficient number of employees. Customer development involves targeting customers that best suit your business. Analytical insights show which customers may be more interested in your product or service based on collected data. This data could show us which channels to advertise on, which household may respond to a direct mailing, or which neighborhoods would embrace a certain product. Knowing your concise target customer allows your company to reduce waste coverage (advertising that does not reach its intended audience). Therefore, business can reduce their spending in a certain medium, in order to increase spending in a medium that better attracts their target audience. Customer retention analyzes which customers are likely to leave and when they may do so. Repeat business and customer retention are important when generating word-of-mouth promotion. Forecasting why a customer may decide not to repurchase is important because It allows your company to forestall issues before they present themselves. For example, if a business knows a customer is likely to leave at the end of a free service, they may consider having a reduced price to satisfy the customer. As a result, the business still generates revenue and the customer is satisfied with the service and will most likely share his or her positive experience.

Marketing analytics is a tool that many businesses are unfamiliar with, but it is a readily available service for many businesses. Many companies that do not use analytics in decision making are unaware of what can be accomplished using data. A successful business should weigh the benefits of analytical research with their current position in the market. Whether you see bright opportunities or evident barriers to success, it might be time to use analytics to help you make the correct decision to help your company succeed.

References Rich, D., B. McCarthy, and J. Harris. 2009. “Beyond ‘Nice to Know’: Getting  Serious about Analytics to Drive Outcomes.” Accenture Report. Vriens, M. (2012), The Insights Advantage: Knowing how to win, i-Universe, USA.

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