How to create the perfect marketing database

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A marketing database is a collection of customer information used by a business to identify qualified leads, track customer interactions, and measure the effectiveness of its marketing database campaigns.

This kind of data collection can include customer profiles, purchase histories, website visits, email addresses, communication preferences, and more.

By leveraging these data points, companies are better equipped to make informed decisions on their marketing database strategies, campaigns, and initiatives.

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How to create the perfect marketing database!

Determine Your Marketing Database Objectives

Before you can create your database, you need to first consider what it will be used for—your database objectives.

Think about what information you will need to capture and why it is important to your business or organisation.

Identify your target audience

Identifying who your target customers are is a key first step in creating your marketing database objectives.

Researching your target market will help you create a clear picture of who you are targeting and how to engage them.

Should you not have the data on hand you need for your audience, you can enlist the services of a data provider like Results Driven Marketing.

Develop goals for your marketing database

Decide what you want to accomplish with your marketing database.

Short-term goals may include driving a certain number of customers to your website or to complete an online purchase.

You should also set long-term objectives, such as increasing customer loyalty and lifetime value.

Analyse your existing marketing database

Analysing customer data can help you determine how best to reach and engage different segments of your target audience.

Use software tools to identify trends in customer behaviour and preferences to help you refine your approach and maximise the return on your marketing database expense.

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Collect the Necessary Data and Define the Data Elements for your Marketing Database

Gather the data your objectives require and define what each data element will represent.

What kind of information do you need to collect?

Customer contact information

This includes name, address, telephone number, email address, and any other contact information the customer has provided.

Demographics

This includes age, gender, marital or family status, occupation, and any other demographic information about the customer.

Purchase history

This includes information about what the customer has purchased from your business, when they purchased it, how much they paid, and any discounts or promotions they may have taken advantage of.

Customer loyalty/preferences

This includes information about whether or not the customer is a loyalty program member, what their preferred products/services are, what promotions they are most likely to respond to, and any other customer preference data.

Response history

This includes information about how the customer has responded to similar marketing database activities in the past, as well as their overall engagement with the marketing database activities sent to them.

Opt-in/opt out status

This includes information about whether the customer has opted-in or out of marketing database campaigns, communications, or other promotional materials.

Reviews/Feedback

This includes customer reviews, feedback, and ratings on products and services they may have purchased, as well as any comments they may have posted on social media platforms.

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Choose a Database Platform

After you have determined your objectives and your data elements, it’s time to decide on a platform.

With a variety of database software options to choose from, you need to make sure you select one that suits your needs.

Understand your business and data needs

Before you choose a database platform, you need to clearly identify your business and data needs.

Are you looking to store customer data, streamline your marketing database campaigns, or keep track of marketing performance?

Understanding your exact requirements will help you narrow down your options.

Evaluate feature sets, scalability, and performance

Compare the features and benefits of different database platforms to determine which one is best suited for your marketing database needs.

Consider questions such as:

Does the platform offer scalability?

How will it handle large data sets?

What are the mechanisms to ensure performance and security?

Price and budget considerations

Different database platforms have different pricing strategies.

Consider the cost associated with storing and managing your data, and make sure it fits within your budget.

Support and training

Look at the support services that are available to you with the different platforms.

Are there tutorials or documentation available?

Are there knowledgeable support teams you can contact if you need help?

Find the right database platform for your needs

As you consider each of these factors, you will be better able to identify the database platform that is best suited to your needs.

It’s important to select the one that meets your budget, scalability and performance requirements, while providing the necessary level of support and training.

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Structure the Database

Now it’s time to set up the database for marketing structure.

This involves deciding how the information should be organised in the database for marketing and what relationships will exist between different elements.

For instance, you may need to create tables and fields, set up relationships among them, and determine the type of data that goes in each field.

Users

Users table should include basic demographic information such as name, address, email address, subscription status, etc.

Sales

Sales table should track sales data such as items purchased, total sale amount, date of sales, payment method (cash, credit, etc.), order quantity, etc.

Campaigns

Campaigns table should track the results of different campaigns, including details such as campaign type (direct mail, email, etc.), campaign target audience, total number of leads generated, cost per lead, etc.

Segments

Segments table should track different customer segments, including demographics, interests, purchase history, etc.

Tracking

Tracking table should track consumer actions, page visits, downloads, and clicks from different sources such as newsletters, email campaigns, etc.

Transactional Data

Transactional data table should track detailed information about user actions such as purchases, order placement, cancellations, refunds, etc.

Customer Support

Customer support table should track customer support data such as queries, complaints, and requests for help.

Analytics

Analytics table should track analytics data such as total website visitors, top performing pages, average time spent on
the website, etc.

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Format Your Database for marketing

Format the titles of your fields

Make sure your field titles are easily readable, consistent and understandable.

Define the type of data for each field

Decide if the field will contain text, number, date or currency data.

Consider how you will organise your records

Decide if you will order your records alphabetically, by date or in some other way.

Set up data entry forms

Create a data entry form to make it easy for people to enter data into your database.

Define field lengths

Select field lengths that can accommodate the data you want to store, taking into consideration the type of data they will contain.

Run automated maintenance

Set up automated maintenance tasks such as running regular backups, data integrity tests and checks for duplicate records.

Spur data accuracy

Implement entry rules and validation checks to encourage accurate data entry.

Set security measures

Protect your data from unauthorised access by setting up user and group permissions, and defining a reliable access control system.

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Prepare the Database and Test It

Once the database is structured and formatted, the database should be prepared for use.

This includes filling in dummy data, setting up views, creating security measures and backups, and testing the database to make sure it functions as expected.

Run a validation test

Use a query to check whether the values present in the database are valid and can be used by the marketing team.

Test the database’s security

Use password protection and other security measures to ensure that only authorised personnel can access the database.

Perform precision tests

Use queries to check the accuracy of numerical and string values present in the database.

Test database performance

Place heavy loads of data on the marketing database, and measure its performance.

Execute a stress test

Test the database’s performance by simulating peak activity or maximum load that it must manage.

Inspect database backups

Ensure that database backups are created and that all data within the database are properly backed up.

Email marketing to your marketing database

Clean and segment your list

Make sure your email list is up-to-date, valid and accurate by regularly removing old, inactive or duplicate addresses.

Create sublists based on shared attributes and interests so you can send tailored and relevant messages.

Use A/B testing

Test two versions of your emails to determine which version performs better.

Options might include different headlines, testing offers, different length content, visuals, images and more.

Personalise emails

Craft emails that address customers directly by name and include personalised recommendations, offers and visuals.

Making emails more specific to the customer’s interests will increase open and conversion rates.

Use email automation

Automated emails are sent without needing any manual input.

This allows you to remain engaged with your leads and customers even when you don’t have time to send out emails.

Automate welcome emails, abandoned cart emails, holiday emails, birthday and anniversary emails and more.

Utilise mobile-friendly design

Ensure your emails respond to various screens sizes and display correctly.

Consider using an email template that is optimised for mobile devices, making sure key features are easy to access while ensuring your emails look their best.

Measure results

Utilise metrics like open rates, click-through rates and unsubscribe rates to benchmark success and make informed decisions about future email marketing initiatives.

Last but not least, maintain your marketing database

Finally, once your database is up and running, it is important to continue to monitor, maintain and update it on a regular basis.

This will ensure that it operates as efficiently as possible and continues to meet the needs of your organisation.

It will also help to minimise any potential data loss or security risks.

We hope these step help you to create a fantastic marketing database of your own this year. Feel free to get in touch should you need any help from our team of marketing database experts