Is the consumer packaged goods industry taking full advantage of the Internet? No, according to Steve Warshaw, VP-business development for AC Nielsen. Earlier this year, he told a group at the AD:TECH conference in Chicago that CPG has struggled to measure the impact of online advertising on offline sales. Surprising many, he said the Internet ranks third in overall media consumption behind TV and radio, and is twice as important in terms of overall time spent than magazines and newspapers combined.

As with online advertising, so with online promotion. Games, contests and loyalty programs are helping marketers collect volumes of data. But look closer at the link between promotion and CRM within the framework of most CPG brands. You might find a very important piece of the link missing — the ability to translate data collected via promotion into actionable information. How does promotion data support CRM? At the strategic level, data helps determine consumer likes and dislikes, which can be carefully mined for planning and furthering the overall product experience. It has also led to a switch from product marketing to solutions marketing. You may sell dinner solutions or ways to help your dog live longer — either way, data lays the groundwork for lasting one-to-one consumer relations.

Tactically, promotion PIN’s (Personal or Product Identification Numbers) or UAC’s (Unique Access Codes) lend consumer and brand insight. Whether measuring play rates, tracking package sizes, sales by geographic regions, or media type, these tools offer a link to offline buying patterns.

And of course, there’s loyalty, the key principle behind effective CRM. Brands that are tired of competing on price can use a loyalty-focused strategy. Add technology to the mix and all of a sudden consumer profiles, preferences and tailored offers are available right in the grocery store aisles, retail floors or gas bays.

So, if we know how promotion can lend strength to the CRM strategy, what’s missing? Data management and warehousing. With multiple products, multiple brands and sometimes multiple agencies managing customer data, where does a marketer turn for a seamless integration of the information they’ve worked so hard to collect?

Data management strategies should be a part of any interactive promotion early in the planning phase. For example, are the methods for promotion data collection and storage similar across each and every brand? Would consolidation help Brand Manager X, Y (and the agency) strategize more effectively? Have data collection guidelines between agencies and vendors been established? Are reporting features standardized for ease of use?

The answers to these questions may reveal weaknesses. Data may not be standardized or easily merged to a central CRM database. In addition, brands are often managed much like separate entities within organizations, which challenges management across brands.

The solution? For a number of companies the best option is to internalize the CRM capability and develop the solution in-house. For others it is the engagement of a CRM company and a strategic interactive promotional partner that will “play well” with the selected CRM solution across all brand activity.

Regardless of the solution, effective data management is as important to the process as developing the right creative solution, because the more you know about your customers the more refined the creative solution will be.

After all, why else is anyone collecting this data, but to benefit the brand? It’s all about making the data work for you.

Kelly Crerar is regional director of IC Group’s Chicago office. He can be reached at [email protected].

In recent months a new high-speed data linking technology has demonstrated major improvements in both customer data accuracy and online transaction processing speed. Because of this, the technology constitutes the missing connection between data integration and customer-centric commerce that businesses have sought for so long.

In basic terms, the new technology integrates disparate customer data by assigning a “link” to a customer name and an address. The accuracy of these links is verified from multiple sources within a massive database of accumulated data resources. Once the links are assigned, a single customer view can be quickly established across all databases by simply matching the links.

By accurately integrating customer data, the company using this technology is able to examine each point of contact the customer has with its business – whether it’s online at a Web site, over a toll-free telephone line, in person at a brick-and-mortar store or all of the above. Data compartmentalization is eliminated. Key insights can now be shared and compared with customer data found in another division of the company. As a result, the enterprise looks at its customer with a single pair of eyes – with unmatched certainty and accuracy.

For customers, the relationship improves. Customers begin to feel the company “knows” them and, implicitly, values their individual business.

Furthermore, the new technology offers real-time customer data integration (CDI) and augmentation. Using an Internet-based data network as a data delivery vehicle, a company can immediately access additional demographic or lifestyle data that can be quickly added to its records by simply matching those previously established links. This linking technology together with the data network makes real-time customer relationship management, or “e-CRM,” feasible. Using the Internet to deliver data directly to the point of customer contact, businesses can implement CRM techniques and applications anywhere. As a result, companies can be truly responsive to their customers whenever and wherever interaction occurs.

Consider a hypothetical financial services company interested in marketing a new discount brokerage service to selected customers and prospects through a direct mail promotion. First, it uses the data-matching technology to improve the accuracy of its databases by assigning links and eliminating redundant and inaccurate entries. (Thanks to customer data integration, it now knows John Smith, J. Smith and J.B. Smith are the same person, not three different prospects.) In doing so, the company immediately reduces its production and postage costs and also improves its likely success rate. With the “links” established for each name and address, it also ensures its other databases reflect these same names and addresses consistently. Its four, five or 10 databases now function effectively together as a single, powerful information resource.

Next, the company analyzes the information in its databases to select those customers and prospects who are most likely to be interested in the new service. To improve the campaign’s likelihood of success, the firm uses its links to quickly augment its own files with demographic and lifestyle information via the Internet. That way it makes sure additional strong prospects aren’t overlooked. It then mails marketing materials to targeted customers and prospects and begins getting inquiries from interested recipients. Some contact the company’s call center, while others drop by its customer service desks. In both instances, the organization’s real-time CDI capability gives it a substantial competitive advantage. Whether the customer dials in or visits a customer service rep, the new data-matching links enable the company to instantly identify the individual via the Internet, tailor a presentation and make much more effective, one-to-one sales presentations.

In both instances, the customer immediately becomes “known” – a unique individual with established purchasing preferences. Company reps can then intelligently tailor their sales presentation to sell, upsell or cross-sell for maximum effectiveness.

With online e-commerce growing rapidly, this is precisely the type of immediate, responsive service that customers are demanding. And their expectations will continue to grow with each technological advancement. That’s why CDI technology is so crucial to companies that want to thrive, not merely survive.

Too often, the customer data a company maintains is inadequate for decision-making in areas that are beyond the normal scope of business, such as new product development. With accurate CDI links in place, marketers gain real-time, Web-enabled access from their desktops and receive additional information about customers or prospects in just minutes. This capability permits them to make better decisions faster. It gives them the flexibility to quickly take advantage of changing market conditions in ways they could only dream of a few years ago.

If true CRM is the goal of forward-looking companies, then real-time CDI clearly has to be its foundation. A business simply must have immediate access to timely, accurate data if its CRM programs are to be successful.

With their internal databases integrated and functioning as a single information resource, companies will have the ability to understand their customers far better and, consequently, tailor their services more effectively to meet customers’ needs.

Since customer expectations of immediate, personalized service are growing rapidly as a result of e-commerce, businesses must match or exceed these service expectations to maintain and acquire market share. Realistically, this can only be done through real-time, online CDI technology. Companies that fail to take advantage of this technology simply won’t have the ability to respond quickly to changing market trends. Nor will they be able to meet their customers’ rising service expectations. Predictably, they will lose market share to businesses that do.

A little knowledge is a dangerous thing. A wealth of knowledge is a profitable thing. CDI technology represents a quantum leap forward. It offers smart companies a revolutionary opportunity to improve customer acquisition and retention, enhance customer service, increase customer loyalty and preference, and maximize the lifetime value of each customer.

And that’s a definite blueprint for success.