Once the targets have been set, the second fundamental step is to collect and archive in a functional manner all the useful and relevant information about current and/or potential customers. Basically, it is about planning and realizing a complete marketing database. It will contain valuable information about who the customers are with their socio-demographic and behavioral features.
To create an efficient database that guarantees a certain use of data, there are some general principles to get inspiration from:
• clear and predefined standards to classify information
• univocal identification of customers
• no duplication of information
• constant upgrade of information
All the required data to build a database may vary depending on the market of reference; nevertheless, the following data are fundamental to build a functional database:
IDENTIFICATION DATA (of the final customer or company)
The most important data to get about a consumer customer are name, surname, telephone, fax, e-mail, residence, Regional Country Seat/province, etc. Instead, the storing data of a business customer are company name, complete address, telephone, fax, e-mail address, website, social pages, etc.
CONTACT DETAILS OF A REPRESENTATIVE
In the case of a business customer, in addition to identification data, it is necessary to store even the data about the representative, who is the person of the company with whom we establish and maintain contacts (e.g. Name, surname, corporate role, working time, etc.)
DIMENSIONAL DATA
In the case of a business customer, dimensional data refer to legal status, business sector, turnover, and number of employees.