| Marketing your product to targeted audiences is the | | | | you want to achieve a high customer retention rate. |
| key to every successful business. But the question is | | | | With a database in place, you can retrieve data and |
| how can you know who your targeted audiences | | | | wish your customers on their birthdays or |
| are? First, you have to recognize your customers, | | | | anniversaries and also offers discounts or gifts to |
| collect information about them, and then try to | | | | them. |
| establish a good rapport with them. Customer | | | | A user database also maintains a record of all |
| relationship building is gaining more importance as | | | | interactions along with their dates. Such a database |
| businesses are getting customer centric. In this | | | | also enables you to share the data with your staff. |
| endeavor to make your business more profitable, | | | | You can also set reminders. Other then facilitating |
| you are required to have a customer database in | | | | CRM, such a database also helps you in e-marketing. |
| place. | | | | Through their e-mails, you can send special offers, |
| All the key information pertaining to your customers | | | | discounts, promotion of new product and services |
| that you collect can be stored in such databases. Key | | | | etc. If your business has a website, online marketing |
| information may include your customer’s name | | | | can be conducted more effectively. |
| and address, telephone number, e-mail address, | | | | A customer database is also used for tracking sales |
| birthday and anniversary. If you are a restaurant | | | | and orders; calculating sales tax, generating invoices, |
| owner, you can also collect information such | | | | slips and, other such documents; monitoring sales |
| customers’ favorite dishes. Maintaining such data | | | | performance; customization; and creating reports. |
| will help you to better serve your customers and | | | | If don’t have such a database in place, it is high |
| build up a good relationship with them. Remember | | | | time you maintain one. Rather than investing |
| that it is difficult to find loyal customers. Your | | | | thousand of dollars on other marketing methods that |
| company should have an effective customer | | | | cannot guarantee results, it would be a wise decision |
| relationship management (CRM) system in place if | | | | to invest a few thousand dollars on such a database. |