Unparalleled power of predictive analytics to grow profits

Ever been in that uncomfortable situation at the end of the quarter when sales is banging on the door for more qualified prospects? The CMO is pushing to not let marketing's reputation die yet again on meeting its promises and the sales and marketing duo is on edge. In the past, the response to this type of situation is to spend on an expensive radio or TV ad, schedule a last minute press release or worse still.... Buy a list of leads, says Julian Ardagh, CEO of Effective Intelligence.

With the advent of POPI as well as imploring the courtesy of respecting an individual's privacy, no organisation wants to turn to these pay, spray and pray tactics. Effective Intelligence (EI) often gets approached by clients wanting to buy "leads" and very firmly and emphatically it says "No" (at the risk of turning away business). Why? Because it believes there is an easier, more credible and measurable way of approaching prospects. It believes in the power of predictive analytics to create strong, growing relationships with your customers and prospects. (And also, the stale, outdated and sometimes unscrupulous way that some leads lists are obtained pollutes your entire customer database and comes with a whole new set of challenges.)

It also understands that no company wants to turn to these pay, pray and spray tactics. More importantly, you don't want a reputation of spamming and irritating potential buyers. For years, we have been assisting many JSE listed clients unleash the power of predictive analytics to provide them a drip-feed of new leads that look like their ideal customer and are ready to buy now.

This places marketing in a situation to add highly qualified leads to their campaigns - increase engagement, accelerating nurture and ultimately increasing marketing's contribution to the pipeline, because leads are scored based on likelihood to convert and readiness to buy.

Any marketer worth their salt will also want to uncover the product preferences, channel preferences and market performance across the full spectrum of prospects. The key to do this is to personalise offers for clusters of customers with similar characteristics to increase the likelihood that they would engage. This type of qualitative and quantitative research is available within EI's Customer Lifestage Framework. Response gains of over 100% and market share increases of >30% are typical results attained using this framework.

It's about reaching out to your prospects in gracious manner to have a positive experience with your brand and grow lifetime value. It's a combination of knowing how often to reach out, which channel to engage them with and exactly what to say. No matter how small your business, you can help it grow with the right data, the rights analytics and the right partner. Companies who have adopted its approach have seen their retention and acquisition metrics skyrocket, taking their revenue with them.