Operational and marketing databases

Customer information is maintained for two purposes, operational and marketing. Operational database stores information that is used for generating periodic transaction statements, managing returns, charging credit cards, and tracking customer communication. The operational database is the primary database from which a marketing database obtains its data. The marketing database also gets information from customer profiles, records of promotions and marketing efforts, data from external agencies, and modeling for churn.

Operational databases can learn about the customer segmentation from marketing databases; this helps the operations team to arrive at different treatment strategies for customers for different groups. They are also in a position to take into account customer preferences and provide service accordingly. Operational data is current and covers customers who have made a purchase, prospective customers are not covered. Since there are legal and tax implications associated with operational data, it is audited by an external agency. This data is managed by the IT department.

The marketing database on customers is managed by the marketing department and contains information on present, past, and prospective customers. CRM databases that can store and process a huge amount of information on customers enable a company to look at a transaction from a customer’s viewpoint. However, a CRM database does not guarantee customer loyalty or increased sales; these are a result of persistent marketing efforts that use the information provided by the CRM database. A CRM database assists in the testing and fine tuning of marketing and sales techniques.

A customer-based marketing effort makes intelligent and creative use of the information provided by the CRM database. This involves recognizing the specific needs and preferences of a customer, knowing a customer by name if possible; offering customers the convenience of doing business from their home or office by having their names, addresses, purchase records, and credit card numbers at easy disposal; coming up with answers to customer queries; building up a business profile that customers look forward to identifying with.