The Ideal Characteristics and Content of a Database and Its Useful Application in Improving the Effectiveness of Direct Marketing Campaigns

摘要

Direct marketing is now a wel-known discipline and widely used in almost every industry al around the world. The mid to late 2000s saw a huge growth of direct marketing due to the development of technology and the increasing number of wel-educated marketers(Tapp,2008). According to the UK's Institute of Direct Marketing(as cited in Sargeant &West,2001,p.7), Direct marketing is" the planned recording, analysis and tracking of customer's direct response behaviour over time. .in order to develop future marketing strategies for long term customer loyalty and to ensure continued business growth". As Tapp(2008) points out that database is the core of direct marketing. So what is a database in the field of direct marketing? A definition is given by Tapp(2008,p.32)"A marketing database is a list of customers' and prospects' records that enables strategic analysis, and individual selections for communication and customer service support . The data is organized around the customer".