Using your data
Objectives
Timing is everything in marketing
Send me a mailing a week after my anniversary and it will end up in the bin reach me a week before and I will be thinking - must order some flowers!
Send me a mailing at random and there is a low chance I will respond. Mail me before Valentines and maybe I will order if I am one of those who cannot resist the pleasure of sending flowers on 14th February.
With this in mind we need to extract data from the database (Obviously we can only do this once we have added some data!) The Florist Database is not about trying to do the impossible but create sensible groups from our data.
- Valentines
- Mothers Day
- Easter
- Fathers Day
- Christmas
Reviewing each of these groups - to send a mailing to the Valenines group, click on the Group Icon
This will be blue until you click it
You will see 4 tabs across the centre of the screen pick Dynamic Groups
Saved searches contains a number of ready to use queries - click on one to highlight and then click Open.
Take Christmas.sql click on it to highlight it and then click on Open and you will see Beneath Build a search STEP 2 Christmas_t and then in the box below ([Subject] like'Christmas_t') click on Build List and all the data in the database which corresponds to a y in the box on Summary on the Contact tab will have be listed - if no records have a y in that box then there will be no data.
This is our group - contacts in the database who have been previous customers at Christmas by mailing these people we know we are reaching out to previous customers - it is not uncommon for the phone to be ringing off the hook when your mailing lands make sure you are in to take those orders!
To remove ([Subject] like'Christmas_t') from the box which determines what will be extracted from the database click Clear.
Now you can click highlight another click Open and that will put another variable in.
Last_Spend.sql is an opportunity to do one of the following (subject of course to you having added the data!) - highlight the Last_Spend.sql
([Subject] like 'Last Spend_d')
AND ([profile:Last Spend_d] >< #26/08/2005#)
The key parts to this extraction variable are the "><" or "<<" sign which means greater than or less than the quote marks are to highlight the variable and then the other variable is the date expressed as dd/mm/yyyy - you can manually change by deleting and typing the << or the >< symbol and the dates to find groups which are before a date or after a date.
If this is feeling a bit heavy going for now leave for another day or in 6 months time.
The Big one
Timing is everything in marketing and getting your details in front of your past customers before an event such as an anniversary is a great technique for generating orders - and if you do not your competitors may very well be doing so.
As a Florist you know when people ordered flowers and they will often with a gentle coaxing reveal what the occasion is - using that information we can contact them again in the future a week to 10 days before to put your details in the front of their mind
Data has been entered stating what are the key dates for a customer knowing that we can create a group in advance. Suppose to day is the 1st January we need to be thinking ahead there is no point mailing someone tonight who bought on the 2nd Jan last year. They probably will not get your mailing in time particularly if it is posted second class to save money. You need to be thing of mailing people who bought 12th January last year.
To do that choose Mailing-Picker.sql and click Open
([Subject] like 'Event_Date_No_n')
AND ([profilenumber] ><11 )
AND ([profilenumber] <<14 )
By changing the number from 11 and 14 we can create groups based on the numbers in between so any contact who has 12 or 13 in their profile will be extracted from the database.
As the days of the year roll by of course we change the number in our date picker - using our common sense - Easter moves as do bank holidays and even though certain dates remain constant such as 25th December how the days fall and weekends will guide us as to when is the most sensible time to contact our clients.
Mailing Dates Tip
Friday / Saturdays are the best day to reach the general public.
Tuesday and Wednesday tend to be better days to reach Corporate Customers.
School holidays often mean many people are away from Work and August is the lowest mailing month for Corporate Customers save your powder for September and once the schools have gone back.
A simple mailing sent at the right time will out perform the most expensive mailing letter / brochure etc sent at the wrong time.
Do not fret over the words the only people who do are marketing agencies who will charge you an arm and a leg to write you something better in their opinion.
Timing is everything and if you sign up to our members team you will be able to access topical letters from this website which you can install on your computer and use thus saving you the trouble of writing your own. - Better still you can edit our letters if you want to add your own unique style to reflect the style of your customer base.
Now you have explored creating a group
Lets merge that with a letter - (if you have not got Microsoft Word 2000 or newer this will fail - this must be installed).
Click Write
A box will emerge
'This will start by creating a static group based on the current members of this dynamic group do you want to
continue?'
Yes or No Choose Yes
Another box will appear 'A static group has been created. Do you want to check the and edit the list of members before printing letters?'
Yes or No select No
(Start of with small groups and build up your confidence - remember if an address is wrong correct the database not the letter or it will be wrong next time and so on.
Next a box will appear with a list of templates this is arranged in alphabetical order (punctuation comes before alpha characters).
Choose a letter by highlighting the letter and add a subject which must be at least 5 characters it does not have to be unique and you can keep re-using the same Subject it could be mailing.
Save the document on this computer will probably be ticked - if you would like to record who has received a mailing tick the box Add an Activity.
and then click Continue.
A box with 'Extra Activity Details' will emerge - if this was a corporate mailing you might want to follow up the mailing with a phone call and attempt to gain an appointment to introduce your company if the mailing is to the general public you probably would not take any further action.
Please feel free to << Start next page Tips >>
Miraquel
105 Shawhurst Lane
Hollywood
Birmingham
West Midlands
B47 5JP
Tel: 01564 829055 Fax: 0870 138 7679
Email: info@floristsdatabase.co.uk