FULL HOUSE Turning Data into Audiences - ARTS Australia

Information compiled from transaction data capturedeither at the point of sale or from other relationshipswith the organisation may be drawn from virtually100% of the purchasers or customers: the universe. Onthe other hand, audience surveys, and other researchmethods used to obtain information about people, drawconclusions only from samples. The audience survey,when applied as an instrument for the performing artsin Australia, has been developed to collect a wide rangeof information with a reliable methodology. But it canonly present information from samples or subsets ofthe attenders, not on everyone who has purchasedtickets. However, audience surveys can be used toexpand on customer database records. Aggregateddata can provide extra detail to profile customers. Evenpreference questionnaires, either for mailing lists or onlineprofiles are less than reliable and completed only by aproportion of the total attenders. Online registration andcustomer profiles or preferences need to be carefullydesigned to collect relevant information where thecustomer understands the options being offered.STRATEGIC AND TACTICAL QUESTIONSThis puts every customer touch-point at the heart ofcustomer relations and therefore central to marketingand all the customer-facing functions, from single ticketsales through to memberships and subscriptions, tofund-raising, sponsorships and public relations. Theinformation which can be compiled in the customerdatabase is of direct practical use to marketing people, whoneed reliable information and a detailed understandingof their actual customers to help them plan. Analysisof customer data can provide the information to helpanswer both strategic and tactical questions. Marketingpeople need clear answers to these questions ifmarketing action is to deliver the right results.Some of the urgent tactical questions thatcan be answered by customer data are:•••How do we know in advance whether anevent is underselling against anticipatedattendances and income?What action do we take, aimed at whom, toincrease attendances for a poorly selling event?What discounts or special offers, if any, shouldwe offer to whom, to trigger a response?Good marketing managers will know the rightstrategic questions to ask and must know:WHO•••WHICH••WHERE••WHY•••are our current customers?should our customers be?are we not reaching currently?segments should be targeted toincrease current penetration?segments should be targeted todevelop new audiences?are our current customers?are we not attracting customers from now?do customers attend now?do some potential customers choose notto attend?do we remain in existing markets?1. THE HEART OF MARKETING