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Customer Segmentation Data Mining to get Customer Insights

data mining for customer segmentation

No two customers are the same. Even though customer segmentation is not a new concept, the need for it has reached new heights. This is because the market place is becoming more diverse. Customer segmentation data mining helps you address customers in a way that resonates with them.

Segmentation is the first step towards personalization. Additionally, creating segments based on the likelihood of engagement helps you prioritize your marketing.  Personalization is important but can prove expensive and difficult to scale.

Customer segmentation data mining can help you personalize your marketing in a cost-effective way. Effective data mining needs a powerful platform.

Here’s our three-step guide to customer segmentation data mining

Step 1: Start with Big Data

Having a great platform is not enough.  You need to start with high-quality data as it can generate great insights.

Data is everywhere. In fact, Big Data management is still considered a challenge.  All data is not equal. It is important to gather high-quality data to feed your analysis. To this end, screening your database can add great value. Screening can take basic information about your customers (such as names and email addresses) and helps you fill in the gaps. The process can append other relevant information about them.

For instance, WE Screen takes our proprietary wealth scores and ratings and merges them with your contact data. Further, you can know more about your contacts’ interests, political affiliations, net worth, and their capacity to spend. Combining these data points with wealth ratings can be powerful. Wealth ratings ultimately help you rank customers in order of priority.

For example, let’s say you are a luxury travel company that curates bespoke experiences. You can screen your database to understand your customers beyond their age, name, and email. Screening gives you a holistic picture including ownership of vacation homes, boats, private jets, etc. All this information can help you refine their experience.

However, it is important to note that data is not an end in itself. It is a means to get actionable insights. This brings us to the next step of Customer segmentation data mining.

Step 2: Conduct Data Mining for Customer Segmentation

The high-quality data you acquired from screening should go into the right analytics platform. A powerful platform can deliver actionable insights by mining your data.

Data mining for customer segmentation helps you see what makes your customers unique. Further, you can understand the composition of your audiences in detail. These insights can also help you determine your messaging.

As an example, WE Analyze is a powerful analytical platform. The solution lets you enter hundreds of attributes that the engine uses for data mining.  Further, WE Analyze can identify what traits your customers have in common.

For your luxury travel company, the analysis could reveal usable insights. You could find out that all customers with a Lifetime Value (LTV) of over $250,000 have five traits in common. They are all between the ages of 40 and 55 and have either two or three children. They have leased from the same brand of car over the past eight years or more and they have vacation homes in Florida.

Knowing all this means that your marketing can be highly personalized.

Step 3: Automate Customer Segmentation through Data Modeling

Modeling can further refine data mining for customer segmentation. If you have a specific marketing question, a model finds you an answer that is backed by data.

Let’s say you are trying to find more luxury travelers to market your services to. This prospecting exercise can become highly precise when you use data models.

You could take the important traits identified by your analytics platform and enter them into a model. The model will examine your database and segment it for you. Let’s say are trying to find top luxury travel customers out of a database of 100,000. The model will automatically segment them into 10 equal groups. The first group will contain your top 10% of customers.

How does this work? In the data mining or analysis stage, you found the most important common traits found among your customers. The model uses these traits to find more prospects that are just like your best customers.

WealthEngine’s modeling suite goes beyond pre-set models for luxury industries. Each model is custom built for your business. This means you don’t stop at what works well in your industry. You actually find out what works best for you.

Thus, the third step of customer segmentation data mining creates refined segments for you. Refined segmentation acts as a foundation for personalization. Data mining also removes manual effort in segmentation, making it cost-effective and scalable.

Learn More

Learn more about how you can use power up your customer segmentation through powerful data mining and modeling solutions. Contact us.

Further Reading

Why You Need a Concierge Marketing Strategy

Using Big Data and Fundraising Data Analytics for Marketing

 

 

 

 

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Customer Segmentation Models for Increased Conversion

customer segmentation models

Marketers are well aware of the power of customer segmentation analysis. Customer segmentation models can increase personalization and engagement.

Importance of Customer Segmentation Models

Personalization is going to be a major theme in marketing. Tailoring the experience to your customer’s interests makes your message resonate. Robust customer segmentation analysis is the foundation for personalization.

In a diverse marketplace, organizations need deeper insight into demographics, lifestyle, and interests. To this end, customer segmentation models help you understand the nuances of the market.

Once you create main segments, you can analyze them further to improve personalization.

For instance, let’s say you’re a luxury car dealership based in suburban Chicago.  You are looking for customers with the capacity to spend over $50,000 on their next car. There are more indicators than a prospect’s wealth score.

You can identify prospects who live in zip codes within a certain radius of the dealership. The next step is to filter for prospects who already own a luxury vehicle. You can refine this segment further by identifying who owns your brand. This helps you determine if they are due for an upgrade or if they are looking at other luxury automakers.

You can then personalize your message in a way that speaks to each micro-segment. You can have one message for those who are loyalists to your brand. For those who own other luxury cars, your messaging could focus on comparative statistics. Focusing your marketing budget on targeted micro-segments reduces costs. Further, it also increases the likelihood of conversion.

Customer Segmentation Analysis

Segmentation models reveal patterns that help you increase engagement within these micro-segments. They also enable you to personalize marketing at scale.

WE Analyze, our analysis and modeling solution can create such models from your data. In the previous instance, you found your micro-segment. Chicago area millionaires who have a net worth of at least $5 million. You narrowed your list down further to those who own luxury cars. You then divided them into a group that owns your brand and a group that doesn’t.

Customer segmentation models can identify patterns of traits within this group. You can then apply these patterns to your database to find more prospects like your chosen segment. A customer segmentation analysis can also help to drive predictive prospecting. This includes finding lookalike prospects that match the profile of your best customers.

Customer Segmentation Models and Personalization

Customer segmentation analysis helps drill down into smaller sub-segment to fine-tune messaging. A personalized message that reflects customer interests is more likely to resonate. If your customer relates to the message then he is more likely to engage with the brand or cause.

For example in your micro-segment, you can create smaller groups of prospects based on age and type of pet. 

This will help you personalize your pitch to them. Further, it can guide you when selecting a medium that is most effective for each sub group.

Segmentation Analysis and Lifetime Value (LTV)

Customer segmentation models increase engagement over time. This results in improved customer LTV. Which means that the customer stays connected to the organization. LTV is a great metric for you to rank your prospects.

Prioritization means your budget and message focus on the most responsive segments. Thus, your efforts will see increased conversion at reduced costs.

Segmentation Analysis and Models are Cyclical

The more you use customer segmentation analysis and modeling the better it is for conversion. We have already established that micro-segmenting helps personalize your message and increases engagement.

Therefore, increased engagement results in higher conversions and lower costs. The other important attribute of these models is that they learn to get better over time. Every customer segmentation model helps WE Analyze learn from it. Your models become more refined, thus creating better segments for your next campaign.

customer segmentation analysis

Increase Conversion Rates

Learn more about how WealthEngine’s data science team can help you increase conversion rates through customer segmentation models. Contact us.

Further Reading

Why You Need a Concierge Marketing Strategy

What is Wealth Screening – and How to Use it to Generate More Money

 

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Turn Your Event Participants into Donors

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As summer draws to an end and we prepare for fall, we are about to enter the season of “-Thons”.  Hosting a fundraising walk-a-thon, bike-a-thon, dance-a-thon, swim-a-thon, read-a-thon or other fundraising –thon can be a great way to build support for your cause, identify new prospects, build a relationship with new donors, and build your base of support. Whether you work for a charity, hospital, university, theater or advocacy organization, now is the time for development offices to create a plan for how to turn event participants into donors. Turning event participants into donors can be easily done, but requires careful communication and a moves management strategy.

Here are five steps to consider when planning your event to find new event participants, identify fresh prospects, and maximize your relationship with existing event participants:

1. Promote your event via social media to find new participants.

Don’t put on the same event for the same participants who are donating year after year! Find new constituents to invite using social media. By casting a wide net you will find prospects who are interested in your cause or activity and, with the proper follow through, they can be turned into donors.

Publicize your event on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc. Be sure to include a call to action with every post, either a way to request more information or to register directly on your website.

Have your loyal supporters and advocates publicize your event for you to ensure it is being viewed by as many eyes as possible. By asking existing event supporters and past participants to share the event via their own social networks, they are giving your event a credible voice by publicly showing their support and also finding you new participants (and new potential donors!).

2.) Build out your invitation list and find new high potential prospects to participate.

As you build out your event invitation list, consider ways to expand your universe to include more high potential prospects. Be sure to leverage board relationships, and consider tools that will inform you of who in your board’s circle of friends might participate, as you work to strategically develop this list.  Consider new avenues to pursue as you market the event broadly, such as local interest groups and clubs.

Questions to ask yourself might include:

  • How do I find new constituents with high giving potential that might be interested in my event?
  • Which are the most capable prospects to invite to our event?
  • Who do our board and other VIPs know that may respond to a personal invitation to our event and who should ask for their participation?

3.) Screen event participants before and after your event.

It is important to review your event participant list both before and after your event. This ensures that you know the financial capacity of participants and that no wealthy prospects slip through the cracks.

As you get to know your list inside and out and identify the participants with the highest giving potential, develop a plan for your high potential prospects. Consider inviting them to pre- or post- event VIP activities, such as breakfasts or post-event celebrations. If the idea of planning an event around your event is too much for you, consider sending invitations for meetings or “grabbing coffee” a week or two after the event itself. Personal follow through with each high–potential prospect is a must to create ongoing engagement and to understand the individuals’ motivations and interests.

4.) Use metrics as you wrap up your event for the year.

Applying analytics to your event list for both segmentation and tracking is crucial as you wrap up the event and before you move on to your next big challenge – the ask. Metrics to consider include:

  • Event Return on Investment (ROI)
  • Cost to Raise a Dollar (CRD)
  • Cost per person for event
  • # of gifts received from event
  • % of giving from event
  • Dollars contributed from event
  • Average event gift size
  • Event cost

Be sure to segment your event list to determine who needs immediate follow up, based on his/her wealth profile. Follow steps in our Growing Individual Gifts workbook for best practices on how to set up a meeting to build a relationship with potential donors. Strike while the iron is hot to stay in touch and build a relationship.

5.) Once you know enough, make the ask!

Before asking your prospect for a substantial gift, there are a few questions you want to be sure are already answered:

  • What is this donor’s interest or passion and where does it align with our mission?
  • What is the project they will be most interested in funding?
  • What is the correct ask amount for this donor? This should be in harmony with the project or need you are seeking funding for, as well as the donor’s capacity to give.
  • Who should be involved in the solicitation? The president or CEO? A board member? A friend or colleague?
  • Is this the right time to ask? Should we wait until after the recession is over? After their pledge to the [insert charity] building fund is over? After their children are out of college?
  • Who else may be involved in the decision to give? A spouse? Other family members? Financial or tax advisors?
  • How does s/he want to be recognized for a gift? Knowing their stewardship desires before asking for the gift ensures you handle any gift negotiations appropriately, and also that you accomplish post-giving appreciation and recognition in the most meaningful way for the donor(s).

When you know the answers to these questions in advance, you will be making a solicitation that is hard to say no to.

For more information on growing your development program, download Growing Individual Gifts: An Analytical Approach to Data-Driven Success. 

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Consider the Whole Prospect Picture: Going Beyond P2G and Estimated Giving Capacity

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When conducting research on your prospects it’s important to work efficiently to identify who best to cultivate. If you’re using WealthEngine you more than likely use our Propensity to Give (P2G) score and Estimated Giving Capacity (EGC) to help segment and prioritize your donors and prospects. That’s fantastic! And we absolutely encourage you to use these. 

But there are many other scores and data within the prospect profile that can further enhance your knowledge of the individual. If you aren’t making use of these additional scores, you may be missing out on valuable information about your prospect.

Let’s take a look at a few examples of WealthEngine scores you should also be utilizing.

Cash on Hand:
This modeled score predicts the amount of available funds that are readily accessible for the household; such as checking, savings, and money market accounts. This score can also be used as a proxy for discretionary income.

If your fundraising program is in need of immediate funding for a particular project or initiative, your prospects with higher Cash on Hand range may be some of your best targets.

It can also be helpful when in a gift conversation with a prospect who has not yet made a major gift. For example, you know that their EGC is $1M-$4.9M, but their Cash on Hand is $50K-$99K. Iit may be more realistic to make an initial ask for $50K and build the relationship further from there.

Influence:
This score identifies an individual’s influence in the community based on how many boards (corporate or philanthropic) they are affiliated with. This is done on a scale of 1 to 4, corresponding with quartiles.

Your prospects with a high influence score of 1 or 2 are individuals who are engaged with a larger group of constituents in your community and likely have more corporate and philanthropic connections. This could be helpful if, for example, you wanted to look for some new potential board or committee members. This score could enable you to select and target more dynamic board members who are well-connected.

GuideStar Foundations-High/Medium Quality of Match:
Individuals who serve on boards of private foundations are a somewhat elite group of individuals. Whether it is their own family foundation, or they have been invited to serve on the board of a private or corporate foundation, both are equally significant in displaying that individual’s commitment to philanthropy.

GuideStar Directors-High/Medium Quality of Match:
Delving into the types of organizations where your prospects serve on boards can you give a keen insight in to the causes and charities that they are most passionate about. They have agreed to give their time to serve on a board of this organization, hence, likely displaying a deep commitment to this type of cause and mission.

WE want you to be successful in your fundraising and provide you with detailed profiles so you have a complete picture of your donors and prospects. With our wide range of ratings and scores we give you a sense of not just an individual’s propensity and capacity, but also their financial position, potential influence, and philanthropic interests. Remember to dig deeper into your profiles to learn more about your prospects, which will likely in turn, provide greater returns!

For further information on segmenting and prioritizing donors and prospects view our webinar Best Practices in Prospect Management for Year-End Fundraising Efforts.

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What to Do Now to Maximize Holiday Spending This Year

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The current retail landscape presents many challenges that can be difficult to manage including decreased customer growth, little transaction growth, growing competition, shifts in spending, and unfavorable demographics. With a rapidly approaching holiday season and only 114 days until Black Friday it can be daunting trying to develop a successful strategy to overcome these challenges.

It’s no surprise that using data and analytics can dramatically impact your revenue, but analytics can only go so far if your data is vague or incomplete. Having complete, rich customer profiles will provide a stronger foundation for your analytics, and thus a stronger foundation for your marketing and sales strategy.

How can you enrich your customer data? Conduct a wealth screening to gain transformational insight into customers and prospects. A screening appends data to your customer database so you can better segment your database and determine who to prioritize in your marketing and sales efforts. This insight is helpful to not only identify your best customers, but to uncover those individuals who may show potential for additional business. You may be missing out on potential opportunities because you don’t know who has the capacity to spend more.

A wealth screening supplies you with wealth, income, lifestyle, and affinity information on individuals. This includes net worth, income, assets, real estate, stock holding, charitable contributions and other financial related data as well as business and personal contact information. Having this information allows you to prioritize who you focus on to maximize revenue.

A screening also lets you determine what marketing messages should be sent to each customer and prospect segment. In regards to gearing up your campaigns for the holiday shopping season, certain segments of your consumer database will have the ability to spend more than others. These individuals should receive offerings for higher cost items, while those who don’t have the capacity to spend as much should be shown lower cost items or a promo code to use to be able to purchase a more expensive item.  

The insights you can gain from a wealth screening are undeniable. By better understanding your customers and prospects the analytics and data you use to inform your decision-making will be more valuable and more impactful.

Contact us to learn more about how you can use these insights to not only identify your wealthiest customers, but to uncover those with the capacity to spend more.

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Maximize Revenue with a Complete Picture of your Customers’ Capacity to Spend

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Luxury brands face tough competition to capture and retain high net worth customers. They are now facing competition from non-luxury brands, who have been gaining traction, and wallet share, among HNW individuals. In 2016, Nike was ranked the most valuable apparel brand in the world, overtaking Louis Vuitton, and Kia, a non-luxury vehicle, came out on top in J.D. Power’s quality car survey.

Luxury brand or not, the competition is fierce to both attract and keep the attention of HNW customers. Their business can make a huge impact on your business. A Bain & Company study found that a 5% increase in customer retention can increase a company’s profitability by 7% and that the average amount spent by a repeat customer was two-thirds more than a new customer.

Because of the current landscape, it is imperative for brands, both luxury and non-luxury, to prioritize and segment their customer base and identify who they should focus their time and budget on in their marketing campaigns. One approach is to use transactional history, however, spend history does not equate to spend ability, so you need to be more granular.

Previous spending is a key component, but it should not be the only data point you’re using. Instead, focus your efforts on identifying the low spend, high net worth customers among your current database. Think about it – a customer may have purchased something for $100 when they actually have the capacity to buy something that’s $1,000. Use this information to personalize your sales and marketing outreach and present higher cost items.

Remember, not all existing customers have the capacity or ability to spend more with you. Identifying those that do are critical to enhancing revenue and driving a higher customer lifetime value.

Contact us for more information on analyzing your customer base and identifying those with the capacity and net worth to spend more.

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The Data-Driven Annual Fund Part 2: Solicitation and Stewardship

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A critical component to an annual fund is your case for support. Are you presenting a clear, intriguing case for support that is likely to result in donations? If not, you’re leaving money on the table, money that could be used to support your mission.

How confident are you in your ask amounts? Don’t guess. Use data to determine what the appropriate ask is.

We developed The Data-Driven Annual Fund to help organization with data understanding and use; strategies for segmentation, solicitation and stewardship of donors and prospects; and measuring and analyzing fundraising ROI and other key metrics.

Part 2: Solicitation and Stewardship discusses what to do once your annual fund plan is in place and how to maximize the solicitation process. It covers multi-channel solicitation strategies and techniques, case-for-support and ask amounts. Examples and templates are provided so can get started right away.

Download The Data-Driven Annual Fund Part 2: Solicitation and Stewardship.

In case you missed it, download Part 1: The Building Blocks.

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CEO Mark Logan on Marketing to Gen X, Y, & Z

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On Wednesday, May 3, our CEO, Mark Logan, joined senior executives and decision makers at the 2nd annual Luxury Roundtable hosted in New York City by Luxury Daily. The goal of the roundtable was to discuss a serious issue facing luxury marketers: how to drive and sustain demand from Generations X, Y and Z whose shopping habits are strikingly different from the silent generation and baby boomers.

Mark joined a panel of experts to discuss “Ecommerce and Mobile: Symbol of the New Path to Purchase.” The focus of their session was how to deploy online and mobile channels to generate new business while retaining existing customers for generations who live on their smartphones. Mark shared how WealthEngine can provide useful insights on customer segmentation and the critical importance of personalization.

WealthEngine has put together a useful resource to help luxury marketers use predictive analytics and modeling. You can download it here.

For more on the roundtable, including slides and other panel summaries, click here.

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Marketing to the affluent millennial consumer, everything you need to know

marketing to the affluent

Marketing to the affluent millennial consumer is going to be a key skill for luxury companies. There is constant chatter about millennials and whether they work hard or are hardly working. It is time to put this debate aside and pay attention.

Why are affluent millennials important to luxury companies?

Millennials are going to have a big impact on our economy.  This means that you cannot discount them and their growing wealth. The number of wealthy millennials in the United States is increasing. Millennials make up nearly a quarter of affluent U.S. households. Where does their wealth come from?

Their wealth, in fact, can be attributed to inheritance and early professional success in the technology industry.

Affluent millennials are a key consumer segment. Moreover, you might find yourself competing against other luxury brands for their attention. Marketing to affluent millennials will need a new outlook. If you haven’t already, it’s time to start shifting your thinking and strategy. Luxury consumers are more valuable when they are younger as they spend 1.5 to 2 times more than older affluents. Their expenditure applies to both luxury goods and services.

How can you successfully market to the affluent millennial consumer?

To truly engage the affluent millennial, you need to learn everything you can about them. This will help you personalize not only your messaging but also the whole customer experience. Here are some ways you can better understand and market to affluent millennials:

WealthEngine’s Step by Step guide: Marketing to the affluent millennial consumer

Step 1

Start by understanding the impact of millennials on your business. Affluent millennials show greater brand loyalty than other generations. Therefore, luxury retailers should strive to understand this group and their spending habits. You should have a good idea of the economic benefit this group can bring to your specific brand.

WealthEngine’s client, an iconic US-based Luxury brand, realized an ROI of 340% in just 60 days of running a direct mail campaign. The campaign helped them gain nearly 3x more revenue per customer. They were able to accomplish this by targeting a list of 22,000 households with $5M or above in net worth, and specific demographic and lifestyle attributes. Thus, their understanding of their customer led to a marked increase in revenue.

Step 2

Next, you should build on the information you already have by appending wealth, income, lifestyle and affinity information. What interests or attributes do they have in common? Do a majority of them live in one area? This information is key because it’s specific to your brand and your millennial buyers.

WE Screen can add these key attributes to your existing data. Through screening, you can develop a holistic picture of your millennial customers. Marketing to the affluent millennial customer begins with understanding their capacity to spend and their interests.

Step 3

Once you know the characteristics of your top millennial buyers it’s time to find more just like them. WE Analyze creates a look-alike model. This means you can take your screening data and run it through analyze. The solution then finds common traits and patterns among your top customers in this segment. These patterns can help you find more prospects just like them.

For example, you can find out that your customers are all between the ages of 28 and 32. Further, you can find that they are all concentrated in the Bay Area. This helps you find more prospects like them. Your marketing can already be directed to the older, affluent millennial in the Bay Area. Doing this would help you find prospects you might have previously overlooked. Secondly, it prevents you from spending on younger millennials who may not relate as strongly to your brand.

Step 4

Marketing to affluent millennials cannot be a one size fits all solution. Therefore, you shouldn’t market to all affluent millennials with a single message. This will not resonate with some of them. Be smart and focus on the ones that most resemble your customers. Then, you should personalize your message to this group.

Step 5

Finally, don’t disregard the power of taking immediate action.  Consumers are 22% more likely to consider a brand as a result of real-time marketing. Your customers and prospects engage with your website and other channels on a daily basis. Identify affluent millennials are as they interact with your channels. This will help you personalize their experience on the fly.

For instance, let’s say your website sells luxury shoes ranging from $200- $2000. Knowing your customer’s spending capacity and interests will allow you to customize their experience. If you know that affluent millennial user 1 prefers high-heels in the $600 range, the website can start showing products in that range. If user 2 prefers sneakers in the $300 range, then the experience can reflect those preferences right when they open your website.

What else you need to know

There is an added benefit to marketing to the affluent millennial consumer. Engaging with and cultivating them now can help you build long-term brand loyalty and lifetime customers.

Increase your understanding of the affluent millennial consumer, contact us to learn more.

Additional Articles:

Know Your Millionaire: Single Millennials

Redefining “Luxury Brand” for Your Luxury Marketing Strategy

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Create Your Own Affinity Score

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In the fundraising world affinity scores are often discussed. And with good reason. We all know that a wealthy constituent is just that – a constituent. When you have a wealthy constituent who is also engaged with, or has an affinity for, your organization; then you have a prospect.

So what is an affinity, or engagement, score? And how do I get one?

Affinity can be measured.  Assuming you have a donor management system or database, and that you have, over the years and with some degree of consistency, collected data on your constituents and prospects, you can use the data points you’ve been tracking to quantify affinity.

Constituent behavior is the key to quantifying affinity.  Does your constituent attend events at your organization? Volunteer?  Contribute? Contribute with frequency?  If the answers are “yes,” you’ve got yourself a prospect!  But what if you have 10,000 or 100,000 constituents in your database? It’s not as easy to identify those who are true prospects from among all those who aren’t. That’s where a scoring model comes in handy. 

Score your constituents rather than evaluating them individually

Rather than looking at each of your constituents individually for their behaviors that provide clues to their affinity for your charity, wouldn’t it be nice to have a formula against which you could score your entire file?  That’s exactly what a scoring model does. 

There are a number of ways to develop a formula, or model, to score your constituents. One approach combines analytic and qualitative approaches and be done by any person or group within your organization. An Analytic and Collaborative Method for Developing Affinity Ratings provides steps and guidance for developing your affinity ratings.

Another approach is us to develop a unique and statistically rigorous scoring model through predictive modeling. If you have the resources on staff, this can be done in-house, but for many it is more cost-effective and efficient to work with a vendor or consulting partner to develop one.

Regardless of your approach for developing your scoring model you will find it an invaluable aid in prioritizing prospects and developing meaningful segmentations for personalized appeals and communications. Measure the effectiveness of applying different strategies to move prospects along the continuum of affinity for your organization.