Are you familiar with the “butterfly effect”? The theory is that a small, seemingly insignificant action can set off a chain reaction, resulting in large, significant effects elsewhere. The classic example is that the motion of a butterfly’s wings in Brazil could instigate a storm in Birmingham.
Of course, we can’t actually confirm this phenomenon in nature, but the theory certainly applies to the targeting component of your marketing program. Proper targeting is the very foundation of your program, yet is rarely given the respect and focus it deserves.
A thorough assessment of your targeting strategy and data is essential to driving incremental impact and sustainable ROI. Data freshness, completeness and overall integrity will always impact the success of an initiative. Often times, however, the rush to be in market and the rigor required to properly vet target data are at odds.
We were reminded of this truth in a recent campaign when, after an initial several week run the program performance was directionally 75% where it should have been. The root cause? A rush to market without thoroughly scrutinizing the target data.
Prior to the second phase of the program, however, we worked closely with the client to tighten the targeting strategy – based on “learning-to-date” and “best” customer analytics. This single action boosted our performance rate to 3X that of the initial phase – and helped us exceed expectations by more than 20% during the second half of the program.
Once again, a small, seemingly insignificant action resulted in significant dividends on the backend.
