Profiling, therefore, means the collection, analysis and processing of data and information relating to customers who visit a specific site or e-commerce in order to divide them into groups. The division of buyer personas, or typical customers , into groups is the optimal solution for determining the needs of different types of customers and offering them customized products and services. It should also be emphasized that profiling is not only useful for creating new products and services, but also for improving your communication strategies . Through this analysis, in fact, it is possible to choose both the message and the most suitable means of communication to get in touch with existing and potential customers.
One last thing to consider is the difference between customer profiling and customer segmentation, which many people tend to confuse. While on the one hand profiling can be considered a bit like a customer identikit , a way to know the customer's demographic characteristics, interests and purchasing behaviors, on the other hand segmentation is the division of customers into groups and subgroups that have similar characteristics.
RFM Analysis: What is it?
To profile and then segment customers into groups based on purchasing behavior, various techniques can be used, among which the most interesting is undoubtedly the so-called RFM analysis .
RFM Analysis is a customer profiling technique that is based on three key factors: Recency , Frequency and Monetary value.
When we talk about recency, we are referring in particular to the analysis of the period of time that has passed since the last purchase made by the customer, in order to offer them, for example, promotions and discounts that encourage them to make another purchase soon.
Frequency is instead the analysis relating to the number of purchases made by the customer in a given period of time; a customer who purchases several times in a month in this case will be a more important resource for the company than a customer who makes sporadic purchases.
The last factor is then the monetary value, that is, the customer's spending ability and the amount of money spent on purchases made, how much he is willing to spend . A bit like what happens with frequency, also in the case of monetary value, a customer who tends to spend a large amount of money in a given reference period will be considered a more receptive recipient than a customer who spends less.
This type of analysis therefore involves two different phases , the first of simple information gathering and the second of analysis of what is defined as the buyer journey , that is, the customer's purchasing pattern and the stage at which they find themselves during the purchasing process.
The typical customer's purchasing process
The purchasing process is in turn divided into four phases : initially, in which the customer begins to express a need or necessity; a second phase in which the customer carries out information research aimed at satisfying his need; a phase of selection of alternatives and finally the purchase.
The marketing strategy that generally follows the RFM analysis ultimately has two main objectives: on the one hand, to implement loyalty campaigns for the “best” customers and on the other, to rely on re-engagement techniques for users considered “at risk” .
