Why don't companies more effectively use the data they have?

1-to-1 May 22nd 2005
I work for a digital document company that offers the service of direct 1-to-1 marketing, using databases of very accurate personalized information, to allow our clients to target their customers on a more relevant basis. The reason that I bring this up is because this week I received junk mail from 3 major insurance companies, vying for my business. Notice I called it junk mail, instead of marketing material. I make this distinction because there is a large difference in between the two. Junk mail is full of generic information, full of broad sweeping statements, which have absolutely no relevancy to my individual situation. Junk mail places the burden of action solely upon the recipient to take the next step and contact someone, or someplace for more info. Horrible strategy.

Marketing material on the other hand is full of relevant info that I want to know, and will arm me with the facts that I need to make an informed decision, without having to do anything on my part to obtain said info.

None of the mailers that I received had any relevant facts. They didn’t do their homework. Instead they used a mailing list (probably based off my credit score and/or driving record) to determine if I was a “desirable client”. While this is a good start, they all failed in bringing their message home.

In all 3 cases they told me how much I “could” save, and who to contact find out. Pathetic. Very few people are going to ever bother picking up the phone.

Here is what they should have done:

Find out how much I am currently paying for my coverage
What level of coverage I have
What cars I drive

Then give me an exact quote telling me how much you are going to beat my current provider by. This would not be hard to do; all of this information is readily available through databasing services like Teradata, USAdata, and Lexis Nexus. To a limited extent Progressive has done this, on their website, but I do not know if they leverage this info in their marketing material (because I’m already a Progressive customer)

What is even more astonishing is that one of the companies that mailed me is actually a client of my employer! And yet they still failed to use the tools that we offer to them! Sad, very sad.