Create customer profiles

A customer profile is a summarization of segments that have been appended to customer address records. For example, if a customer address record is geocoded and found to be in a block group that has been classified as Segment 23, that address record is classified as Segment 23. Once this classification has taken place for all address records, the count of records in each segment is collected, and the resulting summary represents a customer profile.

Input prerequisites

A customer address file is needed, either as a table or as a layer in the table of contents.

• If no latitude/longitude coordinates are in the file, choose Geocode from an existing table, which will assign a geographic code and corresponding segmentation code to each address record. In addition, the segmentation profile will be created.
• If a segmentation code is already present on each address record, choose Use an existing segmentation code in a customer table to create the segmentation profile.
• Other options include Use Address Coder, which will assign a geographic code and corresponding segmentation code to each address record in addition to allowing more advanced file filter options. The segmentation profile will also be created.
• If you have a point layer file but don't have addresses, choose Use an existing customer layer to assign segmentation codes. This option uses a point-in-polygon approach, and processing time is considerably longer. In addition, the segmentation profile will be created.

Example output

The Profile window shows you the count, percent, total volume, and average volumetric of summarized data by segment. You can click the field headings to sort by that field. Click the heading again to toggle between ascending and descending order.

• Count—The number of records that are classified in this segment.
• Percent—The percentage of records that are classified in this segment compared to all segments. This column should add up to 100 percent.
• Total Volume—If a volumetric field is used, the total volume (for example, number of visits or dollars spent) is the summation of the volume for each customer classified in that segment.
• Average Volumetric—The average amount spent by each customer in that segment. This value is calculated by dividing Total Volume by Count.

Applying Volume to a Profile

A customer profile can be created with volume information. If the table that contains your customer information includes a field with volume information (number of visits, items purchased, dollar amount spent, and so forth), you can specify that information by checking the Use volume information check box and selecting the volume field from your customer layer using the drop-down menu just below the check box. Profiles based on volumetric data can be powerful because you are applying more weight to customers who spend/visit/use more and less weight to those who don't. In a profile without volumetric data, each customer is weighted the same and none is given higher importance over another. This can make a difference if you have some customers who spend $100 and other customers who spend $10,000.

Learn more about Customer Profiles