My new evangelism is data.  Long-time readers know that I bang on about databases quite a lot.  And of course, the information stored in the database is where the value lies.

Gaining customer insight from research and activity observations is one of the finesses that I enjoy in direct marketing.  As a marketer I often complete questionnaires sent by other companies.  I do this partly to see if there's stuff I can learn but also to get insight into what level of sophistication their marketing is running.

I bought a couple of bags from online manufacturer, Timbuk2 over the past year.  Then they sent me a survey.

Much of it is bog-obvious (no less useful because of that) with questions about what you've bought from them, what you'll use it for, other retailers you buy from, and demographic information.  [aside - note that they should / might know about me from direct selling and should have known what I'd bought from them before but they also sell via a distribution network and so some recipients may not have bought direct.  If this had been me, I'd have done two different surveys one for direct customers demonstrating that we know what you bought from us and one more plain-vanilla.]

But my eye was caught by two questions that seem out of the ordinary.

18) If Timbuk2 was a person, how would you describe him/her? What's their personality? What do they look like? What do they do in their free time? 

24) Please choose the statement that best describes you:
I live in a city because I love being around diversity in people and culture.     
I measure success by personal fulfillment as opposed to cash.     
When I am passionate about something, I spend a lot of time and money to be an expert.     
I am curious about the world and motivated to make a difference.     
I am part of a large friendship network.      
I am an idealist when it comes to government and believe progressiveness can delivers results.      
I am environmentally responsible and take active steps to reduce my carbon footprint (ex. Recycle, etc.)     
None    

Now the first one is a pretty standard ask in research (sometimes you compare to a car marque).  And it gives nice insights – but the second question is REALLY USABLE.

Imagine how you'd treat different customeers differently if you knew they valued cultural diversity in a city versus someone who spends money on their passions.

I think the company must have created a range of sub-groupings of theie customers and then will use this information to communicate about the brand relating to the desires and attitudes of customers in each group.  The friendship network question is very astutue as it may reveal 'connectors' who can promote the brand through their network.  I am not certain that all the statements are mutually exclusive but I was really impressed by this company's customer insight gathering.

If you want to see more on differentiation by customer need read the Intuit / Quickbooks rant -cum-debate part 1 and part 2 where my readers share their expertise on how to look for needs-based differences between customer groupings.

PS if you want a copy of the whole survey, get in touch.

Related posts:

1. The future for customer data – a preview
2. VRM – see your possible data future