Assessing the Value of Unifying and De-Duplicating Customer Data

This exercise provides an opportunity for students to gain hands on experience with assessing the value of unifying various customer databases that a firm may have (e.g., across the different brands it markets) and of properly identifying customers to avoid duplication and misclassifications. It further provides an example of evaluating the ROI on a marketing intervention, and quantifying the implications of properly accounting for various customer records in the firm’s databases. The exercise breaks down the assessment into several tasks and questions. Taken together, the exercise allows for a demonstration of the value to marketers of properly identifying and unifying customer records. A Spreadsheet Supplement (HBP 525-701), which should be made available to students along with the exercise, contains the necessary data to conduct the relevant analyses.