In a recent Marketing Daily article, ING Direct’s Arkadi Kuhlmann discussed some of his views relative to customer retention, acquisition, and segmentation. Perhaps most interesting, was the following comment:
“I’m more interested in firing customers every month than getting new ones,” he said. “You want customers who love you, not ones that cause problems. So cleaning up the customer base is good. Get them out of the store, out of the restaurant, off the Web pages, off the phone, out of your life.”
Cleaning up the customer base is good. As discussed in several other recent posts about segmentation, there’s a growing need for financial institutions to make the distinction between attractive and unattractive customers. In the case of ING Direct, this process involves identifying “customers who love you” and the “ones that cause problems.”
Beyond making that distinction, marketers and executives need to be willing to take action. In this example, Kuhlmann talks about “firing customers.” While this may seem drastic, ING Direct isn’t the only only institution taking these steps. Identifying attractive and unattractive customers is a good first step. Taking action to clean up the customer base allows for more effective targeted marketing efforts, while limiting the potential for wasted resources directed at or absorbed by unattractive customers.