The customer base is a powerful tool for company development and a way to increase sales. But the effectiveness of such a tool directly depends on whether you know how to work with it. Collecting customer numbers even with additional information is a way to nowhere if there is no further work with the data.

Why is the customer base so important

The customer base and competent work with it provide competitive advantages for the company:
• The quality of the information collected affects the quality of service. With detailed information about your customer, you can create personalized offers, such as a holiday promo code or a birthday discount
• Satisfied customers can advise your services to their friends
• Customer segmentation can be performed based on the database
• Any marketing campaigns are easier to organize if you know which communication channels are preferred by different groups of customers
• Thanks to the customer base, you can track the path through the sales funnel or remind long-forgotten customers about yourself. As you know, it is much more profitable to work with regular customers, rather than throwing all the resources to attract new customers.
• The database contains various information about consumers, which means that you can make forecasts and assess the prospects for development.

What are the customer bases
Depending on how a company maintains a customer base, accumulates and analyzes information, several types of databases are distinguished.

Potential customer base — here are contacts who have not yet become buyers, but you can and should work with them.

The base of regular customers — this usually includes those who have already bought more than three times, which means that you need to track feedback, notice patterns when making a purchase.

Key clients — this category includes VIP clients who have been with the company for a long time.

How to create a customer base from scratch

There are many ways, from word of mouth and industry exhibitions to digital tools that have greatly expanded the capabilities of marketers.
1. Lead magnet is a well-known and effective way to get customer data. A discount, a gift, an opportunity to get important information — any value for the client works.
2. Presence on all popular Internet sites and regular high-quality content will attract a potential audience, and simple contests with reposts or friends' marks will help increase coverage and give an opportunity to expand the customer base
3. Profile events such as exhibitions, conferences, fairs also give a very good effect.
4. Ready—made databases - not right away. Buying such a dubious product will not give an influx of new customers, but will only lead to unnecessary expenses.
5. Cold calls are the most difficult method with the lowest conversion rate.

What else is important? To create a quality database, you need to know exactly who your target customer is. That is, the analysis of the target audience should be as detailed and accurate as possible.