ABSTRACT
Marketers typically attempt to improve the effectiveness of their campaigns by targeting their best customers. This chapter illustrates the inadequacy of the descriptive approach and to demonstrate the benefits of the correct predictive profiling approach. It explains the predictive profiling approach and then expands the approach to look-alike profiling. Descriptive profiles report the characteristics of a group of individuals. Predictive profiles report the characteristics of a group of individuals. A look-alike profile is a predictive profile based on a group of individuals who look like the individuals in a target group. Using a descriptive profile for predictive targeting draws a false implication of the descriptive profile. A predictive profile describes responders concerning responsiveness—that is, regarding variables that discriminate between responders and nonresponders. In the Cell-Talk illustration, Cell-Talk requires predictive profiles to increase the response to its campaign for a new bundle of features.
