Research Tips

Data Mining

Do you have a customer database or maintain electronic transaction records? If so, you may be able to mine that data to discover valuable insights.

The term “data mining” is frequently used, but often misunderstood. While many people associate data mining with software, it’s actually a process (which software can help facilitate). Data mining involves looking for meaningful patterns in data. For instance, if you have a customer database, using data mining you might discover that customers who were attracted to your company through referrals stay with you longer than those attracted through advertising. That could be an important consideration when formulating your future promotional strategy. If you have transaction records, through data mining you might learn that customers who buy one product also frequently buy another. That can create opportunities for cross-selling, as Amazon.com customers will know since Amazon uses data mining techniques to generate book recommendations.

You don’t need to be a large company in order to take advantage of data mining — even small companies can benefit greatly from mining the data they already have.