Publications

Tim Graettinger, president of Discovery Corps, Inc., has published his first article about data mining in what will become a regular column in TDAN (The Data Administration Newsletter). Discovery Corps, Inc. is a data visualization, data mining, and predictive analytics consultancy headquartered outside of Pittsburgh, PA. TDAN's newsletter and website reach more than 10,000 technical and business professionals each month.

If only I knew ... - who will renew their service plan - who will defect to the competition - who will buy our new product - who will become a high-value customer

Sound familiar? To make better decisions as business people, we all wish we could see into the future and deep into the hearts and minds of our customers. In response to the wishes above, this article asks the question, "Suppose I knew ..., what would I do?" We will describe the process to translate the wish for customer knowledge into actionable strategies and tactics.

We will look specifically at one common business problem, customer retention, but the same principles will apply to a broad range of business issues. The primary instruments involved will be a customer database/warehouse and a predictive model built via data mining. By the time you are finished reading, you will understand the wish-to-action translation process from end to end. And you will be able to apply the process to your own business problem(s) - before any money is spent or any project is begun.

To keep the discussion concrete, we will consider the process in the context of a case study. Suppose that Donna is the VP of Marketing for a large trade organization. She is responsible for several trade shows and a large annual meeting. Over time, there has been a decrease in attendance at the annual meeting. She needs to increase retention. Donna asks, "Suppose I knew who will come to this year's meeting, what would I do?"

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