Relationship Marketing Heuristics

Wouldn’t it be great to be presented with or provided perfect information…all the time. You would be able to use this information to build perfect programs, engage in perfect conversations, build perfect solutions, have perfect relationships, and hire perfect employees. Your company, products, services, partners and customers would all be perfect. We are all taught to strive for perfection, and we should. After all that is the perfect goal…perfection.

Reality, however, is that perfection is unattainable. It is unattainable because the information presented to you has two fundamental flaws:

1) The information reflects a single point in time, so no matter when you get it, it is already out of date. Undoubtedly the information has changed…it is no longer perfect.
2) Much of the information we receive is based heuristic knowledge…that is, it is based on some level of intuition, rule of thumb, or guesstimate. It is not perfect because of human interpretation that is based, at least at some level, on historical bias.

Don’t worry…this is not bad news. In fact, it is one of the reasons that we, as marketers and relationship managers, have careers. Our job, whether working directly with consumers or indirectly through channels, is to use our skills to gather and interpret all of the information available to build the best possible programs, campaigns, communiqués, and relationships possible. They may not be perfect, but we are asked to get as close to perfection as possible.

I have used this blog to discuss data analytics quite a bit over the past few months. Instead of rehashing the posts, you can check them out here:


Lessons from the WSOP
Belief, Truth and the Power of Observation
Ch…Ch…Changes
Pyramid vs. Diamond
Different Types of Channel Relationships
Strategic Targeting


Instead, I wanted to spend a little time discussing heuristics. Heuristics is an extremely important part of relationship marketing. Individuals with the ability to use their past experiences and intuition in conjunction with effective data analysis, are rare. But it is these qualities that are necessary to make insightful, creative, and unique decisions, especially in times of uncertainty. Heuristics is the ability to discover or learn through investigation. We use assumptions, intuition, past events, and “rules of thumb” to add to the quantitative data we have at our disposal. While we won’t have “perfect” information, we have enough to perform an informed analysis and execute.

We all use this process frequently. For example, I have posted a link to this blog on a number of LinkedIn Group sites. I joined many of these groups because of what I know about either the members of group or the purpose of the group. My decisions were not based on perfect information. In most cases, I have been pleased with the groups and the content they provide. In some cases, however, the groups have been “duds”. Likewise, those of you who clicked on the link and are now reading this, did so because of some assumption or intuition. Perhaps you enjoyed a previous post or maybe the topic was of particular interest. There was no guarantee that you would get what you wanted or expected, but you chose to check it out because of some historical context. This is how social media works, in general. We receive some content and use heuristics to decide to send it on within our trusted network. It is not perfect, but more times than not, those receiving the information will be pleased with what they receive. We do not wait for perfect information before we forward or retweet. Likewise, it is not random. We don’t send everything to everyone, because we know that not everyone would find the content interesting or of value.

Many people refer to marketing as a blend of art and science. I agree. The art is in one’s ability to apply their intuition, make accurate assumptions, and apply a methodology to build insightful and creative marketing solutions. The science is in the application of data analytics based on ALL of the information at our disposal. These two things (the art and the science) cannot be mutually exclusive. They are both required to build effective relationship marketing campaigns. Recently, someone asked whether channel data integrity is important. Naturally, my response was “absolutely”. But we have to make sure we see beyond the absolute numbers and apply a methodology for including the more qualitative information at our disposal. Remember, what we know may not be captured in a database somewhere. We need to be able to tap that knowledge and apply it to the quantitative data set to get as close to perfection as possible.

Warning: Sports analogy follows:

Peyton Manning is a master of heuristic methodology. Think about what he does on every play. First, he assimilates the facts…the indisputable facts presented to him. He knows the score, what down it is, how many yards he needs for a first down, and his personnel. He knows the weather, temperature, and wind direction. These are all facts. As he gets to the line of scrimmage, he starts his heuristic method. He knows the defensive tendencies, their formation, and the opposing teams coaching philosophies. While this is not absolute data, he can use it to make an informed decision. Based on what he knows and what he assumes from his intuition and historical knowledge, he can make a decision about what play to call. He processes all of this in a matter of seconds, makes a decision, calls the play, and executes. He is so adept at using all of the information that his team doesn’t even call plays in the huddle. Manning knows that he needs the data he gets by looking at the defensive alignment to be successful. You can’t get that information in the huddle. More times than not, Manning is correct and his execution is flawless. Is he perfect? No. Does he strive for perfection? Absolutely.