Businesses use a variety of different marketing methods to attract new customers. These marketing methods range from mass marketing campaigns that involve broadcasting marketing messages to potential customers without regard to market segment differences, to direct marketing campaigns that involve marketing directly to consumers. Mass marketing strategies reach a large audience of potential customers but are relatively inefficient in converting potential customers into actual customers, whereas direct marketing campaigns reach only a relatively small number of potential customers but are much more effective in converting potential customers into actual customers.
The first step in developing an effective direct marketing campaign is to define the target market for the campaign. Oftentimes, however, the target market of a campaign is difficult and expensive to determine. For example, the development of a well-defined target market typically requires personal information, such as the preferences and habits of potential customers, which typically is not readily available. Oftentimes such information is obtained through expensive, labor-intensive in-person interviews, online surveys, and the like.
Some businesses provide electronic gifting services that allow customers to purchase gifts for delivery to respective recipients. Such gifting services provide opportunities for these businesses to obtain information about potential customers (the gift recipients) with little cost or effort. This information, however, oftentimes is limited to gifting transaction information, such as names and addresses of the customers and the gift recipients and details regarding the delivery of the gifts. Such information typically is not sufficient for launching an effective direct marketing campaign to the gift recipients. Moreover, many country, state, and municipal jurisdictions have promulgated rules and regulations that prohibit or significantly constrain the ability to use a person's personal data for direct marketing purposes without consent.