Value miner: A data mining environment for the calculation of the customer lifetime value with application to the automotive industry

Abstract

The acquisition of new accounts is a major task of marketers. It is often carried out rather unsystematically, though. However, by now, one has come to terms that customer acquisition is a matter of quality. An instrument to evaluate prospective accounts is the Customer Lifetime Value (CLV). This paper introduces a Data Mining environment for its calculation and demonstrates its applicability to marketing in the automotive industry. The Car Miner refers to the evaluation of prospects rather than of current customers. This and other restrictions will be discussed along with guidelines for future research.