AVALON CLIENT REPORT

Executive Summary:
The analysis conducted for Avalon Cosmetics, Inc. needs to refocus its customer contact strategy. Using statistical analyses, the author found that the company’s marketing plan needs to be revised. Currently Avalon contacts most of its customers during the day, a technique that was profitable in 1990, but three years later in 1992, most customers were contacted in the evening. The data shows that 64% of Avalon’s customers now work, as compared to 26% in 1990, and 39% in 1991. Additionally, where it used to take two attempts to make contact with a customer in 1990, in 1992 that amount doubled – it took four attempts in order to make contact with a customer. It is clear that Avalon’s customers are now working and contact in the evenings is required. As such, the recommendation is that Avalon concentrates its efforts on making contact with customers in the evening.
The Data:
Using information from Avalon Cosmetics, Inc. for the years 1990-1992, the data set contains quantitative data (purchase price, number of contacts, and time of day contacted), ordinal data (month, day and year), and dichotomous data (employed). In order to facilitate analysis, year and time of day contacted were converted to dichotomous data sets.
Findings:
The key finding in the analysis was that the customers of 1990 and 1992 are different in one critical factor: more customers work today than they did in previous years. Although the customer is similar in age and the number of children they have, they differ significantly in their employment status. Two assumptions from staff are inaccurate. First, Ms. Carol Sanderson believes that most of Avalon’s customers are staying home to care for their children, which is not the case; in fact 64% of customers are now working. Second, Ms. Nancy Mackey’s assessment that spending money on TV