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Marketing Zip Code Tracker

Marketing Zip Code Tracker shows where your customers come from, one line per zip code, with how many customers that area sent you, what share of your business they are, what they spent and what the average customer from there was worth. Use it to see how far your catchment really reaches, to decide where a mailing or a local campaign is worth running, and to check whether the areas you spend money on are the ones actually bringing work in.

3 how-to answers 4 screenshots Open in ARM Markdown

How do I run the Marketing Zip Code Tracker? #

  1. From the Home Screen, click Reports → Marketing & Business Analysis Reports → Marketing Zip Code Tracker. The screen is headed MARKETING ZIP CODE TRACKER (FINALIZED INVOICES).
  2. Click the Finalize Date box and pick the period. It opens on the first of the current month through today. Only finalized invoices count, and they are picked up by the date they were finalized.
  3. Type into SEARCH to look for one zip code, or leave it empty for all of them.
  4. Click SEARCH to load the report. SHOW ALL clears the search and reloads on the same dates.
  5. Click PRINT for a PDF copy. There is no spreadsheet download on this report.
Marketing Zip Code Tracker zip codes with the totals row
Marketing Zip Code Tracker zip codes with the totals row
Marketing Zip Code Tracker print output
Marketing Zip Code Tracker print output

How do I work out what an area is worth to the shop? #

  1. From the Home Screen, click Reports → Marketing & Business Analysis Reports → Marketing Zip Code Tracker, run it over a long period, and pick one line.
  2. CUSTOMER COUNT is how many finalized invoices came from that zip code. Example: 91773, 2 customers.
  3. PERCENTAGE COUNT is that as a share of every customer in the period. Example: 2 of 4 customers = 50%.
  4. AMOUNT SPENT is what those customers spent between them. Example: $451.55.
  5. PERCENT SPENT is that as a share of everything taken in the period. Example: $451.55 of $724.74 = 62%.
  6. AVG SPENT is the amount divided by the customer count — what one customer from that area is typically worth. Example: $451.55 ÷ 2 = $225.78.
  7. Read the two percentage columns against each other. An area giving you 50% of your customers but 62% of your money is sending better work than average; an area whose share of money is below its share of customers is sending smaller jobs.
Marketing Zip Code Tracker rows used in the calculation example
Marketing Zip Code Tracker rows used in the calculation example

How do I print the area breakdown? #

  1. From the Home Screen, click Reports → Marketing & Business Analysis Reports → Marketing Zip Code Tracker, set the date range and click SEARCH.
  2. Click PRINT. The PDF opens in a new tab, titled Marketing Zip Code Tracker with the date range in the heading, carrying the same seven columns and the same footer.
Marketing Zip Code Tracker date range and filters
Marketing Zip Code Tracker date range and filters
About this screen

Give it a long period. Over a few weeks most zip codes show a single customer, which tells you nothing about the area — a year lets the pattern appear.

Each line shows the ZIP CODE, the CUSTOMER COUNT — the number of finalized invoices from that area — the PERCENTAGE COUNT that is of all your customers in the period, the SMOG CHECKS done for that area, the AMOUNT SPENT in total, the PERCENT SPENT that is of all your takings, and the AVG SPENT per customer.

Above the table, TOTAL: is the number of different zip codes and TOTAL AMOUNT: is the money across all of them. The footer adds up only three of the seven columns — CUSTOMER COUNT, SMOG CHECKS and AMOUNT SPENT — and leaves the other four showing their headings, because a percentage and an average have nothing useful to add up.

Two things are worth knowing before you read the numbers. Both percentage columns are rounded to whole numbers, so a column may come to 99% or 101% without anything being wrong. And the zip code is whatever is held on the customer record, so a Canadian postal code such as `R3X 1K1` sits in the list alongside 91773 — the report groups by what was typed, and a zip entered two different ways becomes two lines.

Read PERCENT SPENT from the screen rather than the printout. The two work it out from different figures, and the printed column comes out higher — in the example the screen shows 62%, 28% and 10%, adding to 100%, while the printout shows 66%, 30% and 10%, adding to 106%. Every other column on the printout matches the screen. A set of shares that adds to more than 100% cannot be right, so where the two disagree the screen is the one to quote.

A customer only counts here if a zip code is recorded against them, so an area that looks quiet may simply be an area where the zip was never entered. The ADD TO FAVORITES switch beside the report title saves a shortcut to the report under your favourites in the main Reports menu.

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