Optimal Database Marketing: Strategy, Development, and Data Mining Review

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(More customer reviews)Having read many books on database marketing, direct marketing, data mining & CRM as a consultant, I appreciate the story line approach heading up each chapter most. Many books fall prone to teaching "at you" rather than guiding the user along "through the experience of doing it".
A second critical factor to look for - once you've gotten through all the introductory books - is finding concrete info on how-to, best practices providing significant content and knowledge. This is the true value-add from the masters: learning is incremental and there must be true takeaways to get the 5 stars.
This said, the authors have made an extremely broad, detailed and well spun story out of a subject matter that can be to say the least, challenging... Moreover, the disciplines of customer analysis, database management & modeling, data mining, statistical analysis, marketing planning are all the focus of reengineering by many of today's major businesses.
Consequently, this book leads nicely and rather naturally into a major subject of the day for many IT & marketeers -- Analytical CRM. As such it is a must read for anyone interested in understanding how A-CRM works in many companies practicing DBM today.
A great next step would be to go from the marketing-IT function(-ing) to the broader enterprise, long-term (relational) infrastructure & practices preached by CRM. Show how the DBM process evolves in to and is transformed by meeting Customer Mgmt strategies. How would DBM work in a enterprise integration, near/real-time, customer interaction CRM initiative?
Finally, as an aside, in reviewing MANY course syllabi across the world in DM/DBM, I've OFTEN found this book as the course text if not mandatory-suggested reading.
I agree -- for all & anyone wanting a good complement to Shepard's seminal work - you can't do any better.
Buy it ! Good reading...

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Contemporary direct marketing and e-commerce companies cannot exist in today's competitive environment without the use of marketing databases.Databases allow marketers to reach customers and cultivate relationships more effectively and efficiently.Although databases provide a means to establish and enhance relationships, they can also be used incorrectly, inefficiently, and even unethically."Optimal Database Marketing" was written to provide the marketing manager or student with a complete and solid understanding of how to properly establish and use databases to help organizations maximize their relationships with customers.The book originally evolved from an outline developed by an advisory board of industry experts that was established by the Direct Marketing Educational Foundation.As such, this book looks beyond the temptation of the quick sale to consider the long-term impact of database marketing techniques on the organization, customers, prospective customers, and society in general.Co-authors Dr. Ron Drozdenko and Perry D. Drake help the marketing manager and student gain a thorough understanding of how to properly establish and use databases in order to build strong relationships with customers. There is not another database marketing applications book available today written specifically for the marketing manager – the how's, why's and when's.In addition, buyers of this book will have access to sample data sets for conducting various types of database analyses.Dave Heneberry, past Chair of the DMA and current Director of Western Connecticut State University's Direct Marketing Certificate programs, was quoted as saying upon reading this book, "The most useful database marketing reference guide published today.The authors do an excellent job of laying out all the steps required to plan and implement an effective database marketing strategy in a clear and concise manner.A must have for academics, marketing managers and business executives."Brian Kurtz, Executive VP, Boardroom Inc., 2000 DMA List Leader of the Year and DMA Circulation Hall of Fame Inductee, said about this book, "Destined to be the definitive guide to database marketing applications, analytical strategies and test design."Kari Regan, Vice President, Marketing Services, The Reader's Digest Association, said "This book should be studied by all who aspire to have a career in direct marketing.It provides a thorough overview of all essential aspects of using customer database to improve direct marketing efforts.The material is presented in a style that renders even the technical subjects understandable to the novice direct marketer."Dante Cirilli, DMEF Board Member and Retired President, Grolier Direct Marketing, was quoted as saying "This book is a must for all marketing managers in understanding databases issues to successfully manage and structure marketing programs and achieve maximum results."What you will Learn in this Book:"Optimal Database Marketing" illustrates how organizations can properly create and effectively use marketing databases.It offers in-depth, practical coverage of the strategic and tactical decisions involved in marketing database development, maintenance, and mining, while emphasizing how organizations can establish and maximize their relationships with customers.A partial listing of some of the things you will learn in this book include:- Methods to monitor the vitality of your customer base.- The steps involved in developing any database strategy to ensure marketing objectives are met.- The 6 rules to building robust response models guaranteed to hold-up in roll-out.- Why and how we segment the marketing database to increase marketing effectiveness.- How global, social and ethical issues impact database marketing today.- Options available for determining customer lifetime value.- How to monitor promotional intensity.- The steps involved in developing an RFP for purposes of outsourcing the database.- Outside list test design considerations.- The proper steps to analyzing your marketing tests with confidence.- How to plan and implement database development and maintenance to increase effectiveness and efficiency.- How to establish marketing tests that will yield the most reliable and actionable results.- The steps to ensuring a successful database marketing plan.- The basics of database technology needed to effectively interact with IT professionals.

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A Clinician's Guide to Statistics and Epidemiology in Mental Health: Measuring Truth and Uncertainty (Cambridge Medicine) Review

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(More customer reviews)There may be a professor of psychiatry out there who does a better job than Nassir Ghaemi in transmitting his wisdom directly to you - but in twenty years I have not found one. I have read the authors research papers for years. As an editor, I became familiar with his book "The Concepts of Psychiatry" as I considered the philosophical aspects of the field. His writing is always clear and his thinking consistently brilliant.
In this brief volume on statistics and epidemiology his historical and original observations and descriptions of recent concepts is worth the price of purchase alone. A good example is his chapter on meta-analysis. He reminds the reader why this statistical method was invented in the first place and goes on to discuss significant limitations, significant historical critiques, and where the method might be useful. His opinions are well thought out and in a few brief pages he touches on issues that seem to be rarely discussed in the literature. This is an important chapter for a physician to read during a time when more and more meta-analyses are considered the gospel and end up as front page truths.
He also provides a "defense and criticism" of evidence based medicine. He provides a philosophical context for the discussion and reminds us of "the cult of the Swan-Ganz catheter". Anyone who was an intern or resident in intensive care settings in the 1980s and early 1990s can recall the widespread use of this device despite the lack of evidence in randomized clinical trials (RCTs). It became the standard of care despite the lack of evidence. He pays homage to Feinstein his original observations that the evidence for evidence-based medicine goes beyond RCTs.
The remaining chapters are concise discussions of statistics and epidemiology but they are anything but dry. An example would be his discussion of effect estimation and the number needed to treat or NNT method he describes the calculation and its advantages. He goes on to describe the meaning of particular numbers and also why the context is important. He uses a timely example of the issue of antidepressants and whether or not they lead to suicidality.
This book succeeds as a volume that can rapidly bring the clinician and researcher up to speed on most current topics in statistics and epidemiology in medicine. It is not a book that reviews mathematical theory. It does not provide exhaustive calculations and examples. It is written for clinicians. It is a book that could provide a basis for discussion and seminars in this field for advanced residents using some of the author's references or recent literature searches to look at specific concepts. It could also be developed into a much more comprehensive text on the subject. Dr. Ghaemi brings a very unique viewpoint to the subject matter and he has produced a very readable book that I highly recommend.
George Dawson, MD

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Accessible and clinically relevant, A Clinician's Guide to Statistics and Epidemiology in Mental Health describes statistical concepts in plain English with minimal mathematical content, making it perfect for the busy health professional. Using clear language in favour of complex terminology, limitations of statistical techniques are emphasized, as well as the importance of interpretation - as opposed to 'number-crunching' - in analysis. Uniquely for a text of this kind, there is extensive coverage of causation and the conceptual, philosophical and political factors involved, with forthright discussion of the pharmaceutical industry's role in psychiatric research. By creating a greater understanding of the world of research, this book empowers health professionals to make their own judgments on which statistics to believe - and why.

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Spatial Data Analysis: Theory and Practice Review

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(More customer reviews)This book is one of my ever read in the field of Spatial data Analysis. I recommend it for any young researcher, who is trying to understand the matter of spatial Data Analysis.

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Are there geographic clusters of disease cases, or hotspots of crime? Can the geography of air quality be matched to where people hospitalized for respiratory complaints actually live? Spatial data is data about the world where the attribute of interest and its location on the earth's surface are recorded. This comprehensive overview of the subject shows how the above questions can be tackled.It is written for students and researchers in geography, economics, social science, the environmental sciences and statistics.

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Resilience and Vulnerability: Adaptation in the Context of Childhood Adversities Review

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(More customer reviews)What causes some people to collapse under adversity, while others are able to surmount seemingly overwhelming odds?
"Psychological resilience" has emerged as a hugely popular topic. The topic strikes a cultural chord, appealing to our myth of rugged individualism. We are all resilient - up to a point. For every child that develops severe problems due to a traumatic experience, many more do not.
But there is an illusory quality to the seeming variations among individuals in their capacity to conquer adversity. If we look deeply enough, we find that certain types of chronic adversity in early childhood are virtually insurmountable. No one overcomes them.
Luthar's edited volume goes a long way toward explaining what types of adversities predict this catastrophic failure, and why. With chapters from leading scholars, it explores factors that predict good or bad outcomes among children exposed to child abuse, divorce, poverty, parental mental illness, community violence, discrimination, parental alcoholism and drug abuse, and an accumulation of multiple risks. The book also explains biological and genetic influences on childhood outcome, and provides suggestions for how we can promote resilience through early childhood interventions.
This is an excellent overview of a complex topic. I highly recommend it.

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Childhood resilience is the phenomenon of positive adaptation despite significant life adversities. While interest in resilience has burgeoned in recent years, considerable uncertainty remains regarding what research has revealed about this phenomenon. Integrated in this book are contributions from leading scientists who have studied children's adjustment across risks common in contemporary society. Chapters in the first half of the book focus on risks emanating from the family, and in the second half, on risks stemming from the wider community. The concluding chapter integrates the evidence presented to determine considerations for future research, and directions for interventions and social policies.

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Presenting Medical Statistics from Proposal to Publication: A Step-by-step Guide (Oxford Medical Publications) Review

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(More customer reviews)If you are looking for a quick "transformation" read this book. This is a nicely written, concise and practical book. There are some technical description about the use of statistical software (STATA and SPSS). For those not interested, they can skip the technical sections but reviewing these pages (typically written in boxes) will make you understand better the way these programs function particularly reading the output page. I kind of believe this is the best reference for those who are seriously planning to write research papers.

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As many medical and healthcare researchers have a love-hate relationship with statistics, this practical reference book may make all the difference.It takes examples, mainly from the authors' own research, to explain how to make sense of statistics, turn statistical computer results into coherent information, and help decide which pieces of information to report and how to present them. Presenting Medical Statisticsincludes a wide range of statistical analyses, and all the statistical methods are illustrated using real data.Labelled figures show the Stata and SPSS commands needed to obtain the analyses, with indications of which information should be extracted from the output for reporting.The relevant results are then presented as for a report or journal article, to illustrate the principles of good presentation. The reader is taken through the various stages ofthe research process, from the initial research proposal, ethical approval and data analysis, to reporting on and publishing the findings.There are even extensive references for those who wish to find out more about the statistical methods.This is a must for anyone working with statistics in the medical profession.

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Building Data Mining Applications for CRM Review

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(More customer reviews)I picked up a copy of this book (along with a few others) after my boss put me on a project to apply data mining to a churn problem we have been having. Unlike most of the other books I found, this one didn't limit itself to algorithms and statistics. It answered all my questions and was critical to a successful presentation I gave to our VP of marketing. I'm just about to start applying what I learned by deploying a churn campaign and don't think I would be where I am without this book. I give it a five star recommendation.

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How data mining delivers a powerful competitive advantage!Are you fully harnessing the power of information to supportmanagement and marketing decisions? You will, with this one-stop guide to choosing the right tools and technologies for a state-of-the-art data management strategy built on a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) framework.Authors Alex Berson, Stephen Smith, and Kurt Thearling help you understand the principles of data warehousing and data mining systems, and carefully spell out techniques for applying them so that your business gets the biggest pay-off possible. Find out about Online Analytical Processing (OLAP) tools that quickly navigate within your collected data. Explore privacy and legal issues...evaluate current data mining application packages...and let real-world examples show you how data mining can impact -- and improve -- all of your key business processes.Start uncovering your best prospects and offering them the products they really want (not what you think they want)!

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A Kalman Filter Primer (Statistics: A Series of Textbooks and Monographs) Review

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(More customer reviews)I share the disappointment of a previous commenter regarding the rather poor production quality of the book. Both the format and the typefont are clearly inadequate for a book like this.
This is certainly not a book to introduce oneself to the Kalman filter, in spite of
the title. Rather, the author explores from a very personal perspective some of the inner workings of Kalman filtering, drawing connections with e.g. the Gramm-Schmidt orthogonalization. The seasoned user, with already a good understanding of Kalman filtering, can benefit from reading it, the novice will probably be bewildered.
In a book such as this, going into detail into several algorithms, it would have been desirable some attention to numerical stability questions, which are conspicuously absent.
Overall, I did not felt very rewarded for the effort I put reading this book, yet I think it does offer to the experienced reader some insights which are different --one might say "orthogonal"-- to what is found in other books.

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System state estimation in the presence of noise is critical for control systems, signal processing, and many other applications in a variety of fields. Developed decades ago, the Kalman filter remains an important, powerful tool for estimating the variables in a system in the presence of noise. However, when inundated with theory and vast notations, learning just how the Kalman filter works can be a daunting task.
With its mathematically rigorous, “no frills" approach to the basic discrete-time Kalman filter, A Kalman Filter Primer builds a thorough understanding of the inner workings and basic concepts of Kalman filter recursions from first principles. Instead of the typical Bayesian perspective, the author develops the topic via least-squares and classical matrix methods using the Cholesky decomposition to distill the essence of the Kalman filter and reveal the motivations behind the choice of the initializing state vector. He supplies pseudo-code algorithms for the various recursions, enabling code development to implement the filter in practice. The book thoroughly studies the development of modern smoothing algorithms and methods for determining initial states, along with a comprehensive development of the “diffuse" Kalman filter.
Using a tiered presentation that builds on simple discussions to more complex and thorough treatments, A Kalman Filter Primer is the perfect introduction to quickly and effectively using the Kalman filter in practice.

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