Identifying customer priority for new products in target marketing: Using RFM model and TextRank

Target marketing is a key strategy used to increase the revenue. Among many methods that identify prospective customers, the recency, frequency, monetary value (RFM) model is considered the most accurate. However, no RFM study has focused on prospects for new product launches. This study addresses this gap by using website access data to identify prospects for new products, thereby extending RFM models to include website-specific weights. An RF model, built using frequency and recency information from website access data of customers, and an RwF model, built by adding website weights to frequency of access, were developed. A TextRank algorithm was used to analyze weights for each website based on the access frequency, thus defining the weights in the RwF model. South Korean mobile users’ website access data between May 1 and July 31, 2020 were used to validate the models. Through a significant lift curve, the results indicate that the models are highly effective in prioritizing customers for target marketing of new products. In particular, the RwF model, reflecting website-specific weights, showed a customer response rate of more than 30% among the top 10% customers. The findings extend the RFM literature beyond purchase history and enable practitioners to find target customers without a purchase history.