Householding is the process of organizing shared relationships under a common hierarchical structure like the following:
Three individual records identifying clients living at the same address who we know as family members.
- Doe, Chris | 123 Anystreet | Anytown, USA
- Doe, Jane | 123 Anystreet | Anytown, USA
- Doe, John | 123 Anystreet | Anytown, USA
Householding links the three records (and any future related records) so that if I want to direct mail the family I send to only one physical address and not 3 separate addresses.
- Smith
- 123 Anystreet
- Anytown, USA
- John
- Jane
- Chris
The “big idea” here is to understand and report on the overall relationship value of a related client set. If I have twenty clients at a company, then I want to know the relational value of that company by virtue of the individual client records, etc. This works for family units, businesses, hobbies (golf, cycling, etc) and other identifiers that could help me better understand how my clients’ relationships hold value. At its basic level, it eliminates duplicate physical addresses. The concept of householding is not new and I’m sure there are ways to use tags, but I’m looking to Copper for a more formal and structured approach to householding. I formerly used Solve360.com to relate and report on households. You can see a demo at their site. Any ideas…?