Does customer analysis affect firm performance? Quantitative evidence from the Polish insurance market

Despite many conceptual and empirical studies, the relationship between marketing information systems and financial performance remains ambiguous. In this paper, we propose and test a model explaining how customer analysis can affect financial performance. The data for the study were collected from 590 insurance intermediaries in Poland. The results indicate that the strongest predictor of financial performance is the degree of formalized knowledge processing, followed by the scope of performed customer analysis. Other factors that positively correlated with financial outcomes include earning most revenues from corporate clients (versus consumers) and employing policies aimed at regaining former customers. The study also found that add-on selling is not significantly associated with better financial results.