1. A customer relationship management system, the system comprising: a memory that includes an interaction database of interaction data, wherein the interaction data is related to interactions between customers and merchants; a data retrieval system, wherein the data retrieval system accesses data from the memory, based on a set of criteria, and defines a promotional group subset of the customers stored in the interaction database to which promotional efforts are directed and a control group subset of the customers stored in the interaction database to which promotional efforts are not directed, the target group and the control group are mutually exclusive, and wherein the target group of customers and the control group of customers are based on the same set of criteria other than promotional efforts, which enables the control group to be useful in assessing effectiveness of the promotional efforts; a promotion analyzer, wherein the promotion analyzer enables retrieval of data from the interaction database related to interactions involving customers in the promotional group; and a display for presenting a representation of the retrieved interaction data.