Staying in Touch: Leveraging Email & Social Media

Many companies have the challenge of marketing to customers who only make one big transaction a year; they’re unsure of what to sell and how to promote but want to make sure that they are in consideration whenever the recipient is in the market again. My suggestion is to keep the recipient engaged with information, good customer service and useful tips.

Two things to consider here - first send them information through email, mobile, & other traditional channels. Second make sure you keep your social media channels updated with relevant information. Make it a place where your customer is inspired to come check out. There are three ways to do this - if you simply tell them about the channel, if you invite them to be a contributor, & if you keep the social media channels engaging.

Here are a few examples from different industries:

Your customer has just purchased a vacation trip, start by asking for feedback about their trip, offer lifestyle and food tips from other destinations. Make email communiqués reminiscent of the travel channel – offering a get away with every newsletter. Include information and numbers that they can call about destinations but don't force them to buy, simply remind them that you are there. A prominent travel company allows people to set up family pages where all pictures and videos can be put into a library. They extend this by connecting on Facebook as well.

Put up pictures of destinations and ask people to guess where the picture was taken. It works!

Your customer has just redone their home; follow up the purchase with a sincere thank you. Then ask them to send you pictures or feedback of how they like the new style and layout. Keep communicating with them offering design tips and ways to spruce up their home. Share stories of how other people have transformed their homes with similar/ complimentary products. Keep them in their same segment but offer smaller gifts that may be perfect for their friends and family. Again, encourage your customer to share their story on your blog or submit their pictures for a contest - it will bring them back and perhaps others too.

A customer makes a large financial investment – a bond or CD. Thank them and then keep them abreast of what is happening in the market. Engage them in a dialogue by getting them to share information about their family, their financial aspirations and how you can help them get there. If you keep them engaged they will pay attention to your communiqués including your offers. Financial Institutions can leverage social media channels to help educate customers on products and also use these social media channels to answer questions.

Regardless of the industry or purchase, the key is to keep people engaged with content that they perceive valuable and applicable to their daily lives… regular interaction could be your answer. Write good content for your social media channels & use email to direct people in.

Do you know where this picture was taken?

Five good reasons to Survey

As a marketer, you should know what’s on the mind of those you serve to help realize the value of all your messages. The best way to know is to ask and engage through dialogue. You can do this via email, & leveraging the many social media opportunities. Do it well and you may stumble upon an awesome brand enhancement or revenue generation stream.

Reason I) Goodwill – We’ve all been on that call that never ends – the one-way conversation that’s kinda pointless. Online marketers send 50 to 300 email messages to their list over the course of a year, add the 3000 - 10,000 tweets, Facebook status updates, etc. and you realize that your recipient is peppered by a little too much information. Why not do step up and ask them for honest feedback - show that you care.

Reason II) You have to know more – Your recipients are your litmus test, you need to check with them to see if you’re on target. Ask them what they like about your program, but avoid asking them what they don't like – instead, have them rank elements of your program. From this you can deduce the areas for improvement; use their feedback to improve as well as segment and offer better service.

Reason III) You have to show off – The recipient may only know a little bit about your company or your brand, you should remind them about all that’s available to them as a recipient. Do this subtly by asking the consumer to rank which of your available products/ services interest them. If they’ve purchased, ask for direct testimonials and ways you could serve them better. This is what you use to populate your social media channels - real user generated content.

Reason IV) You have to grab their Attention – Applying survey feedback not only shows that you’re listening but it helps inspire others to respond to future surveys. By incorporating survey feedback and crediting it to the respondents (even anonymously) is a powerful motivator; it shows empathy and strengthens your bond with recipients. The inclusion is also a great attention grabber, allowing you to reiterate the core benefits of your program – plus you can help reengage those who may have disengaged.


Reason V) The Elite – We’ve talked previously about the creation of a first responders club, it’s really simple to assemble. Start by putting survey responders in a special segment, acknowledge their inclusion and treat them well – doing so will increase the odds that they will provide future feedback, strengthen their opinion of your offering and possibly promote your brand to others.

A Better Survey

Many organizations will be putting together end of year surveys to get feedback from those they serve. Over the next few days, we would like to share with you some best practices that can both help get higher responses and increase the validity of the information.

Surveys are supposed to provide organizations with information about the needs of their customers and prospects, the hope is that this information can be leveraged into actionable information and make the recipient’s experience more meaningful. Yet so many surveys are full of flaws and as a result the responses are less valuable than expected.

One of the biggest mistakes made is the military-style opening – the request for name, rank and serial number right out of the gate. We’ve seen many surveys that start off by asking the user to identify themselves, the survey then progresses to a series of multiple choice questions and ends with the text box for opinions.

Think about the last time you responded to a survey, did your answers skew from the start to the end? Typically, we lose interest and start half-reading the questions and answers. Most respondents start off the survey by giving aspirational answers but as time progresses they tune out and may contradict previous answers or completely abandon your survey. In either case, the end results aren’t helpful and can be a waste of time for all parties.

A better way to engage the user is to ask them to share their opinion through a text box, keep questions interesting, engaging and try to solicit true views – do this by offering creative response options or by keeping the question types variable. These strategies will help you hold the respondent’s attention and will ultimately yield more truthful responses. Collect your demographic information at then end when the respondent is on auto-pilot and more comfortable with providing the information.

Finally, try and leverage the responses in future communications – email, social media, & print. Acknowledge that the update/ change is a result of survey respondent, you’ll bank extra points with all recipients.

2009: It has been the Year of Engagement!

ROI was supposed to be a major focus for 2009. The email volume has certainly gone up dramatically. Less is being done through other channels and the lines of a true opt-in has blurred a little. The key to connection this year has been engagement. If you can engage you can connect, and your program will do well. Here are five tips from marketers who have been successful in engaging their recipients:

1) Improved Segmentation – Place your recipients into segments and market to them appropriately, a few simple segmentation points include last clicked or opened, consumer (buyer, customer, member) vs. prospect, online vs. other channel and the length of time on file.

2) Active Subject Lines – Tempt the recipient to open the communiqué, this doesn’t necessarily equal esoteric subject lines, create a quick preview of the email to set their expectations and lure them in. Get your team involved to plan subject lines and never forget that the recipient is part of your team.

3) Achieve True Personalization – Personalize with content and incorporate relevant dynamic elements that fit the recipient’s preferences. Do more than insert the recipient’s name, focus on relevancy and work to engage.

4) Predict & Validate Numbers – Learn to put a prediction on expected results from a campaign – opens, clicks and conversions. Record the actual results and evaluate the delta with your email team, involve your overall marketing team as often as possible to help move toward continuity and discuss trends among your recipients. This group evaluation helps your multi-channel strength and allows you to see what consumers are really doing (Reverse Preferences factor in greatly in 2009.)

5) Carry on a Conversation – Back and forth dialogue is a necessity, accomplish this through small surveys to keep asking if you are meeting their needs. Leverage their responses into future offers.

Remember the recipient is savvy, they expect great things from you and know the value of email marketing, it’s your job to execute perfectly.

Once Again: Effective Email Marketing, a 30 Day Program

So far this year we’ve met email marketers at the Email Experience Council, Marketing Sherpa and DMA; they varied in experience level but all had a shared goal – coordinating an email program that works. Here are the seven steps we shared with them to help jump start their programs and maximize engagement… the best part is that you can see the impact in as little as 30 Days.

1) Focus on your List – Your list cannot remain stagnant; you have to keep things vibrant by continuing to grow your list – incorporating contests, direct marketing programs, social media are all effective ways to drive email and mobile sign-ups. Make sure the sign up stands out on your site so you don’t impede the process.
2) Know More – Ask for information that is applicable, personal and easy to provide (Facebook does this well.) Evaluate the responses/ behavior and cross-check using our reverse preferences theory.
3) Always Segment – At a minimum, create three segments per campaign and gradually push yourself toward a greater number of segments.
4) Always Test – Maximize the segmentation (#3) and incorporate A/B testing – start with offers and subject lines. If your list is too small, create an internal contest with your team and bet on the subject line you think will be the top performer.
5) Think about your Copy – What are your primary, secondary and tertiary offers; is your call to action clear?
6) Clean Landing – Think about the landing page, keep it focused and be sure to test offers on this page too, make the pages dynamic.
7) Evaluate Immediately – Look at your numbers in real time, share them with others and don’t forget about the quarterly review.

There are a couple other items that you can include as well as a white paper to help you Jump Start your Email Marketing – send us an email if you would like a copy.

Once Again: Carrying on a Conversation

Marketers are often impatient people… we know our elevator speech and happily recite it at any given point, so it’s difficult to accept when your offers aren’t accepted or you lose out to a competing brand. Financial Institutions are definitely included in this mix – if a customer has an existing line of business, why wouldn’t they automatically use your…

We’ve written about how now is the time for all FIs to engage and connect, let’s expand on ways to connect with your emerging and existing base. One of the most obvious ways is your standard billboard example – a big sign that says we do it all.

A second approach could be full list of all the services provided by the FI; effectively used in your print collateral… but this could be overwhelming and depends on the recipient finding the most appealing offer.

A third approach would be to gradually expose the recipient to a series of offers/ messages from your FI. This method is destined for online media channels - social media & email delivery; it allows you to carry on a conversation and can easily be initiated. The first could be a simple link on an eStatement taking the recipient to a survey or a few offers. A subsequent email could offer a little more detail based on the responses/ clicks and slowly, the FI lets the recipient know that they can help with savings instruments, provide a credit card, help with a car loan, offer insurance or assist with the purchase of a home.

It is a gradual process, requires interaction but can be highly effective when done correctly. The cycle requires both parties to learn to listen… or in the email world, track clicks and feedback. Keep in mind that the interaction may take years to play out, here’s an example from a creative FI.

Once Again: What Next?

As marketers we spend a great deal of time working on the invitation… the direct mail piece asking you to call, the radio spot that encourages you to visit the website or the email that drives you to a landing page. Yet little is done to solidify that next step… what happens when your recipient does what you want? What is their experience?

Does the caller connect with a specialist or just a CSR? Does the radio listener find the right area on your site? Does the email recipient convert or just abandon the landing page after the click through? As marketers we have to spend equal (or more) time developing that next step, making sure that there are no roadblocks to impede the consumer from finalizing the transaction.

One effective strategy is the optimization of landing pages – making sure your landing page recognizes, coaxes and converts those who have clicked through (email or website.) Employing targeted banners on the landing page/ homepage is an effective way to make this a possibility because the ads can be unique to each segment/ visitor and these offers can to be served up across channel.

So think it through and make sure your recipients are being pointed in the right direction…