Ask Them (Part I)

A friend of mine runs marketing for a retail store chain and does a great job collecting customer information; at check out, the store reps ask customers for additional information with the following offers:

1) If we add you to our database, you’ll be able to look at your purchase history online
2) You’ll be able to return/ exchange items without a receipt
3) You’ll get advanced notice of sales and special events – before the public

Her capture rate is high, both in-store and across channels – web and catalog – with the majority of customers including their email addresses (regardless of channel.) Apply her model to your marketing program – tie your customer contact info with purchase history, you’ll be able to segment and target with 1:1 personalized offers. You can also do follow up on returns/ exchanges with targeted messages that can inquire about the reasoning, experience and/ or prescribe an alternate. The pre-sale events are always good, this could be in the form of additional days notice or through a special event after (before) store hours and could be the pre-cursor to a first responders club.

Talk to your ESP about extending their data storage for you so that you can capture additional data fields on your customer base and their purchases. Your site, email and their transaction could be used as a contactless loyalty program system.

Read more >>

SIA Recap: Three Must Haves for Social Media

If you missed Friday’s Service In Action call… you missed out! We used our time to talk about the use of Social Media and offered a few musts to get everything in line for your social networking outreach. The call is available as a podcast on the SIA site, but we also have a few supporting points to add:

First, here are the links that we shared on the Facebook topic – Facebook for Marketers, Facebook for Influencers (celebrities, through leaders etc.) and Facebook for Non-Profits. Check these out for news from the source; you’ll also get insight on their features as well as updates they have planned for the channel.

There are also tons of articles on Twitter, one such article is from the Internet Marketing Toolbox, their recent post, Best use of Twitter, offers some dos and don’ts to consider as you are sending your tweets out into the Twittersphere! Bear these points in mind and be creative with this medium, as mentioned on the call some conferences are using Twitter to stream live feeds during events (including last week’s Windy City Social.)

Blogs are your tried and true medium… one of the firsts in the social media genera and serve as more of a record than any of the other due likely to their search-ability, website feel and general acceptance.

Finally, be sure that your adventures in social media are anchored in your established communications (i.e. your emails and on your home page.)

P.S. Be sure to mark your calendar for the July Service In Action on Mobile Marketing on July 30!

Read more >>

Socialthing!

Are your social networking efforts spreading you too thin? Well consolidate… I recently read about a service called Socialthing! a repository for all of your social sites. This service brings together news from 14 different sites including Facebook, Twitter and Flikr so you only have to visit one place to see what your friends are up to… it’s the single source for your digital life. Socialthing! consolidates all the social sites you use into one single interface and allows you to interact with multiple sites at once.

Still trying to enhance your digital life? Then make plans to join us for today’s Service In Action call… we’re reviewing the Three Social Media musts – we’ll give you insight on the top three social media initiatives, insider tips and ways to get into the game.

Read more >>

SIA: Three Must Haves for Social Media

We have talked about the importance of engagement and the absolute importance of social media. Many are jumping on the social media bandwagon, but aren’t making the most of their efforts. Join tomorrow's Service In Action call, as we talk about the must dos for social media – we’ll cover the top three channels, show you some best practices and prescribe the best way to leverage them into your marketing mix.

Brush up on this week’s posts, they’re full of social media examples and tips for your eMarketing efforts!

Read more >>

Word-of-Mouth still Powerful

Seems everyone is going social, we’ve even blogged about three success stories this week and there are tons more… but as a marketer, you can’t ignore the old-fashioned word of mouth and the value that it brings to the consumer.

A couple recent eMarketer articles have talked about the importance of the world’s first marketing medium, their Trust Word-of-Mouth article highlights three recent studies – all showing that advertisers aren’t highly trusted by consumers and that those who could influence were family and friends. Also included were statistics on the type of purchase – i.e. restaurant recommendations were near the top of the list, electronics and groceries were also part of the scope. A related article, Whose Word-of-Mouth Matters?, adds to the first – essentially showing that Word-of-Blog is less persuasive as compared to the advice of friends.

So as a marketer it’s important to play toward the social side of marketing – make it easy for your recipients to post content on their social media profile, recommend purchases to their friends and family. Consider the same for your product review, a simple forward feature to pass along what you wrote to your closest contacts. This strategy combines current trends while helping you reach to the recipient’s immediate contacts. Also consider a friends/ family viral campaign to help your recipients get use to the idea of sharing your content with others and never forget great customer service… that’s the best way to get the endorsement.

Read more >>

Claiborne Community

In yesterday’s post we talked about the way Social Media can play an important role in customer service – Comcast and TurboTax are some of the front runners in their use of Twitter.

Similarly, Liz Claiborne has had success with a virtual focus group; their EVP for Partnered Brands, Dave McTague, was recently interviewed by BrandWeek’s Todd Wasserman. His interview details how social media continues to be the darling of the marketing world… in this case, Liz Claiborne used a community to get gather focus group research and help relaunch their entire brand.

For this initiative, Liz Claiborne New York (LCNY) established a private community of 300. Through the community, members were able to interact with LCNY Creative Director, Isaac Mizrahi, and had the opportunity to be incentivized for their participation. LCNY had the chance to gain insight on their demographic, their needs, wants and essentially their closets to help gear the future brand direction. Additionally LCNY also had the chance to test out a new medium, how their client base would accept it and target real consumers in a meaningful way.

The wonderful part about eMarketing and Social Media is that you can quickly and cost-efficiently establish a focus group to gain interaction on every campaign, interaction and project. Simply including a “Tell us what you Think” link at the bottom of your emails, including an invitation for feedback on your social sites and surveying your recipients.

Read more >>

Here to Stay

Social Media is the way of the future, sure the most popular sites will change, but as a whole this is where the people are… naturally that’s where many companies are trying to play. The trick is determining how to interact and make it valuable for the brand and the recipient.

Some of the most popular approaches are contests, discounts, promotions etc. the traditional viral spread, but others have taken a different, more service-oriented route. We’ve mentioned the work Comcast has done with Twitter to form an online help desk, where CSRs and other users tweet about concerns and common fixes. Another similar use is the work done by TurboTax; they’ve seen similar success with the forum.

This popularity is likely a cause for the recent Datamonitor study. Ian Jacobs, a Senior Analyst for Datamonitor, was recently interviewed by InfoWorld about the trends they’ve seen with call centers adopting the social interaction. In the article, Jacobs touches on how social sites can strengthen the bonds between a consumer and brand… maybe a tweet taking place of a customer service call, or a comment on a fan page serving as a testimonial or part of focus group research.

With social media, the trick for marketers is finding that balance that is natural, Jacobs mentions the example of a consumer complaint – as a brand ambassador it could work for you to proactively reach out in an attempt to solve the issue. If done correctly; you’ve just strengthened your brand.

As a marketer, you have to go where your consumers are; companies avoiding the social scene all together are likely to lose touch with emerging demographics as well as substantial ground in the realm of eMarketing.

Read more >>

Reduce, Re-Tweet

Twitter’s popularity is undeniable… Oprah’s there, CNN and Ashton have over two million followers each. But there’s more to this micro-blogging site than coordinating simple status updates – it can actually help you with your subject lines.

Andy Sernovitz recently posted How to write a Twitter-worthy headline in his Andy’s Answers column 8on the SmartBlog on Social Media. Andy talks about the re-Tweet effect, ways to keep your headlines short, telling and informative.

Andy’s tips can also translate to email subject line success – mainly because there are tons of eMarketers with too long subject lines. As a best practice 30-45 characters are your optimum subject line length, fitting in most inbox/ preview panes (20 characters or less for mobile.)

Play with the words, order and the story your subject line tells. Follow Andy’s tips and make sure you’re getting the most out of the limited number of words you have to convince re-Tweeting, an open or conversion.

Read more >>

Inbox Filtering

Yahoo Mail recently deployed a new inbox sorting feature that allows users to streamline their inbox, now users can narrow their “View From” and display messages only from their contacts or connections – a new social networking tie in.

This new feature impacts the eMarketing Community in a couple ways; first, your Yahoo subscribers may inadvertently sort out your messages. If you’re not on their safe sender/ contacts list then they will need to select the “All” feature in their inbox to view your emails. Please note this feature doesn’t impact your deliverability… SPAM Sirens won’t sound, but you may be filtered out unbeknownst to the recipient which could impact your engagement.

To insure you make the cut, assess the number of recipients on your list with a Yahoo! address (remember that there are three – yahoo.com, ymail.com and rocketmail.com.) Create a special campaign for those recipients – be clever and timely. Make reference to the recent Yahoo! updates and let them know you want to be on their friend list so that they’ll receive your best offers. From there, watch your activity among the group – are you seeing a decline in opens/ clicks for this segment versus past campaigns?

Regardless of the domain, make sure your recipients are receiving your message. Some great ways to make this happen are to 1) make sure you ask for the safe sender/ contact add from the start; 2) include instructions on how to add with each message (something simple, at the bottom) and 3) periodically send a “stay connected” invitation when new features/ updates are made available. A great approach for your top domains is a Dynamic Whitelisting push – here’s a past post with the how to information to coordinate the outreach for your top domains. You can also read more about the new Yahoo features on their blog.

Read more >>

Join the Club

We recently visited with one of our retail customers; their multi-channel approach includes paper, brick and email. They email quite frequently and are very motivated by their open rate… because this is one of the three ways they generate revenue.

The first way is through Memberships – The retailer allows members exclusive concierge and pricing privileges to discounts, members can purchase products before others and are allowed to shop while the store is not busy.

The general sale of Merchandise is the second way, the basic commerce aspect – more product/ services generate more revenue, this is often driven by the email campaigns.

Finally they generate revenue through Email Sponsorships, their campaigns feature certain products and the cost of that campaign is covered by the vendor whose item has the hero spot. The open rate, click and conversion information is shared with the sponsor – along with the opportunity to sponsor a future campaign.

Your marketing strategy may be different, but you can apply their approach to your campaigns, create an email club with your top responders. Give these recipients the privilege of receiving your email campaigns first, offer special events or offers... make them special. Email us if you need a whitepaper to help get you started.

Read more >>

Three Seconds

Three to five seconds – that’s the amount of time the average reader of your email campaign spends looking at your message. Notice we said reader, not recipient… for these precious seconds you’ve had to have made it to their inbox and earned an open. Seems pretty daunting doesn’t it? Imagine what has to be done to get a conversion…

To make the most of your brief time on stage, make sure your message is clear. Make sure that the recipient knows what is expected of them so that your message isn’t simply being deleted and your chances aren’t ruined the next time.

The Art of Mono-Tasking
The multi-tasking, multi-channel world is the reason for these brief seconds of glory… don’t fall victim yourself, practice the art of mono-tasking, The Dumb Little Man Blog tells you how.

You can apply this practice to your campaigns, review each critically – switch of all distractions, minimize interruptions and set a timer (maybe 15 minutes.) Evaluate the engagement earned – how many opens, clicks and conversions were earned? Focus as narrowly as possible, measure over similar campaigns sent last week, month etc. What made one campaign more successful than another?

Make notes how you can improve your future campaigns, prioritize these changes and use the metrics you’ve earned to strengthen engagement. Gather feedback from others – each week print out a couple copies of your campaigns and randomly ask people in your group/ company to give feedback on ways to improve. Select people at random, choosing new guinea pigs each week; acknowledge their feedback and incorporate the ideas you can – your campaigns will strengthen and your ideas for new campaigns will grow.

Read more >>

Buyer and Marketer

As an online marketer, you’re probably well versed in the way your web store works and how your products/ services differ from competitors. But do you understand the mentality of your customers – do you know why people buy from your web store? Do you know the process from the buyer’s perspective?
Like an email audit, your web store process could benefit from a quarterly check-up. Here are some best practices we’ve gleaned from consumer surveys, industry research and interviews with eMarketers from around the globe:
1) Thou shall Scale – Your images can't be broken, landing pages must work, emails have to be delivered on time.
2) Navigation & Clarity – The front end should be clean, easy to navigate and have enough detail. This includes the usability on landing pages.
3) Solicit and Share Feedback – Make the most of your feedback mechanisms – comments, praises and issue/ resolution. Capitalize on social media options; these are excellent ways to expand your reach.
4) Audit – Remove any obstacles to the conversion process. Test for simplicity, view emails, browse offers, click, choose and checkout.
5) Emphasize Security and Trust – Are your emails, personal and secure? Work toward these goals, then publicize that they are. Become an informative, trusted source for your consumer. Be aware of PCI and FFIEC compliance, we can help. Email us if you’d like more information on these two terms or would like help constructing a quarterly review.

Read more >>

Standing Out

The next time you go to a mall, shopping plaza or superstore, look around, you’re sure to find smaller stores with niche offerings as well as discount stores too. If you walk through each of these stores you’ll quickly realize their purpose – the niche stores have a finite quantity of unique, often one-of-a-kind items. Discount stores have their fixed, staple products that are always present and maybe a few items that change seasonally.

If you apply this thinking to your email program, you’re sure to have companies that compete with you – same products, similar offers. How do you stand out? Here are a few points to consider:

• Vary offers, even within segments.


• Staple Products are your core, make it easy to locate these items and be sure to pay attention to the consumer’s price/ frequency thresholds.


• Incorporate a search function that can be launched from your emails.


• Offer superb service, keep your other channels link prominent – call us, ask us, online chat etc.


• Ask/ Answer – Include a link to the FAQ section, this helps create expectations for the consumer. Take it a step further by recognizing people for asking questions – reward them, if possible.


• Be consist with your layout, but mix things up within the space to keep things interesting.


• Solicit feedback all the time, but don't forget that you have to respond to the feedback – acknowledge and adjust.

Read more >>

Lost in Transmission

SPAM… we’ve all got, no one wants it, but what do you do with it?

According to a recent article in eMarketer, there’s been a SPAM spike, a 5.1% increase last month. The study cited goes on to say that 90.4% of May’s worldwide email traffic was SPAM, with hard hit areas in Hong Kong, the UK, Australia and Japan… the US faired slightly better with an estimated 87% of May’s total email volume being SPAM related.

Where does it come From?
Geographically speaking, nearly a third of SPAM originates in Europe per the eMarketing article; followed closely by Asia, South America and then North America. This breakout also corresponds to when recipients receive their SPAM – US residents see increases during the work day, starting at 9AM local time. Asia receives theirs in the evening and Europe throughout the day. Worldwide, we see more activity on Mondays and Fridays with the least on Sundays.

The article goes on to state that over half of the SPAM volume (some 57.6%) is sent through botnets – a collection of computers (sometimes thousands) that send messages without the owner’s knowledge. Much of the US SPAM originates from smaller, unclassified botnets or free Webmail solutions like Yahoo! Mail or Hotmail.

Even if you’re running a clean email marketing program, odds are you’re just a drop in the ocean of SPAM. Our friends at Return Path published a Benchmark Report in 2008 that showed less than 20% of mail (world-wide) were sent from legitimate servers… of that 0.63% was classified as commercial email – proof that email deliverability is an up-hill battle for all eMarketers.

Available Resources
In addition to the items cited in this article, our most recent Service In Action call focused on Deliverability. This call is available as a podcast on the site and we can send you a copy of the corresponding presentation.

There are also tons of research and whitepapers on the Return Path site. There are also services including Goodmail available – Goodmail recently participated in a webcast intensive for Financial Solutions, feel free to access this webcast on the Service In Action site.

Finally, remember to keep your virus protection software up to date so that you don’t accidentally become a Spammer against your will.

Read more >>

Nasty Hidden Fees

I enjoy watching marketing messages and low fare updates from a particular air carrier, they have a great sense of humor in their campaigns and commercials which helps them to be extremely engaging. Unfortunately, they don’t operate out of my local airport so it’s not too often when I can take one of their flights.

That changed recently when I got a great deal from San Francisco to Las Vegas; I had arrived three hours early for my flight to Vegas so I walked up to the counter to try for the flight scheduled to leave in the next 30 minutes. To my surprise, I was told that I had purchased a cheap fare and could only change my flight for the difference in the tickets. I asked if the flight was full… it wasn’t, nearly half empty, which kinda hurt.

I sat at the terminal and reached out to their call center, via online and phone. The phone rep put me on hold after learning the nature of my issue, and then politely declined access to the flight (it had already taken off by this point.) The online channel got back to me five days later with a long explanation of how they are able to offer great deals and service. The message also included a link to a press mention of their customer service ranking. The last line of the email stated their policy and said they looked forward to my next flight with them. The email was so long, so boring and the ending so expectedly, it has cast a shadow over their marketing messages – completely counter to the messages they send.

Meanwhile back at the gate…
So I waited the three long hours for my ticketed flight, which gave me plenty of time to speak to the crew from my flight. They told me that the decision to put me on the flight was entirely up to the gate agent and that they were really surprised that they didn’t accommodate me. The captain and I chatted for a while, he even acknowledged how poorly they handled the situation – I remember his comment so clearly, he said, “What happened to you is the easiest way to lose customers. We had could have gotten you on the previous flight which had plenty of seats… if we had, you would have raved about us. Instead we pissed you off.”

As a marketer, all outreach should be taken into consideration… this includes those canned Customer Service messages. My experience is a great example; the customer service response I received was irrelevant, unfocused and included mostly fluff. Are your policies and practices undermining the work your marketing is building? Consider this recent post, it’s a similar situation but much better outcome for the person impacted… I’m sure he’s a fan.

Read more >>

No Phone… Just Email and Facebook

I was at an airline baggage office last week because my bag hadn't showed up yet. I was complaining about my rerouting… I was supposed to fly back from San Jose but instead had been rerouted from San Francisco to Las Vegas then to Atlanta and finally back home. While there I commiserated with a young soldier who was trying to locate a lost bag, he had flown from Burlington, Vermont, to New York, then to Atlanta and finally with me to Columbia, SC. He too was missing his bag – which we learned had been shipped with another person to Pasco, Washington. I was at home, but the soldier was only in Columbia for a day. The next day he was bound back to Atlanta to go to Zhou Shan, China, from there to Misawa, Japan. From Misawa he was going to be shipped to an undisclosed location – he was carrying his sealed orders with him.

The airline rep arranged to have his bag shipped to him in Misawa, except she needed to connect with him once there. He wasn't sure if his cell phone was going to work, and he wasn't going to break the seal to tell her where he was being sent once he landed. All of a sudden the young soldier said he would have access to email and Facebook, so he volunteered those IDs. He was certain he would check his Facebook page at every destination... unfortunately the representative wasn't allowed to access Facebook. She asked for an exception, called her company and got permission to communicate with him via email and Facebook.

A week later I was bound for another city but checked in the terminal to see what had happened, thankfully, the soldier had received his bag because he was able to share his final destination via Facebook, proof that Facebook is more than a social site – you can use it for communication, customer service, sales, loyalty – the potential abounds.

Make plans to join us on June 26 for our Service In Action call focused on the Three Social Media Absolutes.

Read more >>

Cut Costs, Improve Experiences & Retain Customers

We just wrapped an interesting case study with a financial institution, our goal is three fold – reduce expenses, improve customer experiences and customer retention. Our first step was to define customer retention – we realized that retaining the customer was not just having them keep their money in the bank, retaining the customer required interaction, up-sells and insuring that the customer came to us for all their financial transactions.

Next we listed all the paper mailed to the customer, to that we added the cost of preparing/ sending paper statements – needless to say we were more than a little surprised to see how much money was being spent. We engaged a few members of the call center to proactively reach out to customers in hopes of converting customers to the email program, all with the goal of reducing expenses.

Next we tried to maximize every contact opportunity with the client. We realized that the customer spent time online; we tracked what they did and captured reverse preferences in a contact management database available to the CSRs – now, every time the customer contacted the bank, we had a frame of reference. Rather than selling the customer directly, we provided up-sells to the CSR to present to the customer.

We next came up with the plan of being extremely prompt in our follow up, every inquiry was quickly acted upon and every transaction was acknowledged (across all channels.) The customer’s questions were answered expeditiously and we introduced a transactional survey to help them keep score on us. Additionally, we shared the report card back with the customer – an effective strategy to help retention.

As an FI, use this three-pronged approach to draft an effective plan to retain customers and engage new prospects, you’ll be amazed at how quickly you can influence the relationships with your customers/ members.

Read more >>

Unthought-of Social Media Uses

Social media has become our norm and not just for entertainment value – police, doctors and even astronauts are Tweeting, using Video and opening up for their various uses.

Police Video – Officers in Cornwall & Devon, UK, are using YouTube to help find an attacker, the officers have posted closed circuit television images of a suspect on YouTube in hopes that the video will bring forward witnesses to help identify a man accused of assault.

120 CCs in 140 Characters – According to a NY Times article, more than 250 hospitals use YouTube, Facebook, Twitter or blogs to market their services and create awareness. The article details live Twitter feeds from the OR, YouTube video of a craniotomy and even the use of Facebook to locate participants for hard-to-fill clinical trials.

Long Distance – Astronaut Mike Massimino may be the first to Tweet from outer space, writing from orbit: Launch was awesome!! I am feeling great, working hard and enjoying the magnificent views; the adventure of lifetime has begun! Okay, maybe he’s not the first with the title… he actually sent an email to NASA who updated the Twitter page – a small step for man, large leap for Twitter popularity.

Read more >>

Always room for Email

Most businesses are continuing to cope in our economic downturn by employing innovative ways to stay in front of their consumers; obviously email is highly effective. Here are a few ideas for eMarketers to apply – these ideas could keep your consumer engaged, work toward involving the rest of your organization and help identify new avenues:

1) Set a Benchmark – I met with a cataloguer earlier this year and we put together a simple plan to keep users engaged. We set a base-level benchmark, no matter what their email campaigns had to account for $X in weekly sales. This forced them to retain the balance between information and offer without forgetting their base goal.

2) Up Sell – As a second step, we sought up-sells from those who purchased with three simple steps, a thank you with an incentive, a related follow-up offer and a follow-up email three weeks after purchase to check in.

3) Learn More – We put together a quick survey via phone and email targeting the consumers who didn’t purchase, asking them why they opened/ clicked but didn’t finalize the transaction. We asked them what else they would like and used that information to package an offer to them.
This process helped generate additional revenue – the Up-Sell initiative helped drive an nearly 20% in additional sales, the Learn More survey boosted sales another 5% and so far they’ve managed to meet their weekly benchmark. See if you can do the same for your program, email is a quick and effective way to keep things moving despite the current climate.

Read more >>

Facebook Challenges TV!

Facebook is growing rapidly, but is still a long way from taking over TV’s popularity. According to a UK study, the average Brit watches approximately four hours of television a day, compared with only 45 minutes of daily Facebook-ing. Yet, the popular social site has done more… increasing its share of total time spent online from 7.2% (2008) to 12.7% as of April 2009. All told, users spend one in their average eight-minute web segments on Facebook per a Nielson Online Study, UK.

These findings translate into potential advertising dollars. Marketers (like everyone else) have been forced to evaluate their current spend and contemplate the offset of TV Ad dollars to less expensive mediums. This brings up an interesting spin on things – in general, advertisers can’t control what viewers are watching on television; Facebook allows for possible influence since most users are focused on the screen. Users can communicate with you, interact with your brand and immediately connect.

Facebook characteristics can also be applied to your email strategy, for instance:
1) Use your email to help create community, include interesting user generated content
2) Keep connecting with people on Facebook, emails should be post-able, post-worthy and include invitations to your page
3) Bring Facebook into your email program, share feedback, include content and run contests, your email and Facebook efforts should have a symbiotic relationship.
4) Don’t Restrict (this is for the IT guys) some companies restrict Facebook, blocking employee access. Today’s smart phones are a direct connection, consider allowing access especially if your employees are furthering your marketing/ branding efforts.

Read more >>

Blogs Engage Corporate Stakeholders

Used properly, web-based tools can go a long way in helping you communicate your message. We have often written about ways to get your blog started; today's post is a summary of how corporate organizations should use their blogs to keep people engaged and maintain their brand.

1) Keep it Current – Develop a schedule and drive towards maintaining it, routine posts and an up-to-date blog will keep people coming back to visit your site.
2) Be easy to find – Be sure your blog is easily accessible from your website and outbound emails… you could even be as bold as to set up a feed or prominently feature your blog on your homepage – maybe a quarter or third page.
3) Be Conversational – Remember people don't have all day, keep your posts short and conversational to increase interest. If it’s a longer article, have them click through.
4) Use Multi-Media – Pictures and video go a long way to enhance your posts; just be sure you’re adding to your post and make the video components optional.
5) Don't Drive Revenue – Use your blog as a means to keep people engaged, a source of information and a place for them to learn. If your visitors like your site, they will keep visiting, tell others and perhaps even make a purchase.
6) Solicit Feedback through Comments – Interaction is important, keep your comments in an original form, but sanitize them as appropriate.
7) Multiple May Work – Don't be afraid to start multiple blogs to fit varying user interests and feedback, just remember to make all of your social media efforts easy for the user to locate and define how they differ from one another.

Blogs add to your brand and your search-ability online, their dynamic nature also allows you to share information quickly to help enhance your reputation as a flexible organization.

Read more >>

Name them to Shame them!

The European Commission just announced that dozens of European airlines needed to change their websites to make sure consumers weren’t misled into making purchases. In addition to these changes, they wanted reduction in ticket prices as well as the simplification of the purchase process, to make it less confusing. Interestingly a review of 70 airlines showed that only 16 bore appropriate standards… those not making the changes would be named publicly by the Commission.

A couple of things that stood out:
1) Fares should be displayed clearly and shouldn't just be added on at the end of the transaction – rather they should be added at the start of the booking process, this way the consumer is able to anticipate the cost and therefore reducing the odds of surprise and abandoned bookings.

2) Pre-ticked boxes were thought to force consumers to opt-in rather than remind them of the offers that are available; this was deemed as an unfair practice. Many airlines pre-checked the booking insurance tab – as a result, a number of people purchased the insurance even though it was not required.

3) Pre-checked boxes advertising special offers (i.e. email specials) were said to be a strict no-no; their belief was that people should have the opportunity to opt-in and not be duped into getting on to the email program.

As an eMarketer, it’s disconcerting to see the last point; but not impossible to overcome. From an offer stand point it can be easy to get visitors to opt into your email program, a few simple items on a site can entice visitors to join your list. The use of a few creative campaigns can help new recipients see the value of your communications, plus there is the transactional email conversion opportunity. Highlight the value of your program, make it stand out and be succinct with the benefits, it will help regardless of your industry.

Read more >>