The Consumer Seeks a Specialist

We dub 2010 as the year of the empowered consumer.

Our survey of over 400K consumers gathered perceptions of various organizations; participants were consumers who shop, travel, dine in restaurants, bank and entertain. Real people, representing different demographic segments responded to questions about the companies they did business with – including yours.

We surveyed their needs, their expectations and their feelings about marketing messages and social media; we went further, conducting focus groups and having detailed conversations. We found that customers want choice. We found that consumers value organizations that can keep up with them and communicate across channels – leveraging digital channels and social media are essential for engagement and give you the best opportunity to connect with them.

An engaged consumer is the best thing for your business and an Empowered Consumer will be the type of consumer businesses will have to deal with going forward.

The first thing to remember is that the consumer seeks a specialist. Remember the empowered consumer has already done most of the research as the web & mobile gives them information at their fingertips. Additionally, they have access to forums and the convenience of social media allows them to get peer feedback in real time. Consequently, when they walk into your store, your branch, or touch you on any of your channels - their expectations are as follows -

1. Your touchpoints is all knowing, a specialist that can educate them and answer their question &

2. If they don't know the answer they have access to resources in near real time to assist the consumer.

Join us this afternoon at 2.00 PM EST as we talk about our research, including six other things that consumers expect from companies. Additionally, we got consumers to open up about their expectations on social media. We hope to share what consumers really want. More information at the Service in Action site.

Read more >>

How to murder an established brand in 10 easy steps!

My friends at Ideopia published this article in a newsletter.

1. Protect your brand from change like a religious zealot. Your marketing mojo has worked for 100 years, and by golly it'll work for another 100. Convince yourself that all good change is evolutionary; that anything progressing faster than a terodactyl is downright dangerous.

2. Democracy rules. Vote on everything, especially creative work. And vote often. Phil in accounting. Lisa in customer service. Your mom. And, of course, legal. Your marketing will be stripped of anything that could possibly make it work, but an ass covered is an ass saved.

3. Believe your sacred brand lives in a vacuum where it is immune to cultural, technological and demographic changes. Like Women's Suffrage and the Internet, they're all fads anyway.

4. Worry about losing your job. That fear will protect you from taking any action that could positively move your business forward, while you may get lucky and ride the flat growth line into retirement.

5. Wear Teflon by Armani. Let the little guys take the fall. Make your subordinates more afraid of losing their job than you are of losing yours. After all, it's your job to cultivate talent internally.

6. Talk a good game. Drop buzzwords. Maybe Tweet once or twice. Reference articles about social media and forward them to higher ups. Everyone will know you're on top of this new fangled stuff, but don't do anything about it.

7. Congratulate yourself for being at the top of your industry without wondering if your industry will be there in 5 years.

8. Ignore criticism or even the hint of negative karma. Consumers are idiots or difficult cases. Research lies. And your agency's job is to suck up and take orders.

9. Never benchmark or evaluate your program against other industries much less competitors. Those guys are clueless and their ideas have no relevance to an aged and revered brand like yours.

10. Consumers are idiots (see No. 8). Listening to what they think or feel about your brand, or how it could better meet their needs is just stupid. What could possibly come from it? New product ideas. More share. Why bother? Your brand had this nailed 100 years ago.

Many thanks to Susan @ Ideopia!

Read more >>

Five Social Media Resolutions for 2010

In January 2008, a major influencer in the search engine marketing business made a bold statement. He predicted that Web 2.0 was a fad that would fade away by year end. The same year a once popular direct marketing expert predicted the demise of the internet if gas prices fell to $1 per gallon.

In January 2009, a CEO of a major online shopping solution provider, 'accomplished speaker & author,' insisted that the spend on social media is overrated. He insisted that your money would be better spent if you focused on investment in search marketing. (His software had the ability to facilitate effective search marketing.)

Earlier this year, I heard an internet guru & 'esteemed consultant' say that social media took up too much time, that there was no way to measure the impact of social media, & that your investments would be better in other channels.

Contrary to these opinions, social media is turning out to be a very effective engagement tool. You can grow your sphere of influence by engaging your existing fans (getting them to pay more attention to your campaigns), and getting your fans to promote your brands to their acquaintances. You also have an opportunity to be genuine and engage your consumers in a real dialogue. This dialogue is the foundation of relevance in all your campaigns (across channel).

What is popular today is Facebook, Twitter creates a buzz, & blogs abound. User generated content via text, sound, pictures, & video helps build up the value of a brand. Many companies are making significant investments in social media. There are distinct ways to measure success.

For the success of your social media strategy in 2010 you need to focus on five things -

1. You have to learn to listen via social media, don't just lead conversations - you need to join conversations;

2. You need to respond to queries and comments - good or bad, and do this quickly;

3. You have to keep learning & adapting your program to meet the needs of those you serve;

4. Set up simple measures of success;

5. Be as genuine as you can!

Good luck with engagement in 2010.

Read more >>

Email Resolutions for 2010 - Part II

Here are the other six resolutions for an email marketer in 2010. Here are the first six from yesterday.

7. I will work with the call center, brick & mortar channels – yes, we all resolve to do it each year. But here is what you should do – first engage them by pushing offers their way, & two show them all the different ways you can track people. The more involved they are in your campaigns the more they will support you.

8. I will test before I launch – test each campaign before you put it out. Have three types of tests – first – a sanity test on what the campaign should do, second involve your team to see what they think will work (and let them find errors), third – test it out on a sub-section of your recipients before you send it out to your entire list.

9. I will work on subject lines – these drive open rates and engagement. A good subject line can also be leveraged into Facebook or Twitter. Take some time to come up with them rather than just slapping them on last minute. In fact, set a goal to solicit subject lines from your peers and narrow them down with testing.

10. I will monitor my deliverability – watch your delivered and blocks on every campaign. Don’t mess this up – keep your IP’s clean by keeping your customers and prospects on different IP’s.

11. I will monitor my metrics – for all my campaigns. You need to look at all your numbers across channels. Innovative marketers this year will actually start measuring success across channels – start campaigns on one channel and transfer people to another. Also, share your reports with other people in your organization.

12. I will be a customer. Make a checklist of things that you like about your campaigns. See if the path makes sense, and if the marketing is up to par. Track your subscribe & unsubscribe process.

Tomorrow, resolutions for social media in 2010.

Read more >>

12 Resolutions for an Email Marketer

Email Learning Season has just begun. Over the next couple of weeks Marketing Sherpa’s email summit, the DMA’s Email Evolution Conference, and numerous other online seminars will bring together email marketers to define best practices.

Here are some key resolutions for marketers as they enhance their programs.

1. I will create transactional triggers – think about specific messages for specific transactions. Create these messages and automate the sending process. Review your results weekly.

2. I will work hard on growing my list – you need to set realistic goals and involve your team in growing your email list across all channels. Remember the transactional triggers – enable them for your non-web channels as well.

3. I will create a preference center – a real cross channel preference center that will solicit recipient preferences, update preferences based on user interaction, & keep the preference tables updated through surveys.

4. I will watch the frequency of my campaigns – so as not to startle, or numb the recipient from the excessive barrage (or the out of the blue email) of messaging. You can make this effective by tracking your open rates per consumer across multiple campaigns and not just one.

5. I will keep surveying the consumer - include a survey link in every email to solicit recipient opinion. Leverage other channels into collecting user preferences. Think hard about the questions too – don’t use the survey to score how well you are doing. Use the survey to connect with the recipient.

6. I will survey the non-buyer – reach out to people that don’t buy from you and try to get their opinion. Make them a priority – you will learn something good about your program, get an opportunity to try new things on people that don’t seem to respond, & perhaps convert someone.

Look for the other six resolutions in tomorrow’s post.

Read more >>

Engaging Consumers in 2010

Here is a summary on some ideal practices for you to successfully engage consumers in 2010.

You have to know what they want, which will help you anticipate what to present, and you need to time your offers appropriately (not too soon, and not late). You can only do this if you are listening to the needs of the consumer and more importantly you are doing this across channel. Yes, the key to engagement in 2010 is to keep in touch with those you serve and respond at the speed of sound.

Monday's post details how best you should capture preferences.

Tuesday & Wednesday give you some examples of organizations that have started moving ahead with engagement. These organizations are striving towards relevance as they engage their consumers in timely dialogue leveraging social media, other digital, and traditional marketing channels.

To stay connected you have to stay in the know. Since you can't be everywhere your consumers need to be your eyes and ears. Yes, you have to learn how to create an insiders club. On Thursday we talked about some simple steps that will help you create a first responders club.

I have an opportunity to work with and learn from a group of employees today where every employee is a real expert on the products sold by this company. They know their stuff, and take a genuine interest in engaging their consumers in a dialogue.

2010 is all about preferences, it is about knowing your consumers preferences, and about empowering your people to serve your consumers. If you would like a copy of this weeks posts as a white paper, please email me at sundeep.kapur@gmail.com.

Do join us for our Service in Action call set for Friday January 29th where we talk about survey results from real consumers that will help you in your 2010 marketing strategies.

Read more >>

How Do You Create An Insiders Club?

An insiders club is a group of people that care about your brand. They tell you what is right, guide you when you are wrong, and stand up to support your brand. Woodstock Soapstone Company lists their insiders on their web site – these people are brand ambassadors who provide great testimonials. Intuit has created an insiders club that helps promote their community by answering questions.

Why bother?

A retailer redesigned their web site. They hired an agency who recruited potential consumers. The new site was phenomenal, it was built by feedback, focus groups, A/B testing, & eyeball tracking. They paid the agency $1.5 Million! A similar sized retailer reached out to their inner circle and solicited their feedback. People were grouped into three categories – those who provided feedback for free, those who provided feedback for a whopping discount, and those who were given a gift card to spend in a certain amount of time. This retailer spent less than $20,000. The first retailer took six months to redesign their site, the second retailer took less than half that time.

Having an inner circle is vital. They are your go to group of people. It takes a little time, some effort, and honest diligence to create an insiders club. Here is how you do it –

1. List a ‘tell us what you think’ on every message that you send out. Not just email but across all channels. Ask people to rank your product, rank your service, and leave them a text box for comments. Use this information to update consumer preferences, and be sure that you follow up with the consumer as soon as they respond. Thank them for their answer, be genuine, and try to engage them with an email from you or a real person.

2. Offer more than what they have ordered. Rather than just sending them a thank you email for a transaction, ask them if they would like a sample from you. Now reach out to them after a reasonable amount of time and solicit their feedback on the sample sent. Add those that respond to your insiders club.

3. Use intrigue to connect. ‘How much does a family of four spend on drinks if they eat out a restaurant once a week throughout a year?’ This can lead to a calculator that is then used to help the individual come up with saving possibilities. ‘How much do you spend on gas in one year? What if you saved just 5 cents a gallon? What if we can find you a location that gives you cheaper gas?’ A question like this could lead to a site where you can find the best deals on gas. You could run a caption contest on your social media sites as well. An intrigued consumer is an engaged consumer.

The important thing in all these scenarios is to connect with the respondent with a follow up message from a real person. Next, segment them into a special list, and stay in touch with them over time. Reward them with previews, sneak peeks, and exclusive discounts (if you can). Set a goal of ‘x’ number of responses per campaign and do this across channel.

A Credit Union with a member base of 200K has about 13,000 insiders. A travel company has a list of over 2 Million, and an insiders club of 60,000 names. A retailer has over 50,000 go to insiders who give them counsel. The key is that they did it one insider at a time.

Many set up real time insider clubs on social media sites like Facebook & Twitter. These people are a valuable group of followers. Just keep in mind that when you communicate with them on social media sites you are in their space and that they are not in yours.

Intrigue, engage, & thank each person who responds and watch your insider list grow! It is your ticket to success in 2010.

Read more >>

Engaging Sites - Part II

SunTrust Bank has done a great job in creating a Twitter & Facebook community that is focused on helping people reach personal goals. Their focus is on priorities. The site does a good job answering questions, & keeping people engaged.

SunTrust on Twitter.

SunTrust on Facebook.


Exclusively Weddings is about more than engagement. They connect with people wanting to know their preferences and offering ideas on the perfect wedding. Their Facebook page is about sharing your inspiration.

Exclusively Weddings on Facebook.


Duncraft wants you to share in their passion for backyard birding. You can browse their online mall – not just shopping but their Facebook page, their Twitter page, their Blog, their contests, their polls, & answers to your questions. Want 22 tips to attract more birds to your yard?

Duncraft Blog.

Duncraft on Twitter.

AAA is all about membership marketing & keeping their members engaged. If you want to visit places and want to know what to do, the best place to ask is AAA. AAA realizes this sense of community, so they engage their members by soliciting member input in coming up with recommendations.

If you live in the Carolina's you can chime in too.

Read more >>

Engaging Sites - Part I

Herrington Catalog engages people by offering them the opportunity to join their private client registry. They offer testimonials, examples, & ask a lot of pertinent information. The catalog is all about enthusiasts who want to be part of the insiders club at Herrington.

Take a look at their preference page.

Paul Fredrick wants you to look good. So after asking you for your email id, they solicit your preferences – your size, your style, & what you wear to work. They close it out by requesting your mailing address. Additionally, they give you different ways you can get in touch with them.

Sign up for their emails and enjoy the relevance.

Sears does an almost perfect job as far as keeping the consumer engaged. They have created an information portal that allows you to learn, ask, & aspire. The beauty about this is that you can create your own account and keep updating your preferences. The brilliance about this is that Sears can personalize their messaging to you.

Check them out yourself.

Read more >>

2010: The Year of Preferences

2010 is about knowing your customer or member. It is about understanding prospect behaviour. It is about knowing across channels, & doing so in real time. In 2010 the empowered consumer will do business with people who know them.

Do you really know me?

How much do you really know about your customers or members? You probably know even less about your prospects? Even if you do have lots of data about them, you probably do very little to leverage the information in a timely manner for a meaningful transaction. Your customers, members, & prospects come to your site, visit your social networks, visit your kiosks, ATM’s, stores or branches, & even purchase from you. What do you do with all this information collected?

Think of an account you opened at a financial institution. When you filled out forms - you identified yourself, your family, they knew your needs. But did they actually remember that during transactions? Most customers and members are served up the same standard online ad every time they log into their web site, the ATM still wants to know what language they speak, and look at the 'worthless' statement stuffers. It makes the consumer wonder if the financial institution really knows them.

Retailers don't fare as well either. If you make two major purchases a year, and a few other smaller purchases the retailer has great opportunities to know you and consequently up-sell & cross sell you with relevant offers. Sadly, offers do arrive, but not always when you need them. The web might recognize you every single time, but their emails don’t speak with relevance. A friendly store clerk may know you, but most times they treat you as if you were a stranger.

Most organizations however are always committed to knowing you better. They want you to provide preferences at every channel; they even attempt to assimilate your transactions across channels. They include post transaction product or service surveys. You get this from in person experiences, over the web or phone, at self service terminals, and even on social media channels. They want to know about your transaction experience. They even want your feedback when you do not transact. They want to know you better. But stop and think about the approach and the questions. The survey is typically included because the organization ‘has to’ do it, and in most instances the survey seems to do very little to actually engage the consumer. The survey serves the business!

What is worse with surveys is that most organizations are happy with a less than 2% response rate. While there is almost always a survey included at the end of every transaction, there is very little commitment from the organization towards getting the survey completed.

An introspective question that is important to ask is if you can truly anticipate consumer behaviour? Not sure how, here is a simple exercise - take a look at a set of transactions from the previous month / week / day & see if those were truly predictable. Was it based on something you did, or were you able to predict why your consumer really came in?

The reason we seem to have this issue is because most organizations are focused on the target, the channel, & 'almost' instant success. There is very little cross channel coordination. This makes organizations look goofy in front of the empowered consumer.

Organizations need to unify their preferences pages - not just keep silos of customer data across channels.

Here are some things that organizations should do to build up this repository of actionable information:

1. Have one preference page for the consumer. The consumer should be able to update their preferences across channel. Keep this preference page accessible across the web, or mobile – it is convenient for the consumer to share the information.

2. Have three parts to this preference page – one that is updated by the consumer, the second updated by your organization, & the third updated by consumer behaviour. Don’t forget behaviour is not just consumer action but also consumer inaction.

3. Collect the data in real time. Disseminate transaction information quickly to all your channels. Let your channels be aware so they can serve the empowered consumer better.

4. Get your consumer to update their preferences a little bit at a time, tie your surveys back into the preferences. And do this correctly by having a back and forth dialogue.

5. Provide the purpose of each channel to the consumer. Don’t forget to train your employees about the value of each of your channels.

6. Engage the consumer on ‘their’ social media channels by listing all your social media channels including the purpose of each of these channels. Don’t forget to entice the consumer to check out your social media channels – a mere follow us / share this is not effective.

The important thing for you to do is to keep the consumer engaged on their terms and keep the information flowing both ways. You need to think about an efficient on-boarding process for new members & customers. The on-boarding process could include a welcome stream of messages that make the consumer aware of what your organization brings to the table. You also need to think about ‘what next’ scenarios for existing consumers as they complete transactions or update their preferences.

Many organizations feel that they can know their consumer better by assimilating data into their CRM. Realistically you should be running an ‘Operational CRM’ at the speed of light by pulling data into the CRM through your touchpoints in real time, & quickly messaging the consumer with relevant messages across channels.

The key here is two things – first pull data together from your touch points in real time, and second – message your consumer with relevance.

To do this effectively organizations should assimilate data across channels with special emphasis on recency. Consumers want you to acknowledge their most recent transactions. Next, organizations should write specific use cases driving people across channels. Also, you need to listen & engage across channels.

A post card from a charitable organization talks about inspirational stories of change. A link on the post card takes you to their blog. The blog has more stories and solicits donations.

A grocer sells a product with two recipes. One recipe is listed on the box, the second recipe has teaser that encourages the consumer to go to the web channel.

A bakery tweets specials to people on their list and asks them to 'whisper' the code over to the check out person.

An entertainment company solicits your opinion on the 'show' and then texts you a coupon to use at the concession stand.

A financial institution intrigues you at the ATM machine, and this intrigue actually drives people to enter the branch, provide a mobile number, or go online to learn more about the offer.

A retailer runs an advertisement not for all but for one consumer at a time on their mobile device.
A travel company keeps in touch by asking you for feedback so they can update their recommendations across all channels.

One of the best cross channel social media tweets in 2009 was about how to create an insect free back yard. The tweet took you to an article on the blog which was peppered with good information and great pictures. The article was about attracting bats to your yard so they could keep the yard insect free. The article wanted you to create a haven for bats by getting a bat house. The engaging article ended with a link to purchase a bat house and you could do this by speaking to a person or do it online. The box that was shipped to your home included a catalog that offered even more. It all started with a simple tweet to followers that cared. A tweet that sold & sold across channels!

Social media, direct mail, self service, email, mobile, your physical locations – they need to work together to engage the consumer. The key is about recognizing people across channels, and carrying out conversations with relevance. You can only do this if you know the consumer. You can know the consumer by creating a preference page that can be updated across channels.

2010 will be the year of relevance. Those who are relevant will engage the empowered consumer. It is the year of how well you truly know your consumer. You can only do this if you connect your channels and connect with your consumers. You need to create an inner circle of friends, an insiders club, a small group of advisors and then aspire to create similar relationships with all your customers.

Read more >>

Five Really Good Blogs!

I enjoy these brands and their blogs. Each one of them does an exceptional job in engaging the reader. Here they are in no particular order.

1 - Paul Fredrick Menstyle. - Fashion Advice: putting (f)it together...


Very simply done, with answers to questions that are top of mind.


2 - Gardeners Supply Co. - Gardener's Journal


A lot of how to's, lots of pictures, and effective stories. The authors are real gardeners.

3 - Stave Puzzles - The Deliciously Devlish Blog of Puzzling News From Staveland - "The Chief Tormentor"


You never know what Steve is up to. His blog is fun, his puzzles can turn you upside down. He has built a community.


4 - The Wine Enthusiast - Winston's Wisdoms, A Wine Enthusiast.com Blog.


If you want to know about wine, fine wine - who else would you go to but Winston!


5 - Duncraft - Duncraft's Backyard Birding Blog


I absolutely love their photo contests and their five resolutions to help birds in 2010. They really got me hooked to backyard birding!

Wishing you success with your blogs!

Read more >>

Five Ways to Approach Social Media

Your social media site is like an online mall. You have visitors that are walking through your mall. Your success lies in luring them into your 'store', engaging them, and keep them coming back for more. Here are five specific things you should be doing with your approach.

1. You need to brand and promote each of your social media sites appropriately. Let the consumer know what to expect from each site and allow them to create a personalized experience with social media. Give them the reasons they should interact with your brand and leverage each interaction to continuously identify their unique preferences so you can keep enhancing your offers to them.

2. A coupon can drive people to complete a sale. An ad in the paper can drive people to come invest in a certificate of deposit. But you can do more with social media. What if you 'Tweeted' about an article on your blog with links to Facebook where people now shared their personal experiences? You will be able to drive more engagement with this approach and drive other acquaintances in.

3. You need to nurture your social media networks by soliciting feedback - good & bad. Listen & respond to both concerns and suggestions. As you build up your opinions, people tend to pay more attention (search engines do too.) Additionally you can establish a group of experts who could turn into your go to team as you strive to respond to questions.

4. You have to build up your expertise. The consumer can find an answer to so many things from so many sources. They can do it expeditiously with social media. Your channels need to be able to answer things in even more detail. In fact, you should even consider empowering your touchpoints (including your people) with this additional data so your company looks like the expert.

5. You have to be real. This is not a reality show but it is about being genuine and helpful. You don't have to be cute, you simply have to care.



Social media will continue to evolve, your goal is consumer engagement. Keep your eyes on the goal & keep walking!

Read more >>

Leveraging Social Media for Effective Credit Union Member Engagement

Most organizations go through a great deal of effort to convert prospects into ‘customers.’ For credit unions, the challenge is even greater -- getting them first to become members, which is even better and of course more difficult.

The overall cost of conversion can be quite high – TV, radio, bill-boards, print, direct marketing, online – it all adds up. The prospect finally walks into your branch (or store), or calls your call center, or even fills out a form online. You have done a great job bringing them in, and you did convert them. Congratulations! What next?

Your challenge now is to stay connected and engaged with the new member. Social media can help, and here are a few suggestions on best to do it.

For starters, engage the member in a welcome stream of messages, an interactive dialogue that is best delivered across channels, specially your social media channels. When we say social media channels, we’re talking about everything from Facebook, Twitter, a blog, YouTube, and even LinkedIn. It helps if someone at your credit union is specifically tasked with managing this process and these channels.

Give them valuable information, insight, & tips. The most important thing to remember is to ‘EXCHANGE INFORMATION.’ Have them start filling out a personal profile form (Facebook style with likes & dislikes).



While they are doing this, ask them if they have any questions. Keep in mind that you don’t want to make the process cumbersome by asking them all questions up front. Instead, you should be engaging them in three to five conversations. Ideally, you should be engaging them on the same ‘profile form’ across channel.

As you learn more about your member and your member learns about the value your credit union brings to them, remind the member about where they can find useful information from your organization.

They already have your web site and phone number, they may even know about all your physical locations. Now make sure you clearly spell out your social media channels. List your social media channels and the purpose of each of these channels. Remind them that it could be another branch in terms of gathering information and learning. Make it easy for your member to be aware of all your member services.

One mistake most organizations make regarding the social media channels is the ‘reason to follow / join the organization’ on the site is generic or really weak. Offer them clarity as to why they should follow you on Twitter. Encourage them to find that important information on your blog. Enthuse them by making them show your stuff off on Facebook. Make the reasons prominent and effective, keep it simple to find, and easy to follow / post.

Now do three things on these social media channels – listen, respond & learn.
1 - Keep your eyes open for trends, member questions, & member suggestions.

2 - Respond to these in the best possible manner - respond on the phone if you have to.

3 - Most importantly do one more thing – you have to keep adapting to what the member needs from you – you are trying to learn from them so you can adapt your program to meet their needs. Always keep learning.

Your social media channels can be used to grow your sphere of influence with your members. Not only are you going to be able to engage your existing members, you are hoping that your members do their bit to carry your brand out to their contacts.



From March 9 – 11, I have been invited to join a group of progressive Credit Unions to talk about leveraging social media for effective engagement. We will be going through an 11 step process to leverage social media. You can learn more about the conference at www.nafcu.org/growth. If you would like to come to this conference, you can register with the coupon code Sundeep100 for a $100 off your registration fee!

I am looking forward to the conference for two reasons – the opportunity to teach & the opportunity to learn. Credit unions do an outstanding job with making members feel welcome, and you may want to join us even if you are not a Credit Union. There is a lot we can learn from Credit Unions.

By the way, even if you are a credit union already serving members you can learn to re-engage them by introducing your new social media branches by applying the same principles. Think of this as a fresh start program.

Email me at Sundeep.Kapur@gmail.com if you have any questions prior to the conference. Wishing you all a great new year and very successful engagement!

Read more >>

Once Again: Just Ask Part III

So you have their information (tips from Wednesday and yesterday) in your database, including their email ID… now the challenge is making sure you get them to pay attention to your campaigns. We all know that an email capture is not just about getting their ID; it’s about ensuring that your recipient is interested in what you’re sending.

Start by getting your team to be proficient users of your email program, your goal should be 100% opens and clicks by your own people. If your team is paying attention to your program – they’ll be in a better position to describe the emails to your customers/ prospects. Don't forget to have signs in your store/ branch and posted on your other channels listing the benefits of your email program – really crisp messages to 1) entice the user to sign up; and 2) stress to the recipient that you have a program worth their attention.

Try to keep your solicitation messaging consistent across channels, run internal contests to reward your own people – on email collection and email capture effectiveness. Define email capture effectiveness as a scoring system for a customer to both open and click your campaigns. It is not just about collecting names, it’s about getting people to pay attention.

Share your ideas with us and look for future posts on effective ideas to get your customers engaged.

Read more >>

Once Again: Just Ask Part II

My friend (yesterday's post) has learned a lot about her program over the past year and offers a fresh perspective based on lessons learned, here are some tips I’ve offered to enhance her outreach:

1) Spend a little more time engaging the customer in relevant dialogue; talk to them about the product they’ve purchased, solicit their input and point out your digital assets – sell them on visiting these portions of your site and sharing information.

2) As you sell them on these digital assets and associated benefits, be crisp and precise – make sure you have this scripted so there is no confusion by the reps. A consistent branded message across channels goes a long way in keeping things clear.

3) Take a little extra time to get their email ID, get them to notice your Facebook page, let them follow you on Twitter. Don't just ask for their email first, describe the benefits of your program and only then ask… this increases your chances of collecting the information.

This intelligent conversation gives your brand credibility, makes your reps look real and helps to engage your customers.

Read more >>

Once again: Just Ask 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.

Try extending your data storage 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 >>

Growing Your 'Social' Database

Most organizations put out email campaigns with the standard tag line that asks that you join them on their available social media channels. Yes, there is an obscure button that lists all the social media sites that the business has a presence on. The expectation is that the consumer will find the link, and go join each of the social sites. This rarely drives results.

A few organizations do a slightly better job in engaging their recipients. Their message lists specific social media sites, has graphics, and requests you to join each one. They may ask you to 'Become our Fan on Facebook' or 'Follow us on Twitter' or 'Read our Blogs.'

A rare few do an incredible job! They coax people to join the social media sites. They do not give money or gifts. The power of intrigue & a little more effort works very effectively.

Try saying this -

1. Join us on Facebook to see the latest pictures from our 'special event.'

2. Follow us on Twitter, and we will send you the 'information.'

3. Offer part of the story in the message and encourage people to find the rest of the story on your Blog.

Think about specific reasons why one should come to your social media sites. List those reasons down, and try to leverage them into your conversations with recipient.

Many organizations still block their 'workers' from social media sites. Instead you should mentor them on the use of social media and train them to engage the customer / prospect in a cross channel dialogue. You have call centers and stores that are training their employees to direct people to social media sites. They list the question and the answer on the blog, they tweet about it, and even offer solutions on Facebook.

Social Media is here to stay. You have to learn to grow your database of contacts and plan out how you communicate with those that you connect with. Engagement has to become part of your natural conversation.

Read more >>

What Consumers Really Want!

We reached out to consumers asking them about what they thought about different type of messaging from organizations. After analyzing behaviour and responses from over 400,000 consumers about different types of online messages they received, here are some insightful tips for organizations.

1. The consumer seeks your expertise. They are looking at you to provide answers. Basic answers don't qualify as the consumer has the ability to research answers over the internet. When they approach the merchant or the financial institution, they are looking for the perfect answer.

2. The consumer wants you to recognize them quickly, & do this across channel.

3. The consumer wants you to offer real convenience - the ability to start transactions on one channel and complete them on another.

4. The consumer wants your organization to seek their preferences and remember those preferences so you can create relevant dialogue with them.

5. The consumer wants to be heard. They want their responses to count and want to see real consumer feedback (across channels, plus good and bad feedback).

6. The consumers had a not so positive impression about messaging from most organizations- they felt that businesses are messaging them with the same message over and over again. The messaging lacks continuity and consequently looses the impact.

7. The consumer wants to create deals themselves - mix and match - create their own bundles. They want the ability to choose and not just be offered menu options.

The consumer appreciates that you 'understand' social media. They would like you to leverage these bullets into your social media engagement strategy.

Good luck to you in 2010, and here is wishing that you can Create Interactive Conversations with those you serve.

Read more >>

Once Again: The First Date

We have the unique opportunity to provide consulting services to a relationship company, helping them improve their communications. As part of the process we’ve learned a lot about their first meeting they hold with their clients, during this meeting they give first date suggestions, including:
1) Look sharp, act confident and speak clearly
2) Engage in a back and forth dialogue – ask and tell
3) Pay attention to what your date is saying and doing
4) Don't get distracted by outside influences – focus on your center of attention
5) Don't forget to say Thank You

eMarketers can also learn from their first date advice, one could even compare those first emails as first dates, because:
1) You have to make your messaging crisp – your content needs to grab the recipient’s attention and you need to clearly tell the recipient why they are receiving your email.
2) Ask the recipient for their preferences, this can be done by their click patterns or when they complete a short survey – keep them engaged and serve content relevant to their interests.
3) Pay attention to what the recipient does after they give their preferences – for example, if they said they liked the sports section, did they actually go there? You must tie your analytics.
4) Keep the content focused so that the recipient isn’t distracted, allow them to clearly focus on their items of interest.
5) Be grateful and send them a note asking them to give you feedback on the first email – was it what they wanted? Was there something else you could offer?

Email is private and personal, so remember that you have the privilege of communicating with them – after all, it’s your first date!

Read more >>