Customer Concierge

I just finished spending a few days at the Goa Marriott in India; beautiful resort, great food and SPECTACULAR service. Following check-in we were escorted to our rooms by one of the concierge staff; they opened the doors, took pictures of our family and inquired about our preferences – what we liked to eat, drink, activities, etc.

The concierge distributed the information to their top tiers so each morning, we were part of a report circulated to their associates. The associates learn your name and preferences, so as you walk through the halls you’re acknowledged by name and surprised with things we liked. Apparently they save your information for future trips; so the new staff can be briefed prior to your next stay.

As email marketers, we can do so much more – by aligning preference page information with relevant, subsequent surveys and ongoing behaviors, we can stay current with consumers and ensure everyone in the organization is aware of the person and their preferences. Combining this electronically-gathered data with information from paper and phone surveys in a single database can go even further to make sure the customer is always welcome irrespective of the channel.

Only a few days of vacation left…

Subliminally Brand-Loyal

There are products that you instinctively buy, maybe with little thought – you’re in the grocery on the isle with hundreds of cereal boxes and you’ve gravitated toward the first box of Life and drop it in the basket nearly oblivious to the others that are staring back at you (I wrote a paper on the science of cereal marketing, how the eyes of the cartoon characters are meant to look at you in hopes that the child in the cart will make an instant friend.)

I also subliminally pick up Dove soap without much thought; it’s just another seemingly generic reminder on the post-it I have in my hand – cereal, soap… These general words actually translate to specific items in my mind. Similar to the subliminal urge to buy the soap, is my need to read more about their marketing approach…

Dove was featured in an article in Deliver Magazine, a publication sponsored by the USPS that is mainly targeted toward marketing applications of direct mail. The article focused on Dove’s mini-magazine, Dove Dimensions, a 14-page, 8” x 5.5” publication with features about products, charitable causes and innovations. The publication is sent to the brand-loyal and concentrates on editorial content and general beauty/ health topics rather than serving as a coupon distribution medium.

The most interesting part of the article is also in the subliminal; Dove is concentrating on their existing customers in hopes of making parallel purchases – since the customer has a relationship with the brand, they are more likely to buy other items. The approach is simple, yet seems completely contrary to the way most companies approach their marketing endeavors – looking toward adding more to the ranks instead of expanding those already on board.
Consider your efforts; are you ignoring the loyal who believe that your brand is the only item in the category?

Mobile Mandate

One of the most popular tradeshow questions has involved the search of a magic translator to convert HTML to text – the underlying hope is to improve rendering on mobile devices. Unfortunately there’s no current witchcraft to make the translation possible… and the applications that attempt, seem to leave much to be desired.

Since there is no quick fix, the only approach is through the application of best practices – yeah it’s the hard way, but it greatly reduces the surprise factor. Here are a few pointers:

Notepad not PowerPoint – One of the most common mistakes is that you’re in a world without images; in simplest terms you’re now presenting to an audience who cannot see the graphics-heavy PowerPoint you worked so hard on. This includes logos, tag lines, product shots etc. etc. So be clear, convey in words who you are and what you’re offering.

Break it Up – In addition to being word bound, you’re space bound. The best copy and offer can be lost if you’re sending huge blocks of text. Keep it short; lines should only be around 30 characters for mobile devices, paragraphs should have spaces between them and each paragraph should include only a couple sentences. Following this formula reduces funky line/ word breaks, keeps your message from being one huge pile of characters and makes it easier for the reader – remember, they could be walking (or driving) while reading.

Pyramid Scheme – As a journalism major, I’ve heard the theory of the inverted pyramid one too many times. Think of your daily newspaper – the most important items are at the top of the story, as the piece continues the less important items fall into place. This format helps you organize and helps the reader; because most of us lose attention somewhere in the middle… the inverted pyramid keeps the most important points at the top so everyone gets the chance to see them.

The Missing Link – Current crack-berry addicts know that messages render links in a different font, with broken spots scattered among the occasional word; keeping links to a minimum will help your reader understand the message. The corresponding links should be included at the bottom of the message; this way the recipient can click through from their PC – the reality of someone actually visiting your site from their mobile device is slim… remember you’re dealing with a recipient with limited time and bandwidth.

These are just a few pointers that apply to the process of creating a separate text-based offer, standard practices still apply – you must test, preferably on your phone or a mobile rendering format. You should also consider construction, hopefully you’re not slapping together your current HTML messages – your text version shouldn’t fall into that category just because it isn’t as “pretty.” Remember that you’re standing out in the mind of the mobile recipient.

Check other posts on the subject, we’re penned a few others on the topic – Good ‘ol Text and Email on the Go.

… and the Kitchen Sync

Since the early 90’s, The International Housewares Association has sponsored a national Student Design Competition to recognize and encourage the talent of young industrial designers. There were 17 award-winning innovations for 2008, one of the coolest (eMarketing related) inventions tied for second place – the Kitchen Sync.

Noah Balmer, a senior at California College of the Arts, noticed that many people stored recipes on a computer but needed them in the kitchen so they would have to print copies or bring the laptop with them. Balmer designed Kitchen Sync to bridge the gap between the PC and cooking area. His invention connects to a home network and displays recipes in a standing book format on the counter. He has included washable, dual touch-screens allowing users to chat online about recipes… a great way to cook up social networking (and potential advertising).

Show me ya Know me

We often talk about various channels available to the consumer, your physical location, self service device (ATM or Kiosk), email, call center, printed catalogs or statements, mobile devices and all things internet. Each of these channels offer multiple opportunities for the consumer to touch you, but as a company it’s not as easy to connect with them – you need their information, their habits and preferences to quickly leverage into a targeted message.

This empowerment shift means that a simple email offer isn’t going to cut it any more, to compete, Marketers need to concentrate on three areas:
1) Consumer Engagement – Social networks, mobile technology (and the emerging confluence of these channels) is putting the consumer in charge. Customers now have the ability to quickly find offers, eliminate vendors and learn more than some of your reps before even venturing out of their homes. Creating/ sponsoring social media outlets is a great way to accept User Generated Content and invite consumers to your site… not doing this may result in it being created for you.
2) Cross-Channel Offer Optimization – The consumer is expecting to be recognized, not only for who they are but as an interested party who wants you to guide them through their interactions. Engage them in a dialogue so they can continue to collect their preferences; optimize the time and offer by creating a conversation – don’t throw everything over to them, send three to five distinct offer components to test responses and facilitate conversation.
3) Educate the Frontline – CSRs, Sales Reps etc. are often THE impression for your company; keeping your team informed is the best chance you have to be prepared for the inquiries from customers/ prospects. Send your team the offers, emails and associated details to make sure your employee is the expert in the conversation.

The marketing game is changing; by staying current on the evolutions you’ll garner customer respect and hopefully their market share.

Get Cocky

I’m a graduate of the University of South Carolina Journalism School; I grew up in the state, supported the in-state rivalry against an orange school that will not be named and will likely be a Gamecock all my life. Yes, that’s right… our mascot is the Gamecock, you know the aggressive rooster involved in a number of fights, the nickname General Thomas Sumter earned during the American Revolution and our mascot. We even made a larger, friendlier version for the sidelines (Cocky is pictured here.)

Anyway, as a proud alumna, I really liked the recent campaign launched for the 2008/ 2009 membership drive, titled The Face of Y’all. To boost interaction among graduates, the Alumni Association created a special page for us to register, upload nominations and view videos. This drive is on the heels of their Online Community introduced in January.

So marketers take note, this is just one more example of how to get people involved. A little creativity, a couple branded landing pages and you too could have the customer/ prospect input. Y’all hurry up!

Mission Impossible?

I witnessed an interesting test at a financial institution – a group of private bankers were given offers by their supervisor at 8:00AM one morning. Inside the envelopes the manager had the script and the offer details; the bankers then proceeded to call their customers and prospects regarding the offer.

The team met again at 10:30, seven bankers sat with their manager reviewing the responses to the offers. To my surprise (not theirs) each banker had been given a different deal to carry to their customers; during their time together, the team settled on three of the seven offers and modified scripts to strengthen these top offers.

The call center manager was then presented with these three tightened offers and the private bankers spent time with the call center staff training them on both the offers and the possible responses. Over the next two days, the call center pushed the offers to their prospects. I suggested incorporating email into the mix – sending a personalized offer to customers/ prospects that the call center was unable to reach by phone as well as a last chance email to those who had initially passed the offer. These emails included testimonials from prospects that accepted the offer and were streamlined to provide three succinct reasons and a single call to action.

In the end, the entire process proved very successful in customer growth, marking/ brand strengthening through multi-channel communication and (importantly for the bank) team unity – the call center even got email stats for recipients who had clicked through for one last attempt via phone.

Paper or Phone?

I don’t think we’ve had a week this year without news concerning the airline industry; their struggle with the costs of fuel, new mandates etc. are front and center in my mind… mainly due to the amount of time I spend on a plane.

Needless to say, any news outside of these concerns is what I read first – one of the most interesting stories of late is from the Atlanta Journal Constitution on Delta’s planned introduction of electronic boarding passes which will be read from the passenger’s web-enable phones. Domestic passengers will be able to check in through a special site and will receive an electronic bar code that can be scanned from the screen of their phone by the TSA via special scanners. Their hope is that these changes will ease the travel pangs of the business traveler, the airline’s target market due to the rising costs.

I have multi-fold interest in this announcement – as a passenger, I like the potential time savings. As a marketer, this is just another step towards making the mobile device more accepted. I’ve seen examples of how mobile devices are used overseas as debit cards, paying tolls and parking charges. I welcome that future in the US – mainly because I am a Smart-Phone addict. Finally I like the simple poll that was included in the article; I appreciate the phrasing of the responses and, best of all, I’m not alone with the welcoming of the eBoarding. Too bad I won’t be using an eBoarding pass on today’s flight.

Top 10 Gifts for Dad

Father’s Day is just four days away, and one of the last calendar holidays for retailers before the end of the year push. We’ve seen a number of interesting campaigns including Absolutes for Dad and Must Haves – retailers have pulled out all the stops to get the end-user to bite.

Stand-Out Campaigns
A mid-western retailer sent a series of campaigns listing the top 10 gifts for Dad, the first campaign had two gifts listed and the subsequent four campaigns all listed two gifts each. The final campaign recapped all 10 but with an added twist – the landing page included testimonials from recipients of the gifts from the last year.

A bank sent a campaign encouraging recipients to a landing page that carried the tag line: “Put $100 in the bank, take Dad to lunch and tell him what you did!” The messaging went on to tell how happy Dad will be; the campaign was sent to young professionals and included different subject lines depending on the segment targeted.

In the days leading up to fathers day, an insurance company in India asked people to write about the best thing their Dad had done for them as they were growing up. Some submissions were run as a series of TV ads; others were listed on YouTube and in plain text. Engaging the recipients did a lot to build their brand.

Good luck this Fathers Day and best wishes.

Little Danny Riordan

During our trip to Australia, Reagan and I had a day to do some sightseeing. We drove to the town of Lorne, about two hours outside of Melbourne, had lunch and wondered around the main street. One of the buildings was a hardware store, with a chalkboard just inside of the open doors, written on the chalkboard was: What goes up slowly and comes down fast? (Answer on the other side.)

Curious, I walked in to see the answer; which was An elephant in an elevator. Smiling, began to browse the aisles and was greeted by the store manager, Danny Riordan. A charming guy, he told me that he had been running the store for the past 15 years and his focus was on helping his customers. The joke of the day is something that gets people to come into the store; it was his way to help everyone feel engaged, smile and to help reduce any anxiety they may feel.

As the customer walked in, he didn’t ask them what they needed, he asked them if they liked the joke and would then offer his help. His customers love him, coming back to the store again and again.

The same can apply to email programs, imagine creating an anticipation of Danny's next joke. Engage the customer by intriguing them and make them relish the experience as they become part of your email campaign. Apply the same principle to prompt an open, a click-through or added time on the subsequent pages… figure out your way to make each contact prompt the next step.

How To (Part II)

I was online last night shopping for a pair of replacement pants – my dry-cleaners ruined my favorite pair of Brooks Brothers… somehow it’s always the nicest ones. Thankfully, my cleaners have an excellent replacement policy and this is only the second garment they’ve damaged in five-plus years.

While there, I saw a portion of their site that coincides with Monday’s How To Post, they included a play-by-play of how to tie various scarf knots. Granted that the style is a little too uber-polished (even for me), but it was a nice way to demonstrate an abstract concept and add value to their site.

In addition to the scarves, Brooks Brothers themed their site for Father’s Day shopping, categorizing gift ideas based on your Dad’s style – Classic Dad, Active Dad, Casual Dad or Executive Dad. These are just a couple great ideas to help make your retail site a little something more.

Kitchen Symphony

Email Reengagement is a major theme of late – requests to update preferences, reevaluate alternate mediums and/ or simply remind the recipient of the importance of the messages.

A couple recent examples received are from P.F. Chang’s and Gardener’s Supply. The P.F. Chang’s example incorporates great language – “You receive a lot of emails… and delete most of them.” This is how they start the message, they continue by asking what would interest you most as a recipient of their emails – their food (in-restaurant or at home recipes), their decor, inspirations or the behind the scenes kitchen symphony that goes into preparing your meal. This email is the opportunity to stay top of mind and suggest possible options that you may have never considered.


My second example is from Gardener’s Supply Company, this email invites recipients to take a quick survey to verify catalog preferences. This invitation is multi-fold; initially providing an opportunity to gather customer/ prospect insight while showing the full array of products available. The second reminds recipients of the available, alternate channels, a third is Gardener’s commitment to the environment, providing catalogues to those interested in receiving them.

Inspired yet… or just wishing for Lettuce Wraps? Take a hard look at your current marketing stream, maybe it’s time to reengage your recipients.

How To

We focus a great deal on multi-channel marketing, adding value and aiding customer insight – today’s post features a single example that encapsulates all three principles.

Headquartered in Atlanta, GA, Equifax provides financial solutions for businesses and individuals. The individual consumer offering includes solutions to manage their personal credit information, protect their identity and maximize their financial well-being. Their offering is enhanced with seminars that focus on topics including How to Read an Equifax Credit Report and Online Security to guest lecturers and industry trends. The image included is an invitation to the Credit Report FAQ session – this gathering adds value, increases the consumer’s knowledge and creates a multi-channel environment. It also extends the value of a product previously purchased.

Maybe your products and services don’t warrant a special seminar series, but I’m certain that you have FAQs that could be packaged in a specialty communication – or better yet a Q&A that you could record as a podcast. Feature a company expert in a Q&A interview session, use colloquial phrasing and real-life examples to illustrate your top FAQs, the value added will be huge in the eyes of the customer.

Down Und-ha Marketing

Today’s post is being written sometime in the future, 37K feet above the earth over the international waters of the Pacific – alright, the time difference accounts for the “future” crack, I’m obviously in a plane and Tokyo is somewhere below… Sundeep and I are embarking on the second leg of our trip, a 29-hour trek from Bangkok to Columbia, SC.

We are finishing speaking engagements at two Teradata Universe events – Melbourne, Australia and Bangkok, Thailand – where we’ve met tons of great people, seen foreign lands and probably spent more time on a plane than is good for one’s sanity. While abroad we’ve seen a few unique marketing opportunities – the one featured in today’s post is from Optus, a mobile phone provider in Australia. Part of our international routine is to buy a pre-paid SIM card and insert into an unlocked cell, it typically costs a few dollars and completely pays for itself inside of a couple calls. Thankfully, the international cell market is less restrictive than the US, so the Australian number ported over while in Bangkok and the whole while, the folks at Optus were marketing via text message.

After activating the card and receiving a number, the first text message arrived thanking us for the transaction. When switching on in Thailand, there was another message acknowledging the activity and naming their partner (the mobile network provider.) There were text messages when the balance got low, alerts on how to add more funds to the pre-paid card and then another thank you for adding – I even won a free ring tone for the renewal transaction. They delivered a targeted message stream, balancing the medium, action and timing for a customer that they knew very little about (all I needed to activate was a credit card number).

Think about what you can do to balance your marketing mix, odds are you have infinite more data than the guys from Optus have on me. Be sure to check out some of our photos from the trip around the world.

Achieving Channel Nirvana

Those who know me, know I’m a bit of a shopaolic… even window shopping brightens my mood. As a card-carrying addict, I’ve run into a few situations where I’ve needed to return things; this past December I was looking for a New Year’s Eve outfit and ended up buying something online from a multi-channel company. Unfortunately, it looked nothing like what was portrayed online so I went to the store hoping to swap it out that day. Unfortunately I was turned away, saying that the top belonged to the website and couldn’t be exchanged in the store.

All companies have the challenge of connecting with consumers; turning someone away (as in this example) does more to hurt the relationship you’re attempting to build. The consumer, whether they are window shopping or purchasing doesn't care about the channel that they bought from – if the labels are the same, why does the channel matter?

Today’s consumer has seven possible channels – store/ branch, internet, call center, print/ catalog, kiosks/ ATMs and email which may include mobile devices – if not in tandem, these channels can leveraged by the consumer to secure the best deal. Allow your channels work in harmony, focus on the customer and close your loopholes – achieving Channel Nirvana isn’t an easy task, but it can be attained by thinking as a customer:
1) How would you like to be identified?
2) What information are you willing to offer, what do you expect in return?
3) What information do you need to be kept in the loop?

Focus on the customer, focus on the basics and your path to enlightenment will follow.

Doesn’t Add Up

A couple of weeks ago I was booked a flight to New York on my “favorite” airline – it was an early morning direct, departing the same evening so I could continue onto another city. The day before, I got a call saying that the meeting may be rescheduled – so to plan ahead, I called the airline to make back up reservations into my second stop.

After speaking with a couple CSRs, I learned that my changing my original ticket would cost me $660 plus the $100 change fee (the original multi-stop ticket was $355 round-trip.) The worst part was that I had just received a promotional email to my second stop for $200 round trip! I asked about the deal, the rep couldn’t find and said it must be a web-only special. After a lot of pleading, I was eventually transferred to their web desk; they couldn't apply the advertised fare to an existing reservation, but eventually gave me a $100 credit on the original fare. I took it and hoped that my plans wouldn’t have to change.

Having coordinated channels would help immensely – front-line agents should also have access to web specials and be aware of the email program. This communication mishap encourages travelers to test channels to get the best deal; this example is proof of the airline’s inefficiencies and devalues their email program.



And the rest of the story…
The day of my meeting, I’m sitting at the airport and get a call to reschedule the meeting in New York. Knowing the possibility of the high fare, I got in line to see if I could rearrange my itinerary – as luck would have it, my flight to New York was cancelled due to a mechanical issue… they booked me on the higher price flight that I originally wanted.

Email has Arrived

A good friend of mine runs marketing for a travel company, marketing to consumers via direct mail and email. A numbers person, Ann knows all the email metrics but was unsure of how many people saw the direct mail piece – only those who redeemed the coupon codes included with the direct mail.

Two months ago, she took a bold step, ceasing print pieces to a particular region and only sending email campaigns. Surprisingly, her sales went up, cost went down and she has started adjusting her marketing campaigns to rely more on email and less on print.

She’s not alone, recent events will definitely impact marketers across the country:
- On May 12, the United States Postal Service increased postage rates, coupled with the rising cost of gas; direct mail is going to continue to rise.

- Also on May 12, changes were proposed to existing CAN-SPAM legislation; placing additional importance on the recipient.

- Factor in the environmentally conscious, email is the most relevant, cost effective and can coordinate the needed immediacy we all crave.

The remainder of this week will focus on leveraging M2.0 tactics into your marketing mix – while you’re reading these posts, Reagan and I will be sharing the tactics at the Teradata Universe user groups in Australia and Thailand. Keep in mind that each of these M2.0 tactics rely heavily on email.

The Birthday Email

My kids get cards and phone calls from the dentist on their birthday. It is the one place they really don't like to go, yet this call is something that they have begun to look forward to. Usually, this call is preceded by a birthday card, and includes a coupon to a treat at a local fast food place. Not a voice recording but a real person calling to speak to the kids. Very thoughtful of the dentist's office, and something we all appreciate.

I have two main financial institutions - one which serves as a conduit for my paychecks, the latter is where I save for the future. Both of them know my birthday date, in fact they both know a whole lot more, yet it is a credit union where I have less than $250 that doesn't forget to send me an email and a real card each birthday. The card is personally signed by the branch manager.

A major apparel retailer asks those who sign up for their birthday date. This information is then used to target the recipient with a special promotion during their birthday month. While this is good, it is interesting to note that the open rate on these emails goes from an average of 20% to approximately 60%. The next three emails from this retailer to the 'birthday recipient' leads to open rates of between 35 - 50%. Twenty percent of those who open the special promotion actually redeem it. This makes this particular promotion quite special for the retailer. Now you do have a few people that abuse this by creating a birthday to get a discount, but the retailer counters this by trying to get the recipient to provide some preference information.

A jewelry company asks you for your birth month so they can wish you and also talk to you about your special stone. Remarkably, this has done very well for this company. People are intrigued by their stone and what it all means. They read, they click, and they eventually buy.

A men's clothing company used to give out $10 gift cards on people's birthdays. This is a practice that has since been abandoned, as after much testing we realized that most of the recipients were redeeming up to $10 (only). Also, in split tests we found that it didn't boost overall response. This company has since switched to simply wishing the recipient on their special day. The results are almost the same. Now, if you are a higher tier buyer, you get a real birthday card from this company. This is appreciated and acknowledged in subsequent purchases by the customer.

Do remember, if you ask for a birthday date - please be sure you are going to protect the information. Also, if you ask people for the exact date, please use it as you have created an expectation.

I would like to borrow an approach from a Florida newspaper. They put in your luck for the year as part of their message. I know many people who used to cut that out and keep it in their wallet or purse (for the entire year).

From an email marketers perspective, why not ask for the birthday date - include a little snippet about their annual forecast, thank them for their past business, wish them the best, and introduce them to a special landing page where they can find great deals. Transactional email gives you the opportunity to make things conversational - you ought to leverage it.

So if today is your birthday - here is a little note - There’s plenty of activity this year, traveling near and far. You’ll get lots of practice scheduling and setting priorities. Don’t bet the ranch, you won’t be that lucky, but you should do quite well. Once you learn the game you can achieve your objective. Celebrity birthdays today - Billy Joel, Candice Bergen, & Reagan Taylor.

If nothing else, just wish the recipient - Happy Birthday! It goes a long way in building a relationship.

Put on Notice

Notifications allow you to remind your banking clients of regulatory issues, like Reg D, privacy reminders, loan rate updates or balance information – some of these may have even been elected by the user.

Experience shows that the end-user becomes accustomed to these messages in a couple of weeks and often grows to expect and rely on them. These messages present an excellent way to stay top of mind, reinforce your brand and possibly make additional sales. Adding a simple teaser line like, This and Other Services are delivered to you by Acme Bank – could be your opportunity to advertise additional offerings or present a more robust message.

Use the real estate you have, just make sure it’s subtle… you don’t want to violate the guidelines of transactional messaging dos and don’ts. Using this space to inform of new, relevant products can help drive towards closing something new. Be sure to refer to the emails in print pieces and vice versa, this strengthens your bond and also helps condition the user.

A lot of Bank for my Bucks

I visited Mumbai on business two weeks ago – a dream come true as I spent a substantial part of my life in Mumbai. The city has changed quite a bit, growing to be an even bigger metropolis with a population of over 30 million people.

My last visit was four years ago, during that trip I deposited some money in a bank – a struggle as all of my questions received few answers and there was little interest. Last week, I deposited a fraction of what I did before, but this time it was very different. There was so much hustle to earn my business; I was fascinated by the approach the bankers used to get me to invest, starting with a warm introduction, offering samosas and tea and telling me about projected yield over the next ten years.

As I completed my transaction, the banker guided me to his manager’s office. The manager was very nice; he offered me more tea and thanking me for the money that I deposited. He told me about his branch and how they have grown and then explained additional financial options, telling me that my yield could be delivered to me in the US or anywhere else in the world.

Amazed, I asked him how his people were so “up” on the offers. He showed me their weekly memo; it summarizes rates, their current and long-term goals and which products and services should be pushed. They listed approaches, tips to overcome objections, follow-ups and role playing exercises. There was even a test, which had to be passed before the representative could speak to customers.

Reading this, you may think I plucked down a lot of money – but don’t be fooled, it was just enough to cover us during our upcoming vacation to Mumbai. Yet the service I received and the associated up-sell was incredible.

This model is how many WISH their organizations operate – you want your front-line to know about the outgoing offers (email, printed etc.), the associated up-sells and next steps. Many marketers focus on the outside before they look inward, the most successful email programs I’ve encountered are those where the organization first focuses on communicating with their employees, who then take the information to their family and friends and finally customers.