Consumers Only Read 20% Of Email Marketing

The average open rate for marketing emails is 20.1%, with little variation between the US (19.9%), EMEA (20.9%) and Canada (20.7%), according to stats from Silverpop. ( link takes you to the report pdf)

7 Sins and Top Email Marketing Mistakes - UPDATED

I've read a couple of pieces on this topic in the last few days, so here they are 

Mistake No. 1: Neglecting Buyer Needs

Mistake No. 2: Blasting the Same Message to All Contacts

Mistake No. 3: Failing to Adapt Messaging

Mistake No. 4: Not Linking to Your Website

Mistake No. 5: Ignoring Mobile Email Readers

Mistake No. 6: Not Having a Strategy in Place

Read more: http://www.marketingprofs.com/articles/2012/8624/six-email-marketing-mistakes-to-avoid#ixzz233W4DRS1

Not running the SPAM checker

Sending One Big Image

Forgetting the TEXT Version

Over-Zealous Design / CSS Styling

Not Testing Enough

Ignoring CAN-SPAM Compliance Requirements

Ignoring the Inbox Previewer

Deleting and Re-uploading Lists for Each Campaign

Using Poor Email Structure

Not Designing for Blocked Images *

*Read the detail at Top Email Marketing Mistakes | Business Email Marketing Blog - Pinpointe

Polite Notice

Staniforth’s Bakers, near Barnsley, have put up a sign that ‘politely’ tells customers not to be on their mobile phones when it’s their turn to be served – if they are they won’t get served.


 “We just don’t serve the customers. It’s ignorant being on the phone while you’re getting served.”


And so say all of us!

Random QR Code Sunday

Just a few QR codes I came across this weekend

.....that perhaps could have been thought out a bit better

Dear Frankie and Bennys,if the restaurant is poorly lit..the QR code won't work ( it was so dark my camera wouldn't focus for the shot)

But then, when it does why does it randomly
take me to registration page for VIP offers?

























If the QR is meant to lead me to product information



It's probably a good idea to make sure that I can see the information clearly on my mobile screen?

This is the actual size as it appeared on my screen
















And I'm not sure why you had to waste the last third of the video by showing me the TV ad?




60 large-scale, science and innovation themed, images and messages are displayed in prime locations around the city of York to highlight the huge contributions across all areas of science and innovation from astronomy and the science of flight to geology and, more recently, biology and information technology.

http://yorkgrandtour.co.uk/exhibit/50/minster-yard

The QR code takes you to a page that just repeats the information given on the display board. Not sure why you would send me somewhere to read something I have just read? Perhaps send me the list of other exhibits or where I can find them?

Creating Compelling Content Infographic

How to create compelling content

Like this infographic? Get more content marketing tips from Copyblogger.

The One about Aristotle, Personalisation, Trust, ROI and the Infographic

Today’s world is increasingly being inhabited with Connected Consumers. 

These consumers use multiple channels, touch-points and devices to communicate with brands and with each other at warp speed, 24/7. The number of marketing messages that consumers see is often quoted in the thousands. Whatever the number, it’s a lot!

For brands, providing communications that quickly create engagement with these consumers requires that message to resonate and so personalisation is a key plank of any organisation’s eCRM Strategy.

Personalisation

I often have a quote in my presentations about lazy marketers creating email newsletters. Now of course, having offended a large proportion of the audience, I explain later on by actually talking about lazy marketers creating one size fits all email newsletters. This is based on the principle that if I put enough ‘stuff’ in front of you, something will take your fancy. Today’s consumer doesn’t have the time or patience to trawl through a mass of content to find something they need

Now of course we mustn’t mistake personalisation for salutation. ‘Dear Gianfranco’ doesn’t really cut the mustard in terms of personalisation these days. Even Cicero, the Roman philosopher, a few thousand years ago talked about remembering and using someone’s name to have a successful conversation with them. We need more than that if we are to persuade our audience to takes us along with them on their journey

Aristotle

My old Greek friend Aristotle ( don’t worry, there are no more philosophers in this piece) talks about Pathos, Ethos and Logos in the art of persuasion. In plain English that roughly equates to Emotion, Credibility and Logic.

The emotion (Pathos) of a brand can open up an email inbox for example but only positive and relevant experiences will keep it open. And I believe that Credibility and Logic have the use of data at the heart.

In today’s data rich marketing world, logic in the form of personalisation in eCRM can be based on 3 key information areas

Profile – What I’ve told a brand about myself in terms of age, sex and interests

Behaviour – What a brand can infer are my likes, interests from my interaction with them

Transactional – What do my purchases both on and offline tell you about my current and future needs?

Used correctly, combining these starts to create relevance and context to our messages in particular if we can overlay location as part of all this as well an understanding of what device and or app they are reading the message on. As a result, the messages and the brand gain credibility

But of course this new eCRM only works when the context and relevance that you are engaging with me with has my Permission. But it also stops working if you abuse my Privacy by ignoring the Permission I have given you. That permission is about engaging me on particular topics, at certain times using my preferred media.  Nothing more.

Trust

Of course before you can convince an audience, using Aristotle’s Ethos, they have to accept you as being credible. And credibility also has Trust as a cornerstone.

As a consumer I want the recommendations and relevancy that personalisation brings, but don’t want you to abuse that trust.

And if you do, as a connected consumer in today’s world using connected networks, your lack of ethos will be quickly shared.

ROI and the Infographic

The Bells

Did you join in the Bell Conversation just now ?

I did but for those of you that did using the the London 2012 Mobile App and Tapped to Ring...you might want to go back and turn it off...they forgot to add an automatic cut off after 3 minutes

IKEA Takes Its Catalogue To The 'App' Level

IKEA's new Catalogue App attempts 'reverse showrooming'

IKEA is one of those success stories that is based on old fashioned bricks and mortar. Much of that success is as a result of one of the most read books on the plant, the IKEA Catalogue.


First published in 1951, it now has a run of over 200 million per annum.


It has a 'shelf life' of about 2 weeks,  so the challenge for IKEA was to be able to extend that period and to take the showroom out of the showroom and into people's homes

''Every year, the IKEA Catalog inspires people around the world to create homes they love. Now, IKEA is taking the inspiration one step further. This year, the IKEA Catalog is alive with smart ideas, fun stories and beautiful products. Download the IKEA Catalog App for your smartphone or tablet, and scan select pages to unlock films, interactive experiences, photo galleries and more home furnishing inspiration. With this year's IKEA Catalog, there are endless possibilities to make your life at home better.'' IKEA USA



According to McCann Vice Chairman/Global Deputy Chief Creative Officer Andreas Dahlqvist, a key goal was to extend the life of the catalogue in consumers' homes. With the digital element, content can be added and updated regularly, making the catalogue relevant for longer


This of course comes at a time when 'showrooming' is seen as a real threat to the bricks and mortar environment and where personalisation of the shopping experience is seen a key to combating that threat - ( see Personalisation In Store post)



Read more about the IKEA app here

Symbols in Subject Lines - Deliverability and Impact

Setting aside my personal view (Symbols in Email Subject Lines) that we should focus on the relevancy of message , rather than putting lipstick on a pig, I cam across 2 interesting views on symbols from Return Path and Alchemy Worx

A couple of key take outs -

''I have heard some marketers question whether adding symbols to subject lines will affect deliverability.  In the research I’ve done so far, I have not seen that to be the case, and all of the examples showcased above were delivered to the inbox versus the junk folder'' 


''It’s also important to note that these Unicode symbols will not work in every email client.  In addition, some of the symbols won’t render well on the small screen and will end up looking smushed and unrecognizable''
- Return Path

Image from Alchemy Worx

''Even if testing shows this to be effective at the moment, this advantage is likely to disappear over time as the trick becomes more prevalent.'


''Let’s not just do it for the sake of it, or because we want to cash in on the trend then move on''
- Alchemy Worx





Read more at Return Path and Alchemy Worx

Deloitte UK Mobile Consumer Survey 2012 Infographic

Deloitte Technology, Media & Telecommunications presents the Mobile Consumer Survey 2012

Checking Up on How Big Companies Use Social

Largest Global Companies Mentioned More Than 10 Million Times Online in One Month

Other key findings from the Burson- Marsteller's Global Social Media Check Up include

• Fortune Global 100 companies have more accounts on each platform than ever before with an average of: 10 Twitter accounts, 10 Facebook pages, 8 YouTube channels, 2 Google Plus pages and 2  Pinterest accounts.
• 74% of companies studied have a Facebook page.
• Forty-eight percent of companies are now on Google Plus.
• Twenty-five percent of companies have Pinterest accounts.
• Each corporate Facebook page has an average of 6,101 people talking about it

Read more in the presentation below

Burson-Marsteller Global Social Media Check-Up 2012 from Burson-Marsteller

You can find the full study at BM.com/social, including the executive summary and an infographic can be found below

Open publication - Free publishing

The QR Code Campaign That Might Work 10 Days A Year in the UK

For obvious reasons.....

Although, this week's weather forecast might prove me wrong...

How Obama Reinvented Campaign Finance - Infographic

No Small Change: How Obama Reinvented Campaign Finance

Email is Not Dead Infographic

To Tailor the Offer, Or Not To Tailor the Offer? INRS

Discount Codes - Exclusive Offers - Limited Time Only

Wow, as a subscriber and customer to Mankind (www.mankind.co.uk) , a men's grooming and styling retailer I naturally assumed that these discounts and offers from their partners would be tailored to me, a male.

I score them as 3 from 7 in terms of relevancy so I'm not sure how exclusive that is?

It's Not Rocket Science , just to split male versus female

The CRM Anthem, Courtesy of Rick Astley

Has it really been 25 years?

Ooh ooh

We're no strangers to love
You know the rules and so do I
A full commitment's what I'm thinking of
You wouldn't get this from any other guy
I just wanna tell you how I'm feeling
Gotta make you understand

Never gonna give you up
Never gonna let you down
Never gonna run around and desert you
Never gonna make you cry
Never gonna say goodbye
Never gonna tell a lie and hurt you

We've known each other for so long
Your heart's been aching but
You're too shy to say it
Inside we both know what's been going on
We know the game and we're gonna play it
And if you ask me how I'm feeling
Don't tell me you're too blind to see

Never gonna give you up
Never gonna let you down
Never gonna run around and desert you
Never gonna make you cry
Never gonna say goodbye
Never gonna tell a lie and hurt you

Never gonna give you up
Never gonna let you down
Never gonna run around and desert you
Never gonna make you cry
Never gonna say goodbye
Never gonna tell a lie and hurt you

(Ooh, give you up)
(Ooh, give you up)
(Ooh)
Never gonna give, never gonna give
(Give you up)
(Ooh)
Never gonna give, never gonna give
(Give you up)

We've know each other for so long
Your heart's been aching but
You're too shy to say it
Inside we both know what's been going on
We know the game and we're gonna play it

I just wanna tell you how I'm feeling
Gotta make you understand

Never gonna give you up
Never gonna let you down
Never gonna run around and desert you
Never gonna make you cry
Never gonna say goodbye
Never gonna tell a lie and hurt you

Never gonna give you up
Never gonna let you down
Never gonna run around and desert you
Never gonna make you cry
Never gonna say goodbye
Never gonna tell a lie and hurt you

Never gonna give you up
Never gonna let you down
Never gonna run around and desert you
Never gonna make you cry
Never gonna say goodbye
Never gonna tell a lie and hurt you


(From: http://www.elyrics.net/read/r/rick-astley-lyrics/never-gonna-give-you-up-lyrics.html)

Favourite Email Subject Line of the Week

Well not so much the subject line...

As the actual Novelty Drive...

It's July so I'm assuming these were left over from last Christmas!!

People Trust Earned Media But Paid Has Clout

92% of people surveyed by Nielsen online say they trust earned media, such as word of mouth, above all other forms of media and messaging

“Although television advertising will remain a primary way marketers connect with audiences due to its unmatched reach compared to other media, consumers around the world continue to see recommendations from friends and online consumer opinions as by far the most credible. As a result, successful brand advertisers will seek ways to better connect with consumers and leverage their goodwill in the form of consumer feedback and experiences.” said Randall Beard, global head, Advertiser Solutions at Nielsen

Don't Make Customers Think, Make Them Do!

My good lady wife is a Sunday Telegraph reader. I'm not a big fan really part from the Thinktank in the Business section. Well worth a read.

Anyway, last weekend there was an interesting Marketing article on targeting consumer thinking. Link is at the bottom as I want you read my thoughts first. Selfish I know.

Well the piece revolves around a book published by Professor Daniel Kahneman, a Nobel Prize winner, Thinking Fast and Slow

Kahneman divides human thinking into two systems.

System 1 is the unconscious, intuitive, effort free thinking that happens without us knowing about it
System 2 on the other hand is about slow, very conscious thinking of which we are very aware we are doing

One way of demonstrating this is looking at mental arithmetic

What's 2x2?

What's 23x13?

In the majority of cases our brains prefer System 1 thinking because it's easy and we can do most of it almost from memory. Do we actually recalculate 2x2? Or do we just remember the answer?

The good Professor relates this approach to brands and suggests that advertising should target System 1 thinking and that that can be achieved by being available as a Brand as widely as possible. It kind of flies in the argument put forward over the last few years that perhaps the best approach isn't to just carpet bomb the consumer with brand messages.

But of course the argument I believe is more subtle than that.it's really about being available when the consumer is open to the brand, or indeed the brands offering.

So in the case of Coca-Cola, it's important to have a vending machine nearby as well having TV commercials
With Costa Coffee it's about being able to have a caffeine shot at that moment when you need a pick me up, in the High Street, at a motorway petrol station.

Now of course this kind of thinking can be applied to elements of eCRM.

Let's take email for a second. the other week I flagged this subject line as my favourite .



At the time I posted that simply because I thought it was a good example of cross selling based on my previous purchase of a chainsaw with Amazon. But of course it's a good example of how cross selling either post purchase or even better at point of purchase taps into that System 1 thinking.

As I bought the chainsaw, it's a no brainer for Amazon or similar to suggest I buy some chainsaw oil at the same time

Of course similar to this is the content of Malcolm Gladwells book 'Blink' where he talks about thinking with out thinking. Sounds very similar to System 1 thinking to me.

Gladwell puts forward the idea that lots of decisions are made not in 30minutes, not in 3 minutes but actually in a matter of seconds. That decision could very well be about buying a house, deciding to hire someone or even just whether you are going to like someone.

And I've talked about this in terms getting a communication from a brand. As a brand you probably have a couple of seconds in which to convince someone to go beyond your subject line, click through on a link, go beyond the landing page.

So what does that mean? It means thinking about what the customer needs or wants to do and making it easy as possible for them to do that. If it becomes too much work..forget about it.

Think tank article 'targeting consumers' fast thinking '

Customer Experience - The New Conversation

Every customer experience or touchpoint is an Ask, Listen and Learn Opportunity

The Wikipedia entry defines customer experience as
'the sum of all experiences a customer has with a supplier of goods or services, over the duration of their relationship with that supplier. From awareness, discovery, attraction, interaction, purchase, use, cultivation and advocacy. It can also be used to mean an individual experience over one transaction; the distinction is usually clear in context.'


And to be honest I'm not going to argue with that. That seems to cover all the aspects of actually communicating with the company, the buying experience, using the product, service across all channels both off and on line.


Where I slightly disagree with the article is that it seems to suggest that Customer Experience (CX), seems to be at odds with Customer Relationship Management (CRM) which is defined as


'a widely implemented strategy for managing a company’s interactions with customers, clients and sales prospects. It involves using technology to organize, automate, and synchronize business processes—principally sales activities, but also those for marketing, customer service and technical support. The overall goals are to find, attract, and win new clients, nurture and retain those the company already has, entice former clients back into the fold, and reduce the costs of marketing and client service.Customer relationship management describes a company-wide business strategy including customer-interface departments as well as other departments.Measuring and valuing customer relationships is critical to implementing this strategy'


Phew! Quite a mouthful


This contrasts with the definition I have been using recently with my clients. that CRM is


'CRM is a business philosophy to strengthen the connection between the brand and the consumer. The relationship has to be mutually beneficial and consumers shape how they want to engage.


This to me is closer to the truth. In particular the area around being 'mutually beneficial'. And combining this with the definition of CX we start to get back to basics. This is all about Marketing.


In the Good? Bad ? old days we used to look at Marketing as being all about the 4 P's ( I know sometimes it's 6 or 7)

The 4 P's of Marketing

These consist of the following:

• Product - A product is seen as an item that satisfies what a consumer needs or wants. It is a tangible good or an intangible service. and we want to sell it

• Price – The price is the amount a customer pays for the product and we are willing to sell at.

• Promotion - represents all of the methods of communication that a marketer may use to provide information to different parties about the product. 

• Place - refers to providing the product at a place which is convenient for consumers to access. 

The 4 P's are still with us, it's just that they are a little more complicated in today's interactive, socially charged, real time world.

• Product - Is now more often than not more than the tangible product itself but the whole customer experience around it

• Price – The price is less of a constant than it used to be. With consumers today being able to in most cases get it cheaper elsewhere what differentiates a brand is the customer experience

• Promotion -It's not longer just brand to consumer messaging but also consumer to consumer and even manufacturer to consumer

• Place - Well that can now mean anytime anyplace anytime anyhow

CRM and Customer Experience run hand in hand with each other to deliver the 4 P's today

Ask Listen Learn 

Whats important to us as Marketers hoping to influence the 4 P's ( we do want to do that don't we?), is that actually every customer touch-point and experience is an opportunity to Ask, Listen and Learn, with a view to improving the customer experience


Of course I don't mean actually ask, but everything we present to a customer - email, price, shelf layout - is actually a question ' do you like what you see?'


Which obviously means that every reaction from the customer should be listened too and observed, with a view to learning what works and what doesn't.


It really isn't more complicated than understanding that interaction, engagement..or conversation

Brand Experience - A Brand Definiton

Just Thinking Out Loud

The Design Council defines a brand as: “a set of associations that a person (or group of people) makes with a company, product, service, individual or organisation. (Source: The Power of Branding: a practical guide. The Design Council).


An 'association' can be defined as


a. A mental connection or relation between thoughts, feelings, ideas, or sensations.
b. A remembered or imagined feeling, emotion, idea, or sensation linked to a person, object, or idea

Now of course these thoughts,feelings and sensations may very well be based on reality or perception - and you could very well argue that perception does its fair share in defining reality

If we take the idea of feelings and sensations then we can look at our 5 Senses  of  hearing, sight, touch,smell  and taste.


But these are things we experience

These are all important aspects when we create a perception of a brand.

Experience defines the brand. So if my only experience of a brand is the TV Ad I see, or the website I experience, they still play an important role

A Word of Warning From 2009

“We’ve hinted before that agencies that can’t transition from pushing out messages to nurturing customer
connections aren’t long for this world."
– ”US Interactive Forecast”, Forrester Research, Inc., July 2009

This holds true now as well as then

For brands as well as well as agencies

Look What We Found with a QR Code

Look What We Found is actually the name of a good quality convenience food suppliers who use natural produce from British farmers

The QR Code led me to the very engaging TV Ad that I hadn't seen previously

I particularly like the way that they used the Facebook page to learn more about their consumers through a survey to explore why these ready meals were being bought

And to get feedback on their packaging redesign

It’s not what you say, but the way that you say it

It’s not what you say, but the way that you say it. 

It's not what you do , but the way that you do it.

(Bananrama and Fun Boy Three)

So when considering the content that you put on your website, through your social channels, in your emails remember these few tips

• Be genuine. Make is sound as if it's coming from a real person and not just a marketing automation cut and paste routine
  
• Put a face and name to your social efforts.  Logos are good, people are great.
  
• Put as much effort into developing your voice as you do your content.
  
• It's about the customer, not you
  “You can make more friends in two months by becoming interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get other people interested in you.” - Dale Carnegie,
• And of course not forgetting my old friend Aristotle's view of how to be successful in the art of persuasion
  
  
  Ethos - before you can convince an audience, they have to accept you as credible and as a result will think you are telling the truth. My take from this is that as a brand, we need to ensure that we don’t pretend to be something that we’re not. Trust is the cornerstone of eCRM. Once abused it is rarely given again
  
  
  Pathos - the quality of a persuasive argument that appeals emotionally. Sometimes, the heart rules the head. 
  
  
  Logos - does it make sense to me as potential customer, how logical is my argument and my proposition...does it make sense that you are sending me an offer on the latest offer on a Maldives holiday when logic tells you that I am an Center Parcs kind of guy?

Our Foods , Your Questions - via MacDonalds

It would be a fair statement to say that MacDonalds is not everyone's cup of tea..or rather not everyone's favourite global fast food retailer

But I have to say I do like the way the restaurants in Canada have put together an online PR drive to boost the brand.

Based around the Our Foods, Your Questions strapline they say

Ever wanted to ask us about the food in our Canadian restaurants?
Now's your chance! We'll answer any questions about our food - even
the tough ones - then post a personal reply from McDonald's® Canada.

http://yourquestions.mcdonalds.ca/

They promise to answer all questions, even the tricky ones

These also get posted to their YouTube Channel 

The following video attempts to show how you can make a Big Mac as "just like something you would make at home."

This only inspired you one question from me...You have an executive chef ??

Still, I think a very noteworthy attempt at being transparent

Being Social...In Person

It's good to see that teenagers still like to meet up in the real world




There is hope !

A Better Customer Experience Makes Business Sense

It's a natural reaction to suggestions to improve customer experience - 'How much will it cost if I do?'

When a more telling question would be, 'How much will it cost me if I don't ?'

You work it out

86% of customers will pay more for a better customer experience

89% of consumers began doing business with a competitor following a
poor customer experience.

79% of consumers who shared complaints about poor customer

experience online had their complaints ignored.                

  Customer Experience Impact Report : Right Now

European Business Review

78% of consumers have bailed on a transaction or not made an intended purchase because of a poor service experience.

3 in 5 Americans (59%) would try a new brand or company for a better service experience



In 2011, 7 in 10 Americans said they were willing to spend more with companies they believe provide excellent customer service.



Americans tell an average of 9 people about good experiences,and tell 16 (nearly two times more) people about poor experiences.

American Express Survey, 2011

On average, loyal customers are worth up to10 times as much as their first purchase

For every customer who bothers to complain, 26 other customers remain silent.

White House Office of Consumer Affairs

In the last year, 67% of customers have hung up the phone out of frustration they could not talk to a real person.

Consumer Reports Survey, 2011

Roughly 80% of customer service tweets are negative or critical in nature.

Touch Survey

"There are many who subscribe to the convention that service is a business cost, but our data demonstrates that superior service is an investment that can help drive business growth. Investing in quality talent, and ensuring they have the skills, training and tools that enable them to empathize and actively listen to customers are central to providing consistently excellent service experiences.” Jim Bush, executive VP, American Express

Sources

http://www.rightnow.com/files/analyst-reports/RightNow_Customer_Experience_Impact_Report_North_America_2011.pdf

http://www.europeanbusinessreview.com/?p=1467

http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/index.htm

http://about.americanexpress.com/news/pr/2011/csbar.aspx

http://www.customer1.com/blog/customer-service-statistics