Phygital* - Will The Real QR Code Please Stand Up

A read an interesting piece from Adam Hutchinson the Lead UX Architect at EHS4D ( in fact there he is sat 10 feet away from me), on the value of QR codes.

Adam argued quite legitamately that 'for all their wizardry, they are currently being used in exactly the same way as URLs. That is, to link to a web address'


And indeed in the majority of cases that's right. eConsultancy did show, however, some really clever uses in a recent article, my favourite being the one below





The jury is still out in particular as QR codes penetration is still quite low although recent experiments by broadcasters such as the BBC could very well increase awareness. The BBC One TV Program ''The Good Cook'' now has QR codes on screen to allow you to access recipes from the show.




Danny Cohen, Controller, BBC One, says: “I want BBC One to lead the way with interactivity and technological innovation so that we can keep engaging audiences in new ways. I hope viewers will find this experiment with QR codes to be a simple but useful tool to help them re-create the recipes they see on screen.”

But of course as soon as one technology is in the consumers hand, another one takes another large step forward. Why stop at black and white boxes when actually the object itself ,once plastered with a QR code, becomes the tag itself. Check out the video


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*Phyigital belongs to those clever people at Momentum

An A to Z of eCRM - T

T is for Targeting and Segmentation

Segmentation + Targeting = Relevance

And remember that Targeting and Segmentation is multi-dimensional. From a consumer’s perspective it’s all 

about understanding

Who I am

What I am

Where I am

When I am

Ultimately, this keeps the consumer happy and makes your own marketing more efficient.

(Chart taken from somewhere..but I cant remember where..sorry)

How not to look an ass in any eCRM Conversation

One of the key maxims of conversation is taking turns.

This not only allows the participants to learn more about each other but also helps the conversation take it's natural course.

This obviously applies in the real world and even more so in the digital world of eCRM. Brands often fall into the trap of talking about themselves non stop until the consumer either finally capitulates or runs away!

We have no excuses not to listen to the customer or potential customers. Our ability to monitor what they look at, at what time and for how long has never been so great. And yet many brands fail to use this insight.

It's key that in any eCRM conversation that you learn about the other party and don't just talk about yourself.

The former will make you look smart

The latter will make just make you look an ass

Email Knock, Knock!

Yesterday I had a meeting with another client where I ask my traditional question of when do they send their email messages, followed by the question that always seems to trip clients up..Why? Why do they pick that time and day to go knocking on someone's inbox door?

The resultant answers to the latter usually vary from the because we always send at that time, to because we tie in with our 'bricks and mortar' bigger brother, to because we think it works best at that time.

The one answer that very rarely materialises is ' because we regularly test broadcast time and date and align it with it with our customer behaviour'. And when I say rarely I really do mean rarely!

Sometimes the ' because we always have' is justified on the basis on what they deem to be best practice. Admittedly there are stacks of tables indicating the most popular broadcast days and times (click here for an example from Kris Kiler). But most popular doesn't mean best for you and your audience.

Ethos,Pathos,Logos

Persuasion can be boiled down to 3 success factors

Ethos - before you can convince an audience, they have to accept you as credible

Pathos - the quality of a persuasive argument that appeals emotionally

Logos - is synonymous with a logical argument, does it make sense

This is as true today with any form of marketing communication as it was in the 4th Century BC 

Thank you Aristotle

What has my email marketing programme got to do with CRM and Customer Experience?

In the bad old days ( or good old days if your hat was thrown in the ring with TV and Print), brands spoke at customers, interrupting their daily lives in the hope that it would cause a reaction . That reaction being that they would purchase your product, based on how the message defined the brand.

You could also argue that email marketers followed a similar route. The substantially cheaper version of ‘’spray and pray’’ was adopted by many brands and indeed encouraged by email service providers who hid behind a very thin veil of targeting to justify a great deal of finger wagging at those unaccountable ATL marketers.

But obviously the world has changed .The ‘advertising' landscape has changed alongside. And it has changed from a communications perspective in a number of ways.

Email and Social Media

Mike over at The Social Penguin asked me about how best to combine the 2 and whether ''email was dead?''. I'm very happy that he decided to post my thoughts

Social Media, Social Networking, Social Media Marketing

Mike McGrail over at Social Penguin was asking for some ideas for definitions in less than 140 characters ( yes just a Tweet's worth)

social media - is about what consumers want to talk about

social media marketing - is about how brands listen and respond to what consumers talk about

social media networking - is about consumers gathering to talk and listen to each other and the brands they love or hate


Any takers?

It's Not Rocket Science

Following on from my post on 'It's not how clever you are..it's how unclever you are' ,here is a simple chart from Marketing Sherpa that really demonstrates that at least with email, it can be as simple as giving Relevant Content.

With Relevancy comes Engagement...long live the Conversation