Elements of Relevancy

What kind of reaction do you want when you send an email or other message to your customers?

The reactions are likely to fall into 1 of 3 categories in the customer's mind

Delete - Why?...because based on the last few messages you've sent me I have no time now nor later to open it. ..even to un-subscribe

Later - Why?..because you generally send me good content that I like, but I haven't got time right now to give you my full attention while perhaps I'm mobile

Now - Why..because it's Timely, has the right content, recognises the device I'm using and as a result is  Relevant and hence is of Value to me

Lets Take 2 Ideas and Make Email More Relevant

What are the issues facing email today?

A cluttered inbox? That's certainly one.

But perhaps of more importance is the fact that as soon as the email is opened it has become out of date, if it was relevant at all to start with.

So here are 2 ideas to keep relevancy high. One new, one not so new.

Firstly the latter

Relevancy can be easier to attain if we ensure that we are sending messages that consumers want. Apart from using behaviour and transaction information which are often pieces of data that we don't have straight away what else do we have?

Well, we can always allow the customer to tell us what they want.

The Preference Centre

Nothing new there ( I did tell you)

But what if we actually made the way that the consumer gave us this information much more engaging?

Here are a couple of examples

You might remember this effort from HMV I talked about recently

And here is an idea not in place , but shows how potentially a coffee brand might get to know about what type of coffee its customers like

How much coffee do you like? Pull the tab

Pull the cup and let us know what time you like your favourite coffee?

Both of these ideas can be used to learn more about coffee habits but could easily translated into ideas about how much content you want and when!

Another brand that gave me some 'preference' inspiration was Graze . This is how it works

But of course the real beauty of Graze is that you get to 'Rate or Slate' your box. After each box, you get sent an email that gives you the opportunity to fine tune your preferences

Simple but engaging, and a lesson for all marketers on how to ensure you give customers what they want

Secondly

How do you ensure that your email isn't out of date?

Well, one concept that is gaining some traction through companies like Movable Ink is the idea of 'live' emails

So here is a product that essentially allows to include in emails ideas such as countdowns ( eg days to a holiday or number of items left in a sale) , maps and offers based on location .

It even includes the option to identify the device ( mobile, tablet, desktop) the email is being read on to ensure customised content.

Check out the daily deal demo

DMA Email Event - Key Takes Outs

Luckily in the audience during my presentation at the DMA Email Winback Event was Email Marketing Expert, Kath Pay from Plan to Engage.

These were her key takes outs as Tweeted during the session

Thanks Kath!

@iamgfc device - use media queries to determine which device they're reading your emails on so as to deliver the correct version #dmaemail


@iamgfc in the real world you can read body language to see if they're interested in what your saying - apply this logic to email #dmaemail


@iamgfc timing - understand latency for your brand/product - maximize key moments of truth#dmaemail @dmaemail


@iamgfc nothing lasts forever - understand the Lifecycle of your consumer. Consider timing content context and device #dmaemail @dmaemail


@iamgfc they never got your email - ask for re-entering your address- preferable to dbl opt in for list growth purposes #dmaemail @dmaemail


@iamgfc never active - I.e. competition subscribers. Value of these subscribers are different to your regular subscriber - think of ROI.


@iamgfc defining inactive - they were never active, never got your email, they never last forever#dmaemail @dmaemail


@iamgfc defining inactives will differ if you're a client, an ESP or an ISP. Very true. #dmaemail@dmaemail


@iamgfc don't underestimate the power of a thank you email, that arrives in your inbox immediately#dmaemail @dmaemail


@iamgfc important to meet expectations during subscribe process. Ask what other channels they'd like to hear from you #dmaemail @dmaemail


@iamgfc understand what your consumers are doing on a day 2 day basis so you can ensure your content is relevant @dmaemail #dmaemail


the conversation engineer @iamgfc is up now - how to keep the flame burning @dmaemail #dmaemail


You can follow Kath via @kathpay

Oh, and I'm @iamgfc by the way.

Keeping the Flame Alive

So how do we keep email subscribers engaged?

My view is that we can't really focus on the business as usual aspects of our email programmes, but look at the whole subscriber experience.

So we are talking about

Lighting that Flame
Keeping the Flame Alive
Last Minute Relighting

Lighting the Flame - The Sign Up

It always pays to start as you mean to go on. The sign up provides the launch pad for the rest of the programmes. It's important to manage customers expectations from here on on.

Key tips include
 1.Make It Easy to find and do 

2.Provide one newsletter subscription page including information about all  newsletters

3.Clearly state when users have navigated to the newsletter sign-up process

4.Don’t pre-select any newsletters for users

5.In multi-step processes, let users know how many steps remain

6.Explain the ‘value proposition’ – what’s in it for me?

7.Manage expectations – what will I get when and how often?

8.Have a clear privacy policy

9.Use incentives - but  be transparent

10.Send a confirmation email, or maybe even the last newsletter

I think this is also a real opportunity to get some information from subscribers as to what other channels they might like to receive information through. And don't just stop at Social channels. I've been working recently with clients where mobile and direct mail are still playing a strong part in the mix for certain segments


Keeping the Flame Alive - Relevance

When we talk about 'inactives'. We need to be careful as to what the definition is we are using. This definition will vary from Client to ESP to ISP. Reminding me of the old adage

''there are lies, damned lies , and email metrics''

Some of the key take outs included

 - They were never ever going to be active. Beware email addresses that were acquired as a result of a competition or a prize draw.

 -  They never got your emails in the first place. Data hygiene is an issue. Use of double entry of email addresses and some data tidying behind the scenes can pay high dividends. As can looking at Inbox Delivery. Return Path believe that only 81% of permissionable actually hit the inbox.

- Nothing lasts forever. There will always be subscribers who out grow what you have to offer. People move on and in true old school marketing speak you will need to pour more subscribers in the top end to cope with the leaky bucket. Of course you can minimize those losses by keeping relevance up by understanding the value of delivering

a - the right content
b - at the right time
c - optimised messages for the relevant device
d - context specific messages


 Last Minute Re-lighting - The Unsubscribe

The time to say goodbye will come - but that doesn't mean giving up without something up your sleeve

Some tips include

1.Provide a way to unsubscribe directly via the website

2.On the un-subscribe page, list the user’s email address and current newsletters, 

3.And a simple way to unsubscribe from any or all newsletters.

4.Provide a separate process for unsubscribing.

5.Offer users an option to change frequency as an alternative to unsubscribing

6.Provide a confirmation screen verifying unsubscription

7.On the confirmation page, list other ways to receive updates eg: through social or a blog

8.Ask for feedback about why they are unsubscribing

9.Send only one email confirmation to users after they unsubscribe

10.Unsubscribe users immediately.

But a good point to bear in mind is that if deliverability isn't an issue with you and neither is CPM - do you really need to take these subscribers off the list?

-----

In the words of someone famous

“  we didn’t improve one thing by one hundred percent 

we improved one hundred things by one per cent.”

There is no magic bullet. As with most eCRM, it's all about improving step by step.

Content is a summary of my presentation at the DMA Email Event on Winback in November 2011

Personalisation for the Connected Consumer

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.

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

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.

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.

Introducing Groupon Now !

All part of the Glocal thing - Global going Local that is. Although it would be great if Groupon could tailor my daily email deals offers!




Although according to this article from Mobile Commerce Daily Groupon's main challenge is customer retention. The location thing is all over the press at the moment but that does need to be used in conjunction with what else they might know about me as individual. The deals need to be relevant in more ways than just proximity. Surely my preference for Pizza over Thai is important, and the fact that I used the 'Free Muffin with my Coffee' offer when last in this shopping centre

And in fact, it would seem that with this trial as reported in Advertising Age , Groupon could be on the verge of linking transactions to a richer vein of customer data by using the store loyalty card. Seems like a smart move. And as the article suggests, get a view on the longer term return of discounting.

What do you think?

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)