Starbucks Brighten My Sunday / Monday

With more and more people reading their emails on a Sunday, what better time for Starbucks to send me this email about their Monday Tall Latte offer

The link to their website 'history's greatest Mondays ' gave me access to this neat video








Open rates are pretty good on Sundays according to this chart from MailerMailer

The full report can be accessed here 

The email arrived in my inbox in the evening at around 6pm. With over 60% of emails being read between 6pm and 12noon, they are certainly increasing their chances of getting it read.

But of course this is all going to vary depending on your business model and your audience. These stats are always a nice pointer but as in the words of Oscar Wilde

“Be yourself; everyone else is already taken”

Don't be like everyone else..everyone else isn't you!



As the offer runs for the next 3 Mondays, it will be interesting to see if they follow up over the next couple of weeks

How To Get Your Pins Noticed - Infographic

Image courtesy of Pinnable Business

Tailoring Your News

DriveThru is a neat app being developed by Knight Lab to give you the news you want in the amount of time you have available.

So whether you're waiting for a bus or sitting on it, you can fill your time with news packaged into the right size.

Knight Lab is a team of technologists, journalists, designers and educators working to advance news media innovation through exploration and experimentation

See more their projects and ideas here

Keeping Your Eyes Wide Open CRM

CRM is not just implementing expensive software, although a quick Google search of CRM will bring up a whole host of expensive CRM platforms ranging from Salesforce.com to Oracle to Alterian etc. I have worked previously with an organisation who spent close to £1m on a software solution, but then realised they didn't have the marketers needed to get the best from the platform.

This is a typical example of CRM project coming out of an IT Strategy rather than a Customer Strategy. Many companies fall into this trap and implement CRM 'technologies' to aid in their quest for a 'single customer view', but Gartner suggests that over 55% of these projects fail

So what is CRM?

Ultimately it is about getting close to the customer and gaining engagement at all the possible touchpoints where a consumer comes across the brand. These touchpoints happen during the various phases of the Purchase Lifecycle from Awareness, through to Consideration, Purchase, Ownership and Repurchase.

Engagement is really about having the right conversation...and the right conversation is all about the right Content at the Right Time, delivered by the most appropriate vehicle. Now of course good software allows you hold all this content and can be used to deliver it via the right channel at a time when the consumer is the most receptive, but it needs a Customer Strategy behind it to be most effective.

Strategy is a combination of Logic and Interpretation. Computers can follow rules, but only people can interpret value, based on sound judgement and experience. The data might tell me that refining the segmentation and using the most responsive creative has somehow reduced my ROI, but gut instinct will tell me that something else has played a part in this spurious outcome, whether that be timing or something else happening in the market.

CRM isn't run by the MI department but by the Marketing Department. The MI will tell you that you shouldn't contact lapsed customers, because well...they're lapsed. Marketing judgment presents the notion that there might be a reason as to why they are lapsed..maybe that particular segment don't buy your product as regularly as others so it might be worth pursuing them in a different way.

CRM software gives the impression that Lights Out Marketing ( everything is automated and doesn't need anyone about) is the Nirvana we all seek. 

But personally, I think its better to get into CRM with  my eyes wide open and the lights full on

Loyalty

Let me start with the question ' Do Loyalty schemes bring in customers?'

Want the simple answer?. Well, the simple answer is yes, but probably not on their own. In markets where there is little to choose from in terms of product differentiation and where there are no dominant brands whose name on their own makes things taste better, loyalty schemes can sometimes influence the customer's choice. And when we remember the conventional wisdom that it is far cheaper to keep an existing customer than to secure new ones, loyalty is even more important.

Driving loyalty is seen as the main way of retaining an organisation's valuable customers. This does not mean treating them well to the detriment of the remaining customers but actually means - treating all customers better - but treating the most valuable customers even better!!

But in the loyalty crazy environment of today, the ease with which customers switch from scheme to scheme is highlighted by the number of loyalty cards available and the variety held by individuals. Research shows that the big supermarkets have a loyalty card swipe attached to over 80% of sales. So despite some of the cynicism that revolves around what really can be redeemed from a consumers point of view, we do make use of these schemes. But a 1% discount can easily be matched or beaten by a competitor. I do not use my local Tesco because of my Clubcard, but because its the closest supermarket. Loyalty doesn't register when the petrol light on my dashboard lights up. 

So how do we really keep customers loyal?

Well, what does being loyal customer  mean? Is it being a regular customer? Or is that just as a result of habit? Is it one who gives us a large part of their weekly spend? In the latter, what happens if they become aware of the competition, or more importantly if the competition become aware of them?! Surely a loyal customer is one who stays with us despite the attentions of the competition or at least tells us that they are considering moving. Now we are talking of a scenario where we have relationship with that customer.

So what is a relationship?

One thing that it is not, is a one way bombardment of direct mail, telephone calls, emails, special offers on unrelated products or services. How we define the relationship and subsequently manage it can be based on how we establish and nurture relationships in our own personal lives. Relationships have a set of ground rules:

- There would seem to be the need for some empathy between the parties. An appreciation and understanding of each others needs.

- An understanding that what you show each other is what is inside, there are no secret agendas or requirements. To aid this, a certain amount of transparency is required. You want to speak to them, they need to be able to speak to you

- An acceptance of how the relationship may evolve. People change their minds, or their needs change. Real choices are made in relationships every day

- Relationships are made all the better if there are pleasant surprises or unexpected rewards every now and again.

 - Some old fashioned good manners are required.

Remember always that in relationship marketing it should be what you can do FOR the customer as opposed to the shorter term view of what you can do TO the customer!

Many organisations rely on the fact that they have a Relationship Marketing Manager or similarly described individual to ensure that all this happens. This does seem like a strange title as most people in an organisation have more contact with the customer than this individual! What we have recognised is that from the customer's perspective every contact they have with the organisation forms part of the relationship they have with it. This implies that customers and staff need to be involved in defining what the relationship means to them. Relationship marketing is not an add on, therefore, but is core to the communication strategy of an organisation.

This relationship does not have to rely on giveaways. The next credit card will give away more freebies......but will it match your interest rate offer? The loyalty bit of a relationship has a number of key factors influencing it. They are a distillation of the good old marketing mix ( Product, Price, People, Processes, Place, Promotion and Service) given to us at 'Marketing School'.

We define them simply as the quality of the

- service provided
- product offered
- dialogue shared

This is simply a recognition that quality, customer service and marketing activities need to be brought together. Relationship marketing and customer loyalty cannot be treated as separate entities. They form part of of the same ladder which gets individuals from Prospect to Advocate.

Sending me vouchers though email is good. Recognising me when I make my dinner reservation is better. Remembering my favourite drink when I sit down is brilliant!

So remember, although Bruce Forsyth was right in saying that ''Points make Prizes'' - it's more important to remember the philosophy of Bananarama, ''It ain't what you do, it's the way that you do it. It ain't what you say, it's the way that you say it''