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Hint - it starts with your best customers.
By Shannon Kavanaugh.
Posted on 28th June 2010 Read more
Gen X and baby boomer consumers in Australia are crying out for customer service, IBM research has discovered. The Meeting the demands of the smarter consumer study surveyed 2,599 Australian consumers in all states about their shopping behaviours and attitudes.
The survey is conducted globally every year but because Australia is a unique market, IBM wanted to know whether our attitudes more closely resemble consumers in emerging or established markets.
IBM Global Business Services’ Ian Wong (pictured left) said that a demand for good customer service – mainly knowledgeable and helpful staff – is what set Australians apart from other markets. “Nowhere else in the world is customer service so bad,” said Wong. “If retailers do address these issues, 54% of consumers are wiling to spend more if improvements are made. So there’s a big opportunity there.”
Customer service was ranked less important for Generations Y and Z, however. Jill Heleri (pictured left), Global Industry Leader – Retail for IBM Global Business Services (GBS), suggested this is because younger generations are much more used to finding the information they need online. “Peer reviews are more important than customer service. By they time they get into the store, mentally they’ve already made the purchase,” she said.
73% of consumers said they want to use some kind of technology while shopping, and unsurprisingly it was Generations X, Y and Z who had the greatest desire to use technology as part of the shopping process. However only 7% of consumers want to use their mobile phones, compared to 29% for markets like India and China. By and large Australian consumers are using the Internet for comparing prices, Wong said. Recent research has shown that when Australian consumers do shop online, 43% of the spend goes to overseas retailers.
Where retailers could work harder to engage their consumers is in social networking. 76% of consumers surveyed said they wanted to collaborate with retailers. Wong cited the Sportsgirl Super Stylist competition, which allowed Sportsgirl customers to post their own outfits on the brand’s Facebook page. Heleri said that US retailer LL Bean had pioneered the inclusion of customer reviews and ratings in product pages on their site, and listened to customer suggestions on things like new clothing designs. “If people don’t do it they’re missing out on some really cool feedback,” she said.
When it comes to consumer advocacy levels, Australia looks more like growth markets, Wong said. Only 23% percent of consumers were identified by IBM as advocates, compared to 40% in the US (a figure that actually increased during the recession). Wong suggested that this low advocacy could be linked to poor customer service levels. 35% of Australians are shifters, consumers who either abandoned their primary retailer in the last year or migrated some of their purchases to a secondary retailer. Both advocates and shifters place a high value on personalised discounts and knowledgeable staff.
Simon Crisp, sales and solutioning lead for IBM GBS, said that organisations may have mastered transactional databases but now they need to learn how to analyse unstructured data coming from review sites and social networks. “There’s no question the game is changing. At the end of the day, retailers are playing catch-up. The time-frame of how you meet needs has to be very rapid,” he said.
Posted on 25th May 2010
It’s as if their office is transformed into the Reserve Bank; door closed, iron bars, nothing gets through unless strict permission is given to their right hand man or woman. This is the image you conjure up as a direct marketer when you think about the office of a senior contact, of a large corporate firm. Trying to get to those C-Level contacts can be complex and difficult. Simply put, they do not have the time or care to make the time to view everything that is mailed to them, or to take sales calls. This is where the Gatekeepers come in. These are the people who hold the fate of your marketing success in their hands.
The odds tend to stack up against you when you are up against Gatekeepers (who tend to be a senior contact’s PA, company secretary or receptionist) who are under strict instructions about the type of mail or calls that are deemed acceptable. Your challenge is set even before you have begun the campaign process. So for direct marketers, in the B2B environment, the question is how do get past the gatekeepers who decide what gets through to the C-Level’s door and what doesn’t? Is it even about getting past them, or is it about speaking to them?
Inevitably, you are going to be interacting with the Gatekeeper, rather than the person you intend so why not pitch to the Gatekeeper themselves? The chances are they are going to know exactly what their senior colleague wants and doesn’t want, and will have the ability to influence part of the decision making process.
Relevancy is important during this process. Make a connection and learn about their internal and/or external environment, and whether your product or service is what they really need. Don’t waster their time and yours, make sure what you are sending them is relevant to their position and the responsibilities that they hold. If your offer is relevant, then keep that window of opportunity open with consistent follow up. This doesn’t mean harass them, it means contact them at a time when you know it is appropriate, and pitch your idea to them again.
In the B2B environment the opportunity pipeline can grow quite quickly, however the process of closing off those potential sales leads, tends to take a little longer than in the B2C environment. According a Silverpop Survey ‘B2B marketers want to move sales prospects through the pipeline faster..’ however what marketers need to appreciate is that in most cases, direct marketing into the B2B environment often involves a high involvement purchase, where the decision cannot be made on the spot. So before you enter the market, assess what it means from the client’s point of view, to be become involved in your company’s product or service. Understand that as Gatekeepers they are doing their best to ensure that only the best and most attractive solutions are presented to their senior colleagues. By understanding the business you are targeting, you can build relevancy and engagement. Discover how your solution fits into their environment before you pitch your product or service.
It’s also important to assess your competitiveness in the market. Understand the market first, before you go and ‘knock’ on prospects’ doors. There’s no point offering them something, if what they already have is 3 times more competitive than what you are bringing to the table. Remember the last ‘List Report’ and the point I made about being REMARKABLE? Well in the B2B environment in particular, you will have to certainly stand out from the crowd if you want to be seen and this involves presenting something remarkable. It also involves establishing some credentials in your market. It’s hard to cut through as a new, unfamiliar company or brand so you need to have some credibility within your market and amongst your peers.
Posted on 19th May 2010
The following are ten viral email marketing tips any business can employ to get the most out of their viral email marketing campaign, from Viral Buzz.
Posted on 03rd May 2010 Read more
There’s no doubt that telemarketing often receives a bad rap, particularly in the B2C environment, more so than a B2B. It’s a tough task but when done correctly, telemarketing can produce great sales results.
Posted on 20th April 2010 Read more
Creating a successful direct marketing program involves clean data records with highly deliverable addresses. Cleaning, enhancing and filling the gaps in your in-house files will mean cost effective postage rates, minimal bounces in mail pieces, and an increase in your company profits.
Are there key pieces of information missing from your data base that could increase customer sales? Statistics show that most company’s customer and prospect databases are missing key pieces of information:
• Phone numbers but no addresses
• Out of Date information
• Details that could effect your marketing strategies such as homeowner, presence of children, income level, marital status demographics; business size, employee size, sales volume demographics and more.
Keeping your data files up to date and complete with data hygiene services is an important component of a direct marketing campaign. The end result is improved deliverability, savings on print material and postage. Cleaning and data enhancement is a proven method to ensure that you are maximising marketing dollars.
Statistics show that up to 20% of records within a typical in-house data file are undeliverable, seasonal or vacant? In addition, up to 5% of records are identified as as small to mid sized businesses, which typically require separate marketing strategy than a consumer campaign.
Take the time to learn about the people behind those records. When you know who you’re dealing with, you know how best to approach them. Here’s a tip: Enrich your data with appended information. Here’s just a few examples of popular appends provided by the most reputable direct marketing data solutions firms:
• Add postal addresses to records that only contain email addresses. Or add phone numbers, names or business titles to your current file.
• Add revealing consumer details, so that you can target your messaging for a higher response. You can find whether your records include homeowners, parents, members of particular ethnic groups, or even customers who are connect to the Internet.
• Add revealing business details, including SIC codes, sales volume, business site type (for example, headquarters ot branch office), number of employees, or contact names.
• Saves you money on printing and mail house fulfillment
• Allows you to control mailing waste and save on postage
• Gives you the opportunity to target your selling messages to the right audience at the right time
• Opens up new channels to reach your consumer or business customers using the methods they prefer
• Drives higher response through more specific, personalised offers (as opposed to generic, one-size-fits-all promotions)
• Helps build loyalty programs that drive up lifetime value
• Leads to more profitable prospecting, through modelling and forecasting
Data enhancement and hygiene can open doors to new sales opportunities, make your marketing efforts more efficient and cost-effective, and help you get the most return on investment for any campaign. Most of all, it keeps your customers happy and loyal by making their mailings more relevant and accurate.
Barbara Spagnda
Posted on 30th March 2010
Posted on 16th February 2010 Read more
Here are 13 tips to remember when crafting your next prose to beat the control… from Chief Marketer, by Grant A Johnson.
Posted on 22nd January 2010 Read more
Yes we live in an electronic age but mail continues to work well. Here are 4 easy ways to implement ready to use techniques to lift response.
Posted on 27th November 2009 Read more
Four Ways to overcome Skepticism - November 2009
Posted on 18th November 2009 Read more
Each of the Direct Marketing Tips have been published in AML's List Report, a free email bulletin that you can subscribe to by clicking here.