Through the Eyes of the Customer

Does context matter in email marketing? (Hint: It does, and here's why...)

Email marketing is all about segmentation and relevant messaging, right?   If you separate your prospects into different segments, and communicate with each segment according to their differences, more prospects will respond, right?

Well sort of….

There is one other element to consider.  And that other element is context.  But I’ll get to that in minute.  First, I want to tell you about an email that I received last week  while I was in the office at work;  an email  that caught me completely off guard;  an email that was actually awkward to read at work.

You see, I work in the technology industry – software, to be precise.  So when I receive  unsolicited email, they’re usually about technologies and practices around technologies.  But last week, I received an email  that caught me completely off-guard, because it had absolutely nothing to do with my business.  The email was an offer for me to buy pre-paid cremation services.

That’s right –  cremation services.  Not your typical backup-in-the-cloud or information security solicitation that technology professional receive.  This particular solicitation came from a company that wanted to tell me how they’ll take care of my remains on some distant day. 

So far as I could tell, the marketer of the cremation sevices used the following two criteria to form a segment:  Locality and Mortality.

1. Locality: A company that I work for is based in San Francisco.  The provider of these cremation services is in San Francisco, and saw me as a “local” prospect.
2. Mortality:  All humans are mortal.  All mortals eventually die.  Anyone who dies is a good prospect for cremation.  Somehow, they knew I’m a human, and therefore, I’ll  eventually be a good prospect for cremation services. 

So, while the segmentation was properly defined (people in the San Francisco area who will someday die)  and the message was on target (an offer that fit the segment), the context was way wrong.  They delivered the message in a place that didn’t fit.  People don’t think about cremation while they’re at work.  Cremation is a more personal thing.  Email me away from work, when my mind is ready to consider personal matters.

So I clicked “unsubscribe.”  Then I clicked “delete.”

So here’s the point:

You may have good data.  And you may sort that data into good segments.  But if you deliver your message in a way that will be received out of context, you risk becoming worse than irrelevant; you risk alienating your prospects.

To  really maximize your response rate, and to establish trust and credibility through your email marketing, follow these three steps:

1. Segment your market using multiple data elements.
2. Deliver relevant messages alligned to each segement.
3. Deliver the messages in the right context; in a time and place where they’ll be best received.

Don’t be caught dead delivering an email out of context.  I can leave your prospect feeling very awkward.

Who put the fresh flowers in the Men’s Bathroom at BWI?

The mens’ room at the airport is normally a purely functional facility that lacks any sign of esthetics.  It’s all about porcelain, tiles, sinks and mirrors configured to handle high-volume traffic.

But when I stepped into the Men’s room in in Councourse D at Baltimore-Washington International Airport (BWI) last week, something there was different.  Flowers.  A simple bouquet of yellow daisies, placed neatly in a glass vase at the end of the counter.  (Actually, I think the vase was an empty beer glass, but that didn't matter).  Nothing ornate or over the top.  Just a simple glass of fresh flowers.

I'm convinced that the mere presence of the flowers sent a subtle, yet powerful message:

1. We care about our customers enough to put fresh flowers in the restroom.
2. We know that in some subtle way, these flowers will make you happier.
3. We know that you’ll care too; care enough to keep this bathroom clean for your fellow customers who follow.

What exactly is it about a simple vase of flowers that gives it the power to impact the customer experience?

Flowers are visible, they’re unexpected, and they contrast the surroundings.

What surprise element can you put you build into a high-traffic environment, that’ll noticeable and trigger happiness?

Small things Create BIG Impressions, even if its just a Small Cup of Coffee.

Small things create big impressions.  And the impressions define the experience.

This past week, I travelled to Miami, Florida to deliver a presentation on the Human Side of Service.  Traveling outside of one’s normal routine can make one more sensitive to that which one doesn’t normally encounter; travel offers the opportunity to experience the remarkable.

One such incident occurred on the first leg of my JetBlue flight from Portland, Maine to JFK Airport in New York, before transferring on to Ft. Lauderdale.  Portland to JFK is about an hour, and the beverage choices on those flights are usually limited by the time factor.

At about 30,000 feet over Massachusetts, a flight attendant asked me what I’d like to drink.

Me:        “Coffee with cream, please.”

He:         “Sir, we don’t serve coffee on these shorter flights, but if you don’t mind waiting about ten minutes, I’ll be happy to go back and make a pot for you.”

Wow.   An offer of personalized service on flight of over 100 passengers!  That was pretty cool!!

In prior experiences on PWM to JFK, or PWM to LGA (LaGuardia Airport in New York), when I requested coffee, the response was more like, “I’m sorry sir, but we don’t have coffee on this short a flight; may I offer you juice, water or soda?”

Now, that’s a perfectly polite and reasonable response.  But it’s not in any way remarkable.  But when a flight attendant offers to ditch the standard practice, and go out of his or her way to please the customer, now that’s remarkable!

And it’s the remarkable stuff that gets repeated, and gets passed on in word-of-mouth conversation.

So, this is a pretty simple concept, right?  But if it’s so simple, everyone’s probably doing it, right?

Well, they’re really not, and that’s why it is so remarkable.  And that’s good news for the companies that are willing to be systematic about identifying the opportunities in their businesses, where small things can make BIG impressions.

Here’s an easy way to make it happen:

1. Ask all the customer-facing employees in your company, what the top five requests are that you get from customers.  I’m talking about those requests for which your answer can vary. 
2. Then based on the answers you receive, compile a list of the top ten.
3. Then give the list of the top ten back to those employees.  Challenge them to work as a group to come up with three “remarkable” responses for each of the ten questions.

You’ll accomplish three things in the process:

1. You’ll teach your employees to think more like customers; to put themselves in the customers’ shoes, and determine the kind of a response that would really impress them, as customers.  As a result of this, your employees will become more customer-centric.  And that’s a good thing.
2. You’ll generate alignment among your employees, by getting them to think together, as a group, with the common objective of delighting the customer.  Alignment is a key factor in customer-centric organizations.
3. Finally, you’ll come up with 30 ways to engage and delight a customer, to create positive word of mouth.

It's the remarkable things that we remember, which often influence our next purchase decision:

  

What do the US Post Office and Borders have in Common?

They lived by paper, and they died by paper.

The Post Office sells communication services, but only when the communication is printed on paper. Borders sold reading, but only (mostly) when the reading was done from paper. 

According to an Associated Press article, Border’s is "a victim of a shift in the industry brought on by customers who'd much rather read their favorite titles on an electronic book or tablet computer than turn the page on a paperback.”

The Post Office and Borders built their businesses around a product, instead of a solution. When companies are built to deliver solutions instead of selling products, changing products is easy, because it’s a step toward improving the solution.

But when companies are built to sell products, changing the product means changing the company, and that’s hard.  So when customers want their solutions to be delivered differently, product-centric companies experience problems, while solution-centric companies experience growth.

 
 

Are You Using Digital Marketing Tools Correctly? Or are You Just Paving the Cowpaths?

If you’ve ever been to downtown Boston, you probably noticed the peculiar streets.   They’re very narrow, and they’re not straight like the urban thoroughfares you’ll find in other large cities like New  York, Chicago or L.A.  There seems to be no logic in terms of how these streets were designed, until you realize that those streets trace the original cowpaths that cattle trod in early colonial times, back in the early days of Boston.

Over a hundred years later, when Boston began paving its streets, it didn’t bother applying urban planning methodology to re-design streets first to better accommodate increasing traffic.  It i simply paved the streets as they were.

The essence of "paving the cowpaths" is the mistake of applying new technologies to old designs and processes.  When you do this,  you squander the value of the new technology.

I’ve received a lot of emails lately from complete strangers; people asking me for a meeting, a phone call, or an hour of my time.  I even received a direct message on Twitter the other day; a follower who I don’t know, requesting a meeting.

These companies are essentially cold-calling me through digital mediums.   They’re interrupting me.

I thought Interruption Marketing was outdated, and shunned by modern-day marketers who prefer to be using digital and social media win over their prospects by sharing valuable, relevant content.   Aren’t we supposed to be using digital marketing tools to build our reputation as subject matter experts and trusted advisors?

Yesterday, I received an email from a sales associate that I'll call "Bob."  I won't use Bob's real name as it appeared in the email, because according to his profile on LinkedIn, Bob is just recently out of college, and just getting started in the world of sales and marketing.  And what he did was probably under the guidance of a sales manager that had a quota to meet.

I never met Bob, I don't know his company, yet Bob was asking me to give him some of my time:

 

Bob works for a company called cvent.   Cvent is the largest event management software company in the U.S.    Based on the content in their website, and an impressive customer list, cvent appears to be a very reputable company with a solid value proposition, and the solutions to back it up.

They have marketing expertise, and tout their eMarketing solutions.  And cvent is very active in social media:  You’ll find them on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube and Fickr. 

But with all this in-house digital marketing expertise, and experience in social media, why do they allow their inside sales people like “Bob” to continue interrupting and bothering people like me.

I might like Cvent if I got to know them.  But that may never happen, because of the way they first approached me.

Are you using digital marketing tools to deliver value and build your reputation, or are you using them as just another way to interrupt your prospects, hoping they'll listen?

If you use digital marketing tools, use them correctly - don’t just pave the cowpaths.  Use them to deliver value to your prospects, build your reputation, and earn their trust.  Then, when you've earned the right to ask for a meeting, they'll be more likely to accept.

Who should you listen to? Your customers or your consultants?

The New York Times recently published an article about a popular Salt Lake City, Utah restaurant called The Red Iguana.

The Red Iguana faced a dilemma that most restaurant owners might eat a real iguana to have; there were too many customers.   After being featured on the Food Network’s  Diners, Drive-ins and Dives, popularity soared to the point where customers would wait 90 minutes for a table for dinner.  Long-time customers told the owners that they didn’t like the long waits.

So, what do you do when you need to accommodate more customers?   You expand production.  In this case, the Red Iguana decided to open a new location.   Their big decision was where to locate the new restaurant?

The conventional wisdom preached by the industry experts said that the second location should be located a good distance from the first location to avoid cannibalizing the existing business.  A location farther away would also expand the geographic coverage of the brand by introducing it to new customers. 

But the owners felt that opening the second location farther away wouldn’t solve the problems that his existing customer base had expressed.  His customers spoke, and he listened to what they said.

They opened Red Iguana 2 a mere two blocks from the existing location, despite the advice from the experts.   According to the Times article, the owners  explained to their consultants and financiers that their daily anecdotal evidence was that they had a large customer base that was no longer coming in “because we had gotten too busy, too crowded, too successful and that they would indeed fill the new restaurant,” Mr. Coker, one of the owners said.

The owners' counterintuitive decision proved to be correct.  Annual revenue has grown to more than $6 million today from $4 million in 2009, and both restaurants are regularly full.

Here’s the point:  The owners listened to, and acted on the expressed needs of their customers, despite the contrary recommendations of the industry experts.  And by doing so, they succeeded.

So, back to the question: 

Who should you listen to?  Your customers, or the consultants?

A) Listen to your customers, and ignore your consultants.

B) Listen to your consultants.

C) Ignore everyone, and go with your gut.

D) Listen to the consultant who advises you to listen to your customers.

What do you think?

 

How Marketing Myopia has Killed the US Postal Service

Times are tough for the U.S. Postal Service, and there’s much concern among Americans over the fate of the US Postal Service, and how to fix what’s broken.

When we look at the USPS, we need to look at it in a larger context.

The USPS began moving mail from sender to recipient in 1775. In that larger context, the USPS was in the communication business.

Roughly 100 years later, the telephone was invented, and gradually provided an alternate means of communication.

About 100 years after the invention of the telephone, email was invented, and provided yet another major means of communication.

Around that same time, Federal Express (now FedEx) was founded as an express courier, who promised to deliver your mail a lot faster that the USPS.

As people and businesses began using these other forms of communication, there were far fewer pieces of mail that needed to be delivered, so the USPS began to see a steady decline in revenue.

But the USPS still considered itself to be in the mail delivery business, even though its customers were communicating began communicating through different channels.

If the USPS saw itself as being in the communication business instead of the mail delivery business, it might have evolved into a very different enterprise than what it is today.

To understand this "myopic mission" of the USPS, it helps to think of the railroads:

Before the Interstate Highway system was built in the 1950’s, people more frequently travelled by railroad. Back then, railroads were a much bigger industry; many more towns had a train station, and daily train service.

Transportation occurred largely by rail. But the big railroad companies didn't consider themselves to be in the transportation business; they considered themselves to be in the "railroad business."

When alternate modes of transportation were developed (highways & affordable air travel), fewer people chose to travel by trains, and eventually, passenger train service all but disappeared.

The Railroad industry failed to evolve and adapt to newer modes of transportation. Hence, it downscaled dramatically.

Similarly, the USPS has failed to evolve and adapt to newer modes of communication. Hence, it is now downscaling dramatically, by closing many of its brick-and-mortar branches.

So, how do we solve the problem?

We solve the problem by eliminating the USPS' non-profitable services, and focus more on those services that the USPS does well.

What else do we do to save the USPS?
We cut back on daily mail delivery, and go to every-other-day, or we outsource USPS mail delivery to another company that already has a fleet of delivery vehicles on the same roads (and in the process, reduce the carbon footprint!)

And we re-define the business in a way that aligns with 21st century communications.

And when the sun sets, if the USPS has gone out of business, its customers and the private sector will adapt, as they always have, with more effective and more efficient solutions.

The message here for any business that ever feared facing extinction is this:  Define your business according to the problem that you solve, and not the product or service that you deliver.  And once you’ve done that, never stop thinking of new ways to solve that problem.

So ask yourself:  What business are you really in?

 

Is the US Postal Service Promoting Bad Marketing Practices?

It’s no secret the US Postal Service has taken a hit from the private sector mail business.  The blog Presort.com reports that the USPS is predicting an 8.3 billion dollar loss in 2011, and therefore may be facing a shut-down in 2012. 

Desperate times call for desperate measures.  The Postal Service has been conducting a series of free seminars for small businesses around the country; seminars that that help business owners to potentially grow their businesses utilizing services from the Post Office. 

At first glance, this sounds like a win-win, right?  Good for the small businesses, because they learn and implement new marketing tactics, and good for the Postal Service, because they can sell more of services and generate some much needed revenue, right?

Well, read a little deeper, and you begin to wonder.  At least I did. 

Here’s what appears on the back of side of the 7 X 10 glossy mailer that landed in my mailbox:

 
 

OK, Here’s my take:  The USPS wants to sell more small businesses on using junk mail.

They say:
“Saturate a target area.” 

I hear:
“Spam the neighborhood!”

They say:
“Utilize carrier routes instead of mailing lists.”

I hear:
“Don’t bother defining your target customer, segmenting you list; just throw the spaghetti against the wall, and hope that some of it sticks.”

They say:
“Save on lists and printing.”

I say:
“Wait a minute!!!  How am I saving on printing, if you’re telling me to “saturate” a target area with a printed mailer?   Wouldn’t it make more sense if  I carefully target my best prospects, and deliver more personalized, and highly relevant messages and promotions to them?  Won’t I get a much higher hit rate? And won’t I save even more on printing costs, if I utilize targeted email campaigns, instead of printed mailers?”

Am I reading it wrong?

Businesses communicate differently with their markets today, than they did when the U.S. Postal Service was established in 1971, and when the Post Office Department was decreed by the Second Continental Congress in 1792.

And Customer expectations have evolved.  Customers hate spam.  And customers hate junk mail.  And more customers are beginning to hate those companies that send them junk mail.  It’s bothersome, intrusive, and it wastes a lot of paper.

And Marketing practices have evolved.  Companies are realizing that it’s more cost-effective to send a series of targeted messages to carefully-segmented sets of customers, instead of a one-size-fits-all approach.  Yes, it’s more work, but the ROI is much greater.

And Technology has evolved, to make it all faster, cheaper, and easier.  It’s now very affordable for even the smallest company to build and manage a mailing list, and group that list into meaningful segments, and  create and send highly-relevant email to each  customer segment. 

And yes, there’s the Green Thing.  Companies are trying to use less paper, and customers respect those companies that do.

Is the US Postal Service really helping small businesses with their “Grow Your Business Days” seminars?  Or are they hurting small businesses by promoting mis-guided and outdated marketing practices? 

Am I being too critical of the Postal Service? 

I’d like to hear what you think.

 
 

The Secret to Successful Selling at a Trade Show

I've been spending this week at a conference in Chicago.  Trade shows and conferences are interesting places; everyone there has a motive - learning, selling or job-seeking.

If you've ever been a vendor at a trade show, you're probably familiar with the challenge:  striking up conversations with complete strangers, qualifying them as potential customers, and leaving a credible impression in a short amount of time, so they’ll remember you after they’ve returned to their office.   I’ve never been speed-dating, but I suspect similar skills apply.

To be successful, you’ll need to make the most of a short encounter by asking good questions, listening carefully to the answers, and managing the conversation toward a desired outcome, while establishing yourself as trustworthy, credible and memorable.

Two years ago, I  attended a conference in what can be considered the conference capital of the free world: Las Vegas.  I observed the tactics of dozens of salespeople; how they approached and engaged with potential customers.   But it wasn’t until I left the  conference that I had a chance to observe a true master of the brief encounter -  the bellman that ran the taxi stand, in front of the Mirage Hotel. 

There were about forty hotel guests  waiting for taxis.  The bellman would signal for a cab, then turn to the next guest in line, and begin a 15 to 20 second conversation.  He’d ask short, non-intrusive questions – interesting questions – that his guests would gladly answer.  He’d ask another question, based on the guests’ response.   These conversations were short, but extremely engaging for both the bellman and the guests.

By the time each guest was in their cab, they were offering the bellman  information about themselves, their lives and businesses.  In less than a minute, the bellman learned a lot about each guest, and established enough rapport to induce them to share personal information with a virtual stranger.  I had no doubt that if he were working the conference floor inside the hotel that he’d walk away with a high number of qualified leads.

I'm convinced that most salespeople fail at these trade-show encounters, because they don't plan for them.  Trade shows and conferences can consume a lot of a marketing budget, so what can you do to maximize your return on conferences?  It comes down to advance planning.

The planning shouldn’t be the exclusive domain of marketing.  The sales team should also invest time preparing for the event.  Find out what companies will attend the conference.   As a paying exhibitor, you may have access to a list of the companies that will be represented.  Go to their websites, understand their value propositions and the common challenges in their industries.   Read their press releases, and other news items.  Understand their current circumstances that may be impacted by your offering.   Know who you’ll want to seek out at the event, and identify a reason to meet.

Contact attendees before the conference to introduce yourself, and schedule meetings.   I once worked for a VP of Sales who made it a privilege to attend a conference, and awarded those sales people that had the most confirmed meetings a week before the event, with the right to attend.   It was no coincidence our trade shows were extremely successful events, yielding high numbers of qualified leads. 

When you’re at the conference, make it a point to be where your best prospects will be.  Review the agenda, and identify those sessions whose topics are likely to be of interest to your ideal prospects; sessions that will focus on the business challenges that are addressed by your solution.  Go to those sessions, and engage with the  attendees.  Put yourself in the right place to ask the right questions to the right people. 

Trade shows and conferences are opportunities to meet a lot of potential customers in a short amount of time.   With some advance planning and thoughtful questioning, you can be the one that the prospects remember.   And you’ll have plenty of good news for the bellman, as you leave the hotel.

 
 Thanks to The Ultimate Taxi for this ultimate image of .... a taxi.

Three steps to a clear and compelling message

Saturday night, my wife and I had some friends over for a beer-tasting.  We had nine different microbrews, and voted on each beer in a bunch of categories, including “most memorable beer bottle.” 

With micro-brews, the bottles are often as creative and complex as the beer that’s inside.  But the bottle that won was the bottle that was anything but complex.   The bottle that won was the simplest. 

If you read last Friday’s blog post, you remember how Oracle has used simple, “basic messages” to communicate the nature of its products to its customers.   A simple message is a powerful message; a message that resonates in the marketplace, and helps potential customers identify with your value proposition, and what you have to offer. 

Even Albert Einstein said, “Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.”

So, how do you make your message simple, while still communicating what makes your solution great, and better than the alternatives?

Identify the real desire.
Your message should  focus on what the customer is actually buying.  And nine times out of ten, it’s not your product, even when it is your product.  Customer buy your product for the benefit they receive from using the product; for the state of mind they have, once their problem is solved.    George Silverman  says a key factor in a simple and effective message is to direct the message to the buyers’ deeper desires. 

Make it personal.
People care about themselves, and the problems that they’re trying to solve to throughout their lives.  The more directly your message speaks to the person, the easier it is for the person to hear the message and  respond.  The blog post, “Make your Marketing Messages Simple,” references the personal factor as an impotant element of simplicity.  When you message speaks directly to the person, there are fewer layers that get in the way of what matters most, to the person receiving it.

Get rid of the extra words.
Keep your message simple.    Eliminate extra words.  Sculpt your message down to the pure essentials.  Chisel away at the message, removing all extraneous words until all that remains is the core meaning.  How do you know a word is extraneous?  Remove it, then re-read the message.  If it hasn’t lost its meaning, its safe and smart to keep the word out.

When you’re creating a message to captivate your audience, do them a favor by keeping it simple.  Keep it simple by appealing to their core desire, speaking to them on a personal level, and doing it with as few and simple words as possible. 

Simple messages are easier to digest, and easier to remember.

 

The UFO Beer label:  Clear, simple and uncluttered.  And above all, easy to remember.
The smiling faces: Eight friends, nine beers, and infinite memories!