Six Serving Men Blog

At the recent DMA North email masterclass series I was asked to discuss retention email activity and speculate upon the key drivers that enable success. 

The presentation title : Card playing monkeys tried to summarise the common trap email marketers should avoid ; Making their email subscribers do all the thinking and take on the responsibility for navigating the emails sent  and establishing the relevance of the communications.    

The famous New Yorker cartoon from 1993 highlights the great anonymity of the web

 

But given the lack of relevant personalisation the question has to asked  whether email marketers

• Care that you are a dog ?

• Take the time to establish you are a dog (if infact you are) or determine what type ?

• Treat you like a dog if you are one ? 

So why Card playing Monkeys ?

Success in emails relies upon providing recipients with information to enable them to make a series of choices i.e. notice, open, read, click .... in the same way that you do in a game of 21 or pontoon - stick, twist or bust.  

In 1974 The Harvard Business Review published a paper from Onken & Wass that provided insight into time management and in particular not taking on other peoples problems (Monkeys). Follow here for more info!  



However given the range and depth of data available (particularly for customers rather than just email subscribers) how often do email marketers ignore the data that have and provide one size fits all emails, or use static info e.g. name to "personalise" a generic message.  
 

They effectively pass the monkey to their busy consumers, who have no time or inclination to feed the monkey for them. 
  
Companies that don't fall to this trap measure and monitor not only campaign response but also the value the database holds and develop a segmentation strategy based upon enhancing this equity. 

Technology has enabled all companies to develop email programs but tbe succesful requires time and effort to be invested into the activity. After all if you pay peanuts - you get monkeys!!!

Having recently read the Forrester Wave Cross Channel Report I was reminded of a list of eight truths (Gartner) that marketers and service suppliers could benefit from acknowledging.
 

The Forrester report by Suresh Vittal @sureshvittal does provide a good overview of the state of the market with regard to service providers. In particular the "plumbing diagram" provides a good canvas for marketers to overlay their current capabilities and help identify weaknesses in their ability to provide a seamless customer service to their customers and prospects 
  


However the truths of technology related marketing are that you will never

1. Have perfect customer data
2. Analyse all your customer data 
3. Control every customer interaction.
4. Be content with your in-house marketing expertise
5. Be content with your in house IT expertise
6. Achieve the vision of one to one marketing
7. Have a centralised Marketing dashboard
8. Be immune from legislation.

This should not stop companies striving to improve how they do things and particularly with constantly evolving technology requires the discipline to reguarly evaluate what they do and why. The Econsultancy 2010 customer engagement report highlighted that 64% (249 responders) didn't even know how many touchpoints they have with their customers!

Rather than act as deterent to action the 8 truths should help determine the ongoing decision process upon how to best allocate resources to what is important - how to achieve your business objectives. Otherwise (To paraphase) "If you don't know where you are now or where you are going any road will take you there".

As the economic downturn continues, 2009 will lead to a more companies focussing on how they recruit and retain their customers. 

The 2008 Christmas retail figures highlight the increased dependence consumers place upon the internet and it’s importance in any companies marketing communication mix. Whilst the internet and the digital space have provided companies with a wealth of data and enhanced capability to communicate directly with their prospective market has this capability been reflected in the experience of consumers ?

For example email marketing has evolved over the past few years and whilst companies have adopted it have they really embraced and using it effectively

The Direct Marketing Association (DMA) National Benchmarking report 2007 proposed the value of £9.11 for each (permission) email address – http://econsultancy.com/blog/2148-9-11-the-value-of-an-email-address 

In 2008 monitoring the promotional emails from 24 UK businesses across a range of companies recieved in 2008 has highlighted a range of email practice. Some companies adopting an ad-hoc send now and then whatever the outcome, with others believing the shout load and often to ensure submission approach 

Despite not opening 105 emails from them over 2008 one company is optimistic if they believe the 106th is going to be the clincher ! Is this a case of “never mind the quality Feel the width” and begs the question has relevance actually evolved beyond just a buzz phrase.

At number 5 in recent Revolution article http://www.brandrepublic.com/Revolution/News/872526/12-things-need-know-2009/ the value of £20 per email was put forward – 2009 being the year of Retention!

On the basis of an email list of 25,000, are organisations really managing this £1/2 million Asset effectively ?

Without recognising, valueing and treating their data as an asset rather than a list companies will continue to spray and pray. The companies who Recognise, Understand and most importantly develop their email equity are the ones who will suceed in the Customer Crunch.

Sometimes holding a mirror up to your organsation helps to identify where you are on the spectrum and most importantly what you can do about it. http://www.6sm.co.uk/why_companies_use_us