Every email marketer wants to increase relevance, whether through timing, content or segmentation. The e-commerce marketers in this article push for one-to-one relevance. They send personalized content to individual subscribers and get great results.

MarketingSherpa describes three tactics that increased revenue by more than 10% across the company's campaigns. You'll see how the marketers weaved each tactic -- such as customized display ads and abandoned cart follow-ups -- into the strategy and their results.

Tactic #1. Target content to search behavior

Tactic #2. Target content based on past purchases

Tactic #3. Target abandoned shopping carts

RESULTS

Cart abandonment emails have been a boon to many e-commerce sites, including Motorcycle Superstore. Barney's team has achieved great results (all results are averaged):

52% open rate, more than three times higher than the team's standard emails

49% clickthrough rate, 48% higher than standard emails

7% conversion rate, more than three times higher than standard emails

20% higher average order value than standard emails

73% lower unsubscribe rate than standard emails

To read the full article, click here: http://www.marketingsherpa.com/article.php?ident=32231#

This is a very good article to remind us of the importance of "all channel communications".  The slogan that is referenced in this article is "anytime, anyplace, anybody, anyway".

Many organizations feel that they need to define the communications channels that they believe their customers should use.  Ultimately, the customer is king and should be offered choice - this article is yet-another story about the value of multi-channel communications….

What McKenna & Martini Tell Us About the Future of Customer Communications

18/5/2012

We live at a time when, in the B2C world, the customer's expectations are at an all-time high and are continuing to grow at an almost exponential rate.

Consumers expect access to you, your business and your products 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and they expect this across whichever channel they happen to be using at that time. The massive growth of the Internet over the last two decades combined with the 'always on' accessibility of today's smartphones and tablets ensures that your clients can find what they want, when they want it; offering instant gratification of an ever-growing array of needs.

This 'Age of the Never Satisfied Customer' was first brought to our attention almost 14 years ago by Regis McKenna in his similarly-titled book. In an interview with Harvard Business Press, McKenna was quoted as stating "everything we need to know (or even things we only occasionally want to know) is available anywhere, anytime at our fingertips". That was back in 1999.

McKenna's proposition and the reality of customer communications today are surmised by the marketing slogan used in the 1970s and '80s by Martini - "Anytime, anyplace, anywhere".

We could go even further and update the slogan for today's needs to "anytime, anyplace, anybody, anyway". For the sake of simplicity, let's still call it 'The Martini Principle'.

Brands that understand the Martini Principle are constantly raising the bar of what is possible for customer communications. Starbucks, for example, understands the Martini Principle perfectly. You can 'Like' them on Facebook where they interact with customers all day. You can download their apps to find a local café or even pay for your drinks using a barcode that the app displays on your screen. And when you reach the right level in their Rewards programme, they will mail you a voucher on a postcard.

Mail? Yes-because Starbucks understand that this is how their clients want to be communicated to when it comes to rewards and vouchers. The experience of receiving a physical affirmation of your brand loyalty is greater than that felt if they were to deliver the coupon to your smartphone, Facebook or Twitter accounts. It also forces you to visit the store to collect your reward!

To succeed in this world, organisations must therefore get all of their customer communications right.  Getting it right incorporates developing innovative, relevant and timely propositions which meet holistic customer needs and which are available via the customer's channel of choice.

Given that the vast majority of documents and communications delivered by information systems are mundane (but critical) client communications such as statements, bills, invoices and other transactional documents, this is also the area of greatest benefit to those organisations that wish to embrace the Martini Principle.

Financial services institutions, banks and utilities are not alone in this arena. An ever-increasing number of new entrants become active in the 'high-volume transactional output' sector, from supermarket chains to mobile phone operators and consumer mega brands; standing out from the competition and establishing trust are critical to their success, as they strive to serve the broad needs of the 'never satisfied customer'.

To take advantage of the massive revenue opportunities and cost-cutting benefits available in this field, organisations will need to use relevant data about their customers. This allows them to engage, inform and educate consumers about why they need their products or services, through to communicating what makes them a more appropriate supplier than the next company. And that's where multi-channel communications come into play.

Customer communications management incorporates the marketing capabilities to design and execute customer segment-specific, multi-channel in-bound and out-bound messages. It also includes the ability to internalise those messages to enable all customer-facing staff to bring the brand and the message to life at every interaction with the customer.

But how does a business manage this in a world where a significant percentage of transactional output is still generated by one or more legacy systems? How do you optimise this output for electronic or hard-copy delivery? How do you take that paper statement and update it to include one-to-one messages? How do you internalise it so that your call-centre staff understands exactly what was received and what brand message has been promoted? What needs to happen to your archive so it can cope with all these customised communications?

Should you choose revolution or evolution? You could embark on a multi-million pound/euro/dollar project to update your applications, financial systems, marketing systems and communications solutions. That would certainly be one method, and you would not be the first business to go that route. You might look at making changes in the document composition stage of the process, which is also a pricey and time consuming road to tread.

By far the lowest risk, fastest-to-market and least-cost option is to make as few changes as possible to the upstream processes and infrastructure and to concentrate instead on the output of these systems. The fact is that the further down the output process you go, the more cost-effective it is to make the change, and the disruption to the business reduces too. Smart brands understand that leaving their legacy systems alone and making the changes at the very end of the output cycle is the way to go.

By post-processing your documents you can update the contents of those communications with everything from re-branding, consistent messaging and complex one-to-one advertising through to simple barcodes or control marks that drive print inspection and enveloping equipment. You can also keep pace with the ever increasing regulatory burden of compliance. Customer preferences can be monitored to automate the formatting and re-routing of communications pursuant to the individual client's device of choice. You can even pass the output to an on-ramp solution that understands which clients are using a digital mailbox service and send their documents directly to their inbox.

The possibilities are almost endless and as new communication opportunities continue to be developed by the likes of Google, businesses and brands will have to find innovative ways to embrace the Martini Principle and stay one step ahead of their competitors.

However, in a double-dip recession world, businesses everywhere have to find the most cost-effective and least disruptive way to achieve this. Push as far as you can to the end of the output cycle and you'll be able to satisfy your customers - anytime, anyplace, anybody and anyway - without breaking the bank.

This article was written by Stewart Rogers, Director of Marketing Communications, at Crawford Technologies.

When we talk about multichannel marketing many marketers fail to include direct mail in the mix and concentrate only on the digital world. However, as we can see from the article below, this approach is flawed. While incorporating online channels into your marketing efforts is vital, we can't overlook customer preferences, many of which prefer to receive printed materials over email for some types of communications. By simply cutting print entirely and forcing the consumer into an entirely online relationship you may end up cutting off communications with some customer's altogether.

While email does have its advantages, for both marketers and consumers, we can't overlook the fact that more email than ever is being sent to consumers, clogging their inbox's, sometimes causing your message to be lost in the crowd. Consumers will only open emails that are relevant to them and that are from trusted brands. One way to build that brand trust is to offer customers a choice of what they want to receive and how they want to receive it.  The key is to ensure that your message is consistent across channels and relevant to the consumer you are targeting. By offering customers a choice and delivering on it, you will maximize your marketing dollars by increasing your ROI.

Direct Mail Dominates as Customers' Preferred Information Channel

Though considered outdated by some, direct mail holds an emotional connection, making it the favored mode of brand communication for U.S. and Canadian consumers.

By Anna Papachristos | Published 12/20/2011 in 1to1 Magazine

Just like a gift at the holidays, receiving a letter in the mail brings with it a childlike sense of excitement. But now, with the technological revolution afoot, much of our mail arrives electronically, becoming a nuisance rather than a pleasure. However, when it comes to brand communications, U.S. and Canadian consumers continue to prefer "old school" direct mail above all other forms of contact.

According to Epsilon Targeting's 2011 Channel Preference Study, "The Formula for Success: Preference and Trust," 60 percent of U.S. consumers and 64 percent of Canadian consumers enjoy checking their mailboxes each day, signaling an emotional connection with direct mail. The study, which polled 2,226 U.S. consumers and 2,574 Canadian consumers, also reveals that 50 percent of U.S. respondents and 48 percent of Canadian respondents pay more attention to postal mail than email. Additionally:

*Thirty percent of U.S. respondents and 50 percent of Canadian respondents said they're receiving more direct mail that interests them as compared to a year ago.

*There's a perception that reading email is quicker than sifting through postal mail. However, only 45 percent of U.S. respondents agreed with that in 2011, down slightly from 47 percent in 2010, suggesting that clogged inboxes are increasingly a time drain.

*This year saw a 66 percent increase in consumer product information research and review via Facebook. Yet, 33 percent of U.S. consumers and 31 percent of Canadian consumers said that they don't find advertisements on social media sites useful.

*Thirty seven percent of U.S. respondents and 29 percent of Canadian respondents use television to get consumer product information daily, down from 43 percent and 35 percent, respectively, in 2010.

*The least trustworthy channels are social media and blogs, garnering only 6 percent and 5 percent of U.S. and Canadian trust, respectively.

*Of those who prefer email over postal mail, 34 percent of U.S. respondents and 42 percent of Canadian respondents cited saving on paper as their main impetus.

 Key takeaway: Acting on customers' contact preferences facilitates customer trust because customers then feel that they're in charge of how and when they're contacted. To convey brand communications in an effective, successful manner, marketers must first come to understand which channels appeal to which customers during various points of the purchase cycle. This will allow marketers to build a cross-channel marketing strategy that reinforces information shared offline and vice versa.

In response to the continued excitement about transforming digital and social media channels into marketing communication vehicles, Lyris has put together a comprehensive marketing guide outlining 22 Tips to Cross-Channel Success through the eMarketer FYI newsletter. This complimentary guide, found at http://lunar.lyris.com/lunarlanding/default.aspx?source=4632 provides interesting statistics, examples, best practices, and tips for marketers that are interested in reaching their audiences where they live, work and play.

If you look at the staggering statics swirling around social media engagement it isn't difficult to see why marketers are looking to take advantage of these opportunities. I personally loved the idea of signing-up for all of your competitor's Twitter accounts so you can see what they're up to, and be prepared to react to what's happening in the market.

This guide describes the importance of Social and Email, shows how they work together to drive business, tells you how to integrate the channels together, and what tools you can use to build towards quantifiable ROI when measuring Social, Email and overall Cross-Channel campaign success.

Check out the link to see what you can do to improve your customer engagement efforts.

Most conversations about multi-channel communications typically lead to an over-simplified analysis on 2 demographic groups……the "old" generation likely prefers traditional channels such as paper and the "young" generation favours digital/electronic communications.  The obvious conclusion is that electronic communication will ultimately dominate all channels as the years move on.  This article is really interesting because it highlights a recent study showing that this young generation - called "digital natives" actually prefer traditional (print/mail) channels for some communications over digital.  Interesting….

What this suggests to me is that we (as marketers and communicators) probably shouldn't make a lot of channel assumptions.  We might think that one demographic group favours one channel while another demands a different channel.  We will never know.  And even if our assumptions are right, should we really be talking to "groups" or individuals?

We believe that all the energy that goes into "guessing" about channel choice should be redirected to delivering solutions that let our customers choose - and then honouring those choices by providing all communications across all channels!

Electronic Media vs. Print: Digital Natives Strongly Prefer Paper

In a recent survey, a new generation of Digital Natives show strong preferences for paper - still the favored medium of all age groups for reading and safe keeping of documents, according to a report. What does this mean for the world of high volume transaction output? Share your comments at the end of this article.

The research was conducted by IPSOS - in association with industry organizations Two Sides and Print Power - who interviewed 4,500 European consumers who declared their preference for paper based media in a digital world.

"In an exciting multimedia world, with mobile devices setting the communication agenda, it's perhaps surprising but reassuring that paper based media is still widely trusted and preferred," said Martyn Eustace, director of Two Sides, an organization dedicated to promoting an understanding of print and paper's environmental sustainability. "Publishers of books, newspaper and magazines will be delighted, I'm sure, to know that, for their readers who can now choose to read many different devices, print on paper is still a favorite."

In brief, the survey shows that in Europe:
The 18 - 24 year old age group, the so called Digital Natives, lead consumers in appreciating paper based media:

---83 percent of 18-24 year olds, (80 percent of all consumers), believe that reading from paper is nicer than reading off a screen.

---78 percent of 18 - 24 year olds, (74 percent of all consumers), say that compared to other media, print and paper is more pleasant to handle and touch.

---63 percent of 18 - 24 year olds, (58 percent of all consumers), prefer to keep important documents on paper

And when it comes to the environment:

---57 percent of 18 - 24 year olds, (54 percent of all consumers), believe that paper records are more sustainable than electronic storage of information

---63 percent of 18 - 24 year olds, (68 percent of all consumers), believe that print and paper is based on a renewable resource.

But there are clear signs that consumers require more information about the environmental sustainability of print and paper media.

---80 percent believe that forests in Europe have remained the same or decreased in size over the past 50 years. (In fact, according to the UN FAO, forests have actually increased in size by 30 percent)

---Most consumers believe that about 20 - 40 percent of waste paper is collected.

(In fact, according to the European Recovered Paper Council, ERPC, the European recycling rate for paper and packaging is 69 percent. The industry is one of Europe's leading recyclers)

"The message here," says Eustace, "is that whilst consumers are still showing strong preferences for paper, we can do more to tell them about the industry's great environmental record, particularly on recycling and the very positive development of Europe's forests. We don't want consumers feeling guilty about using print on paper; it's a fantastically powerful and sustainable way to communicate."

Two sides will be using the results of the survey to plan its continuing campaign, to create a better awareness, it says, of the great environmental credentials of paper and print media.

What are your thoughts on electronic media's impact on high volume transaction output? Views on this survey? Share your thoughts and comments below.

http://info.outputlinks.com/insights/bid/67681/Electronic-Media-vs-Print-Digital-Natives-Strongly-Prefer-Paper

I thought that the article below was very interesting and fitting for a recent online experience I just had.

If any of you are busy Mom's or Dad's out there you know that holiday shopping can be a chore. I prefer to check out products and deals online first, make my list and then decide if I will purchase online or brave shopping in mid-December.

Last night as I was working away I saw a commercial for Toys"R"Us and I have to say what a great job they have done connecting all the multichannel touch points with their holiday campaign.

First, their holiday commercial is a retro 80's commercial from when I was a small child. This created a ton of emotion for me as I remember the commercial and song and all of a sudden I was on their site checking out what I should get my children for Christmas (a month early). As soon as I landed on the site there is a holiday promo where consumers can win $1,000 towards their child's wish list. The catch? - You have to create the wish list online first and then enter the contest. So now I am browsing for exactly what my children would like for Christmas. I entered the contest and then it took me to an instant win game where I could win a gift card or more entries into their contest. The best part is that they "invited" me back to enter every day until the contest closes. I can even access the contest on my mobile for my convenience. I looked down at the clock and I had just spent 30 minutes browsing the Toys"R'Us online store and it only felt like 5!

This promo really took multichannel to the next level:

Read more about how to provide customers with a multichannel holiday experience:

http://www.1to1media.com/weblog/2011/11/wrapping_the_multichannel_cust.html

Transforming Big Data Into Big Opportunities

Companies that blend structured and unstructured data sources to create a holistic view of the customer can leverage the growing influx of information to their advantage.  No matter which direction we look, it is not until we turn full circle that the entire view comes into focus. This especially applies to gaining a truly holistic view of customer data. With the flood of structured and unstructured information pouring in from a growing number of sources, companies need to look further than they have in the past to gain that 360-degree of the customer. Once organizations determine which sources of data will create the complete customer view they need, they must determine how to bring that information together to enable them to act on it.

This abundance of information encompasses everything from what products customers are searching for to how they prefer to be communicated with to whether they pay on time. In other words, there's more information than ever before on their behaviors, needs, and value or potential value-data that's essential to building a customer experience based not only on what's most important to customers, but also on what will deliver business impact.

"A 360-degree…customer view looks beyond simply providing a consistent experience to the customer," says Doug Cox, general manager, North America, at GMC Software Technology. "It delves deeper, blending CRM data with operational data from a variety of sources including invoices, third-party sites, and contracts to understand what the experience is that the customer actually wants, and what is needed within the company to have the agility to deliver that experience. It's a more holistic approach to customer communication management."

According to Joseph McFadden, director of marketing at Enkata, companies also must understand their customers' interests and intent. Gathering voice of the customer insight is one way organizations are doing this. "Companies have begun to embrace the power of customer opinion and deploy tools to collect, measure, and act on the voice of the customer; surveys, tools to analyze customer calls, tools to track customer patterns on the web, tools to uncover customer commentary on social sites," McFadden says.

This information can provide a deeper level of insight that companies might not get otherwise. For example, because companies can now monitor what customers do online, they can determine key influencers and who consumers trust the most, says Steve Woods, CTO at Eloqua.

Like a conductor who brings myriad instruments together to produce a harmonious symphony, companies must keep track of the many different voices coming from both individual consumers and various customer segments, across all available channels. By layering customers' activities, such as monitoring their webinar attendance, community activity, and social tendencies, onto other behavioral data companies can add depth to their customer knowledge, says Woods. Companies can then use such tracking methods to present relevant information and offers that build customer engagement and bolster customer loyalty.

Build a holistic customer view
Once companies determine which of the myriad data sources available will form a true 360-degree view of their specific customers, those organizations must then combine that often-siloed information in a way that will make it actionable. "You can get a 360-degree view by standing on top of a mountain, but you can't see everything at one time. You have to turn your body around to see all the segments that comprise the complete view," says Blaise Barrelet, founder and CEO of Anametrix. "Technology can put all those segment 'snapshots' together into one panorama."

Some companies are embracing cloud technology to compile multichannel data and make that information available across all departments. According to Eloqua's Woods, putting information in the cloud allows cross-department sharing, pulling together the pieces of a scattered puzzle. Other firms are using tools that layer atop and across existing systems, pulling data from them to a central system that creates a holistic view of the customer and allows for cross-channel analytics.

Creating that panorama often requires more than technology, though. Integrating cross-channel data is a stumbling block for many companies because it also takes collaboration across departments, and often requires new processes. According to Ahmer Inam, senior manager of analytics at Quaero, companies are failing to build links between channels and departments, leaving a disconnect.

Some organizations are solving these issues by created shared goals across functions or channels, or building cross-functional teams that have oversight and authority for collaboration among department. When both data and staff come together, the view of the customer and how best to serve them becomes clearer.

"It's as if you're on a mountain that has a network of roads that converge at the peak. Because there are tall trees everywhere, all you can see is the road you're on and the intersections with other roads as you encounter them," says Barrelet of Anametrix. "If you could only get above the trees, you could see how all the roads intertwine to determine your best route to the top."

Understanding one's customers clears that path to success.

This article - and the attached video - is a great discussion on preserving the "single-channel" approach to communications.

I guess USPS has more at stake than most organizations as more communications move away from the physical mail channel.  But can we as service providers control (or even influence) channel choice?  I don't think we can.  Ultimately the consumer will demand multi-channel and the successful marketers will be those that are able to meet these demands.  Part of Innovating - according to Doug's article and most of the success stories in our shifting economy - is taking risk.  Risk to transform your organization to embrace changing technology.  Risk to cannibalize existing business in order to the right thing for your customers (USPS has a hard time with this - understandably).  We believe that service providers need to be channel agnostic and prepared to take these risks - on behalf of their customers, shareholders and employees!

http://www.linkedin.com/news?viewArticle=&articleID=838057286&gid=47336&type=member&item=75220119&articleURL=http%3A%2F%2Fretailprophet%2Ecom%2Fblog%2F%3Fp%3D1507%26utm_source%3Dtwitterfeed%26utm_medium%3Dtwitter&urlhash=HN3O&goback=%2Egde_47336_member_75220119

Now that the Canada Post strike is over and mail is starting to flow again, many people are wondering whether things will return to the way they were.  Will businesses  and consumers move away from physical mail to email, social media and e-presentment.  Will mail volumes slow and eventually disappear?  There were some really interesting points made by Elizabeth Renzetti in the Globe and Mail last week:

"With or without a Canada Post strike, we know that mail volumes are declining.  According to the CBC, Canada Post estimates a 17-per-cent drop in five years, while the postal union says 6 per cent. The vast majority of that is stuff nobody is pining for: bills and Visa statements and requests for money from the university that once tried to kick you out. After 11 days of rolling walkouts, Labour Minister Lisa Raitt said, "there hasn't been a lot of public outcry." In other words, no one's waiting by the mail slot with bated breath."

Many forms of communication suit electronic distribution.  We recently ran a series of e-presentment webinars and they were well attended by people representing insurance companies, investment companies and utility companies - all organizations that spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on postage delivering customer data - statements, invoices and other transaction notices.  We believe that these types of communications will continue to move towards e-presentment which delivers cost reduction by eliminating postage, faster delivery through the web and enhanced security.

But we feel that each piece of communication is different and any notion that "once size fits all" is wrong.  While e-presentment is garnering great interest, so is multi-channel communications - the practice of delivering communications in the channel chosen by your customer - email, postal mail or the web.  And Renzetti's article uncovers some other interesting points:

"Well, let me tell you: Nobody has ever felt their eyes well up at the arrival of a tweet. No one is going to be clutching a bundle of tweets on their deathbed. E-mails are not redolent of old people's sock drawers, the way envelopes containing birthday money are. Facebook is a fusillade of vacation photos and cat miscellany, but a letter is a guided missile to one person's heart. Maybe it's not the hard work of writing letters that accounts for their rarity these days, but the privacy of the sentiments they contain."

"When John Keats wrote to his beloved, Fanny Brawne, "I know not how to express my devotion to so fair a form: I want a brighter word than bright, a fairer word than fair," maybe he was merely a captive of technology. Perhaps, 200 years later, he would have texted her a picture of his weedy, tubercular chest next to the words "Yo, Fanny, you is well fit," but somehow I doubt that message would be handed down through time."

We all encourage our kids to send a note of thanks for special occasions and thank yous.  The written word will always stir greater emotions than a digital message delivered into your inbox. 

And we believe that this notion of multi-channel is very relevant in B2B and B2C sectors.  Can a highly personalized welcome package or enrolment kit be delivered electronically?  Of course it can - but not with the same impact to your new customer.  Could email marketing messages completely eliminate direct mailers?  Of course they can - but ROI would suggest that savvy marketers leverage multi-channel or "all-channel" communications to maximize results or ROI.

So I guess the return of mail and the future of mail is kind of like the paperless office that we were selling at IBM 20 years ago.  Some forms of communication will move to electronic channels - permanently.  But many will not.  Which I guess is good news for the Canada Post letter carriers….

This article by Steve MacLaughlin really drives home why a single channel marketing strategy is no longer viable in today's society. While this article focuses on not for profit, the message is the same for any industry that has not yet embraced a multichannel marketing strategy.