Today’s blog post is from Ernan Roman, one of the keynote speakers at the recent 2013 Customer Engagement Marketing Summit hosted by PossibleNOW. Ernan is a Marketing Hall of Fame inductee and well-known for his Voice of the Customer research.
“Is Your Preference Center Hurting Your Customer
Experience?”--the first article in this two-part series--discussed why
marketing executives should be concerned about the role of preference centers in
enabling their companies to capture the deep customer insights necessary to
drive personalized communications.
A good preference
center is akin to a good first date. It is all about initial appropriateness,
understanding, and communication. Once accomplished, you have earned the right
to a second date and deeper levels of discussion.
This article focuses on recommendations
from CMOs and senior execs regarding preference center functions and experiences
that are critical--whether you are about to build a new center or make
improvements to an existing one.
Before You Invest. . .Research When
Thomson Reuters decided to build a preference center, research was its first
step. “We did market research ahead of deploying our new email preference
center,” said Diangelo Tyler, Thomson Reuters’ director of online marketing.
“Our objective was to determine what was most important to the customer.”Tyler offered the following tips:
- Do your homework prior to building the preference center. Refined requirements are the key to success.
- Seek answers to the tough questions.
- Keep in mind that the preference center is for the customer, and they hold the power of voice.
Tyler went on to discuss a topic noted by many of the CMOs who my company, ERDM, interviewed while preparing this article. “It’s better to be transparent and open about your intent. It was critical that we make it as quick and simple as possible for our customers to manage their preferences and [for] marketers to get access to their permissions,” he said.
Many marketers shy away from creating
truly customer-focused preference centers because they fear mass opt-outs.
However, giving customers the ability to provide you with their preferences
regarding communications and experiences actually provides you with a powerful
competitive advantage.
Another issue marketers face in this space is compliance. “We have to comply with telemarketing regulations and the new cell phone rules, so we’ve used this opportunity to build customer preferences for phone contact,” explained Jane Bulman, VP of telesales at Comcast. “We ask them and are transparent about the benefits of future calls--special offers and notifications about new products, for example. Over 70 percent who purchased previously said, ‘Yes, contact me again.’ If we ask how customers want to be contacted--and for what purposes--we gain marketing efficiency, customers welcome the call, and we follow the law.”
Preference-Based, Not Transaction-Based, Data Is Key It is important for executives to realize that transaction-based spray-and-pray blasts are causing significant damage to their brands. Irrelevant communications are training customers to associate their e-mail and direct mail with “delete” or “throwaway” behaviors.
Per findings from our Voice of Customer
Relationship (VoC) research, customers and prospects consistently stated
they were willing to provide trusted brands with deeper levels of information in
exchange for more personalized information and experiences.
B2B and B2C consumers cited that
willingness so frequently we gave it a name: the Reciprocity of Value
Equation. Following are some key VoC findings regarding Reciprocity of
Value:
- Consumers recognize that to receive or access relevant information, they must provide preference information.
- If they trust the brand and receive a useful value proposition, then consumers will opt-in to sharing increasingly detailed preference information.
- Reciprocity is seen as a valuable exchange of information. This information will constantly change, grow, and be enriched through ongoing interactions with consumers.
- This customer-driven information exchange results in uniquely accurate databases that consistently achieve 25 percent to 50 percent increases in revenue.
“The key is to establish an ongoing
dialogue with the customer. As they give personal information to you, they are
building a relationship with your brand,” said Jennifer Downes, director of
direct response marketing at Lenovo NA. “Critical to the learning process is the
level of engagement that a customer has with your preference center. The
customer must perceive value in your preference center so they proactively
update their preferences as they evolve in their journey.”
Another issue marketers face in this space is compliance. “We have to comply with telemarketing regulations and the new cell phone rules, so we’ve used this opportunity to build customer preferences for phone contact,” explained Jane Bulman, VP of telesales at Comcast. “We ask them and are transparent about the benefits of future calls--special offers and notifications about new products, for example. Over 70 percent who purchased previously said, ‘Yes, contact me again.’ If we ask how customers want to be contacted--and for what purposes--we gain marketing efficiency, customers welcome the call, and we follow the law.”
Preference-Based, Not Transaction-Based, Data Is Key It is important for executives to realize that transaction-based spray-and-pray blasts are causing significant damage to their brands. Irrelevant communications are training customers to associate their e-mail and direct mail with “delete” or “throwaway” behaviors.
Per our VoC research findings, consumers
believe that transaction-based data is inadequate and an inaccurate indicator of
their true preferences regarding future communications they would consider
relevant. They stated repeatedly that they want brands to treat them “as more
than just a sale.”
Rather, they want relevant and engaging
communications:
- “I want more than just buying history-based e-mail.”
- “With today’s technology, I expect the experiences and e-mail to reflect my preferences.”
- “I think being able to select just what I’m interested in would be very helpful. It would mean a lot less searching on the Web site and a lot less email I don’t usually open anyway.”
Key
Takeaways
Following are recommendations regarding
what you need to consider in order to develop a high-quality preference center.
These were provided by Scott Frey, a preference management innovator and
president and CEO of Possible Now, which
provides enterprise preference management solutions.
Tip 1: Account for all of the systems currently in use to
collect and store preference information from customers. There are
multiple touch points--e-mail, mail, point of sale, social, and mobile--that
must be taken into account to ensure the preference center is as comprehensive
and effective as possible.
Tip 2: Understand the business rules and needs of the business
owners. An effective preference center must take into account all of
the existing business rules and needs of the business owners who are impacted by
the data collected by the preference center. Bringing those parties together
early and keeping them informed throughout the build of the preference center is
crucial.
Tip 3: Start with the end in mind. Creating a plan for
how the information collected through the preference center will impact
marketing campaigns and customer correspondence assures that all of the right
elements are accounted for in the preference center and provides a guideline for
reporting.
Tip 4: Viewing from the customer’s perspective.
Companies must think about building preference centers from the customer’s
(user’s) perspective. Avoid internal language and make sure the preference
choices are clear and descriptive. The content within the preference center is
important to the center’s effectiveness in decreasing opt-outs and increasing
opt-ins.
In conclusion, keep in mind that
preference centers enable you to deliver truly personalized offers,
communications, and experiences. These, in turn, will drive significant
increases in response to cross-sell offers, new product introductions, and
loyalty-building initiatives.
“As our markets become increasingly
fragmented on interests and needs, delivering the right message at the right
time in the right way will be impossible without a solid preference management
practice,” said Denice Hasty, Comcast’s SVP of consumer marketing.
About the Author:
Ernan Roman Direct Marketing's Customer Experience strategies achieve consistent double-digit increases in response and revenue for their clients, which include IBM, MassMutual, QVC, Microsoft, and Symantec Corp.
As a leader in providing Voice of Customer research-based guidance, ERDM has conducted over 10,000 hours of interviews with their clients' customers and prospects, to gain an in-depth understanding of their expectations for high-value relationships.
he results achieved by ERDM's VoC-based strategies earned Ernan Roman induction into the Marketing Hall of Fame.
Visit his blog at: http://ernanroman.blogspot.com/
About the Author:Ernan Roman Direct Marketing's Customer Experience strategies achieve consistent double-digit increases in response and revenue for their clients, which include IBM, MassMutual, QVC, Microsoft, and Symantec Corp.
As a leader in providing Voice of Customer research-based guidance, ERDM has conducted over 10,000 hours of interviews with their clients' customers and prospects, to gain an in-depth understanding of their expectations for high-value relationships.
he results achieved by ERDM's VoC-based strategies earned Ernan Roman induction into the Marketing Hall of Fame.
Visit his blog at: http://ernanroman.blogspot.com/
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