We’ve spent a lot of time in this space
talking about preventing opt-outs through preference management - the active
collection, maintenance and distribution of unique consumer characteristics,
such as product interest, communication channel preference and frequency of
communication.
And rightly so. Anytime a customer chooses to
remove themselves from all future communications – the so-called “atomic
opt-out” – they are likely gone forever and represent a dangerous erosion of
the prospect pool.
To avoid this, we work with companies to
provide opt-down functionality that empowers customers to narrow their focus
and ensure that the content they receive is timely, relevant and delivered
through the appropriate channel.
The importance of preference management was
driven home for me yet again when I stumbled across a surprising statistic: a
recent study from the International Customer Management Institute found that 49
percent of consumers reported they would be willing to move to a competitor who
provides the same product or service but in their preferred channel1.
Same product.
Same service.
The only distinction that, according to
recent research, would move roughly half of all consumers from one company to
the next is whether or not that company serves their channel of choice.
It’s a remarkable finding and one that
underscores just how high the expectations are for personalization. Kudos to
the companies that already have preference management functionality in place
and find this stat to be a confirmation instead of a wake-up call.
Eric V. Holtzclaw is
Chief Strategist
of PossibleNOW. He's a researcher, writer, serial entrepreneur and challenger-of-conventional wisdom. His book with Wiley Publishing on consumer behavior - Laddering: Unlocking the Potential of Consumer Behavior - hit bookstores last summer. Eric helps strategically guide companies with the implementation
of enterprise-wide preference management solutions.
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