Do You Know Your Customer’s Birthdays?

We’ve all done it. Life is hectic and sooner or later we’ve forgotten someone’s birthday. It’s a terrible feeling because we know it makes that person feel unimportant. If it’s a coworker, you can usually repair the damage with a free lunch. If it’s a spouse, it may be a much more expensive proposition. But in either case, we act quickly to emphasize how much we really care.

Now consider this: according to a recent survey from retailer research agency Conlumino, a whopping 52 percent of Millennials believe brands should remember their birthdays. It’s a surprising data point from research on more than 3,000 adult online shoppers in the US and UK.

We talk a lot in this space about the importance of personalization, but birthdays? Really?

Really.

Here’s why I love this stat: we spend a lot of time thinking about how much information a consumer might be willing to share and how we can leverage that data to better position our products and services. But we don’t think nearly enough about social and emotional impact of our work and how it plays into loyalty and engagement.

The simple truth is that Millennials expect companies to wish them a happy birthday. They’ve shared that information, along with their likes and dislikes, wish lists, dream vacations and more. And if the point of customer engagement is to form a sort of friendship, shouldn’t we remember their birthdays along with purchase history and billing information? It only seems fair.

Have you forgotten your customer’s birthdays? If so, what do you plan to do about it?

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About the Author: 

Rob Tate is the Director of Enterprise Sales at PossibleNOW.

New Webinar: How to Use Customer Data for Targeted Marketing

Mark your calendars! On Thursday, December 4 at 2pm EST, PossibleNOW Chief Strategist Eric Holtzclaw and special guest Ken Robbins, President of Response Mine Interactive, will appear via webinar to talk about the right ways to collect customer data. Using targeted marketing success stories and market research, Holtzclaw and Robbins will offer insight into how knowledge gained from customer data is used to build targeted marketing, inform marketing spend and drive top and bottom-line results.

Eric V. Holtzclaw

Chief Strategist, PossibleNOW and author of Laddering: Unlocking the Potential of Consumer Behavior

Ken Robbins
Founder & President, Response Mine Interactive, an award-winning digital agency that helps clients acquire more customers using direct response digital marketing.

In just one hour, you will learn:

• Techniques for collecting customer data
• How to translate customer data into knowledge that informs your marketing campaigns
• Tips for measuring and reporting return

 Register today to reserve your spot for this free presentation.

For more information, please call (800) 585-4888 x1034 or e-mail webinars@possiblenow.com. 

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Eric Tejeda is the Director of Product Marketing for PossibleNOW and CompliancePoint. Eric supports the organization’s growth objectives by productizing and launching innovative new products and services that fill critical needs in the marketplace. 

With 25 years of experience, Eric firmly believes that permission-based marketing and preference management is a mega trend and the path to success for marketers today. 

Follow me on Twitter: @EricTejeda | Connect on LinkedIn: Eric Tejeda

Forrester Research Predicts Preference-Driven Customer Personalization in 2015

Forrester Research analysts Luca Paderni and Shar VanBoskirk recently offered some interesting 2015 predictions for marketing professionals. The brief includes a special section on preference management where Paderni and VanBoskirk explain:

“Brands that want to better understand their customers’ needs will finally accept that asking how they want to be communicated with is often better than guessing.”

It’s an interesting observation not for it’s central point – the need for preference management is now commonly accepted – but instead for the way it was phrased. If you read it closely, you’ll notice that the actual prediction is that brands will “finally accept” the necessity of sharing control of the conversation. It’s a subtle difference but one that echoes our experience of working with companies that face complex personalization and engagement challenges. Many companies recognize the need to power their personalization efforts with preference management but not all have accepted that realization with budgeted and actionable projects. In essence, Paderni and VanBoskirk believe 2015 will be a year of widespread acceptance.

The section concludes (not surprisingly) with a bold prediction: “In 2015, preference management will takes its place as a key item on the marketing road map.”

With all due respect to the fine folks at Forrester, we believe the marketplace has been ahead of the analyst community on preference management for some time. As preference pathfinders, we’ve been on a long journey of education, awareness and acceptance with enterprise-level companies for years. And we’ve seen many accept the challenge already.

As for 2015? Your guess is as good as mine (or Forrester’s) when it comes to adoption of preference management. But if 2014 is any indication, we’ll have a very busy year. 

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Eric Tejeda is the Director of Product Marketing for PossibleNOW and CompliancePoint. Eric supports the organization’s growth objectives by productizing and launching innovative new products and services that fill critical needs in the marketplace. 

With 25 years of experience, Eric firmly believes that permission-based marketing and preference management is a mega trend and the path to success for marketers today. 

Follow me on Twitter: @EricTejeda | Connect on LinkedIn: Eric Tejeda

ICYMI: Preferences, Privacy and Personalization in the News

Mobile’s Significant Role in the Purchase Journey Means Mobile Optimization is Key

Need further proof that mobile optimization is imperative for website success? New research by the Internet Advertising Bureau UK reveals that of the 2,000 UK smartphone owners they surveyed between the ages of 16-70, 81 percent browse the Internet via an app or browser on a daily basis. Be sure your website is optimized for this ever-growing segment of society that is looking for information on their mobile devices. Click here for full story.

Baby Boomers Bounce Back

With the last of the Baby Boomers turning 50 this year, marketers are turning their attention to this often-overlooked generation. In short, Boomers will continue to be consumers for another two decades and Neilsen forecasts that by 2017, 50 percent of the US population will be 50 years of age and older, and that group will control 70 percent of the country’s disposable income. Not a small demographic! How are marketers appealing to this generation? Click here for full story.

How Millennials Will Shop This Holiday Season

To be successful this holiday season, marketers must understand the ways in which millennials shop. Did you know that four out of five millennials shop directly from mobile devices? To take advantage of this, brands must be sure their websites are optimized for mobile users. Although millennials have long been touted as a difficult market to appease, marketers can be successful this holiday season if they pay attention to these shopping habits.  

Satisfied vs. Delighted: Raising the Customer Experience Bar

It’s time for marketers to roll out the customer service red carpet. Why? Today’s consumers have high customer experience expectations and they expect brands to deliver. By creating a streamlined experience that pairs a transparent and integrated mix of technology and human experience, marketers can delight their customers and increase brand loyalty. Adding touch points, creating preference centers, and personalizing the experience can greatly enhance the overall customer experience. Click here for full story.

Five Tips for Creating Brand Advocates and Brand Influencers

In today’s customer-centric world, brands must understand how to communicate with their consumers. According to Forrester’s latest Customer Experience Index report, companies that out perform competitors in customer experience are more likely to turn customers into repeat customers, and repeat customers into loyal and engaged brand ambassadors. To be successful, brands must deliver a consistent experience, offer a personalized experience, and provide a seamless customer journey. Click here for full story.  

The False Dilemma of Privacy vs. Personalization

A new survey from SAS found that a growing number of US consumers are concerned about businesses using their personal information. At the same time, the survey confirmed that consumers still expect business to understand them as individuals and personalize their experiences.

On it's face, it's a "damned if you do, damned if you don't" scenario for marketers. Ask for information and you risk privacy fears. Deliver services impersonally and be criticized for being primitive and low-tech.

But take a closer look at the data and the dilemma may not be as bleak as it appears. Survey respondents reported spending an average of 77 minutes a day on social media and a whopping 70 percent belong to loyalty programs. Clearly, it is possible to be concerned in general about privacy while still selectively placing trust in particular companies.

I'm reminded of the old political true-ism: most Americans hate congress but love their congressman.  Consumers are much the same - while they harbor real worries about privacy in the abstract, they willingly share personal information in real life on a selective basis.

Companies that nurture prospects, progressively acquire data as the relationship grows and respect customers' wishes through preference management are rewarded. And suddenly a dilemma becomes an opportunity.

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About the Author: 

Rob Tate is the Director of Enterprise Sales at PossibleNOW.

New Preference Management Data Visualization Tools

I'm pleased to announce that the MyPreferences^® suite now includes new report customization options and graphical data displays. The custom MyPreferences report options are delivered through a partnership with Domo, a cloud-based executive management platform.

Moving forward, MyPreferences reporting will still offer its four standard data points:

• New Opt-ins (by day/week by program by channel)
• New Opt-outs (by day/week by program by channel)
• Opt-ins that changed to Opt-outs (by day/week by program by channel)
• Opt-outs that changed to Opt-ins (by day/week by program by channel)

With the new enhancements unveiled today, MyPreferences users will be able to access custom reports based on their specific requirements, add third-party data to regular reporting and see reports in easy-to-understand data visualization formats. The new reporting tool also allows users to view MyPreferences reports on any device - desktop, tablet or smartphone.

To learn more about our new reporting options, contact info@possiblenow.com.

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About the Author: 

Robert Galop is the Senior Director of Product Architecture for PossibleNOW.

New Webinar: Progressive Profiling Strategies for Increased Customer Engagement

Have you ever seen a form like this?

Overwhelming. Annoying. And all the more frustrating because all this organization really needs to know about me to fulfill my request is to ask for my e-mail address and maybe my name.

The answer to this problem: progressive profiling. We were fortunate enough to have our resident customer engagement expert, Chief Strategist Eric Holtzclaw, lead a webinar on the topic and explain why and how to do it. If you missed it, you can still download the presentation here.

Eric explained that marketers often ask for way too much, way too soon. We are overly anxious to get as much information as we can and are worried the customer or prospect will never return to the site or be willing to give us the information we need at a later date. Instead, we need to employ progressive profiling to gradually learn more while protecting the customer relationship.

To learn more, click here to view the webinar.

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Eric Tejeda is the Director of Product Marketing for PossibleNOW and CompliancePoint. Eric supports the organization’s growth objectives by productizing and launching innovative new products and services that fill critical needs in the marketplace. 

With 25 years of experience, Eric firmly believes that permission-based marketing and preference management is a mega trend and the path to success for marketers today. 

Follow me on Twitter: @EricTejeda | Connect on LinkedIn: Eric Tejeda