How to benefit from text analytics

The artist, Anne Truitt, believed that ideas floated in the air, available to anyone for the taking.  I thought of this today when I read a recent Forbes article on text analytics.  It combined ideas from two of my recent posts.  First, in order to at least break even on text analytics, you need a plan.  The author is preaching to the choir.  See my post titled “Plan your dive.  Dive your plan”.

Second, in order to create a plan, you have to consider the benefits that text analytics will provide as well as the costs.  Not all text needs to be analyzed.  However, it can help you spot high-priority issues or customer defection.   In the example of preventing churn, you need to know how much a customer is worth.  As I mentioned in a post on text analytics, overlaying customer data to customer feedback will help you determine what action you take.  For example, you may choose not to retain some customers who threaten to leave because they are unprofitable.

In summary, text analytics can be a powerful tool when used in the right situation.  But first you have to determine if its worth applying text analytics.

The direct marketing channel war revisited

These days the debate over direct mail versus email seems to be over.  The conventional wisdom is that direct mail is too expensive and takes too long.  If a retailer has had bad sales over the weekend, they want to take action now and not wait a month or two to get a direct mail piece delivered to their customers’ mailboxes.

However, this approach could ignore some valuable customers.  What about your customers who are not emailable either because you don’t have their email address or they have opted out of email communications?  Also, sending an email doesn’t mean it will actually be seen by the consumer.  Google’s use of the promotion inbox makes it easier for consumers to ignore marketing communications.  In addition, plenty of people have secondary email addresses that they use just for these types of communications and which they check only rarely.

In addition, there is the question of whether email is always the best channel for the message.  A recent study found that physical ads were better than digital ads in some respects.  See here: http://www.dmnews.com/postal/direct-mail-has-a-greater-effect-on-purchase-than-digital-ads/article/423292/

In the end, it may be a multichannel strategy that works best for you.  Through a test and learn approach you can determine what generates the best return on your marketing investment.

Happy New Year

The new year has begun. Now is the time to measure the success of your holiday campaigns. How did your campaigns perform? This is an opportunity to look at their effectiveness in terms of building awareness, generating revenue, increasing retention and aiding customer acquisition? How do your metrics compare to industry benchmarks as well as internal benchmarks? How much revenue did they generate and were they profitable? In addition, what worked and what didn’t? Now is the time to evaluate any tests that were done – date/time, subject line, creative, etc. Finally, compare the results of this past holiday campaign to the one before and analyze the differences. The insights from the holidays can inform your strategy for 2012.

I am dreaming of a white Christmas

Even though it still feels like summer outside, now is the time to start planning for the holidays.

The first step is to evaluate all of the tests that have been done throughout the year in order to put your best foot forward.  In addition, it involves reviewing the results from the prior holiday season.  That means determining the most effective:

  • communication method (e.g., email, direct mail, multi-channel) by customer segment
  • timing (both day of the week and time of day)
  • creative (hero images, placement of links, etc.)
  • subject lines (when and where to mention free shipping offers, brand or product offers, etc.)
  • offers (discount percentages, dollars off, buy one get one free)

Next step is to evaluate any implementation issues from the prior holiday season.  Before coming up with your holiday strategy it is important to determine any limitations or challenges with respect to execution.  Your strategy cannot be developed in a vacuum.  Thus, I recommend that you review what has worked and what did not work with the entire team.

Once all of this information has been gathered, you can develop a holiday strategy.  It should incorporate the lessons from past tests and holiday campaigns as well as encompass:

1.  Start Date. The average holiday campaign begins in October.  Some retailers hold pre-holiday clearance sales and send informational emails to start their holiday campaigns.

2.  Black Friday. For Marketers, the holiday campaigns have been starting earlier and earlier on the calendar.  The same is true for Black Friday.  It is now beginning on Thanksgiving Day for some retailers.  When will yours start?

3.  Cyber Monday. While many digital sales are made on the Monday after Thanksgiving, digital sales are occurring earlier as consumer shop from home.  Will you wait for Cyber Monday or start earlier?

4.  Sequence. If you are using email, you can easily send at least an email a day.  It is important to determine the contact frequency and cadence.  Will all or a segment of your customers receive an email a day, every other day, every third day, etc.?  Will emails be sent only on weekdays or only weekends or a mix?  Will there be a resting period or a maximum number of emails that can be received?

5.  Free Shipping.  Many consumers expect to get free shipping online, especially during the holidays, and will not pay for shipping.

6.  Social Sharing.  Consider how to tie in Facebook, Twitter and other social sites with your campaign.

7.  After Christmas. Lastly, there is also the opportunity for follow on sales after Christmas.  It is the time to promote use of gift cards and purchases of parts or refills.

Trigger emails

One of my clients was asking for my advice about trigger e-mails.  If you haven’t worked with trigger e-mails then you may not be familiar with the ability to set up e-mails that are automatically “triggered” by an event.  There are many behaviors that can trigger an e-mail and below is a selection of the types of trigger campaigns you can develop:

1.  Welcome Campaigns

If a customer makes a purchase or registers on your web site, this is a wonderful opportunity to thank them as well as up-sell existing customers and convert prospects into customers.

2.  Birthday Programs

Why not surprise and delight your customers with a special birthday promotion.  You can send a promotion or special offer in the month of their birthday.  For one of my clients, this program consistently generates among the highest response rates.

3.  Specific Product Promotions

You can leverage past purchase behavior to let customers know about products that might be of particular interest to them.  Amazon is a great example of this.  Based on books I have previously purchased, I receive e-mails about books on topics of interest to me as well as e-mails about new books from authors from who I have bought in the past.

4.  Reactivation Campaigns

If it has been a while since a customer has bought from you, a reactivation e-mail may be in order.  The purpose of a reactivation campaign is to remind customers about your products and services and encourage them to become an active customer again.   This is your chance to win back a lost or inactive customer.

Trigger campaigns are one key element of your communication strategy.  They provide relevant content based on customer behavior and enable you to speak to the particular needs and interests of your customers.