Focusing on customers

Archive for December, 2007

I have a new appreciation for being a B2B marketer! It’s no wonder B2C marketers spend millions of dollars to get consumers to even notice them. What do I know, I’m not a consumer marketer…oh no, but it’s worse, I’m a CONSUMER! I’m picky. I’m not loyal to your products. I’ll only listen if you talk to me, personally, not just as one of your “demographics.” B2C marketing has gone way beyond personalization and relevancy. Simply addressing an email to me using my name and my recent transaction at your web site is not enough. You need to do more to get to know me, my habits, my likes and dislikes. Sure it takes a lot of data-collection, but in the end, it’s worth it. Trust me. Do you want me to tag your web site as a favorite? Do you want me to buy from you or visit you occasionally? Then here is what attracts me as a consumer, and to date, there are only a few companies that have kept my attention.

1. Talk to me about things I like!

I get so many emails about promotions for this, free shipping for that, and discounts. If I even get the slightest hint you don’t know what I like, I delete your email or throw away your direct mail piece. So what do you do to get my attention? Tell me what I’ll get from purchasing your product (WIIFM – what’s in it for me?). If I’ve purchased your products, send me similar items I might like. Keep consistently communicating with me (if I subscribe to let you that is). I’m a consumer. I’m impulsive. I purchase on emotion. Tap into those instincts with things I like, and you got me, maybe.

2. Keep it simple. I don’t have time!

If I had a dollar for every shopping cart I’ve abandoned because the process takes too long or asks for too much information or makes it virtually impossible to get to the end, I will leave. I have done so on many occasions because web pages timed out, have asked me for way more information than I think they need, or keep telling me I forgot to fill this field in or that field. I’m out of there. Don’t send me to too many pages in the process because I’ll lose interest. Don’t ask me to fill out information I have already provided (that’s a peeve). Keep my experience simple and fast, and I will come back.

3. Word of mouth happens without you even trying.

If I like a web site, you can bet my friends will know about it and their friends, and so on (we all know the commercial). Stop asking me to fill in my friends’ email addresses because most of the time, I won’t. I don’t want them inundated with messages they don’t even know about yet, even if my name is on them. Word of mouth is powerful. Let it take its course naturally.

4. Follow the leaders

So this is the part where I tell you who I think have done an incredible job of personalizing my experiences with them and making it easy for me to come back again and again. Study them well.

1. http://www.amazon.com/ – Clearly the king of personalization way before anyone even knew what it was. I have been an Amazon fan since the site began in the 90′s. My experience with them has always been great. They personalize their pages just for me, make helpful recommendations off of what I’ve searched on, without me even asking, have endless selections in multiple categories from their original books and movies to clothing and jewelry. Amazing! I love Amazon!

2. http://www.etoys.com/ – My favorite toy e-tailer that made my Christmas this year stress-free! Again, they are really good with recommendations, based on my kids’ ages, my nephew’s birthdays, you name it. I get emails reminding me of upcoming birthdays and recommendations. Having quite a few kids to buy for throughout the year, this toy e-tailer is number one on my list.

3. http://www.google.com/ – My favorite search engine and so much more. Google never ceases to amaze me with all the free tools, widgets, SPAM-free email, blogs, and customized home pages. All this and I pay nothing. It’s no wonder Google is the number one search engine on the web. They keep coming up with nifty tools and features that I’m finding myself using more and more. Just the curiosity alone keeps me going back.

4. http://www.marketingprofs.com/ – I’m a member of this marketing web site filled with thousands of marketing-related articles, case studies, and forums for a low subscription fee. Being a marketer, I find this to be one of the most resourceful sites on the web when it comes to finding out just about anything I want to know about my favorite topic – Marketing!

5. http://www.marketingsherpa.com/ – Similar marketing information site with more of a focus on testimonials, real-world case studies and techniques for successful marketing programs. They have become another favorite of mine. Not too long ago, they started a subscription service. I’m not sure how I feel about that since I’ve been accessing their content for so long and now they’ve asked me to spontaneously pay for it. I’m still debating on whether or not I’m going to join, but make no mistake, it is a valuable, informative site.

The above are sites whose emails I always want to read because they’ve pegged my interests and have kept my attention for that reason.

Kudos to those web sites. They have done a great job to date of getting my attention and keeping it. Don’t reinvent the wheel with fancy new tactics to get my attention, follow the leaders and do as they do. I hope you get my attention soon!

Being a marketer at a technology company has many benefits, particularly if it’s marketing technology. For me, marketing has always been challenging when it comes to justifying return on invest of marketing initiatives. The best way to measure return on investment is to collect information at every step of a marketing initiative. For example, if you’re doing email marketing, track the results. Most email marketing programs provide results on who opened, clicked through, bounced and unsubscribed to your emails. Some even go further with tracking activity from your email to your web site capturing every link or web page recipients have gone to and collecting information on those vistors as they return in the future. Collecting this data over time provides you with information that will help you determine the value of the campaign and what works best for future campaigns. I could go on and on about his, but my point here is that the more companies I talk to, the more I learn that they aren’t collecting tracking information or have no solutions in place to do so. Let’s face it, the only way marketers are going to be able to justify their campaigns and obtain bigger budgets that are needed to execute these campaigns is with historical data. Technology can provide that today. Take advantage of it! There are many marketing automation solutions on the market that can provide this for you. I’ll be mentioning them in my blog from time to time so stay tuned.

Hi everyone. I’ve decided that I’m going to divide my blogs between career and personal. I have so much info to share on each, I couldn’t possibly combine it into one blog. They’ll overlap from time to time, but there are two types of moms – those who bravely begin their own home businesses to be home with their kids and those who get in their cars every day to head off to their destinations in corporate America. Both are strong and make sacrifices. Currently I’m the second type of mom, but I have friends who I admire that have left corporate America for their own businesses for the flexibility, better quality of life or just plain old they didn’t have a choice. Which mom are you? I hope to meet you here soon.