Quaero Blog

4 Keys to Successful Marketing Data Quality

rafael.salas@csgi.com (Rafael Salas) — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 12:00:00 EST

Data quality strategies are sustainable over the long run when they are approached with programs that provide a framework for data-centric projects. However, the absence of such programs in your organization should not make you exempt from embracing data quality as an important part of your marketing database. If you are building your marketing database, or are re-evaluating an existing one, consider the following items as you drive data quality into the plan:

Data quality is relative. In physics, the 'Theory of Relativity' posits that all motion must be defined relative to a frame of reference. The same holds true for data quality; your baseline should be measured relative to the purpose of its use. In other words, data lacks quality to the extent it does not satisfy the intended use.

Evaluate quality from different angles. Data have many properties that define its quality, and these properties will likely vary greatly depending upon where the data originates from and whether those sources are verifiable and accurate. Suffice to say, to better understand and gauge the overall quality level of the data you are working with, you should focus on the properties that are most important to the marketing programs leveraging the data. Accuracy, timeliness, completeness, reliability, relevance and clarity are good measures when assessing data quality.

The journey is the destination. Teams embracing data quality at a systemic level from day one and maintaining it throughout the lifecycle of the system will make a greater overall impact on the efficacy of the solutions they are building. This is based on the premise that data sources, rules and uses will shift over time. As such, data quality cannot be a static measure and must be revisited regularly. In contrast, organizations who engage in data quality initiatives as one-time side projects, are more likely to experience limited benefits with a short lifespan. After you understand which aspects of data quality are relevant to your marketing strategy, do not limit yourself to just initial data quality analysis. Instead establish measurable baselines of quality and track progress in a way that identifies gaps and facilitates defect prevention.

People, process and technology. You need the right balance of skills, technology and processes in order to be able to implement a sound data quality framework; a weakness in any of these areas will prevent your team from achieving sustainable success. Some companies naively believe that investing in best-of breed tools alone is the key to solve data quality issues, failing to understand that a tool by itself does not represent a solution. As you plan your data quality efforts, be sure to create the balance between all three focus areas; people, process and technology.

Using the Survey to Build Customer Engagement in Neolane

grace_wang@csgsystems.com (Grace Wang) — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 12:00:00 EST

A core value of customer engagement is to market based on thorough understanding of customer segments and how they differ from one another. In theory, this makes sense, but in actual marketing practice, carrying on communication with customers is always a challenge. In our daily lives, we have many different channels to communicate with a friend when we want to find out his/her opinion about something. But, how can we reach out to half a million people and get to know how they think about a 'bigger' concept - a company product, an innovative service, a marketing promotion plan, or a company recruiting tactic?

One of the best ways to determine these opinions is through surveying customers. From our experience in marketing services, we also find clients are very happy with using surveys in campaigns. It's a way for the customers' voice to be heard. Of course, we can't talk to the customers face-to-face. Nowadays, it is even costly to talk by phone, as labor costs for hiring telephone surveyors are very high. So, we find email as an effective and efficient way to deliver surveys and collect data from a large number of customers. Marketing automation tools have allowed us to connect survey results with specific customer segments and therefore drive business insight and strategy. Neolane, an avant-garde marketing automation tool that we use for many clients, has proven a powerful way for us to design surveys and develop the analytics and segmentation campaigns that follow from the results. Here I will share with you the basic steps to create surveys within Neolane:

Step 1: Design Survey in Neolane

Neolane has a built-in survey module, in which users input the survey contents in a web application form and display the survey with a HTML-based landing page. The web application form has different designer boxes that allow users to input all types of survey questions, including open questions, multiple/single/combo choices, drop-down options, captcha, etc. Users also have rights to make constraints for whether a survey question is mandatory to answer or not. In addition to content, survey page format is built on HTML programming with which users can easily create or attach logo, header/footer, links, description, etc.

Step 2: Send the Survey

In Neolane (as in all Marketing Automation tools), every landing page is associated with a distinct web URL (for publishing a survey) and a distinct Neolane Email delivery URL (for delivering the survey via email). The web URL is used for browsing the survey in any Internet browser, while the Neolane Email delivery URL is used for delivering the survey in a campaign. The difference between the web URL and Neolane Email delivery URL is the delivery URL is associated with a distinct delivery ID which will be used in response tracking. When marketers need to send out the survey in their email campaign, they can just insert a hyperlink to the campaign content and apply the "Neolane Email URL" to the hyperlink. The survey will be delivered to all customers when the marketer clicks the button for "sending out delivery."

Step 3: Track Survey Answers

When designing surveys within the web application form in Step 1, data schema is automatically generated in the process. Each survey question is associated with a distinct data schema and the data schema is stored in the database as a distinct attribute. So, when customers receive the survey from an email campaign and fill out the survey online, the answers will be stored in the Neolane database and will be associated with the campaign delivery ID, customer contact ID, and will be time-stamped.

When marketers need to retrieve the survey answers, they can directly check the 'Responses' under the landing page module. The 'Responses' perform as an integration between the Neolane database and the users and displays all the customer answers to all questions under a given survey. Users have the power to segment specific questions they want to analyze or browse all survey questions that were sent through a particular campaign.

Step 4: Analyze Survey Results and Segment Customers

Marketers have long been capable of delivering surveys to several million people at a time. But there is more that we can do. Our goal is to understand these opinions (and our customers who create them) and execute more effective campaigns as a result. That means marketers need to prioritize customer analytics, market segmentation, and campaign strategy.

Having received survey answers, marketers can segment customers in a campaign query. They can create a workflow and select single or multiple survey questions that they want to extract to help define the inbound population. When using "Split," marketers can define single or multiple filtering conditions on the inbound population. In doing so, customer population is segmented directly from the survey answers.

If marketers don't want to do segmentation directly based on survey answers, but instead want to utilize more scientific analytics with the survey data, which is usually the case, they export survey results from Neolane into their local computers. The export profile is extracted from the 'Responses' in Step 3 with all survey questions and answers and can be stored in either an Excel spreadsheet or txt file, with which marketers will have freedom to independently analyze and model in any professional analytic tools -- Excel, SQL, SAS, SPSS, and R. When analytics is done with the professional analytic tool and important segmentation attributes are defined, marketers can come back to Neolane and repeat the steps described above to send out customized campaigns to different segments.

In conclusion, surveying is a tool we'd love to use on a professional level to collect customer data and improve customer engagement. By using Neolane, and other marketing automation tools, we can successfully deliver surveys, collect responses, and use that information to drive real business insight and customer engagement.

SOPA, PIPA, and the Future of Media on the Internet

bill_connolly@csgsystems.com (Bill Connolly) — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 12:00:00 EST

In today's world, technology changes so quickly that it is impossible for us as users to keep up sometimes. Interestingly, the next great product or technological innovation has likely existed for a few years already, but hasn't been released because we simply aren't ready for it (and the company correctly figured they could release it in several iterations and make 10X more money... but that is a different story). For as slow as we may be to adopt to the digital revolution, however, our legislation is naturally much further behind. As more and more content providers pop up all over the web, traditional media industries are faced with the challenge of protecting their intellectual property. As Lance Ulanoff reflects, "The internet almost immediately became the transport mechanism for a steady flow of pirated content - first images, then music, and when the pipe got fat enough, movies. Major media companies, which once upon a time had sole control of the creation and distribution of popular entertainment, were appalled - and also powerless to stop it." (Read Ulanoff's full reflection on Mashable).

A potentially crippling issue for the media industry, for sure, but in recent years Congress has stepped in to help (remember Napster anybody?). Today, there are laws that prohibit websites from displaying pirated content. Many of you have probably had the following experience: You are surfing YouTube and find a song from your favorite artist (who cares that the video is actually of some random family's Disney vacation), but upon clicking the link you find a disappointing message saying that the file has been taken down by the media company that owns the rights to it. That message is the result of media corporations taking back some of the power that had been stripped of them. Now Congress is contemplating giving them back ALL of the power with two new pieces of legislation, the "Stop Online Piracy Act," (SOPA) in the House and the "Protect Intellectual Property Act," (PIPA) in the Senate. Without going into the detailed specifics of the new proposals, the primary difference between them and current regulation seems to be this: The government would now be able to stop all reposting and sharing of content, would expand the definition of what it means to infringe on copyright, and would be able to accuse companies (on a felony charge) of providing 'infringing tools'. Again, I am citing the Ulanoff article, but you can find similar pieces on CBS News, CNN, Forbes, just to name a few.

Certainly, this would be a seismic shift for the good ole World Wide Web. Unanimously, it seems, every online-based company has publicly opposed the legislation, and some VERY popular sites (Wikipedia, Reddit, Wordpress) have decided to do a 'blackout' today in order to protest. Google has produced a 'censored' homepage image to draw awareness and to ask people to sign an online petition to their Congressional representatives. Facebook and Twitter, while not joining the 'blackout,' have also publically opposed the laws.

I don't want to take a side on this issue (have to keep this blog unbiased and retain my journalistic integrity!), but what I do find interesting is the enormous opportunity that both sides (Media Corporations and everyone else on the internet) have to capitalize on the wonders of the internet. Despite the overwhelming growth of online consumption, people are also consuming content at record highs on television, radio, music services (Pandora, Spotify) and even in movie theaters (it is Oscar Season after all!). What does that mean? It means that people want media more than ever before, and are literally willing to consume it in whatever fashion is possible. Regardless of the fate of SOPA and PIPA, media organizations must continue to embrace the online channel not as an opposing force, but as another highly effective vehicle to proliferate content. This isn't an indictment on media corporations, because largely, they have realized the importance and potential of the online world. Now they must work to strike the right balance between allowing users to share content while avoiding piracy.

A completely unregulated internet is not the answer, because people and companies should have the ability to control and profit from their creation of content. On the other side, SOPA and PIPA are likely also not the answer, because an open and imaginative internet has arguably done much more good than bad in terms of education, creativity, and innovation. Somewhere in the middle is where society should ultimately settle, so that the creativity of the average internet user is not stifled, and the media organizations still have a reason to generate amazingly entertaining content.

Also check out the best SOPA protests today, as compiled by AdAge.

What do you think? Should SOPA and PIPA pass? If not, what does your ideal internet look like?

Follow me on Twitter: @billconnolly

QR Codes: Why Marketers Shouldn't Slow Down

sakina.walsh@csgi.com (Sakina Walsh) — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 12:00:00 EST

Earlier this month, AdAge published an article suggesting QR codes have not taken off with consumers, claiming that only 5% of Americans have actually used them. And why the latter statistic may be true, the assumption that the technology is a waste of time would certainly be a misstep. Not only should marketers not throw in the towel on using QR codes, they have many reasons to be optimistic, proactive, and innovative as they think about using them as part of their marketing strategies in 2012.

For those of you that are new to the concept of QR (quick response) codes, they are basically the next gen of bar codes, designed to go hand-in-hand with mobile technology. Product manufacturers can place a small code on any item, which can then be scanned by compatible cell phones and mobile devices to create any number of extended customer experiences. What this experience looks like is completely dependent on the craft of the Marketer. Some allow consumers to get more information on the product itself by linking to demo videos, how-to-guides, and project ideas. Cosmetics manufacturer Clinique placed a QR code on some of its print advertising, which readers could scan into their smartphones to get access to special promos and discounts. Other companies have taken a more creative approach: As part of their "Our Turn to Serve" campaign, Heinz allowed customers to use QR codes to send personal messages to U.S. troops, while J.C. Penney allowed users to give holiday gifts with personalized voice messages, accessible via the attached QR code.

Clearly, then, the possibilities of customer engagement and sales opportunities are endless. But according to Forrester, the 5% of Americans using QR codes yields only about 14 million consumers, and these early adopters tend to be young, male and affluent. So is QR consumption simply too sparse and narrow to be worthwhile?

Not at all, in my opinion. Here's why:

Every new technology starts with a small minority of early adopters. Not long ago, Blockbuster thought online movies would only be popular with a few technology-friendly adopters. So they brushed off the emergence of Netflix, only to find themselves bankrupt and obsolete a few years later. From digital books to Mp3s, all new technology starts with a small subset of, yes--technology-savvy adopters. You may never have been able to imagine your Uncle Larry without his morning paper at the breakfast table, but now he enjoys his blueberry muffin with a neat little iPad, while book-loving Aunt Barbara is in the next room over, nestled in her easy chair with a Kindle. Just because a technology begins with a certain subset of consumers doesn't mean it stops there. The more appealing you make your campaign to a mass or target market, the faster they will join the club.

It only takes a small niche following. Unless you're Wal-Mart, chances are you don't have to convert the entire general population into QR code junkies to make their use worthwhile. As with any sound marketing campaign, clearly define your target market, what outcome you're hoping to achieve, and then work backwards to create a campaign that will be compelling, engaging and have a real value proposition to your target consumer. The more you know about this consumer, the better you will be at doing this. But if you make a strong enough value proposition, your customers will find a way to leap onto the technology. It might be a small, niche following - but if that's your target market, then great!

It's different for every product/brand. Just because a campaign didn't work for one brand doesn't mean it won't for yours. And just because it didn't work for one of your products, doesn't mean it won't for a different one. Each brand and product offers a unique spectrum of possibilities through QR code marketing. Perhaps one brand or product simply wasn't compelling enough to get customers over the hump of trying out a new technology. Or perhaps the QR campaign simply wasn't designed and executed well enough. While it is true that 2011 saw many failed QR campaigns, like users, marketers too are inexperienced with the technology. In a sea of opportunities, at the beginning of a new trade, one failure should not signal defeat.

Technology will catch up. Many of the challenges with QR codes are technology related. In some cases, users were given error messages, hyperlinks did not work, or their devices were simply too slow. Furthermore, using QR codes requires special programs, which not everyone yet knows how to use and access. Even further, many consumers still don't have smartphones, but the rise of the percentage that do is inevitable. Like a good football team, technology will adjust. Every projection supports massive growth in mobile commerce, so all related players have every incentive to ensure quick innovations and improvement. As technology improves, so will the ease of use and possibilities of marketing with QR codes.

Analytics: 2011 in Review and 2012 Predictions

roman_lenzen@csgsystems.com (Roman Lenzen) — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 12:00:00 EST

Now that the New Year is upon us it is time to review analytics in 2011 and look ahead to 2012.

2011 in review:

Analytics became a Sport: Several analytic competition sites became highly visible in 2011, the most prominent being Kaggle.com. These sites host analytic competitions that anyone can enter and provide a rich learning environment for both new and seasoned analytic professionals. The winners are not just those who place in the money - the winners are everyone who participates and learns within the community environment.

Moneyball and Analytics Hype: Speaking of sports, I'm a baseball fan so I naturally enjoyed the movie Moneyball. Analytics hype continued to climb in 2011 with the help of that movie. See this recent post for more on my thoughts on the state of analytics hype in 2011.

2011 was the year of R (an open sourced analytic solution widely regarded as one of the most powerful analytic tools available): Corporate adoption gained momentum in 2011, as the corporate analytic community continued to understand the power of the solution and myths such as it is not a tool for production environments were quickly debunked.
- 50% of the Kaggle.com winners used R

2012 predictions:

Data Scientists- Evolution of the Analytic Professional: I read several articles and whitepapers in 2011 that estimated the gap between available analytic professionals and the ever increasing analytic work over the next few years. I do agree that a lack of analytic talent does exist, and will expand, but I believe that another significant gap will become more visible in 2012. That gap is current skills compared to the skills required to effectively use the newly evolving data and analytic environments. Analytic professionals need to evolve their skills required to analyze data in more complex technical systems (as an example, huge data environments that require lower level programming to access). Those who can analyze data efficiently in deep technical systems, with minimal help, and also are business domain experts, are deemed Data Scientists.

Analytics in the Cloud: Before cloud-based analytics could be adopted, cloud-based data systems had to be accepted, and those systems are now trusted by most as a viable solution (trusted being the key term as they have been viable for awhile now). Expect cloud-based, pay as you go, analytic solutions continue to take form and take off in 2012. Analytics in the Cloud is not a good fit for everyone currently … but it is a great fit for some now.

The year of Analytic Reality: Analytics hype will peak in 2012 as executives demand a visible ROI towards their analytic investments. Nothing is wrong with hype, as hype enhances the education process, but hype needs to turn into reality. 2012 will be the year of transition from analytic hype to analytic reality.

Analytic Evolution Continues to be Supercharged by R: R is a full featured object-oriented analytic programming language that integrates well and is evolving much quicker than other available analytic solutions. R will continue to evade analytic environments in 2012, especially as R continues to progress into Big Data solutions with advances such as The Marriage Between Hadoop and R. R still has its drawbacks and is not for everyone: The primary take away here is that R has significantly enhanced analytic evolution, and will continue to do so, through a vibrant and dynamic open source analytic community. In turn, it will continue to push the big analytic providers to evolve. It is this evolutionary tidal wave that has yet to crest in the corporate world.

A Marketing Reflection: Quaero's 2011 Webinar Recap

bill_connolly@csgsystems.com (Bill Connolly) — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 12:00:00 EST

Here at Quaero, it's a magical time of the year. Using up last vacation days, attending company holiday parties, and of course, planning for 2012 marketing efforts. A whole new collection of events, webinars, eBooks, etc. that we will be rolling out in the coming year. As we plan, however, we don't want to forget the success of 2011, because we were fortunate to work with some fantastic people, and create a good deal of content that we trust will live far beyond the new year. For this reason, I thought it would be nice to recap some of our 2011 webinars, and the lessons that we learned from them. Thank you to our friends at Neolane, who gave us the idea with a recap of their own.

In 2011, marketing saw continued growth in social media, although the growth occured on existing platforms. Aside from Google+ entering the field (which hasn't yet picked up quite as much steam as many, including myself, originally projected), as I read from another blogger, the buzz was less about, "What's new in social media?" and more about, "What's new on Facebook and Twitter?" And there was a lot of new in 2011. Facebook gained a lot of attention by starting to roll out its new 'Timeline' feature. In fact, 'Facebook' was the #1 searched term on the web this year. Twitter added branded pages and introduced a more robust advertising platform.

Still, with all of this growth in social media, there has not been a drop in traditional media consumption. Quite the opposite, in fact. Also, as Forrester Research, Inc. points out, young consumers trust TV advertising more than any other form of advertising, and more than 3 times as much as they trust mobile ads. What does it all mean? It means that as marketers, we aren't replacing one type of customer data for the other. Our data just keeps getting bigger, and bigger, and BIGGER. Such was the trend in 2011, and buzz words like 'Big Data' and 'Multi-Channel Marketing' gained even more strength. Our webinars largely attempted to boil down the key areas of concern to help marketers get a grasp of the landscape, and how to begin making changes in their organizations.

Quaero's VP of Client Acquisition & Marketing, Michelle Boockoff-Bajdek, joined Neolane's VP of Marketing Kristin Hambelton, and IDC's Research Manager, CMO Advisory Gerry Murray in "Keys to Marketing Automation: Success and Where to Start." In this webinar, the panelists discussed best practices in standardizing your customer data, deploying marketing automation, integrating data with workflows, as well as identifying KPIs for marketing and sales alignment.

In "4 Key Steps to Smarter B2B Marketing: Think Like a Database Marketer," Quaero's Michelle Boockoff-Bajdek presented again, this time with Forrester Research, Inc. Principal Analyst Jeff Ernst. They identified and discussed the four steps to smarter B2B marketing: develop a lead management process, prepare to become a database marketer, become a content marketer, and embrace multiple channels.

Most recently, Quaero's Client Manager Niall Budds joined Forrester Research Inc. Senior Analyst Fatemeh Khatibloo in "Customer Intelligence in Action: 5 Steps to Growing Customer Value." They tackled the complexities of today's multi-channel, customer-centric marketing ecosystem, and left the audience with basic ways to increase overall customer value.

For all of our webinar replays, you can always visit the 'Resources' section of our website. Please comment below, let me know what you liked, what you didn't like, and what topics you hope to see in 2012! Happy New Year!

3 Mistakes to Avoid When Hiring Digital Strategists

sakina.walsh@csgi.com (Sakina Walsh) — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 12:00:00 EST

Hiring talent for digital strategy and search engine optimization/management is tough. Not only has the demand for professionals that have these skills skyrocketed far beyond supply, but the relative newness of the industry poses many unique challenges when it comes to recruiting. First, unlike other professions, there are few if any recognized university degrees specializing in this field. So hiring managers can't gauge potential candidates by the level of their education or institution they may have attended, something they rely heavily on for other job types.

Another big problem is that for senior level positions, companies generally feel a candidate should have "x" years of experience, often 10-12, or even higher. But 10 years ago, most of today's mainstream social channels didn't exist, and those that did were in an entirely different capacity. Facebook, Twitter, and Foursquare are all central to today's digital strategists - but finding someone with more than a few years of experience managing them is simply impossible.

Another issue? Lack of tangible results. When hiring a candidate for a creative position, they can provide a portfolio of their work. Consultants can point to projects they've worked on, and the numbers they achieved. But the digital world hasn't yet attached itself to a universal set of metrics, and those that exist are highly open to interpretation. For example? Can you know a candidate will be a good SEO manager? The candidate could point to site or keyword rankings, but this alone says nothing. You would also have to consider how the rankings changed over time, how many sites they worked on at one time, the competitiveness of the sites/keywords, and what kind of resources they had available. Establishing ROI has been one of the biggest challenges in the digital space - so how can a digital professional validate their abilities? Again, the newness of the industry creates a challenge: if a digital strategist could show changes and improvements in metrics over time, it would be meaningful, but again, many digital channels haven't been around long enough to establish significant benchmarks or time periods for change. So while there's no easy answer on how you should evaluate potential candidates as you build out your digital strategy teams, here are 3 big pitfalls to avoid:

1. Bigger doesn't mean better (really): In traditional recruiting, the size of the companies a candidate previously worked at play a big role. Candidates with Fortune 500 experience are generally considered more qualified than those that held the same role at smaller firms. Recruiters and hiring managers like to see recognizable names on a candidate's history, and tend to use them to make a number of inferences. But in the digital space, it's the mom and pop shops that have been the savviest; countless reports have documented larger corporations' struggle to catch up in the digital world. Real-time response is a crucial part of digital marketing, and corporations haven't been able to leverage this as well as smaller, more nimble firms. Furthermore, digital professionals working with smaller budgets generally have to monitor campaigns more closely, apply more out-of-the-box strategy to keep up with competitors with deeper pockets, and be more cognizant of each marketing dollar. In my own experience, I was almost fired when I made an $8,000 mistake managing a search marketing campaign early in my career. Later, while consulting for a Fortune 500 client, I witnessed their agency lose upwards of $100,000 on several occasions, issue a nonchalant apology, and go on with "business as usual". The fact is, corporate culture aside, the actual skills and experience of a digital person working at a small local shop will be essentially the same, if not sharper, as someone managing campaigns for a monolith corporation with 1000 times the budget. This is one area where you're just going to have to get past the name.

2. Don't get hung up on communication skills: Over 70% of recruiters have cited communication skills as the strongest factor in their hiring decisions, and in some ways, understandably so. It's easy to perceive stronger communicators as more intelligent or able, and these skills may have a strong impact on success in certain roles. But when it comes to hiring digital talent, don't let this be your primary decision driver. The fact is, many of those most passionate about the digital space are tecchie nerds. They were the ones on their computer while their classmates were out playing ball or at the mall. They may not be the most extroverted or "polished" interviewees you'll meet. One of the best SEM analysts I ever met saved a Fortune 500 client I worked with $2.5 million within 6 weeks of joining the company. But the company had come very close to not hiring her, agreeing that she had the experience, but was "too quiet" and "somewhat boring". In my experience, many of the best digital strategists I've met would probably fit that bill at first (they're generally quite entertaining once they open up and get to know you). But don't let this become a bias the other way either - I've met plenty of highly capable industry leaders that could have gone into broadcast journalism. Either way - listen more to what they say than how they say it. And don't shy away from peppering them with challenging questions - as long as they're relevant (Curveball "hypotheticals" have their place, but this isn't it. A lot of your best digital talent isn't trained for that sort of thing).

3. Rethink "Required Experience": "There haven't been many times in history when someone in their twenties is the smartest person in the room," notes Steve Groth, chief architect for MDC and former co-founder and vice chairman of Omnicom's cutting-edge Radiate Group (a network of marketing agencies that work together to provide global solutions for top brands). The fact is, younger generations have a better grasp and understanding of digital applications and their use than many of their more senior counterparts ever will. This might make many CMO's and senior executives uncomfortable, but the longer they resist it, the further behind they will fall. Using a traditional hiring approach, which places its primary emphasis on years of big-brand experience, isn't going to work if you want the best digital talent. The smartest of the bunch are full of ideas and have a deep understanding of how digital media is consumed by its target markets - but they don't have the years of experience because they're too young, and they don't have the big-brands because they either haven't had the chance yet, or because they had no desire to. After all, larger corporations will be slower, more process-oriented, and political than the entrepreneurial, fast-response environments smaller firms can provide. And furthermore, candidates with decades of experience may have more experience - but not more relevant experience. Because the bottom line is, anyone that says they have more than a decade of experience in digital media (as we now know it) is lying...because it simply didn't exist.

Cash May Not Be King Any Longer

cristina_diaconu@csgsystems.com (Cristina Diaconu) — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 12:00:00 EST

How comfortable are you with the idea of never having to handle cash to make a purchase? Instead, you would be able to use a digital wallet to give money to others or pay for items when shopping. I would rather carry a mobile phone to make a payment than a pocket full of change, no doubt. But I would be rather anxious about my security and protection as a consumer. Whatever the case is with you, the digitized future of money is almost here, so you should be informed about the cashless initiatives that major players like Google and MasterCard will actively roll out in 2012. After all, if you are reading our blog, you are a trend setter, aren't you?

So below, I've laid out for your convenience a few key cashless initiatives that you should keep sight of in 2012:

Google Wallet

The Google Wallet Android app started being accepted as a payment option in October 2011, at a selection of retail chains across the US. The Google Wallet uses the NFC (Near Field Communication) technology that allows for simplified transactions, data exchange, and wireless connections between two devices in proximity to each other, usually by no more than a few centimeters. The app stores a virtual version of existing Citi MasterCard Cards with PayPass technology. Shoppers simply Tap & Go^TM at the PayPass acceptance locations. Currently, Sprint is the only network that lets consumers tap and pay with the Google Wallet enabled phone (Nexus S. Verizon Wireless, the nation's largest cellphone operator, withheld Google's mobile-payment technology from devices sold by the carrier). It is yet to be seen how the war of the "wallets" will progress next year.

PayPal Mobile Payment

In September 2011, PayPal unveiled an in-store mobile payment system that doesn't require NFC technology inside smartphones. The system allows shoppers to use smartphones and other mobile devices to scan product bar codes and to authorize payments through PayPal mobile accounts. Another option allows people to use standard credit-card scanning terminals, but instead of swiping a credit or debit card, the user will initiate a payment by inputting a phone number and PIN on the terminal's keypad.

Square

Square is an electronic payments service which enables users to accept credit card payments by using a card-reading portable device connected to their iPhone, iPad or Android device. Square, which is working with Chase bank, cuts and mails a check to the seller just hours after a transaction is made and takes a 2.75 percent cut, said Square spokeswoman Katie Baynes. As of August, the company was processing $4 million in payments a day, and it estimates that by the end of the year it will have done a total of $2 billion. With that kind of volume, it has been able to work out a deal with credit card firms to charge merchants a flat fee for accepting MasterCard, Visa, American Express and Discover, Baynes said.

iZettle

iZettle is a device that enables consumers to accept credit card payments while on the go, and was made available in Sweden only in June of this year. iZettle is particularly convenient for small businesses, non-profits or simply individuals who want to sell something. The iZettle portable chip and pin reader plugs into iPhones or iPads and uses an app, meaning that card transactions can take place instantly. Bills can also be paid or money transferred using the device.

No wonder if you forget your cellphone home you feel lost and without identity. After all, you use your phone to stay in touch with friends and family, take business calls and read my blog post. And now you can also buy what you like with the touch of a few buttons... Good luck and keep your eyes open!

6 Vital Holiday E-Commerce Tactics

sakina.walsh@csgi.com (Sakina Walsh) — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 12:00:00 EST

For many online retailers, the holiday season comprises a sizeable chunk of their annual sales. But in 2010, sales numbers proved just how much a strapped economy affects holiday shopping budgets. With this year's holiday season following another difficult year for Americans, value is ever-important to the customer. But even in tough times, retailers boast record sales by increasing marketing share. With the right e-commerce strategy, online retailers can guide the customer's purchase path, attracting holiday shoppers and maximizing their shopping cart values. Here are the top 6 e-commerce tactics for the holidays:

1. Capture the Holiday Shopper: The first thing you want to ensure is that customers think of your site when they're thinking of gifts-or at the very minimum, think about gifts when they're on your site. Designate some prime real estate on your site that calls out specifically to holiday shoppers. The idea is to make gift buying easy for shoppers that had already planned to buy gifts on your site, and convert all other site visitors into potential holiday shoppers as well, using marketing tactics such as attractive gift deals and suggestions. There are many creative ways to do this. Many e-retailers, including Best Buy, J.Crew and Skymall have added gift sections to the navigation bar itself. J. Crew also lures shoppers with a "Gift of the Day" feature on the home page, while Best Buy's home page promotes "Cyber Week Specials" to "give great gifts for less".

2. Gift Guides: Maximizing the holiday shopper's user experience by ensuring ease and engagement is key to maximizing holiday sales. Thus, digital leaders have sophisticated gift guides to suggest the perfect gift ideas for each holiday shopper. Amazon, for example, allows users to browse through gifts bundled for specific interest groups-from Mom and Dad to Co-worker and even "Someone with Everything". Additionally, users can filter or cap a price range to show only suggestions within budget. Bottom line: The easier you make it to match your customer with the perfect gift, the higher the chances of a sale. And remember, you can always promote gift cards, too!

Amazon guides holiday customers by creating a convenient gift guide that can tailor to each person on the shopper's list.

3. Wish Lists: If your site doesn't have a wish list, now's the time to add one. If it already has a wish list, now's the time to promote it! Make sure your site has the functionality for users to share or send their wish list. This way, some of your most avid shoppers can easily send their friends and family your way.

4. Gift Wrapping: Promoting gift wrapping services is not only another subtle way to advertise your site to holiday shoppers, it also makes your gift offerings more valuable to many buyers. Offering affordable gift-wrapping services (or better yet-make it free as part of a promotion!) enhances the customer's user experience by providing convenience. Further delight and engage customers by offering an array of fun wrapping and personalized messaging options.

5. Shipping Options: For the last-minute shopper (hint: this is a plentiful breed), expedited shipping is key. Offer a variety of shipping options, including guaranteed Christmas delivery by certain cutoff dates. Another important point: be reasonable about shipping costs, as this is the number one reason for shopping cart abandonment. According to Forrester, buyers see about 10% of their total order cost to be a reasonable charge for shipping.

6. Holiday Returns: Assure customers with an easy, clear return policy-and consider amending it to better fit holiday shoppers needs. Amazon, for example, has extended the return policy for the holidays, allowing all items purchased between November 1, 2011 and December 31, 2011 to be returned until January 31, 2012, and also has a comprehensive gift return policy. Making gift returns easy is a highly recommended best practice and it doesn't have to mean giving back cash. Offer gift recipients the opportunity to exchange their gift or receive a store credit. Taking the extra step to get it right will win favor with both giver and recipient.

Customer Data Management with "Big Data" - Part 1

dan_smith@csgsystems.com (Dan Smith) — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 12:00:00 EST

Customer Data Management (CDM), also known as Customer Data Integration (CDI), is foundational for a Customer Intelligence (CI) or Customer Engagement (CE) system. CDM is rooted in the principles of Master Data Management (MDM), which includes the following:

Acquisition and ingestion of multiple, disparate sources, both online and offline, of customer and prospect data
Change Data Capture (CDC)
Data cleansing, parsing and standardization
Entity Modeling
Entity relationship & hierarchy management

Entity matching, identity resolution and persistent key management for key entities such as:
- Individual
- Household
- Company / Institution / Location
Rules-based attribute mastering, "Survivorship" or "Build the Best Record"
Data lineage, version history, audit, aging, expiration
Much, much more...

For this discussion, it's useful to make the distinction between "attributive" and "behavioral" data. Think of attributive data as discrete fields which describe an entity. For example, an individual's name, address, age, eye color, income, etc. Attributive data is often referred to as profile data as well. Think of behavioral data as a series of events which describe an entity's behavior over time. For example, phone calls, web page visits, financial transactions, etc. Admittedly there is a slippery slope between the two; is a customer's current account balance an attribute or an aggregation of behavioral transactions? Regardless, it's a useful categorization for this discussion.

MDM typically focuses on attributive data. And being based on MDM, the same is true for CDM. Personally Identifying Information (PII) such as name, email, address, phone and username are the primary drivers behind identity resolution. Other attributes such as income, number of children, sex, etc. are attributes that are commonly "mastered" for each of the resolved entities (individual, household, company).

Enter "Big Data". There is a lot of focus nowadays on what is being called Big Data. As more devices are developed - and adopted - that capture and store data, huge quantities of data are generated. This post is not intended to be a discussion on the Big Data phenomenon in general; there's plenty of information on that already (just Google "big data" and you'll see what I mean). But what I do want to explore is why Big Data is important to a CE system and what this Big Data means to CDM.

Big Data, by definition, is almost always event-oriented and temporal, and the subset of Big Data which is relevant to a CE system is almost always behavioral in nature, for example, clicks, calls, downloads, purchases, emails, texts, tweets, Facebook posts, etc. Behavioral data is critical to understanding customers (and prospects) and understanding customers is critical to establishing meaningful and welcome engagement with them. Therefore, this Big Data is - or should be - viewed as an invaluable asset to any CE system.

Further, this sort of rich, temporal behavioral data is ripe for analytics. In fact, the term "Big Analytics" has emerged as a result. Let's define Big Analytics as the ability to execute analytics on Big Data. Thank you Captain Obvious, right? Maybe. But there are some real challenges involved in executing analytics on Big Data. Challenges that drive the need for specialized technologies such as Hadoop or Netezza (or both). Technologies that support Massively Parallel Processing (MPP) and, just as important, if not more important, technologies that bring the analytics to the data, instead of bringing the data to the analytics. Having recently completed a course for Hadoop developers ("Look mom, I'm a Cloudera Certified Hadoop Developer!" Seriously, the course was excellent, I highly recommend it), I have a heightened appreciation for the challenges related to managing and analyzing data "at scale" and the need for specialized technologies that support Big Data and Big Analytics. But that's a topic in itself, for another day.

I'm not an analytics expert, but I work with several colleagues who are, and as a result understand enough to point out a few things that are significant regarding Big Analytics:

1) Big Analytics allow you to build models on an entire data set, rather than just a sampling or an aggregation. As my colleague Jack McCush explained to me: "When building models on a small subset and then validating them against a larger set to make sure the assumptions hold, you can miss the ability to predict rare events. And often those rare events are the ones that drive profit."

2) Big Analytics allow you to build non-traditional models, for example social graphs and influencer analytics. Several useful and inherently big sources of data such as Call Detail Records (CDRs) generated from mobile/smart phones and web clickstream data both lend themselves well to these models.

3) Big Analytics can take even traditional analytics to the next level. For example, with Big Analytics you can execute traditional correlation and clustering models in a fraction of the time, even with billions of records and hundreds of variables. As Revolution Analytics points out in their whitepaper Advanced 'Big Data' Analytics with R and Hadoop: "Research suggests that a simple algorithm with a large volume of data is more accurate than a sophisticated algorithm with little data. The algorithm is not the competitive advantage; the ability to apply it to huge amounts of data - without compromising performance - generates the competitive advantage."

So, Big Data is a good thing for a CE system. It paints a rich behavioral picture of customers and prospects and takes CE-enabling analytics to the next level. But what happens when you throw this massive behavioral data at a CDM/MDM system that is optimized for attributive data? If you are not careful, you end up with a "basketball through the garden hose" effect. But this doesn't have to happen. There are ways to gracefully extend CDM to manage Big Data. We'll talk more about that in a later post.

Numbers That Make Marketers Tremble

mbb@csgi.com (Michelle Boockoff-Bajdek) — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 12:00:00 EST

At recent events like AdTech and in conversations with clients, I've heard a staggering number of statistics that would make even the most sane marketer's head spin:

There are 800 million people on Facebook.
Human beings generate 200 EXABYTES (read: 18 zeros!) of information each year.(1)
42 hours of content is uploaded to YouTube... Every minute.
178.5 million people will browse online before they ever make a purchase.(2)

Are you scared yet? I certainly am. These numbers tell us a great deal about how consumers - people - get, consume, and utilize information.

I had the pleasure of hearing Wendy Clark, the SVP of Integrated Marketing Communications and Capabilities for Coca-Cola, arguably the best known brand in the world, speak at the New York AdTech event last month. She reminded us that today's consumers are highly connected - to each other, to brands, to, well everyone. And, the content we generate spreads with us or without us. Her point? Even companies like Coca-Cola must engage with consumers on their terms to build the meaningful relationships that foster brand trust and loyalty.

So back to the numbers. How do companies deal with the data overload? With the need to be real-time? With the desire to create multichannel customer dialogues? I think Fatemeh Khatibloo, Senior Analyst with Forrester Research, said it best in our recent Webinar, "Intelligence - not data - will be the difference between success and failure."

What is customer intelligence (CI)? According to Forrester, it's "the management and analysis of customer data from all sources, used to drive marketing performance and business strategy."

In my estimation, it's a way to start making sense of the overwhelming stats and best utilize the mounds of data we, as marketers, have to pore through. If you'd like to hear more from Fatemeh or Quaero's own Niall Budds on the topic of CI, take a listen to the Webinar replay on our website. Better yet, feel free to reach out to Niall directly.

________________

(1) David Siegel, Entrepreneur, Futurist, Author, "Pull: The Power of the Semantic Web to
Transform Your Business"

(2) Booz & Co. presentation at AdTech Fall 2011

Customer Analytics, Hype or Reality?

roman_lenzen@csgsystems.com (Roman Lenzen) — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 12:00:00 EST

Customer Analytics seems to be one of the hottest topics in business today, with the newly coined 'Data Scientist' role in high demand. And with all hot topics there is hype and reality. The reality is that analytics can provide a big impact on bottom line profits. The hype is that it can provide a significant ROI in all environments. In most environments, you need three critical components for customer analytics to provide a significant impact:

Business Measure in Need: A troubling trend in a key business measure compared to competitors or a business measure you are confident can be improved if given focus. Examples include decreasing customer value, increasing churn, reduced acquisition or static online advertising revenue.
Behavioral Data: Predictive customer analytics are data driven. Valuable data, that drives insight into why a business measure is changing or staying static is critical as it is that insight which enables strong predictive analytics. When evaluating data ask yourself if at least some of the key reasons why a business metric changes (eg. increased churn) may be gleaned from the data.
Creating an Actionable Impact: An understanding of how the predictive analytics may be used, in the form of programs and customer treatments, to positively affect the business measure(s) of interest is a must. You do not need a detailed plan but you do need to be confident on how the analytics may be used to positively affect performance.

I have found that most focus on the first two components (business measures need help and data richness) when qualifying the potential impact of analytics but put less thought into how the analytics will be used once available ... and that is the biggest reason why analytic projects fail. Too many companies spend money building predictive analytics and the solutions sit on the shelf because not enough upfront thought was put into whether they truly can be used to affect business performance ... and if so then how.

Analytics can be powerful but be realistic and put together a plan against the three dimensions above before embarking on a big project. The plan will not only qualify whether analytics has a strong potential impact on a business measure but also gives you a means to prioritize your analytic development.

10 Easy Ways to Get to Know Your Client

susan_connors@csgsystems.com (Susan Connors) — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 12:00:00 EST

If you are in a client facing role in a professional services organization, sometimes it can be difficult to provide value if you don't fully understand the scope of your clients' business. The key to achieving a long-term client relationship is to become viewed as an indispensible extension of their marketing team, rather than as a vendor of services. Here are 10 tips that you can use to get to know your client better so that you can succeed in delivering the most value to their business:

1. Friend the Company on Facebook

2. Follow the Company on LinkedIn

3. Subscribe to an RSS newsfeed with the client’s company name as a key word

4. If a public company – read the Annual Report; track their stock movement

5. Bookmark their website and visit it regularly. Register on the site (if available) and make notes on the customer experience as you navigate through the site.

6. Purchase an item from the company, make a donation, interact as a consumer and note the experience.

7. Know the names of your clients’ biggest competitors and track them as well

8. See what groups/associations they belong to and track them

9. Subscribe to industry publications like DMNews, Target Marketing, 1on1 Magazine, B2B Marketing, and/or client specific industry sites like Pharmaceutical Marketing Research Group (PMRG)

10. Get added to an internal seed or sample list if available for emails, SMS and direct mail.

To build client engagement, you need to be engaged. So get engaged!

Customers Raising the Bar for Service Experience across Channels

susan_connors@csgsystems.com (Susan Connors) — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 12:00:00 EST

Customers are raising the bar for service experience across channels -- are marketers doing the same?

We know that today's customers want many things, among them - complete control over the relationship they have with brands and companies; the improved ability to communicate with friends and other consumers on their brand experiences; and the expressed ability to control their privacy fiercely.

Given these new demands by customers, marketers need to take a hard look at the customer experience across channels and be sure they are raising the bar to meet customer expectations, or they will be left behind.

The days of maintaining a basic customer preference center are over. Asking customers how they want to be communicated with (via email, twitter, phone, direct mail. etc.) has quickly evolved from a preference center, past a contact center designating channel and desired frequency, to a full service customer communication center. The Center needs to capture customer profile info (email address, twitter handle, phone numbers), preference of channel, frequency requests, but most importantly interaction tracking and event management. A full service customer communication center should then trigger events to deliver information that is relevant, timely, and through the right channel requested by the customer.

Actions speak louder than words, so tracking actual customer interaction and analyzing the results is key to improving the customer experience.

What to Do:

1. Create a roadmap for the customer experience across all departments, products and brands.

2. Evaluate your technology to understand if the tracking and analytic firepower to implement a customer communication center is available and scalable

3. Check your staffing - having the staff to answer direct Twitter messages from customers takes people. Customers expect direct response even from social media channels.

4. Keep you Customer Value metric at the forefront of your decision-making. Enhancing the customer experience for your most valued customers - not the bottom deciles should drive all initiatives.

What Not to Do:

1. Ask your customers how they want to experience your brand/company and then don't act on it. If you are not going to act on their preferences - don't ask.

2. Develop a customer communication center in a silo of one brand or one channel. If you don't have full buy-in across the enterprise the experience will not be seamless.

3. Ignore your customer segmentation that has worked for you.

The next generation of customers expect this level of service, coordination and seamless execution across channels. If companies aren't thinking about a full service customer communication center now, they are probably already far, far behind.

Embracing Digital Customer Interaction

niall.budds@csgi.com (Niall Budds) — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 12:00:00 EDT

With so much discussion about the importance of an effective online interaction strategy, it's surprising how many companies have yet to fully embrace the power of digital strategies and tactics. Many are "digital capable", meaning that they have the ability to plan and execute isolated digital tactics. However comparatively few have yet been able to fully integrate and leverage the power of digital customer interaction, that is, the ability to market, sell, fulfill, service and support customers via a mixture of offline and online methods. At Quaero we have developed a six-dimensional framework for planning and executing an effective digital interaction strategy which combines all of the key elements you will need to make this critical shift:

Strategy - You need an integrated vision and a strategy (or set of strategies) which systematically gets you there. Being able to do e-mail campaigns for a business that has traditionally only done direct mail or telemarketing may feel like an "online strategy" but it is really only one ingredient for overall success. The vision will guide and sustain you through all of the changes you will need to make along the way.

Process - Your legacy processes will need to change to incorporate the kinds of new tasks, roles and responsibilities that digital interaction will require. These changes must be made in a thoughtful and logical way. Remember that change is not a one-time event. The speed of evolution of the digital space and the way consumers behave in that space will require you to embrace a culture of continuous process improvement. Consumers will expose gaps in your processes which you must be ready to fill quickly.

Measurement - Yesterday's metrics won't cut it. You will have to think more holistically about the kinds of measures that best help you to understand the depth of engagement with your customers and how well you are investing to deliver your messages and products to them. One obvious example that many companies are using or investigating is a measure of "engagement." There are so many new ways that consumers can engage with you that you need to be tracking, as well as understanding the relationship between engagement and profit.

Technology - It used to be that there were very limited (and therefore obvious) choices for the kind of technology that you would need to deliver effective consumer interaction. However the need to deal with many new consumer-driven tools and forums has made the choices exponentially more difficult. We therefore recommend a very careful evaluation of your requirements - whether you do it yourself or with the help of a third party - to make sure you make wise investments which not only make financial sense but which deliver the automation you will need.

Data - This is a critical area and is often the starting point for transforming your go-to-market model into a more digitally focused one. You need to be able to integrate, synthesize and use a combination of online and offline data. Traditionally these two areas were separate worlds with little or no connection. That is no longer tenable. You must be able to understand the connection between search, browsing behavior, purchasing patterns and more in order to not only survive, but thrive in the exploding digital space.

Organization - This last category often determines the amount or pace of success of companies' efforts to embrace digital capabilities. You can make changes in any or all of the above areas but you will struggle (or in some cases fail) unless you have a clear vision which excites your people, articulates the specific things that are changing, gives them the tools and the skills to be successful and helps them understand the impact for the business overall as well as for them personally. These are no more than the ingredients for any successful change management program, but we have seen them become especially important for companies which have traditionally been "offline" and which are now trying to get "online" (usually in a hurry!).

Based on my experience of working with companies going through this kind of transition, the good news is that most make significant progress. However to the extent that you can think through and plan for each of the above dimensions, you will save yourself a lot of blood, sweat and (sometimes!) tears if you make a systematic digital interaction plan which accounts for each of these critical areas.

Keep the Lead: Key Web Trends for 2012

sakina.walsh@csgi.com (Sakina Walsh) — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 12:00:00 EDT

As online activities continue to embed themselves deeper into the consumers' everyday lives, companies' efforts to capitalize on the latest online trends has literally become a high-speed chase. The online terrain often transforms quicker than a company can execute a strategy, but digital leaders still find a way to be nimble and alert enough to adapt (and profit from) the latest online climate.

With the final quarter of 2011 setting in, lofty corporate ambitions for the next year are in motion. But planning for 2012 based on 2011 fads will likely mean toppling right into the biggest caveat of the web: surefire transformation. Decisions must be based on insights looking forward in addition to data looking backward (A great way to blend both approaches is through the use of predictive analytics). As you begin shaping next years' strategies and formulating projections, look out for the following trends in 2012:

Proliferation of Social Commerce: Companies with an e-commerce component often spend a disproportionate share of their resources on their own website. And while this may be a valuable investment, companies today must look beyond the blinders of their limited online real estate and begin tapping into the power of online social communities. Nielsen reports that social media and blogs are now the leading online activity, up by 43% from last year alone (And this is why it's a bad idea to build strategies and projections based on the past year's results). While having a corporate Facebook page and Twitter account is a great start, to remain successful in the online space will require businesses to integrate deeper with social media-truly engaging users rather than simply broadcasting and advertising to them. One of the leading ways this will happen is through social commerce, a trade Booz & Co. has projected to rise six-fold from $5 billion this year to $15 billion in 2015. This means enabling e-commerce transactions on social sites. "F-commerce", for example, refers to Facebook-integrated e-commerce platforms, which can be as simple as an online catalogue, as can been seen on Anthropologie's Facebook page, to full e-commerce functionality, such as Aeropostale's recent launch.

Increased Video Viewership: A recent opinion piece on CNN.com suggested social media might be making us lazy. Indeed, the internet has made us voyeurs in many ways, which may have something to do with the popularity of online videos. Ranked sixth on Nielsen's list of top online activities, videos have also seen a substantial year-over-year increase from 2009, and many companies have recognized this to some degree, but few have done much more than upload their commercials. Subway, for example, has done a great job of blending its experiential events with viral video campaigns. Looking at 2012, companies should focus on creating relevant, engaging videos that creates a long-term connection with the consumer, rather than exploiting videos as just another advertising opportunity. While the immediate ROI may not seem as salacious, a lifetime customer value analysis will quickly show the importance of gaining a lasting customer relationship.

Consumer Reliance on Ratings & Reviews: Survey after survey has confirmed the impact of customer reviews on buying decisions. eMarketer reports that consumer reviews are 12 times more trusted than company-released product information. Consumer reviews gives buyers confidence, and research has indicated that buyers actually spend more after recommendations from online communities. There are many ways to encourage customer reviews for a company, product or service. One is to enable them on the company's website itself. Another is to create a form, discussion, or other feedback forum on social media sites and blogs. Of course, it goes without saying only positive reviews will be beneficial-which means that more than ever before, companies have to have a real focus on customer service, post-sale service, long-term satisfaction. Businesses with a sole goal of pushing a sale and getting the customer out the door will find that the customer can find a thousand windows online-to voice their experience and dissuade potential future customers.

Thus, in a nutshell, success in 2012 is all about establishing real customer engagement for longstanding relationships, and perfecting the customer's complete experience-then inviting them to share it.

The Case for End to End Enterprise Analytics

jack_mccush@csgsystems.com (Jack McCush) — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 12:00:00 EDT

There has been a lot of chatter in the analytics circles about the need for a Chief Analytics Officer (CAO). Increased focus on data driving insights that drive corporate revenue has brought this to the surface. However, the case for CAO highlights the need for End to End Enterprise Analytics. Organizations that have not been focused on analytics in the past see analytics as a system that spans operations to finance to marketing.

Let's make the case for a CAO building an End to End Analytics platform for a B2B internet company.

1. The company has hundreds of customers but each customer has millions of transactions. So, data volumes are quite substantial.

2. With a small number of customers the finance department is small and they don't have a large number of analysts.

3. Marketing and Sales division is quite large and is managed through leading CRM platform. At the same time they are not using any advanced analytics in their targeting.

In this case, the CAO would manage a team of analysts that can span marketing program analytics, financial forecasting and operational analytics including site analytics, content management and more. Even as analytics have taken off in the corporate environment there is still room to grow. Are there efficiencies that can be made by having your entire analytic team under the same roof?

Having the Analysts, Statisticians and Data Scientists reporting to a CAO, I believe team members can learn more about the business and give them greater situational awareness that can lead a more in depth analysis. Furthermore, having team members from finance and marketing working in proximity to each other allows employees to be cross-trained and allows greater flexibility in work for your analysts.

Please comment and let me know what other advantages there maybe. Also, do you foresee any disadvantages to such a structure?

Customer Analytics > Optimizing Your Collection Efforts Part 3

roman_lenzen@csgsystems.com (Roman Lenzen) — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 12:00:00 EDT

In a previous post I laid out the process to create the collections database and initial collections analytics during acquisition. This post will focus on how to utilize the database and analytics within proactive communications in order to optimize collection efforts then the ongoing tracking and enhancements required.

1. Treatment Strategies: Analytics alone will not enhance collections efforts. The predictive analytics and segmentation systems must be converted into actionable treatment strategies which will 1)reduce the cost of collections and 2)ultimately, minimize the outstanding debt through increased collection payments. Treatment examples which need to be setup and tied to each individual collections customers include (again, these are examples)

Those customers with a low probability of paying and a low to medium outstanding balance may be placed aside and not proactively contacted as the collections cost could be greater than the predicted payment amount. Also, a certain percentage of collections customers will pay on their own regardless.

Customers who have a medium to high probability of paying and their receivable age is low (time since entering collections is low) should be aggressively pursued to pay ASAP as once that receivable ages the probability of payment significantly decreases.

When developing the initial collections treatments start simple (7 to 10 treatments should do) as you will always have time to enhance and add onto the treatments over time. More importantly, starting with a good number of distinct and actionable treatments, that everyone agrees to, will allow for quick learnings and organizational buy-in.

2. Tracking:

Once the initial treatments are setup enhance the database with current and historical treatments so they may be used in the customer communications.

Create random control groups, which are small samples of collections customers who receive a standard treatment or no proactive communications at all. These control groups allow for tracking of the true incremental impact of the collection treatment efforts and provide a means to optimize the predictive analytics through an un-contacted or unbiased group of collections customers.

Add the treatments and model scores to the contact tables in the database

Track the results of the treatments (no answer, answer but did not pay, payment received,..) in the database that may be tied directly to the contact history table at an individual contact level.

Create reports which show both the INCREMENTAL impact of the treatments as well as collections performance overall in a trending fashion.

3. Ongoing Enhancements: Ongoing enhancements to the system should include-

Continually enhance and refresh the models as most environments are dynamic which causes the performance of the models to erode over time

Continually test new treatments and compare them to control group performance to determine which treatments to keep and which to enhance or throw away altogether.

Once a collection effort contact and response history is available create response models which predict the probability of a customer paying given a proactive contact. These models, if used properly, will greatly enhance collections efforts as certain customers will pay regardless of being contacted while other customers must be contacted to push them to pay.

In summary, the key to an optimized collections process are predictive models, actionable treatments and an ongoing test-and-learn process. Customer should be assigned to treatments based on probability of payment and predicted payment amount (the models), outstanding balance, previous collection actions (ie. 2 outbound phone calls the past week) as well as other customer segments that will help tailor the collections efforts based on custom environments.

When developing a system from the ground-up it may be best to initially focus on cost cutting (minimize collections costs) while building the treatment performance history. Once enough performance history is available then work on maximizing the amount collected.

Are Facebook "Likes" a Good Metric? Or a Metric at All?

sakina.walsh@csgi.com (Sakina Walsh) — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 12:00:00 EDT

Social media has become a line item on virtually every agenda for marketing strategy meetings. There's no denying that. But the questions reverberating from CMO's and senior executive come down to ROI-a concern that is particularly bristly during tight economic times, as marketing budgets have in many cases been slashed the hardest. Yet, despite the fact that the ROI questions remain largely unanswered, many marketing departments have conceded to the indisputable impact of social media in consumer lives-and are shifting a larger chunk of their budgets toward social media, whether they can neatly analyze the return or not.

There is no standard set of KPI's for social campaigns, when it comes to Facebook, the arena's biggest outlet, the one unanimous metric is picked up in terms of "Likes". In fact, some brands have been so captivated by the concept of accumulating Facebook "likes", they have spawned entire multi-channel campaigns around the idea. In February, Heineken celebrated its one millionth "like" by creating a street team of "Heineken Huggers", attractive women that darted in and out of bars hugging Heineken drinkers to thank them for "liking" their beer (catch the video campaign here). And while attaining a million "likes" is definitely a noteworthy achievement, I have to stop and ask, as every good marketer should: so what?

Ad agencies, PR firms, and internet optimization shops, all fighting over who owns the social media space, like to boast about their campaign successes in terms of "likes." But what does a "like" really mean? Is a "like" really synonymous with a fan? Not necessarily, and there is the problem that's too often overlooked. The fact of the matter is, all it takes to "like" a page is a click-a singular click that in no way verifies an ongoing consumer relationship. The reasons for the "like" can differ drastically, as can the outcome.

Companies are employing all kinds of strategies and promotions to encourage "likes", but those strategies and promotions can completely change what that "like" means. A fan that goes out of his or her way to find the brand's Facebook page on their own, browse the content on that page, and then "likes" the page as a reaction to the content is an ideal experience. A company can make inferences to draw insights from this kind of transaction. But what if a user "likes" a page only to get a discount or promo code, or to "unlock" exclusive content (which he or she may or may not have been interested in thereafter)? These "likes" mean something too...but something different.

People use social media to express their interests and personalities with their network. Many of the interests they list are meant to reflect their identity, and they "like" certain pages to make a statement about themselves. They may "like" the page of their employer, or favorite sports team. These types of close connections are highly valuable to a firm using social media. But let me give you a different scenario. On Mother's Day, I got an instant 15% off just for "liking" page. As a huge online shopper, before I make a purchase on any e-commerce site, I first check out the web for any special deals-I go to online coupon sites to check for codes, and if that fails, I find the company's Facebook page to check for any promos there. So yes, I clicked "like". But did I really like it? Well, not really. I forgot about the page and never visited it again, and the next time I revised my personal Facebook page, I removed it from my page because I didn't feel I had no affinity for the company and didn't particularly care to endorse it on my profile.

On the other hand, had I been too detached to even remove the page from my Likes, as many fans predictably are, the company can still think about success in other ways: the company has still attained a direct communication path with the fan, even if he or she isn't necessarily much of a brand advocate at the moment. Thus the company has future opportunities to connect, engage and win the loyalty and business of the fan-using a channel that is cheaper, more direct, and usually more engaging than alternative channels, such as direct mail or e-mail. Furthermore, the dispassionate fan still ads to the number of Facebook subscribers the brand can boast-contributing to credibility with other users and visitors to the brand's fan page. Additionally, while the "like" of a detached fan may not accurately convey their own level of affinity for the brand, but can still positively influence those in his/her network. The fan may unwittingly serve as a brand advocate by displaying a brand connection that displays on both their personal profile, as we as their friends' newsfeeds.

So am I saying "likes" are a useless metric? Quite the contrary. The simple, singular transaction of "liking" a page can tell an entire story about a consumer. But that story is different for every consumer, as well as each transaction, company, and industry. The bottom line is that "likes" are a metric, but they are not a constant, and have no universal applicability. Instead, they comprise a metric that should be seen as a constantly-changing value that each company must define-and continually re-define-for itself. The analytics involved in doing so with any level of accuracy are complex, and because of its constantly changing nature, forecasting and ROI analysis using the "like" metric is a challenge. Social media strategists can compensate for some of this ambiguity by enriching Facebook content with lots of opportunities for micro-conversions.

For brands that are intent on a fully entrenched social media strategy, customer engagement and analytics agencies can help implement and define as much convertible content as possible, and use complex propensity models and analytics to predict and measure results-and answer the big ROI questions. Macy's, a leader in the digital space, has used advanced research and analytics to develop its Facebook content, which is also well-synced with its website and mobile presence. But for brands that are just getting their feet wet with social media, or are restricted in their spending, measuring "likes" is a fine starting point in terms of a metric-as long as their highly nuanced nature and many caveats are well understood. But for now, with other digital channels abound, I tend to I encourage these clients to think of Facebook as more of an awareness, branding and listening tool than a sales channel.

From B2B & B2C, to B2Me

jim.lewis@csgi.com (Jim Lewis) — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 12:00:00 EDT

Marketing strategies to survive and thrive in today’s highly dynamic business environment.

By Jim Lewis

Part 1: Today’s Environment

In order to be successful selling to businesses, it is important to recognize the role of the individual. It is all too easy to lose sight of the fact that organizations – from small businesses to global corporations – are comprised of groups of people with not much more in common than the shared enterprise called “work” that brings them together 40 or so hours each week. Allowing for 8 hours of sleep each night, there remains 112 waking hours each week to devote to things other than work. How we fill our non-working waking hours provides important clues to what motivates, inspires, and defines us as people.

Whereas the workplace used to be the primary location that cutting edge technology was encountered, decades of increasing power and miniaturization and decreasing cost have driven highly sophisticated technologies into every facet of life – extending far beyond the workplace, to virtually every place an individual spends their time. Experiences online and increasingly offline include an information-driven component that is tailored to an individual’s preferences. As a result, we expect a level of customization commensurate with our history of visiting and interacting with people, places and things of interest.

What are the implications of this pervasive, highly personalized world of information in the context of business-to-business marketing?

There is a melding of personal and professional life driven by mobile devices, cloud services, social media and changing nature of work.

· Laptops, tablets, smartphones move fluidly between workplace and home.

· An increasing array of broadband connectivity options provide an always-on experience delivered by cellular carriers and home/office/public networks.

· Cloud services provide access to applications and data, allowing individuals to be untethered to a specific access device.

· Social media further blurs the lines between personal/professional personas and connections; products and services that are used in the home can also be used in the office; influence of widely followed individuals extends across the work-life divide.

There is an expectation of high levels of recall and personalization. Information provided is remembered across multiple sessions and channels, and is used to drive personalized content and offers.

· Days of one-and-done, spray-and-pray marketing are over – not only is it an inefficient use of marketing resources, it has a negative impact on customer experience which diminishes brand value.

· People want to be listened to: “your opinion counts;” and people want to be remembered: “we know you.”

· Savvy customers – the ones who tend to drive highest value and influence purchase decisions of others – recognize the inherent value of information provided. Information is the currency of the networked world.

· When an individual provides information it is with an implicit understanding they will receive something of appropriate value in return for it – relevant information/offers, customized options, connections to others with similar interests, etc.

Coming Next…

Part 2: Technology enablers

Part 3: It’s all about the dialog

How to Resolve Neolane Version Upgrade Conflicts

sankett.deshpande@csgi.com (Sankett Deshpande) — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 12:00:00 EDT

When doing an upgrade of Neolane, specifically running the postupgrade command (image given below), Neolane will detect differences between the new software version and the local customized version that cannot be automatically merged. These are identified as conflicts. Each conflict is stored in Administration/Package management/Edit conflicts and Neolane will leave the local version on the server until the conflict is resolved.

To view the conflicts, open a conflict file and search for the string "_conflict".

Expected Conflicts

It is not uncommon for files that have not been locally modified to appear as conflicts after the upgrade especially in standard web apps (nms:webApp) and reports (xtk:report). These can often be identified by reviewing the "_conflict" attributes in the file and seeing small changes that are often cosmetic. These conflicts can all be resolved by choosing "Accept the new version".

Configuration Conflicts

Simple Resolution:

Most of the conflicts can be resolved by reviewing the different "_conflict" areas that show up. In this example:

The conflict is regarding the text display when the web app is unavailable. As this area was not modified locally, we know this conflict is OK.

Merges:

When using the simple resolution method, it is often necessary to directly edit the conflict file. If the conflict file is directly edited, choose "Mark as resolved" as the action. Be sure all _conflict text has been removed before finishing the merge.

Advanced Resolution:

If there are still uncertainties after reviewing the _conflict areas above, this procedure can be used for certain types of conflicts (primarily text-based objects). In this case, the best procedure to resolve the conflicts is this (using nms:operation form as an example):

1. Before the upgrade, save a local copy of the server version of nms:operation. This can be found under:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Neolane\Neolane v5\datakit\nms\eng\form\operation.xml

This version is the version that comes standard with Neolane before any modifications are made.

Note: the path of the file may differ if the namespace is different. Also, files that are not language dependent (JavaScript files, for example) will be found under the "fra" folder.

It is often not possible to save the local version before the upgrade as this is only necessary to do for files with conflicts, but conflicts are not known until after the upgrade. Therefore the local files can be either retrieved from a backup, or support can provide the files.

2. After the upgrade, if there is a conflict, save the version of the file that appears in the console (NOT the conflict itself.) In this example, Administration/Configuration/Input forms/nms:operation should also be saved.

3. Run a diff on the two saved files to see what changes were made.

4. Back on the newly upgraded instance, accept the new version of the file, and then reapply the configuration as necessary. In this case, after accepting the new version of the nms:operation form, the block:

would be re-added.

5. Test the changes to make sure they work with the new version of Neolane. In this example, having the upgrade caused the form to display incorrectly so it was removed from the final version.

6. Keep a list of these changes so that when upgrading the production system, the same changes can be applied much quicker.

Big Data Needs Big Judgment

naras@csgsystems.com (Naras Eechambadi, PhD) — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 12:00:00 EDT

Recently, there has been a flurry of articles in serious forums about the promise of BIG DATA. The Aspen Institute authored a report on the Promise and Perils of Big Data and McKinsey Quarterly ran an article on the Challenge and Opportunity of Big Data. There is even a conference for data scientists, a newly found species. The most recent issue of Fortune calls data science the "hottest new gig in tech".

In the midst of all this hype, it was refreshing to read a recent advisory from the Corporate Executive Board titled "Overcoming the Insight Deficit: Big Judgement in the Era of Big Data". Its premise is that, despite the fact that companies are investing eight to nine figure sums on capturing data from suppliers, operations and customers, less than 40% of their employees have the skills and ability to turn this into useful or valuable insight. It calls for "big judgment" as a necessary complement to realize the promise of "big data", no matter how comprehensive or well analyzed. Lacking this good judgment, big data can lead to bad decisions and bigger disasters. You can delve into the details of their recommendations and approach by clicking on the link above and downloading the entire article, but their contention rings very true to someone like me who has been in the field of analytics (before it became BIG) all of my career.

There is a natural tendency when talking about or tackling "big data" to focus on the technological challenges involved in capturing, cleansing, linking, maintaining and analysing the data. The underlying assumption is that this process will automatically and magically yield business insights that are tranformational. This is far from the truth. Analysis of data has always been a challenge. It is becoming more so because of the ubiquity of data around us today but emerging tools and technology make it possible to sift through the deluge of information. Those are significant technological challenges that can and are being solved.

The bigger issue has always been finding people with enough business background, maturity, understanding and, above all, intuition and insight, to actually take this information and turn it into unique new opportunities that provide true competitive advantage in the marketplace. This is not just about individuals either, it is about company culture. Among recent companies that have done this effectively, Amazon, Capital One and Google come to mind. These companies do have exemplary technical skills in capturing and harnessing large quantities of data, but what truly distinguishes them is a culture that encourages analytics and fact based decision making. Many companies still have a long way to go in this regard. Unless they deal with their culture and change their "Insight IQ" those big investments in big data will just be a really big waste.

3 Steps to Building a Strong Mobile Commerce Foundation

sakina.walsh@csgi.com (Sakina Walsh) — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 12:00:00 EDT

Although mobile commerce is expected to reach some $31 billion by 2016, at a compounded annual growth rate of 39%¹, the channel remains a huge missed opportunity for most brands. Even traditionally marketing-savvy brands are struggling to leverage the space-partially because the slow internal procedures of the biggest corporations can hardly keep up with the pace at which mobile capabilities are evolving. The core issue however, is that most companies simply don't know how to enter or lead the new mobile-commerce space: the channel is unproven, customer data is sparse, and ROI is difficult to prove. But with Google reporting that 79% of consumers now say they use a smartphone to help with shopping², the mobile space has become a tremendous customer influencer that can no longer be ignored.

As brands prepare to enter or re-charge their mobile commerce platforms, 3 basic steps will make a colossal difference in generating success. Incorporate these, and you'll already be ahead of the majority of the competition:

1. Optimize for various mobile browsers. While this may seem like a no-brainer, the reality of testing and optimizing for the multitude of browsers out there prevents most brands from following through on this more often than not. With limited time and resources, many have instead opted to select the most popular smartphones-the iPhone and the Blackberry, and ignored the rest. However, this not only ignores a huge chunk of mobile users that, for various reasons, may even convert better than the more popular smartphone segments, but also sets the brand up for failure in the event of a sudden change. And of course in the digital space, rapid change is the only constant. For example, based on a survey from July-September of 2010, Neilsen reported that the iPhone and Blackberry were top preferences for mobile users, at 33% and 26%³, respectively. But by April of 2011, the same survey indicated that the Android is now the preferred OS, with 31% of consumers planning to buy a smartphone indicating an interest in the device⁴. Lesson learned: optimize for all browsers from the get-go. Then you'll be prepared no matter how fickle the mobile market turns out to be.

2. Assure mobile users of their security. Brands severely underestimate the concern users have about mobile security. Forrester reports that 45% of mobile users would use their smartphone to purchase products if they knew their number would be kept private, and 44% claimed they would if mobile payment services were more secure. Despite this looming fear, basic security measures have a strong impact on customer assurance. In addition to clear privacy policies and visible security statements, the use of security logos and certificates, such as Verisign and TRUSTe, are proven to make a significant difference in m-commerce conversion. What's more is that consumers are fairly impartial to the brand or type of security certificate actually used, even if it's just an internally created one, and this has been backed by both studies and my personal experience as a digital consultant.

3. Create a mobile version of the e-commerce site. Optimizing for various browsers is a great start, but to really lead the m-commerce space, brands need to have a distinct mobile site. You may have noticed some websites that now feature a link to a mobile version of their site. With users reporting they would buy products via mobile sites if they had more functionality, loaded faster, looked more like they did on their desktops, or if their screens were larger, the mobile shopping user experience is still a huge mitigation for many consumers¹. But carefully constructed mobile sites can help combat all of these consumer concerns, streamlining the user experience, optimally displaying products on mobile devices, and executing faster. Even the larger screen issue can be addressed by adjusting the layout and image sizes.

Once these basics are mastered, there are many more advanced capabilities in the m-commerce world, from engaging custom apps, to customer ratings and reviews. But starting with a solid foundation is the most critical part of every m-commerce platform.

Endnotes

¹ "Forrester Research Mobile Commerce Forecast, 2011 To 2016 (US)" June 16, 2011

² Google/Ipsos OTX MediaCT, "The Mobile Movement Study," April 2011, N=5,000

³"Nielsen: Consumer Desire For Android Grows, Unlike iOS And Blackberry," Robin Wauters, Tech Crunch,

April 26, 2011. (http://techcrunch.com/2011/04/26/nielsen-consumer-desire-for-android-grows-unlike-ios-and-blackberry/)

⁴Neilsenwire:" U.S. Smartphone Market: Who's the Most Wanted?" April 26, 2011. (http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/online_mobile/u-s-smartphone-market-whos-the-most-wanted/)

Unica Campaign: How to Handle Errors Before Sending Lists to Vendors

sankett.deshpande@csgi.com (Sankett Deshpande) — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 12:00:00 EDT

An integral step in executing an email marketing campaign for a leading marketing provider is sending out email lists to email vendors, like Cheetahmail, on a day to day basis. As a marketer, it is very typical of us to pull lists for our clients, sometimes adhoc. In many cases, we send files via SFTP to the email vendor who then sends the email out to the target audience. Now, this is a two-step process:

1. Outputting a list of emails into a file, using Unica Affinium Campaign, to folder Y on the application server.

2. Move the files from Folder Y on the application server to folder Z on the SFTP server for the email vendor to automatically receive.

The files are moved by a scheduled Microsoft SQL job which triggers a Microsoft SSIS package. This package looks out for any file with a specific extension on Folder Y and moves them to Folder Z. This job runs every 15 minutes and is part of a routine Microsoft SSIS package.

In my experience, sometimes the file is moved prematurely or when it's only half written to the SFTP server. To overcome this problem, there are two solutions:

One is to add a step in your SSIS job which makes sure that the size of the file is not changing (meaning it has been completed) before moving to Folder Z. You should also add another step to the batch file which does the same thing. If you are new to shell scripts then you can use Unix forum to help you out or email me and I'll be more than happy to assist you. A 'move' command on the same server and directory should take minimal time irrespective of the size of the list and would help in solving the problem of files that move prematurely.

The second solution is to add a trigger in your mail list process box which takes care of the problem. A Mail list process box gives you the option of sending triggers after its successful completion. This is a built-in feature and is available across all the versions of Unica Affinium Campaign. This is how it would work.

Check the option of sending triggers in your Mail List Process Box. Let's call it 'File_Move_Sample'.

This trigger will then call a batch file which will consist of a basic Unix 'move' command to move the file from the new Folder X (where list will be outputted) to Folder Y. The syntax of the batch file would be something similar to this:

MOVE /Y D:\Affinium\Campaign\Initial_folder_location\*.* D:\Affinium\Campaign\Target_folder_location

In a nutshell, both solutions recommend adding one more step of sending a trigger before the job picks up the file and transfers it to the SFTP server. This trigger would then move the file to the desired folder and avoid the issue of sending a premature list to the email vendor saving a lot of inconvenience.

That's it marketers. Hopefully you'll find this of some value. What are the error handling checks you use to keep your marketing organizations performing successfully? I'd love to hear them!

Are Communication Service Providers Really Ready for the Future?

naras@csgsystems.com (Naras Eechambadi, PhD) — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 12:00:00 EDT

The media world has been and continues to undergo dramatic shifts as content continues to be delivered and consumed in myriad ways. A recent McKinsey Quarterly paper highlights the dramatic increase in the intensity with which people use digital devices and platforms. Approximately 50% of online consumers are now advanced users of smart phones, social networks and other tools such as tablets, up from 32% just two years ago.

And these users are becoming heavier consumers of multiple media. Often these are used simultaneously in conjunction with traditional media such as broadcast TV.

But are wireless phone companies and their putative competitors, the legacy cable providers, really ready for this shift? Are they truly set up to fulfill consumer expectations, fueled by hype about 4G and LTE as well as proliferation of powerful new devices? Not unless they become a lot smarter about deriving and leveraging customer insight to tailor services and offerings.

A recent study from Tellabs (admittedly self serving) predicts that North American mobile operators will become unprofitable within the next two years, if they do not start to customize their content delivery to take into account individual consumption habits. That is because consumption of video services is growing exponentially and current pricing policies do not discriminate sufficiently between different types of users to provide more customized experiences as well as pricing. Mobile phone companies have introduced some tiered pricing for data plans, but these still treat large swaths of very diverse customers the exact same way. Companies need to pay attention to customer's behaviors (e.g. Are they downloading large documents during the day, movies at night, songs at all hours, etc.?) and their customer value. Then they can tailor pricing as well as packages around this behavior, which will help companies optimize their networks and spread out the traffic while enhancing the customer experience.

Doing this requires a higher level of sophistication in analzing customer behavior and in personalizing/customizing offers to individual consumers or to micro-segments. Online marketers, including some content providers we work with, already do this very effectively. Perhaps CSPs need to go back to school, if they want to continue to be profitable and avoid hitting that wall.

3 Simple Ways to Build a Stronger Marketing Program

bill_connolly@csgsystems.com (Bill Connolly) — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 12:00:00 EDT

Marketing is tough. As marketers, we are tasked with building from scratch a perception of our brand in the minds of our prospects. With increasing levels of technology, that task is only getting more challenging. Even 10 years ago, marketers had nearly full control of their brand. However, today, through social channels, a consumer may have a fully-baked opinion (whether correct or incorrect) about a brand without ever having interacted with said brand. Scary stuff. Though it is important to point out that this is also an opportunity for marketers to engage with customers and utilize the power of user-generated content (which, by the way, can be MUCH stronger than the power of advertising). But that is the topic of another post. In this post, I want to offer 3 simple ways that you can create and maintain a stronger marketing program in today's increasingly difficult landscape. Certainly, these are not the only elements to successful marketing, but in my humble opinion, they are useful ideas to keep in the back of your mind.

1. Be Fluid - The first step to a stronger marketing program is to be fluid. In this case, 'fluidity' means flexibility. To be a successful marketer, you need to understand changing trends, you need to understand new technologies, and most importantly, you need to understand your customers. All three of these are moving targets, and therefore it requires a flexible and fluid marketing team to keep pace. You won't always be on the cutting edge of technology, or be on top of new marketing tactics, and that's OK. By taking a fluid approach to designing your marketing program, you'll eventually become a proactive marketer rather than a reactive one, which is something we are all striving for. Some companies have found it more difficult than others to move from a traditional mold to one with more fluidity, but in the coming years, those who choose not to make that change will find themselves out of business.

2. Ignore Best Practice... Sometimes - I say this one with a bit of a caution. We should always be considering best practices for our marketing efforts, and consulting new research to understand how the market is changing. What I mean here is that best practice isn't enough. Just because something worked in a case study for another organization does NOT mean it will work for you... or maybe it will. The point is that we as marketers need to know our specific target. We need to do our own A/B testing on campaigns because maybe for our prospects, there will be a different outcome. Most importantly, we need to always be asking, "Why?" Why does this type of campaign seem to be more effective than another one? Why does this type of customer not move through our pipeline? The more we ask "why," the more we will push ourselves to achieve greater marketing results.

3. Just Do It - Finally, I had to borrow Nike's famous tagline, because it describes so well a common marketing problem that we all face. Far too often marketers (and I'm including myself in this equation) can find every reason in the world not to move forward with some aspect of their efforts. Whether you haven't done enough testing, or you have too many cooks in the kitchen, something inevitably delays a good deal of marketing programs. The reality is that the fear of doing it wrong often prohibits us from doing something at all. Or, as Malcolm Gladwell suggests, when we are presented with too many choices, we tend to make no choice, or to keep putting it off as much as possible. Well, I am here to say to you, Just Do It! Of course I don't mean that you shouldn't put exhaustive planning into your marketing, but at some point, you have to just put something into action and see where it goes. More often than not, you will be able to make tweeks and changes as you go.

That's it folks. Hopefully you find some value in these simple hints. What about you? What are the tricks you use to keep your marketing organizations performing effectively? Please comment below, I'd love to hear them!

Follow Bill Connolly on Twitter: @billconnolly

3 Ways to Stave Off Digital Copycats

sakina.walsh@csgi.com (Sakina Walsh) — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 12:00:00 EDT

One of the great beauties of digital innovation is how quickly and economically an idea can go into production. Whether a large corporation is seeking a digital renovation or a group of entrepreneurs is vying to launch the next million-dollar online startup, the time and investment involved is marginal compared to what they would have been in the brick and mortar world of the past. Making changes or upgrades is also easier and cheaper—plus they can practically be implemented in real-time. In many ways, this makes business in the digital world less risky, and less encumbered by barriers to entry. But these same advantages can also become a major threat in a big way: in a digital world, how do you fight off copycat contenders?

In the digital arena, anyone can sit back, wait for someone else to come up with a potentially great idea, and enter as a deeper-pocketed rival only if it proves to be successful. Consider a financial institution that, after months of strategic meetings and painstaking deliberations, decides to invest in a controversial (not to mention pricey) online customer service portal that could present huge cost savings and provide efficient 24-hour service if successful, but result in huge losses if customers don’t embrace the new technology. As the company moves forward and makes headlines with its bold decision, competitors watch from the sidelines as the repercussions unfold, making internal arrangements to follow suit if the portal flourishes—and capitalize if it fails. This type of scenario has become a real hitch for digital pioneers: once a visionary executes the thought leadership, doles out the investment, and undertakes the risk and grueling implementation, anyone can come in and swipe the blueprint.

For a modern-day example of digital copycatting, simply look to Groupon, the online couponing site that has become a sensation among consumers and businesses alike. Inc. Magazine reports, “The quickly growing start-up -- which some estimate will soon exceed $400 million in annual sales -- has also discovered a slightly more painful truth: that its lucrative business model will continue to attract a formidable army of skilled copycats as long as there is money to be made.…Because the concept is so easy for consumers and local business owners to grasp, it has also been ripped off perhaps more than any other online service in the brief history of the Web. Thousands of Groupon clones have sprung to life in markets stretching from Latin America to China.”

So the question is: Is the innovator always the loser, the risk-taker that finances learning and ideas for everyone else?

The truth is, in the digital world, all innovators are guinea pigs under a spotlight. Once a new innovation launches, it will be closely watched until it manifests some sign of success or failure, particularly if it’s coming from a recognized brand or promising start-up. And as soon as it does, there will be thousands of media outlets and bloggers reporting on the progress—or lack thereof. The market will inevitably respond accordingly--if the concept is blatantly successful, emergent copycats should only be expected. But although digital impersonators can be a legitimate threat, the innovator can still come out as the unparalleled winner. Here are 3 ways how:

Truly leverage first-mover advantage. As the visionary forerunner, there will always be a window of time between your launch and the time it will take a copycat to catch up, even with digital momentum. This window is a huge opportunity in securing yourself against future contenders. During the initial post-launch period, things are often hectic as functional glitches and practical implications are still being ironed out—so it’s easy to put marketing, PR and branding on the back burner until things have settled down. However, a powerful marketing campaign should be an integral part of your launch strategy, and ideally, should be strategized far ahead of time. It is essential to tie your new digital concept with your brand—so that an initial association will be made in consumers’ minds. For example, ESPN presented a real paradigm shift to its digital advertisers when it began offering a premium advertising product allowing them to target ESPN.com visitors based on various consumer attributes, including interests, demographics, and affluence. ESPN named the exclusive offering “ESPN Select”, setting it apart from ad packages offered by various competitors. There is always something to be said for “the original”, and studies show that consumers are naturally skeptical of newcomers in a space they already know. Heavy branding during the early phases of a digital launch is absolutely essential to positioning yourself in this new space in the consumer’s minds.
Frontload your marketing budget. Your budgets may already be strained from development and implementation costs, but now is not the time to skimp on marketing. Let’s take another look at Groupon: despite thousands of competitors, the latter remain virtually unknown, while Groupon has become a household name. But what’s less known about Groupon is that its marketing spend was reportedly equivalent to 94% of gross profit in 2010. Groupon hired Crispin Porter + Bogusky, often revered as “the world’s most awarded ad agency” early on in its inception. The ensuing marketing success not only helped the startup’s international blowout, but created real barriers for entry to any incoming contenders. In December 2010, Reuters recounted the story of Todd Rideman, who personally invested $100,000 to launch WowWhatSavings, a Groupon copycat targeting the Boston area. But while he was able to sign up merchants, he was unsuccessful in driving traffic to the site. Six months later, he had just a few thousand people on his distribution list, compared with Groupon’s 115 million. A planned, front-loaded marketing budget creates scale and recognition early on, which is invariably compounded by viral buzz and media coverage. The result is a strong brand, or a strong association with an existing brand--before copycats have the chance (or money) to catch up.
Invest in deep analytics & segmentation. Creating a positive user experience is the most important part of a digital launch. Even if you follow steps 1 and 2 successfully, everything crumbles if the user ends up with a negative impression of the new digital experience. This will instead create negative branding, negative PR, not to mention a very negative ROI. One key to avoiding this hazard is to plan and budget for glitches as well as quick changes and adjustments during the initial stages of the launch (Never count on a perfect pilot). But a deeper solution for both the short and long term lies in analytics and segmentation. While digital consumers are spending more time on the web, studies show they’re abound with more choices and advertising messages than ever, and are demanding more real-time action to get and keep their attention. A vital response has been heavy personalization, which allows digital services to customize its offerings and marketing messages to each unique user. This involves everything from information gathered during registration to unique browsing activity and targeted e-mail marketing. The savvier the analytics, the savvier the segmentation capabilities: some sites create a completely different user interface depending on the user specs. Investing in analytics and offering a targeted experience to distinct segments means offering digital users the best user experience and a highly distinctive product—something that will take competitors significant time and difficulty to match. By investing in analytics from the very beginning, you’ll have a wealth of customer data that you can start using far before copycats can even begin collecting it—consistently keeping you far ahead of the curve.

Direct Mail Darwinism: Surviving in the Digital Age

jeremy.raelin@csgi.com (Jeremy Raelin) — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 12:00:00 EDT

If history is to be trusted, in 1748, a middle-aged Benjamin Franklin scribed a maxim that today is seemingly as elemental as his discovery of electricity. In his Advice to a Young Tradesman, Franklin wrote, “Remember that time is money.” With the current economic climate, who can question this wisdom?

Deliberating on Franklin’s advice, it is easy to distill his argument down to a simple matter of efficiency. Indeed, “efficiency” has become an increasingly common buzz word in today’s global marketplace, instilled in our vernacular by black belts. The one function that has been, for the most part, immune to this trend is marketing. This result has been, perhaps, precipitated by the legacy view that marketing is the last bastion of creativity and streamlining the creative process can stifle innovation.

While some creative marketers fear the lean process, implementing cost-effective procedures into marketing operations is something that can be done in the immediacy. From a direct marketer’s perspective, the first area of focus should be the direct mail channel. Despite early promises that digital would replace all direct mail in the early part of the new millennium, postal marketing still remains a viable, strong channel of communication. This is in spite of the obvious disadvantages, namely: decreased tracking as compared to digital alternatives, logistics, and cost (design, materials, printing, and postage). Indeed, in early 2011, MarketingSherpa, a research firm specializing in marketing analysis, conducted a survey of more than 1000 B2B marketing professionals. Of this population, 79% still deem the direct mail channel as an effective or very effective communication channel.

Although there are a number of ways to increase the effectiveness of a direct mail campaign (reference Margie Clayman’s article “Five Ways to Create a More Engaging Direct Mail Campaign” at Business2Community.com ), perhaps the most comprehensive suggestion is the implementation of a Marketing Resource Management (MRM) system. In general terms, these systems help a business support marketing operations by providing solutions that span from budgets, to content management, to deployment, and through to analytics. While a complete MRM system can offer even more functionality, where efficiency is concerned, the critical item to track is inventory. While industries like automotive can adopt Just-In-Time (JIT) standards, direct mail marketing must keep a readily available supply on hand (printing on-demand can often be more costly than the creation of bulk quantities).

A number of today’s industry leaders track their print inventory in inefficient spreadsheets, if they even track them at all. While a given direct mail fulfillment house may keep accurate records, there is often a breakdown in communication when supplies run low. Such a common scenario forces marketing campaigns to be placed on hold while new copy is approved and printed. The end result of this critical path is unnecessary waste in resource hours, inaccurate forecasts, and wasteful material overages. Never is this more prevalent than in the pharmaceutical industry as frequent changes required in the Important Safety Information (ISI) necessitate new print inventory.

The simplest method to reduce the time, effort, and resultant cost associated with this inefficiency is to tie inventory tracking to the Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system. It’s not difficult to identify starting quantities and then automate iterative decreases as assets are fulfilled. To further improve on this concept, thresholds can be set to initiate orders when fulfillments drop below a pre-defined level. If this threshold is set intelligently, new quantities of assets should arrive just as existing inventory runs down (reminiscent of JIT). Such a picture of efficiency would even make Deming smile.

As direct marketing continues to evolve, incorporating less expensive channels like text and web, the need to justify the direct mail channel will become ever-important. Minimizing opportunity costs, as with effective inventory management, will be critical to the survival of the medium. If direct marketers stay diligent, perhaps we can more readily adopt a new maxim, “Remember that mail makes money.”

Corporate Marketers Beware: Budgeting Changes Are Coming

robert_bales@csgsystems.com (Robert Bales) — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 12:00:00 EDT

Here are some ways to prepare:

A current trend making its rounds through corporate finance departments is the adoption of 18 month rolling forecasts and movement away from the traditional 12 month budget cycle. The theory behind this change is that a rolling forecast results in more frequent updating to projections which in turn results in a more adaptive organization. Additionally, this encourages more iterative and strategic long term thinking and eliminates much of the effort required to prepare a budget that is often outdated at its completion.

A rolling forecast is a long standing tool for the finance department that is used between budget cycles to make sure that the company’s projected results evolve with the changing revenue and expense environment. Traditionally forecast updates are contained within the current fiscal year and the finance department uses actual results and information from the field to update the current forecast vs. the annual budget. The current movement is to decentralize the forecasting process and get the operational departments more keenly focused beyond the budget year and forward for the next 18 months.

Currently most organizations are entering the planning and budgeting time of the year. If the concept of rolling forecasts is starting to emanate for your finance department, you should keep the following things in mind as you prepare for this change:

Break out of the 12 month budget paradigm – Integrate a more iterative approach to expense spending and planning and get away from timing spend for quarter and year ends to fit within established budget cycles
Expand the discussion time horizon for product managers that you support. It is more important than ever that you truly understand product plans and life cycles beyond the next 12 months.
Cultivate a good relationship with finance – This is going to require much more frequent (and hopefully) timely communications with your finance team so make sure the relationship is ready for the added exposure
Prepare your team – This is a significant shift in the way that your team thinks about spending and planning. Make sure they understand all implications of this change

Most importantly make sure that you embrace the change. If done well this paradigm shift can be a competitive advantage for your organization in the long run.

Engagement [en-geyj-muhnt]

julie_baker@csgsystems.com (Julie Baker) — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 12:00:00 EDT

Everyone's talking about customer engagement. And for good reason. The notion goes beyond the last decade of CRM-focused tactics and demands that marketers not only engage their customers, but understand how to measure that engagement. And, translate it into real value. Customer engagement is only one variable that contributes to the overall value equation, but it is without a doubt, the most vital attribute from which marketers can build on existing value.

There is no common definition of engagement across industries, or even channels. As a strategist from BSSP put it in Digiday yesterday, "The offline world's weakness is that it has thought about engagement in the passive sense. It's been 'sit back and watch my great ad.' It hasn't really thought about saying 'lean forward and interact with us.'" Although his point was largely about data distribution, and putting data back in the hands of the audience from which it is collected, the larger message about data usage for good and not evil was right on. I'm not necessarily on board with sharing user data just because you can, but only when it's relevant and beneficial to the audience, not just advertisers.

A few key players in the media space are already doing a great job leveraging their audience data to improve the overall user experience. Defining engagement by total time, cross-platform content consumption, and willingness to pay for content is one way to get at relative user value. And an even better way to understand your audience to ensure what they consume and how they are able to consume it is of value to them, not just you.

This buzzword's certainly not going away, nor is my coverage of how organizations are making it real for themselves and their customers ... so stay engaged!