Must Read Classic Articles (continued)
These articles are keepers for customer retention
oriented, Data-Driven marketers; they are selected primarily because they
provide very short-in-supply case studies, metrics, or process models for
relationship marketing, customer retention, or customer loyalty marketing on the
Web. This is an archive; for the latest check out the blog.
Barry Diller Still Believes
July 30, 2001 The Industry
Standard
This isn't really about database marketing, but it's my website so I can do as I
please. What you should find interesting is the experience Diller had in
1992 when he saw the guts of a TV Shopping Network from the inside. Real
time reporting of phone calls and sales, with the numbers "cascading like
waves on the beach" in response to the show host. That, my friends,
is interactive retailing, and the sooner the web figures out how to actually make
use of interactivity in real time the sooner people will start making
serious money in retailing. Any takers? I
can show you how.
Your
Best Customers
May be Different Tomorrow
July 19, 2001 crm.ittoolbox.com
You know, banks are an interesting animal. Generally, they have been
computerized far longer than many other business sectors, which actually hurts
them because of legacy issues. Unlike many businesses, the have all the
data they need - they just can't get to it. Well, the data is finally
coming out and it's not pretty folks - forget the 80/20 rule, how about 150/20,
which means a huge amount of customers have negative value. Great stats in
this article - if you are into bank stats that is.
Points.com- Loyalty Builder or Loyalty
Loser
July 18, 2001 Colloquy
This article may require free registration to access; if you care about loyalty
programs, you should already be registered at this site. Loyalty programs
are one of the most misunderstood customer retention devices out there.
Unless you have actually designed and run one
before, it can be difficult to get your hands around the real dynamics
underlying the concept. Rick Barlow, a competitor of mine in some areas
and a very smart guy, takes on the idea of "point exchanges", and does
a noble job of explaining why this idea is just plain wrong - it undermines the
core concept of a sound loyalty program. And by the way, if you are
considering a loyalty program, get some impartial
analysis first. They are not for every business - trust me.
Mail-order Math
July 9, 2001 Target Marketing
I get a lot of "math" questions about database marketing. If you
are a pure online company, you will no doubt be considering direct mail or
catalogs as part of your marketing strategy in the near future. Here's a
good idea - do this math before you even consider the creative.
Making
Customer Relationship Management Work
July 5, 2001 Knowledge@Wharton
"Focusing too closely (on customers) at the individual level is a
mistake" says the always excellent Peter S. Fader, supporting my own Micro
vs. Macro position. Other gems such as why
"firing" unprofitable customers is just ridiculous and the related
need to study customer behavior over time are
covered.
Brand
New Branding
July 1, 2001 Darwin Magazine
As a database marketer, I'm not a big user of branding strategy. But it
obviously works; your choice of a branding or direct strategy depends on your
product, IMHO. That said, sounds like the branders are getting the DM
itch. Pay attention to what Regis McKenna has to say; for those who don't
know him, he wrote the book Relationship Marketing in 1993 - founding the LifeCycle
Marketing approach.
How Much Should Be Spent on
CRM
June 29, 2001 iMarketing News
This guy Hughes has got some big brass ones. He's basically saying it is
downright silly to go the CRM route for marketing when you can get most
of the benefits at a fraction of the cost using plain vanilla database marketing
- and he has a model to prove it. I agree with him; that makes two
of us. Anybody else?
CRM
Implementation Made Easier
June 28, 2001 DM Review
Make sure you know what is important to measure; create a framework. Keep it simple, start slow, use large segments first, and then subdivide.
Sound
familiar, dear reader? If I didn't know better, I'd say these guys read
through my whole site then wrote this article. Good job explaining what
segmentation is all about. Want to know how to do it? Try
this.
Three
Keys to Ensuring CRM Success
June 28, 2001 CRMCommunity.com
Now, here's a person who knows what they are talking about! Imagine,
making sure you understand customer behavior before you get involved with
CRM. Wish I'd thought of it. Oh, and by
the way, if you are looking for a framework to accomplish this understanding,
may I humbly suggest my
book. You might not even need "CRM", depending on what you
are trying to accomplish (increasing profits with high ROI customer marketing does not
require CRM).
Discerning Distinctions in Buying Behavior
June 25, 2001 ClickZ
Don't look now folks, but the world is catching up to us. Track customer
behavior for best results, they say. Of course, they don't tell you how,
which is the information you will find on almost every page of this site.
Start here.
Case Studies- HSN.com
Case Studies- UnitedWay@work
June 22, 2001 ecompany.com
A couple of case studies with lots of metrics for those out there trying to hunt
down an ROI scenario. Good to see HSN fleshing out the business plan I
gave them in 1997 for creating a "back-end" to TV; it appears to be
working out for them!
Print Rules
June 18, 2001 Direct Magazine
Detailed explanation of approaches different catalog players are taking to the
Internet. Lots of stats for benchmarking.
What to Do About Low Response
May 23, 2001 iMarketing News
This article has some great stats on the number of remote shoppers in the US and
some interesting ideas about using e-mail. And then he tosses RFM
into the ring. Are you using RFM yet to maximize
profits yet?
More From More
May 21, 2001 Direct Magazine
How long will you wait? Companies are using RFM
to make more money marketing to customers. Check the stats on FTD, and if
you want to use RFM to boost revenue while cutting costs, check out my book.
The
$100,000,000 Lesson
May 15, 2001 eMarketing Magazine
A classic, short and sweet run-down of database marketing dynamics, LifeTime
Value, and the growth paradox. The lesson from MotherNature.com - get
the customer model right and grow slowly.
Dynamic CRM
May 9, 2001 Intelligent Enterprise
Folks, 3 stars means this is the most important article I've seen since I
started this project. This is a real world demonstration, complete with
success metrics, of using behavior-based LifeCycle
tracking to drive retail marketing profitability on the web. If you are
relying on "static" profiles, you're not optimizing results. And
you don't have to use data-mining software to be successful with this approach;
I'll show you how!
Keeping Pace
(E-Tail whiners take note)
April 21, 2001 Catalog Success
Here is a very difficult to execute remote shopping business - running shoes -
and these guys are making a pile of money. Is it "easy as
pie"? No. But just check out how this business was researched
and customized around the market. It's very smart thinking and it's all
based on customer behavior. 2.4 million customers, 300 employees, ships
250,000 units/yr. 28 versions of the catalog, 22 million e-mails annually,
Broadvision front-end on the web site. Customizes communication by
favorite shoe, geography, purchase history.
This is CRM shining bright. "Endangered Shoe" postcard; now that's
just darn brilliant and shows a true understanding of customer behavior - and
data mining didn't come up with that idea, for sure. It's all quite simple
and straightforward; this is what I mean when I say to the CRM folks
"you're making things too complicated." Don't even try 1-to-1 if
you haven't figured out how to segment and profitably
manage customer
group behavior first. Trust me.
eCommerce
Brokers Arrive
April 13, 2001 Forrester Research
Now you're talking. They even used the word merchandising, which I
rarely hear in relation to the Web but is really the key to success in
interactive commerce. The thing that has always blown my mind about web
retailers is that NONE of them really use interactivity very well to run the
business. How can that be? Where's the real time sales and
merchandising reporting? How can you run a interactive retailer without
it? Mark my words folks, the successful "commerce broker" retailing platforms that evolve
will have people paying attention in real time to what's going on in the store,
and acting as a store manager. These managers will proactively work in
real time to increase sales and margins - moving displays, tweaking prices,
changing copy, promoting
different items in different time periods, etc. using software by companies like
SteelTorch. (Note: I'm an advisor
to this company)
An
Integrated Campaign Pays Off
for PropertyFirst.com
April 12, 2001 ClickZ Daily
Chanting the retention mantra continues, and you know we're getting somewhere
when people start using the word "reactivation", a specialized type of
customer retention program. Good execution, nice stats, too late.
Letting people go 90 days in an interactive environment without contact is nuts,
and drove up costs substantially. They should be using 30/60/90
stats to find the "Sweet Spot", as described in the book.
Retention-Based
Advertising
April 12, 2001 ClickZ Daily
Man, when it rains... Another retention piece, this article
goes over some of the little-known options for retention-based banner campaigns,
and talks about using Recency in e-mail
promotions. Of course, if you've been through this site and read the book,
you know all this and a lot more already about making money with customer
retention programs!
Plug-And-Chug
Data Doesn't Provide Results
April 12, 2001 IT Toolbox - BI
BI is Business Intelligence - another way for saying using your customer data to
make more money, a concept I'm firmly in favor of. Let's just all agree
the disease of "drowning in data" is a self-inflicted one. Some
types of data are 10 or 100 times more important to
collect than others, so why do people store so much useless data? Data
mining is an idea best left to experts, who already have a firm grasp on the basics
of using customer data.
CRM Starts With Defining
The Customer Strategy
April 9, 2001 iMarketing News
Another person separating the strategy from the technology in CRM. You
don't need fancy technology to do CRM; in fact, if you test through some of the
fundamental concepts BEFORE you buy, you'll be much
better prepared for it. All you need is a customer database, query
software, and a few $$.
CBS'
SportsLine.com Takes Its Shot
April 5, 2001 emarketing
Magazine
Nice review and good metrics on the CBS/Sportsline loyalty program, the largest
non-network loyalty program on the 'Net. Of course, I'm biased - I designed it
in 1998 and did the financial models proving it would work based on their
customer behavior records. What were your consultants doing in 1998?
DM Pros are the New Hot Hires
April
5, 2001 emarketing Magazine
And you expected anything different? DM, for those not in the know, means
direct/database marketing. Whether you are willing yet to accept it or
not, the reason experienced DM people are in such demand is they know how to
make money on the 'Net. Period. So why don't you get my
book and start really learning what they know?
SPECIAL
REPORT: The Hidden Costs of CRM
March 30, 2001 Direct Magazine
OK kids, bear with me on this. This is a huge article full of CRM costs
and metrics, very valuable stuff. Looked pretty in print, but on the web,
they busted it all up into different pages that are not linked together.
Go figure. The following links are to call out boxes printed in the main
article above:
SPECIAL REPORT- Budgeting
Costs
- Campaign Engines
Costs-
Fulfillment
Costs- Telemarketing
Costs- E-mail
Questions
to Ask
CRM
- The Big Picture
March 30, 2001 Direct Magazine
This is a very frank discussion of the state of CRM as seen by a diverse group
including agencies, consultants, and users. A refreshing "no BS"
look at what's really happening.
Destination
Everywhere
March 30, 2001 Direct Magazine
Detailed discussion of CRM dynamics at a big travel company. They use RFM
to help solve the "drowning in data" problem, of course. You
can, too. All you need is the "how
to".
CRM
Gets A Lift
March 20, 2001 Internet Week
CRM success stories. Yea, they're out there. And surprise, surprise,
they come from folks focusing on customer retention over lead generation and
contact management. Hey. Told you it would be this way, didn't I?
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