The Social Media Buzz

Many organizations today are jumping into the bandwagon of social media as one of their marketing tools. What are these social media buzz is all about? Primarily, social media depends on both way interactions between the customers and the organization using technology. Social media can be in many forms such as forum, wikis, blogs, podcasts, etc. and some popular social media applications are facebook, twitter, wordpress, myspace, flickr, etc.

Click to Download

During the weekend, I came across an e-book on social media which I wish to share. Please click the above to download or read the e-book.

The e-book will briefly gives a guide to marketers who are using social media as one of their marketing tools or anybody who are planning to pursue social media. It focuses on social media imperatives, social media metrics and other related issues. Hopefully in my next blog, I would continue on how we should embrace the social media/ web 2.0.

Is This The Way You Engage Your Customers!!!! – (part 2)

In my last blog, I have written on how bad a customer service can be. So to continue with this topic, I would like to write on how we can build customer satisfaction.  Developing the right methods to gauge customer satisfaction for any organizations can be summarized as below:-

1. Understanding the organization’s goals, vision and mission and core competencies. These will affect the performance measures of what you are developing.  For example, if your vision is to become a luxury product supplier, then your measures will focus more on quality rather than costs.

2. Understanding customer touchpoints. Customer touchpoints are those interactions a customer has before, during and after a transaction in respect to a purchase of your products/ services/ brand. These can be face-to-face contacts, receipts, offerings, websites and so on. Understanding the customer touchpoints is like mapping the customer internal processes to meet his needs or expectations anytime.  Lists, improve and measure all the customers touchpoints in your departments/ personnel/ functions that will affect your customers experience.

3. Determine your customers’ needs at the touchpoints. Below table shows some examples of customers’ needs. List and see what is relevant to your business and customize the performance measurements which may impact your customers’ satisfaction.  For example, if you’re a retailer and the availability of your products is critical for your outlet, ensure that your stocks are replenished more frequently to avoid out of stock situations for your customers.

 

Performance measures on customer satisfaction may vary from one business to another.  However, it is crucial to align the measures to the organization’s business objectives and relate them to financial performance. Some performance measurements that we should not neglect are as below:-

1. Level of customer satisfaction
2. Customer retention
3. Customer purchasing behavior (volume and frequency)

From these measurements, the development of a customer-centric organization can be clearly defined and the above will give you a rough guide to improve customer satisfaction.

Customer Experience- Is This The Way You Engage Your Customers!!!!

I had read this blog by the Sales Ninja in regards of sales and customer service and would also like it to be the topic of my latest blog. I guess many of us have experienced these scenarios and it really disgusts us with the sort of service we get. I would like to share the experience that my wife and I had gone through last week that really frustrated her.

But first, I would like to share an excerpt from the Sales Ninja blog on his experience in a branded outlet:-

Now, let’s talk about Armani, one of my favorite designer labels. I was in KLCC (a high end s.h.o.p.p.i.n.g. m.a.l.l in Kuala Lumpur), walked into Emporio Armani to get some clothes. You may or may not know, Emporio Armani is very expensive! That day, I bought about $3,000 worth of clothes.

As I was paying, I was waiting for some super service lines that this super expensive store will give me.

Know what I got? “Thank you, please come again.”

What the…?? Can’t you see my name written on my credit card? Can’t you ‘customized’ your canned speech to, “Thank you Mr. Hanzo for s.h.o.p.p.i.n.g. at Emporio Armani, the choice you made with the fine shirt and Armani Jeans is fantastic, you look absolutely great in them. (or whatever ego brushing script) Please come again.”

This is what I meant SERVICE that sucks…… It is true what the sales Ninja has wrote. By just quoting your customer’s name (which is already written in his credit card), you have already engaged the customer to another level. You have made your customers feel different, closer and appreciated and he will definitely leave the outlet with a smile. Everybody likes to be called by name. Isn’t this what we want to offer to our customers: enhance the customer experience?

Wong Kok Char Chan Teng In Sunway Pyramid

Now this is what happened when my wife and I visited Wong Kok Char Chan Teng in Sunway Pyramid last week. We have a voucher with us that provided us either a free drink or some sandwiches. So we decided to go there and have a drink and my wife just needed to order another one for her. To our surprise, the waitress told us that we need to spend at least RM10 in a single receipt before we were entitled to use the voucher. After hearing this, my wife was very unhappy and felt cheated because there are no such terms and conditions in the voucher.

I do understand her reaction. It was not because of the price issue that provoked her. She just felt she was being cheated by the voucher and the coffee shop. When my wife asked the manager why didn’t the terms and conditions stated in the voucher, he just told her that it was a printing error and the management’s decision to apply the terms on the voucher. Then he just told us to file a complaint to the HQ if we wanted to.

The terms & conditions on the voucher!!!

It was an unbelievable experience. Is this the way of a big chain of restaurants engaged their customers? The way you communicate and engaged your customers really reflects the identity of the company. As an established group, you need to ensure that all customer touchpoints are properly managed, and be ascertained to improve your customer experience to align to your brand promise.

All marketing materials should be checked thoroughly before sending out to your customers. What you communicate with your customers is the promise that you need to fulfill. By giving out misleading information will leave a bad experience to your customers and gives a negative perception of your brand.

Even your error is out in the market, please admit your mistakes. Inform your customers. Like in this case, write an email or sms to inform your customers. Or maybe even a notice at the entrance of the restaurant. Your customers will be forgiving enough if you admit your error. Don’t let your customers find out themselves and make your customers puke and leave a bad taste in their mouth.

Lets Get Back To Basics

With the volatility of the market and the challenges that we are currently facing, sometimes we really need to take a look at some basics to prevent sales from dipping further. Below are some steps that we might be able to use in increasing marketing effectiveness during these challenging times.

1. Check Your Product and Service Mix
Talk to your customers. Find out how you can provide more value to your customers. How can you meet smaller clients demand or customers with a lower budget? Your customers are more willing to tell you what the market needs.

2. Audit Your Brand
How your customers see your products or services reflects your company. A consistent experience, a single ‘voice’ and the ways you communicate your brand is critical. Improve it and protect it.

3. Enhance The Customer Experience
It is always more expensive to acquire a new customer than get more business from the existing customer. Each customer you lose, you are drying up your own pocket over time. Enhance your customer experience and improve your customer touchpoints to increase awareness, acquisition, loyalty and retention.

4. Look Into Your Database
Your database is like a gold mine. Capitalize and use it. Reactivate your dormant customers with new promotions, products and services. Call up your current customers for referrals. They will be happy to pass you referrals if they are comfortable with you.

5. Gain More By Using Customer Insights
The more you know about your customers, the more predictive you can be. You can accurately target your brand and marketing to meet the specific needs of your customers. Your customers’ voice, your reputation online will all lead you to a better understanding and act accordingly with ease and speed.

6. Control Your Cost
Not to reduce cost but use it wisely. Ensure that your budget is used wisely with greater value for every dollar spent in your marketing activities. Always relate it to marketing ROI and cost control to ensure that the marketing investments bring the greatest revenue.

7. Marketing Measurements
What you can measure, can be improved. Many marketers are unable to ascertain whether their marketing efforts work. Smart marketers will combine science and art to ensure marketing effectiveness. Always measure the outcome to ensure your marketing investments give you the greatest return.

Customer Database: A Priceless Asset

Innovation has played a vital role in many years for the success of an organization. However in the present state, reports have shown that more than 80% of new products brought into the market are destined to fail. This shows that innovation is fleeting and capturing competitive advantage is getting tougher. No matter what innovative products your organization sells today will most likely be a commodity tomorrow.

Organizations today need to go beyond the traditional innovation process. Other than product or service innovation, customer innovation also plays a very important role. How does an organization achieve customer innovation? It derived from DATA and customer insights. Lots of organizations either don’t keep customer data or keeping loads of it.

Most organizations with plenty of data don’t know how to take the advantage of the insights and analysis it can offer. Innovative ways of using customer insights will enable organization to maximize the value of each customer interactions by delivering a great customer experience.

Below is an excerpt from the Sales Ninja blog regarding customer database which I fully agreed upon which I would like to share:

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Retail is a highly competitive business. Traffic to the store is one of the primary sources of business. Most leads are generated through walk-ins – either from passer-bys, advertisements or from referrals. Typically, food businesses thrive thanks to referrals.

Whenever a colleague or associate plans a lunch treat for us, often enough, they already have a r.e.s.t.a.u.r.a.n.t in mind. As a restaurateur, the one million question is how can we stay in people’s mind so they will remember our eatery as THE right place to dine.

 

A prominently-placed advertisement shows up in the newspapers one day. Obviously, not everyone would be attracted to the ad, prompting the question, “how can retailers get to the top of the mind of shoppers” so they would not leave empty-handed whenever they v.i.s.i.t an outlet or even if they do, they are likely to return in the near future to make a p.u.r.c.h.a.s.e.

 

Many retailers make the mistake of failing to apply this one very powerful strategy – they fail to collect personal details of their visitors or customer for their database.

 

Grave mistake. Everyone who walks to our store is a potential buyer. Something must have attracted them to walk in. A lady shopper may like our coffee mug but it may be too pricey to her budget at that particular moment. So she puts her buying decision on hold.

 

Retailers have to remember that people b.u.y on emotions and back their decision with logic. In the context of the lady shopper, she may have the desire to come back but may not remember this anymore upon leaving the store due to her many commitments.

As such, if we keep details of this shopper in our database and put her in our mailing list where we can periodically but consistently mail her our new arrivals via e-mail, postcards, SMS or newsletters, then we would have “entered her world”

 You can view the whole blog by visiting the Sales Ninja.  From the above, we could see that by having a proper customer database, organizations can strategize by using customer insights such as descriptive, behavioral, interaction, etc. and thus innovate at touchpoints across  the customer lifecycle  to enhance the customer experience.

The Approach On The New World Customers

In today’s vulnerable and competitive market conditions, capturing customers has been very challenging and has been one of the major focuses for all businesses. This is because customers have raised their expectations due to the easy access of information and customer loyalty is falling rapidly. These customers have grown with technology and they demand more offerings and experiences that a business has to offer.

With all these challenges, organizations really face a formidable task to cope with the ever changing consumer landscape. In a hyper-competitive market, competitive advantages don’t last for very long and innovation is fleeting. The ease of entry by competitors, substitutes and matching products that will disintegrate your competitive edge, or customers move on to your competitors, or even the environment changes in such a way that the advantage becomes irrelevant. How can these businesses face these complexities and volatility of the market? How can they acquire and retain the best customers in this new world?

That is the reason why the brand and the customer experience should be closely knitted and a deeper understanding of what customer wants, needs, perception and options is crucial to drive more right customers closer to your organization. Organizations that perform will be those maintaining a strong customer-centric focus while dealing with these complexities of customers and the market. It is an approach to doing business in which a company focuses a positive customer experience. Organizations need to identify what makes for a delightful customer experience, and coordinate their interactions, touchpoints, procedures, and systems to support that.

Below are some steps that can be looked into to allow organizations to be customer-centric:-

1. Knowing your customers
Performance driven businesses always try to have a deeper understanding of their customers. They used fact based information and analytics as well as customer data covering all aspects of their customers such as what they value, how they behave, etc.

2. Reaching the customers
In-depth knowledge of your customers from customer-centric programmes will enable the organizations to put up an effective marketing strategy to reach their customers with the right message at the right time.

3. Exploring the alternative media
Be innovative with new channels such as Web 2.0 and the social media to interact with your customers. This has become increasingly important with the emergence of the Web 2.0 customers. However, organizations need to be ascertained that the core competencies of the organization is uphold.

4. Effective interactions using analytics
Use a scientific approach in driving interactions with your customers through various channels. Analytics can be very useful in identifying your customers’ needs, behaviour and how to engage them. What can be measured and monitored can be improved!

5. The customer experience management
Pricing is no longer the main reason for customer churn. The way how your organization engages the customers, is to deliver a unique customer experience which is relevant to satisfying your customer’s needs and your brand promise. These also will eventually lead to customer loyalty.

With a customer-centric approach, successful organizations will always interact with their customers and seek to understand their needs and behavior. From here, value will be offered to the customers without forsaking the differentiated customer experience.

Designing an ‘Effective Marketing Strategy’

Everyone and anyone nowadays hype about putting in place an ‘effective marketing strategy’. These three words are so clichéd and overused that whenever I hear them, I will start to shiver. I frequently find myself rolling on the floor laughing my heart out when I hear or read about the ‘effective marketing strategies’ that some of the companies put out into the market.

Hello! Effective marketing strategy? It’s easier said than done. Just because you put out an expensive TV ad does not mean it’s an effective marketing strategy. Just because you spent RM1 million in print advertising in some fancy magazine does not mean you have an effective marketing strategy. Or just because you employ some young, pretty girls to pass out brochures and pamphlets in some overcrowded mall is not an effective marketing strategy.

If it’s not effective marketing strategy, then what are these? I call them money-wasting marketing strategies. TV ad? No one remembers unless your ad shocks the pants off the people who watch it. Print ad? It’ll end up wrapping nasi lemak. Young, pretty girls? The guys will look more at the girls than your products while they disgust your female customers.

As I came across Olivier Blanchard’s blog:-

“Most business leaders simply have no faith in Marketing. They don’t see it as an effective business function, they see it as an expense rather than an investment, and more often than not, marketing takes on the form of a formulaic, uninspired afterthought that barely ever ventures beyond the stale world of “marketing deliverables” like brochures, websites, mailers, press releases and print ads. Worse yet, these deliverables are often utterly ineffective in both design and purpose, adding insult to injury in the world of pragmatic, no-nonsense business execs. This is not good, and it needs to start changing immediately”

The fact is you don’t need an effective marketing strategy, you need a successful one. So what are the factors that make a marketing plan successful? Here are some key factors to ponder:

1. Your brand

Understand how your brand is unique in the market compared to your competitors. If you don’t have a unique distinction, go back and figure one out. A unique distinction can be a succinct brand promise you make and consistently deliver to your customers.

Once you’ve got your unique distinction, use it as a filter to choose and develop your marketing tactics.

As Seth Godin wrote:

“As soon as they start using the tactics of the other guys, playing the game they play, they become them. As soon as they decide that they can buy (not earn) attention, it all changes.”

2. Your customers

Understand who your customers are. And this goes beyond demographics. Find out their inimitable behaviour patterns, lifestyle and what you are really selling them. Find out why it matters to them?

But how do I find out? Customers’ touchpoints. Design your touchpoints to engage your customers. Be personal and yet professional. Contrary to what you may believe, your customers actually love to talk. They love to tell you who they are, what they like about you and how they’re making their buying decisions. They are also telling you what their frustrations, their disappointments and their expectations. All you have to do is keep your radar always on and listen.

3. Measure

Measuring your marketing efforts is important. You won’t know what is working and what’s not if you don’t measure. Here’s some of the metrics that you should considered.

Research the cost to acquire a customer in each channel. Find out the life time value of a customer in each channel. Determine which channels you should focus on.

Also, calculate the retention rates by channels. Decide where overall retention and reactivation initiatives must be concentrated on.

Adapt a kaizen mentality. Try to improve slightly every metric you are monitoring with every marketing plan you put into action. A little improvement every now and then goes a long way.

4. Religiously follow up
Effecting change to marketing plans requires discipline and a clear strategy complete with directives, priorities, deadlines and a detailed picture of what the “end game” looks like.

In summary, an effective marketing strategy is to able to increase your customer base, increase their lifetime value and engage them to be your repeat customers and brand ambassadors.

CRM – How to make it works?

In my last article, I wrote about how CRM is generally misunderstood in Malaysia and went on to state the CRM is in fact a business strategy, not a mere business tool.

But what must a company who wants to adopt CRM strategy do to achieve success?

I offer below some tips for you:

1. Be committed. Management and employee buy-in is important to ensure that your CRM strategy is a success. Those who are driving the adoption should hold multiple workshops for both frontline and back office personnel to prepare them for the changes that will come with the implementation of a CRM approach as well as manage their expectations. It is also a good idea to gather suggestions from your employees and implement those that make business sense. A sense of personal involvement in the project will get your employees to work towards a successful execution.

2. Plan carefully, implement slowly. Like I said in my last article, CRM strategy is simple but not easy. Therefore, plan your CRM implementation accordingly. Know which modules are important to you and do those first. Grow your CRM strategy by phase. It’s critical that you successfully reach a few easy milestones first to gain momentum and enthusiasm. Going big bang may be too much for you and your employee resulting in frustrations and jeopardize the entire project. It’s like solving a jigsaw puzzle!

3. Be patient. Investing in CRM is not like investing in a stock market. You don’t get to see the results of your investment in real time very soon after you’ve invested. Identify a few KPIs that are important to you and monitor them over the next few months after implementation. If you don’t see any improvement or if improvements don’t meet your expectations, study what went wrong, refine your processes and try again.

4. Get suitable technology. Some companies try to adopt a CRM strategy by maintaining important data in Excel or Word while others download free CRM software from the internet. This could work if you are a small company. But I would recommend that you purchase or subscribe to suitable CRM technology that will meet your business needs

5. Focus on the goal. It’s easy to get distracted with your own personal wants and needs when implementing CRM. It’s important that everyone is focused on why you’re is investing in CRM in the first place; and that is to enhance customer satisfaction, increase sales and profits while building positive branding for your company. Every decision you make in your CRM should move you closer to your goal.

6. Align everything. As I’ve said (again and again), CRM is not about buying software. You will need to review and change certain ways of doing things in the past that no longer is required or effective in a CRM environment. It’s essential that you and your project team understand your business and processes well. Align these processes to fit your new strategy. But the thing to remember is that, CRM technology does not alleviate your salespeople from their job. They still need to go out there and engage the customers. They still need to add the human touch in the relationship and not rely on blasting generic emails and SMS. The key sales processes must still be intact.