Direct Marketing Magazine March 2015

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Why banner ads DON’T suck And how to use them well

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5 small steps that can lead to big increases in conversion

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Financial Services Marketing Supplement

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Vol. 28 • No. 3 • March 2015

The Authority on Data-Driven Engagement & Operations

Email 2.0

The Second Coming of Email Marketing

Robert Burko, President of Elite Email

Gary Tannyan

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eTail Canada 2015 Media Partner Show Issue MAY 2015 To advertise in this issue contact Mark Henry, mark@dmn.ca

The single most important campaign decision you will ever make.

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SPECIAL REPORT Why web banners DON’T suck Vol. 28 | No. 3 | March 2015 EDITOR Amy Bostock - amy@dmn.ca PRESIDENT Steve Lloyd - steve@dmn.ca DESIGN / PRODUCTION Jennifer O'Neill - jennifer@dmn.ca Advertising Sales Mark Henry - mark@dmn.ca CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Chris Lucas Rachel Alt-Simmons Steve Slaunwhite Marc Borbas Rob Stocks Robert Burko Yahoo Canada Kodak Alaris Geoff Linton

Despite some alarming statistics, web banners are far from dead

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Infographic The rise of the ‘Deletist Consumer’

Operations & Logistics

Targeting & Acquisition ❯❯6

Check it twice The importance of working with a CASLcertified business list company

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Why contact centres fail Effective email management can make or break relationships

LLOYDMEDIA INC. HEAD OFFICE / SUBSCRIPTIONS / PRODUCTION: 302-137 Main Street North Markham ON L3P 1Y2 Phone: 905.201.6600

FINANCIAL SERVICES MARKETING SUPPLEMENT

Fax: 905.201.6601 Toll-free: 800.668.1838 home@dmn.ca www.dmn.ca EDITORIAL CONTACT: Direct Marketing is published monthly by Lloydmedia Inc. plus the annual DM Industry Source Book List of Lists.

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Twitter: @DMNewsCanada

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COVER STORY Email 2.0 The second coming of email marketing

Engagement & Analytics ❯❯11

Finding golden nuggets in your user data Engagement insights in today’s multiconnected world

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Engage better Native advertising and content marketing

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Conversion rate optimization

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Banks struggle to harness Big Data

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Analytics spurs agility in data-driven marketing

5 small changes that can lead to a big increase in conversions March 2015

DMN.ca ❰

Special Report

Web Banners

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Why banner ads DON’T suck While the statistics may seem alarming, the banner ad is far from dead

By Rob Stocks

J

ust over 20 years ago the first banner ad appeared on Hotwired.com (web sister to Wired Magazine). On the occasion of this momentous anniversary, The New York Times technology writer Farhad Manjoo called the banner ad “one of the most misguided and destructive technologies of the internet age.” I believe he was joking. Kind of.

Banner ads suck. That seems to be the consensus amongst Joe Public.

Never mind that pop-up and native ads seem to get lumped in with the old bedraggled, disrespected grand-daddy of them all. Never mind that most people, myself included, ignore the ads when reading content. And never mind that the people who pay for the ads finance a great deal of the free content on the internet that we take for granted.

Much has been made about the decay in the performance of web banner ads. When they were first launched, they were an exciting new frontier and enjoyed click through rates (CTR) of more than 50 percent.

Today, banner ads are ubiquitous and CTRs have plummeted to 0.2 percent (2 actions per 1000 views) or less – a decline in effectiveness by a factor of 2,500. Yikes. So this begs the question: what is the future of the banner ad?

While the statistics may seem alarming, the banner ad is far from dead. Some context may be useful.

According to various studies, TV ads have a response rate of about 0.05 percent (5 actions per 10,000 viewers) and outdoor advertising is only 0.03 percent (3 actions per 10,000 impressions) so while not the goldmine they once were, banner ads remain a very effective and affordable option for advertisers.

And display ads are far more democratic. The local neighborhood independent café can compete for the same space as McDonalds, albeit with different budgets.

And the most recent available data supports the notion that there’s still some life left in them banner legs.

A study by ComScore found ❱ DMN.ca

that there were 5.3 trillion display ads served in the US in 2012 – a 6 percent (318 billion) increase from 2011. Another study by the Internet Advertising Bureau found that display advertising accounted for $7.7 billion (or 21.7 percent) of total internet advertising revenue in 2012 in the US – a 13 percent increase over 2011. So clearly the big players (such as AT&T, Microsoft, Disney, State Farm, Weight Watchers and Proctor & Gamble) are seeing some tangible return on investment and continue pushing cash into this medium. So while the general public is just annoyed by banner ads, these multinationals are continuing to invest millions in them and see something different.

It has been argued more than once that CTR should not be the only metric by which banner ads are judged. They are effective at remarketing, brand recognition and engagement. If you’ve done any remarketing (or been followed around by a remarketing ad) then you have first-hand experience of one of the banner ad’s strengths. ideaLEVER’s SEO / SEM specialist Vanessa Pintea works with a wide range of clients and customizes strategies based on their needs.

With one BC medical devices company she focused on branding and positioning more than CTRs or Calls to Action (CTAs). Since the client only pays for each click they got a ton of “free” views or impressions – and consequently exposure – from the display ad in addition to the actual clicks. Vanessa measured pre and postcampaign organic Google ranking to gauge the effectiveness of the ads.

By using a combination of search network and display ads she was able to increase brand recognition and push them to number one in organic search in key municipalities across the province.

Such a strategy is effective for purposes of brand recognition, but what if you’re purely interested in driving leads and sales? A CTR of 0.2 percent seems hardly inspiring.

The reality is that poor CTRs are more a result of this democratization of banner advertising than anything inherent about the medium. Much is made of the CTR because it is the

easiest to measure. Very few other mediums provide the same sort of data as banner ads. By making banner advertising accessible, the vast majority of campaigns are not well targeted. Much like email spam, lazy advertisers can run ineffective, poorly targeted ads that will never achieve much of a CTR without making a huge investment in time or budget.

If yours is one of the industries that play to the strength of banner ads, you can achieve very good results.

Again, our SEO / SEM specialist, Vanessa: “For companies that have the right kind of product or service, image ads will work very well. I’ve achieved good results with furniture stores, fitness equipment, skin care and beauty and health. Any product or service with strong visuals tend to work really well with image ads.”

To give you a sense of how a well-executed banner ad campaign can work Vanessa describes an apparel company she has worked with recently. She was able to reach at CTR of 10 percent using a combination of powerful images, effective copy writing and A/B testing. At the other end of the funnel she was able to convert 3 percent of those who clicked.

The average cost per click to the company was $.80 with a monthly budget of $1,500. So each month Vanessa was able to generate an average of 1,200 clicks leading to 36 conversions. With an average ticket of $125, the company was able to sell $4,500 worth of product for a $1,500 marketing investment.

“The key is to have great images with strong CTAs,” she says. “And to change images quite frequently. Also you need to do A/B testing to keep incrementally improving.”

This website had about 6,000 unique sessions a month. Remarketing ads accounted for about 1 percent of leads, while 99 percent of leads came from search network and strategic placement on Google’s display network.

Tips to make banner ads NOT suck Here are a few more tips to help you get the most out of your banner ad campaign:

Understand your goal Banner ads can build brand awareness, generate leads, or make sales.

Understanding your goals helps you determine how to advertise and what results to measure.

Invest in creativity Banner ads don’t need to be static and you don’t need to run one for any predetermined length of time. Create relevant ads based on time of year or even time of day. Create ads promoting special offers and run them leading up to holidays or big sales. Give your audience a reason to click. Make them smarter, curious, or greedy.

As the number of ads increases, you have to cut through the noise to be noticed. You can use video or other interactivity to give users a more engaging and memorable experience.

Some banner ads are now expandable allowing interested customers to browse mini web sites without leaving the original site. These are great for building brand awareness.

Fine tune your ads Google lets you target people by device (desktop, tablet, smartphone), geography, time of day and many other factors. You don’t need to show everyone your ad, just the people you want to sell to. People use smartphones differently than they use regular computers so either block them entirely or create campaigns based around what smartphone shoppers are doing: finding locations, finding store hours etc.

Re-target You can create campaigns specifically for people who have visited your site and even people who have visited specific pages of your site. If someone visited a page where you had a Buyers Guide for patio furniture, you can target them for sales on patio furniture.

Product listing ads.

One of the evolutions of the banner ad is the Product Listing Ad. This is similar to a banner ad but will show products, reviews, and current prices for products on your web site.

PLAs have great click through and march 2015

Special Report

conversion rates because they appear at the critical moment when the shopper is looking to buy.

Multiple platforms While Google owns this space and generates more revenue from managing the purchase and distribution of digital ads than anyone else, there are many different March 2015

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Web Banners

networks at your disposal. Microsoft’s ad network is smaller than Google’s and not as sophisticated but it is also much less expensive per click. While you won’t get as many impressions or as many clicks, your CTR will likely be similar and the clicks will cost you half as much. Facebook knows everything about its users and you can buy access to that to help you build your audience.

While this all sounds complex there are many tools, services, and experts available to help plan and execute an effective banner ad campaign. As the landscape gets more complex we have recently seen the rise of programmatic buying of ads. You can set a variety of different criteria and systems will adjust bids appropriately to help you reach the right prospects at the right

time at the best price.

Rob Stocks is the founder and president of ideaLEVER Solutions, a BC-based web and e-commerce development company that serves clients across North America.

For nearly 20 years, ideaLEVER.com has built partnerships with entrepreneurial organizations to grow their revenue with powerful and innovative online solutions.

DMN.ca ❰

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Targeting & Acquisition

Check it twice The importance of working with a CASL-certified business list company

By Steve Slaunwhite

Want to hear a scary story?

Here goes…

Y

ou need to send an email campaign to a specific target market. So you decide to work with a business list company with a sizable database of contacts you want to reach. That company claims to stringently follow the rules of CASL. You believe them. And therefore you have them send out your emails.

Later, after the emails are sent, you find out there have been several complaints of spam against you. Turns out that the business list company wasn’t as CASL-compliant as they claimed to be. Now, not only has your company taken a hit to its goodwill, you are also exposed to potentially hefty fines.

Yep. That’s definitely a spinetingling scenario you want to avoid!

So how do you avoid it? More on that in a moment.

First, as a reminder, CASL is Canada’s new — and tough — antispam legislation that came into force last year. It covers any email you send that “encourages participation in commercial activity, regardless of whether there is an expectation of profit.” In other words, it covers virtually any email you send to customers and prospects, as well as other electronic messages such as texts and social media direct messages.

Much is required to make emails CASL-compliant but the bare-bones basics are these: ❯❯ You must have the consent of the recipient before sending that person an email. ❯❯ You must include adequate contact information in your emails, and ❯❯ You must have an obvious, ❱ DMN.ca

functional way for recipients to unsubscribe. (For example, an unsubscribe link.)

There are numerous other requirements and nuances in the legislation as well, making compliance a real challenge — even for those businesses who wouldn’t even think of spamming.

And if email is part of your marketing mix, then you’ve probably heard rumours about the huge fines for non-compliance. Well, those rumours are true. Even individuals can face six-figure penalties.

Doing your due diligence So getting back to our scary story, how do you ensure your emails are CASL-compliant when working with a business list company?

Obviously, you must do your due diligence. That means asking tough questions. A reputable business list company will not only be well-versed in the CASL legislation, but will also be happy to explain all they’ve done to ensure their email lists meet the standards of the law. For example, Business Information Group (BIG), which manages a subscriber database of more than 750,000 contacts, invested heavily in legal counsel, consultants, IT, and staff training to make sure the emails they send follow the new rules rigorously.

But there is another step you can take to ensure you’re working with the right business list company for your email marketing initiatives: Make sure they have been certified as CASL-compliant by a respected, third-party organization. That gives you an additional layer of assurance that your email marketing will be in safe hands.

The first and only to be CASL certified Recently, Business Information Group (BIG) became the first and only business list company in the Canadian marketplace to receive AAM CASL Certification. “Because of our excellent reputation in the industry,” says Vesna Moore, Director of Circulation for BIG, “they approached us to be the first organization to be audited with regards to CASL compliancy. We knew this would be of great value to our customers, so we decided to go ahead with the intensive certification process.”

AAM is the Alliance for Audited Media. They are a non-profit organization that helps ad agencies, top advertisers and other media to, as they put it, “transact with greater trust and confidence.” When it comes to CASL, AAM conducts a thorough audit to determine if an organization is CASL-compliant and meets other criteria for AAM CASL Certification.

For BIG, AAM performed a comprehensive review of the company’s systems and processes.

They looked at how email contact information is collected, the type of consent approval received, the content of emails sent, how unsubscribes are handled and tracked, and numerous other requirements of the CASL legislation.

According to AMM, “The audit verified that BIG’s commercial email system is compliant with all legislation and that the organization employs policies and procedures to ensure continued compliance with the law including proper request documentation, completing unsubscribe requests and email list maintenance.”

What does this mean to those

businesses who use BIG for their email campaigns?

As Vesna Moore puts it, “I strongly believe the certification will go a long way to help our customers feel safe, secure and confident when reaching our audiences through our digital communication channels.

Whether it’s through advertisements in our e-newsletters, direct email marketing campaigns, sponsored whitepapers, or the delivery of custom published digital editions, the AAM CASL certification gives our clients assurances that we have taken every measure to be fully compliant with the Canadian Anti-Spam Legislation requirements.”

Your success story So we began with a scary story. Here’s a success story…

You need to send an email campaign to a specific target market. So you decide to work with a business list company with a sizable database of contacts you want to reach. That company not only stringently follows the rules of CASL, but is also certified as CASL-compliant by a respected outside organization.

Your email marketing initiative is a success. And there are no CASL issues that come back to haunt you.

Isn’t that the story you want for your business?

Steve Slaunwhite of Scott’s Directories came

to appreciate the value of great marketing when, at age 16, he wrote a sales letter for his dad’s business that doubled sales. These days, as a marketing strategist, he helps entrepreneurs grow their businesses via his consulting and copywriting services. Steve is the author of several books including The Everything Guide To Writing Copy and 101 Writing Tips For Successful Email Marketing. march 2015

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Cover Story

Email 2.0 The second coming of email marketing

By Robert Burko

“You’ve got mail.”

A

phrase that changed the communications world forever. In 1989 a gentleman named Elwood Edwards recorded that saying on a cassette deck in his living room without knowing it would define a generation that was about to embark on a communications revolution. In the height of AOL’s popularity in the mid-90’s, that phrase was heard more than 35 million times a day. People were excited to get this new electronic message that could be sent and received instantly. And, do you know who else was excited? Marketers!

The dawning of email opened up an entire new marketing channel that simply didn’t exist before. Just think about the possibilities to spread your message for mere pennies and get your customer or potential customer’s attention away from the rest of the clutter of TV, radio, print and direct mail campaigns. Your customer would be sitting on their computer immersed in the email you sent them.

At the time, this might have just been a plain-text message, but it was still another touch-point on the road to the next conversion.

Email was king of the world, a champion that would change the way the economy operated and a marketer’s dream.

Then, in the mid-2000’s something changed.

On September 26, 2006 Facebook opened its doors to everyone aged 13 and older. By late 2007, Facebook had over 100,000 business pages and was starting to accumulate a user-base in the hundreds of millions.

Social marketing was born.

It was the shiny new toy for marketers, with glitz, glamour and lots of hype. At the time, no one was really sure how to use this new Facebook ❱ DMN.ca

thing, but marketers knew it was full of potential just waiting to be tapped.

Facebook wasn’t the only new toy on the playground either. On July 15, 2006 this little thing called Twitter was launched. It wasn’t until 2007 that Twitter really gained popularity.

But, once it caught on, the growth was tremendous. In 2007 there were 400,000 tweets per quarter. And by 2008, it was up to 100 million tweets per quarter. By February 2010, there would be 50 million new messages every day and “tweet” became something more than what a bird said.

It was part of our culture and part of a marketer’s arsenal.

Social media was new, different, free and sexy.

As a result of all this, social media pushed email out of the spotlight in favour of this new interactive way to engage customers.

But as marketers from around the globe flocked to social media, something changed. The landscape became cluttered as every organization, small and large, was vying for social attention. Every business was trying to get likes and followers. Competition for engagement became ferociously high.

In addition to that, the once free social networks matured and now required money to boost their stock price. The end-users were never going to pay, so that meant it was the businesses and marketers that would be taxed in order to reach their full audience, promote their tweets, and more. All of a sudden, with dollars being spent, the ROI equation became increasingly important. Marketers had to take a good look at how much they were spending and how much they were actually converting on social channels.

Once most marketers started deep diving into their social ROI, many noticed the exact same thing.

The shiny new toy, while still very important, wasn’t producing the

ROI or acquisitions that they hoped.

Study after study started emerging focusing on how to measure, evaluate and understand your social ROI, along with how it compared to other channels.

In the middle of 2013, the predictive analytics platform Custora released the “E-Commerce Customer Acquisition Snapshot” that showed customer acquisition via Facebook and Twitter remained flatlined over the last 4 years (2009 - 2013). In the meantime, acquisition via email had quadrupled.

The consistent reconfirmation that email simply yielded a higher ROI in every way led to a seismic shift in the marketers mindset. Email was coming back to the spotlight, and this time better than ever before.

Email Marketing 2.0 With the resurgence of email marketing as a power tool in the marketer’s arsenal, there was also a shift in the general savviness, sophistication and strategy of this communication medium. Marketers didn’t just return to their old ways.

They took the time to ask the question of how the power of email can be harnessed even better to drive greater returns and growth.

Over the years, email marketing solutions such as Elite Email and others had evolved to give marketers more control and far deeper analytics to really understand what is happening in their email ecosystem.

The depth of analytics, which trumped what was available on most other marketing channels, truly ushered in an era of email communications that was poised to fuel the best execution, engagement, and returns.

Big Data meets laser-focused segmentation The revival of email led organizations to understanding the true value march 2015

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Gary Tannyan

Cover Story

March 2015

DMN.ca â?°

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Cover Story of their data. While everyone always knew there was value in the data, all of a sudden there was a shift in the mentality of how big data had to be managed to leverage personalized direct email communication. Businesses started to invest in organizing their data, filling in the missing gaps, and really understanding what they had in their database at a tactical level. The one size fits all approach was gone and left behind in the 90’s along with your troll dolls, beanie babies and VHS tapes.

Businesses had always understood the notion of buyer personas, but for a long time kept that analysis in a different silo from how they managed big data. Now that was all changing.

Marketers began to use customer demographics and psychographics to carve out segments within a database, allowing for hyper targeting.

Organizations went from a seemingly scattered set of data to a well managed sub-set of smaller groups, with a keen understanding of who those consumers were, what they wanted, where they were in the buying cycle, and most importantly, what push they needed to convert.

This segmentation created an immediate boost in ROI because, unlike in the past when everyone might have gotten the same email, everything had evolved. No longer did an email try to sell a woman the latest fashion in men’s suits.

Open rates climbed as organized big data led to consumers understanding that if they opened the email, they would find content that was relevant to them.

Of course, keeping big data organized is no easy task, but with a clear correlation to the revenue generated from ROI, it became far easier to get C-level buy-in for the necessary investment to keep that data in as close to pristine shape as possible.

Behavioural data and personalized messaging The colossal success of Amazon is partly due to their you-boughtthis, you-might-like-that and the people-who-bought-X-also-bought-Y online sales approach. From a high level, this just makes perfect sense.

You purchased from me once, so I know who you are and what you’re interested in. Logically, if I can make a personalized recommendation to you, truly custom-tailored special for you, then the likelihood of you buying ❱ DMN.ca

something again goes way up.

Businesses started to realize that you can achieve this behaviour based targeting with email, even without the ultra sophisticated engine that powers Amazon. All the answers lay in the email engagement reports.

Every email marketing campaign that was sent was telling story, and now marketers were listening to that story more closely than ever. And, when you start listening, it’s amazing what you can learn!

At Elite Email, we worked with a sports retailer who had the same goal as pretty much every business, which was simply to drive more sales. They were sending emails, but it was just the same old weekly roundup of all the new products or products being featured. Their emails were doing OK, but we were tasked with making them better. The hockey fans in our offices knew one very true fact that really had nothing to do with email at all: A Toronto Maple Leafs fan was never going to buy a Montreal Canadiens jersey, and a Montreal Canadiens fan was never going to buy Leafs jersey.

This client’s emails were featuring merchandise from both teams, taking up valuable real estate with team gear that actually appalled a good portion of its readers.

We didn’t have much source data to work with, so we started crafting segmentation emails that featured items from all the different teams.

Each time someone clicked on a link for a team-specific product, we would start building out a behavioural profile about their interests. Over time, without asking any questions to our subscribers at all, we built out a robust behavioral profile that told us what teams readers favoured and what sports they were interested in.

Armed with this information, this sports retailer started sending out personalized emails to each subscriber with content that specifically recommended products that they were most likely to buy based on the way we understood their behaviour. The sales conversion rate soared because every pixel in the email was optimized for the interests of that specific customer.

But we didn’t stop there. We also found that people were more apt to buy products when their favourite teams were winning. So we started timing the deployment of emails to send right after a customer’s favourite team had just won a game. Once again, sales took another spike because the emails were so hyper relevant and personalized

that they truly had their very best foot forward to get a conversion.

All that was done by simply listening to the story of our emails.

As more and more marketers started doing that in their own industries, they began to see the sales spikes as well.

Mailing list acquisition becomes a key goal In the new era of email marketing, organizations now have to bake something into their company culture. It’s the simple fact that every marketing tactic, lead generation program, event, networking session, trade show, etc, has to funnel data back into the mailing list. (For further clarity, post July 1, 2014, this needs to be CASL compliant data!)

The value of email is now clear and, therefore, the objective is to get more good leads onto the mailing list so that email can work its magic and push them along the sales cycle.

For too long, especially in larger organizations, many marketing related programs were happening, but data wasn’t funneling back through the proper channels to be added onto the mailing list. Or, in some cases, the data was being added, but without any insight about where that data was obtained and what that told the organization about the customer.

I remember working with one client who proudly told me that any new data they get from a trade show gets immediately added to their mailing list in a group named “New Leads”.

This marketing executive told me that they do tons of trade shows and no one falls through the cracks because this “New Leads” group captures everyone.

I was proud of this marketer as they were doing better than most. But then I asked them what their most recent trade show was, which turned out to be the Restaurant and Food show. I then asked if those people just ended up in the “New Leads” group for follow-ups, or in a group that specifically tailored the follow-ups to something anchored to food and restaurants. After all, surely the way you follow-up with a lead captured at a food show would be different than a lead from the Pet Show or Auto Show. I mean, the context surrounding the acquisition of that new subscriber has to act as a big clue about how to guide them through the sales funnel. I’ll spare you the answer that marketer gave me, but let’s just say their email marketing is much better now!

Integrated cross-channel marketing While email may have taken the top spot as a marketer’s favourite tool, certainly all of the social networks and other channels still play an important role. A marketer may play favourites with their ROI leader, but they certainly cannot neglect everything else.

In the email marketing 2.0 world, the focus is on cross-channel marketing, with a strong synergy across all the channels.

An organization needs to have consistent and unified messages because the reality is that today’s customer is going to interact with all those channels. If the messaging is not consistent, it is going to create some serious confusion.

An organization’s content calendar should map out what is happening with their emails, but also what is happening on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Instagram, etc. That one calendar should provide a full holistic view of all messaging being put out by an organization so that everything is in-sync.

If a big new exciting promotion is going to be announced in this week’s email, it should also be communicated through all the social channels. The easiest way to make sure nothing gets missed is by having an up-to-date calendar.

Keep in mind, it’s not just about keeping email and social in-sync.

Effective cross channel marketing also includes an organization’s website, search engine marketing, in-store displays, print advertising, etc. Don’t get trapped with tunnel vision. In today’s landscape, with so many avenues to reach the customer, it’s critical to zoom out and get the whole picture of what is being communicated by your organization.

Once you have a good understanding of everything, the focus can also be to keep the customer in your digital ecosystem. Make sure to link to your social pages from your emails and attract new subscribers with a signup form on the social pages.

The more you can bounce the customer around your digital outlets, the stronger the relationship becomes and the more immersed they are with your organization.

Robert Burko is the President of Elite Email

(www.EliteEmail.org)

march 2015

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Engagement & Analytics

Finding

golden

nuggets in your user data: Engagement insights in today’s multi-connected world

By Geoff Linton

N

ow is an interesting time for digital marketers. The increasing penetration and proliferation of devices means people are connected 24/7. Consumers are more obsessed with the internet than ever. The total time spent online increased 97% in 3 years.2 Additionally, smartphone internet minutes increased 389% and desktop even increased 20%.

Email is an interesting indicator of how people are consuming content and changing device usage because they access it on all devices. Every time a consumer opens a commercial email message, marketers can track behaviour on a number of dimensions.

When do they most often open?

How active are they? What are the typical response rates? What content resonates with different segments? The traditional variables of direct marketing (targeting, offer, creative, & timing) are magnified with today’s always on and connected consumer.

The rules are changing and you can’t rely on old marketing assumptions. Marketers need to drill into their data. In this article we will explore the different types of device users and their behavioural differences.

over 50% of email messages are opened on smartphones or tablets.

The retail sector is seeing the largest shift: between Q2 and Q3 2014 the proportion of mobile opens spiked to 57%.

Measuring the proportion of mobile activity depends on your user base and content. Start by tracking the device usage trend. Your email deployment system should be able to create a graph like below. Look for the trends and determine if there are any seasonal anomalies. For instance, some of our retail clients notice an increase in desktop in December. Why? During the holiday period consumers are more stationary and at home relaxing.

According to our calculations, the baseline of mobile ownership is 40% (penetration). The current internet consumption statistics support a 40% mobile rate. Ecommerce rates vary depending on the product category but 40% of “Rent the Runway” fashion clients buy when they are on mobile. 3 Search is at 40% on mobile.4 Compared to other vehicles, email has the highest mobile usage of over 50%. 5 Messages are short, scannable, and, therefore, read on any device. The sales of mobile phones are greatly outstripping computers. The crossover point where mobile is the preferred device for all digital is coming.

The ideal device mix for marketers The proportion of clickstream on a mobile device for marketers depends on several factors. Some of them are in a marketer’s control and others are not.

Device ownership depends on your base and demographic variables such as age or disposable income.

Younger ages skew more to mobile, but never assume. Mobile behaviour is highly situational. Segments behave differently and consume content in different places and at different times.

Look for spikes and patterns in your data. We often see increased open rates at lunchtime. Some studies show that smartphone open rates spike in the late afternoon before people

The Changing Device Landscape Three years ago, the majority of emails were opened on a desktop - only 15%-20% of emails were opened on a smartphone. Today March 2015

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Engagement & Analytics are leaving work. (Note: this may not be an ideal time for a commercial message because consumers are in a hurry. But it depends on your product.) Do you have a coffee shop crowd on the weekends? Perhaps you have a segment of transit commuters?

Observe their behaviour and pinpoint when they are most receptive.

The chart below shows the multi-platform usage by different demographic age groups. The majority of U.S. residents (>60%) use multiple screens.

According to this comScore data, only 15% of young adults aged 18-24 are “mobile only.” The “PC only” segment is also smaller than expected. According to Millward Brown, the average Canadian spends 124 minutes a day on smartphones. The study also says that 37% of the time consumers are using multiple screens (includes TV).6 Let’s look more specifically at email marketing. Email is a controlled medium because marketers can send specific content to targeted lists at a

❱ DMN.ca

specific time. The content that you send and when you send it can alter the mobile proportions. Consumers often read messages from trusted brands within 1-3 hours of the messages being sent. But is your standard deployment time really the best? If you send content early in the morning you may have a smartphone skew (or sending bias). Think about the customer experience and how much time they need to get immersed in your content.

If you have rich content with videos that are ideal for tablet users, then send the message at night.

In a 24/7 world, consumers want information on demand. Monitor your website traffic and device usage to flag patterns and opportunities.

Steps for marketers “Know the device… know the person” will be the marketer’s mantra in 2015. There are currently too many blanket assumptions about mobile users such as: “millennials only use smartphones”, “the number of

devices someone owns indicates how comfortable they are with technology”, “Android phones are less expensive so they appeal to a less affluent demographic”, “multi-device owners are more connected and also may have more disposable income.” Beware of general assumptions and look at the research and data to narrow down real insights.

Consider the utility of the devices themselves. The three types of devices generate different behaviour.

Smartphones are truly mobile but smaller screens sizes limit the amount of content that is consumed.

“On-the-go consumers” will open but not click. Tablets are different because while they are connected, they aren’t necessarily mobile. Their larger form and functionality provide a better experience for swiping, reading, and viewing. Tablet usage increases at night when people are relaxing (and maybe multi-tasking while watching TV). In the grocery sector, tablets are great for recipes, videos, and shopping

lists. The desktop lends itself well to certain digital tasks, like printing coupons.

4 ways that marketers can get to know their customers better 1. Do the main mobile segments apply to you?

A great starting point for most B2C marketers is to look at some general age segments and their distinct mobile behaviour. Tapped Mobile conducted a comprehensive study with Brandspark Research about the nuances of “mobile moms,” “mobile millennials,” and “mobile men.” Tablet ownership was equal across all segments but smartphones skewed higher with millennials. All 3 mobile segments ranked higher on making impulse purchases. Moms wanted products that make life easier. Men were much more likely to research reviews. Men were also twice as likely to regularly search for tech information. According to Tapped Mobile, moms are more likely to own Apple and men prefer Android devices.

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Engagement & Analytics

Retail Opens vs. Clicks Proportion (By Platform)

data. Profile the key segments and test your hypotheses. Don’t ignore your desktop-only segment, and get to know those “meerkat” smartphone users constantly popping their heads up to check their messages. Dig through the data and you will find some valuable nuggets.

Geoff Linton is a co-founder of Inbox Marketer Inc. and a direct marketing expert with more than 20 years of applied experience in both client and agency roles.

1 Relevancy Group Consumer Survey for Clicksqured as published in dmnews Oct 2012 2 Comscore US Internet usage minutes by platform Feb 2010-Feb 2013 3 Stefan Sorger 4 Natasha Walji, Google Canada, CMA Marketing Analytics conference Feb 2015 5 Inbox Marketer client data 6 Millward Brown, “It’s a Multi-Screen World” March 27 2014 7 Inbox Marketer data 8 Inbox Marketer 2014 client data 9 The Email Opens Report, H2 2012 Knotice

Determine what percentage of your customers fall into each of the 3 above psychographic segments. Do you see differences in behaviour with them?

2. Further segment your users by device type What devices are used for reading emails?

The biggest user segments are typically smartphone or desktop only.

Traditional desktop users tend to be a bit older. Smartphone users are younger and their phone is everything to them. The multi-device subscriber (3+ devices) is the ultimate catch for marketers. Someone who has read commercial emails on multiple devices is likely very engaged with your brand.

The multi-device user is a growing group and typically represents 5% of an email base.

Tablet users are a different behaviour all together. Used as more of a browsing device to research and watch videos. Remember, tablets are not necessarily mobile.

3. Time of day patterns Send time optimization (STO) is an emerging area where marketers are looking to find an individual’s peak receptiveness, by analyzing their historical time of response. STO can improve response results between 10% and 20%.

March 2015

As a rule of thumb, most marketers prefer not to interrupt customers.

The goal is to send messages at the ideal time when segments are more receptive. Mapping your opens by time series may show some interesting peaks and patterns. Flag your deployment time and graph different response curves by device segments.

Challenge the data. Are your behaviour patterns mainly due to your campaign sending times? Is morning the best time to send emails?

Another factor to analyze is when the best time to send certain types of content is. Think about the recipient and the goal of your content. Align with the optimal time window.

4. Differences in engagement Email is a direct and addressable medium. It lands in a recipient’s inbox and they open it or they don’t.

Consumers don’t save messages for later to read on their desktop at home.

Once consumers open a message, less than 3% of consumers re-open the message on another device.7 The best measure of content engagement is click through as a percentage of opens (CTRO) [formula = # unique CTR/ # unique opens].

For the past 5 years, industry leaders typically see 15%-20% CTRO. A lot of marketers get much lower rates due to poor targeting and limited

personalization. CTRO varies a lot between marketers and devices.

The device type has a big effect on response. Desktop has 39% higher CTRO than mobile.8 Retailers get 2x the CTRO on desktop than they do on smartphones or tablets.9 The bottom line is response depends on the content and context of the message.

Our latest email data indicates some deeper differences between mobile operating systems. Android users have up to 3x higher CTRO versus Apple owners. Part of the higher CTRO is because Apple automatically renders all images (so their opens are higher).

But a closer analysis shows that Android users are highly responsive.

(IBM confirmed this at a recent retail conference. Stay tuned for more on the Android versus Apple debate in upcoming articles).

What marketers can do now is find the hotspots of clicks and opens.

Cross-examine what content resonates with these groups and plan smarter segmented campaigns.

Conclusion Marketers are swimming in data but ankle deep in insights. Understanding device behaviour is critical for digital marketers. Find the discernable behaviour that you can leverage. Be aware that topline metrics may be deceiving... you need to drill into

Busting some mobile myths Myth 1: People only check email once a week

Fact: 13% of consumers check their email at least hourly and another 53% check it several times a day.

Myth 2: Mobile is for young people

Fact: Just over 50% of 13-18 yearolds check their email on a mobile device. 66% of 27-32 year-olds check email on a mobile device.1

Myth 3: Consumers open messages multiple times

Fact: Marketers only get one chance. Only 3% of messages opened on a mobile device are reopened later on another device.

Myth 4: The best time to deploy email campaigns is early morning

Fact: When people wake up, they turn to their smartphones. Do you really have their attention? Plan your message timing based on what you want them to do. An email newsletter is best to read when they are relaxing at night with their tablet.

DMN.ca ❰

| CANAD t M ar ke ti n g n te n o C & g is in N at iv e A d ve rt

ENGAGE

The Canadian digital user consumes content across multiple devices, more so than they ever have before. They have, on average, access to almost 5 connected devices and consume more than 8 different types of digital content at least 5 times per week. This number increases by 20% to over 10 different types for Canadian millennials.

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Introduction Engagement & Analytics

BETTER

Compelling content is an effective way to break through today’s increasingly cluttered digital landscape and engage consumers.

According to eMarketer, content marketing will see the greatest With more ways to access content than ever before, the type and increased investment in 2015, second only to video (Source: Ipsos Reid amount of content we look at daily is increasing—along with how A via eMarketer, Oct 2014). The key to success | C A N A Dhow n gis understanding ti ke ar M t n te quickly it spreads. Of all content shared via text or IM, almost a third o nwhat inspires them to share branded digital g & Cand discover d ve rt is in N at iv e Aconsumers of it is shared from an individual to a group. The bottom line is, that content. Yahoo’s Engage Better study takes a closer look at content The Canadian digital user consumes content across multiple devices, whatever an advertiser does, they do need to think multi-platform; marketing through data and consumer perspective to inspire advertiser more so than they ever have before. They have, on average, access to when Canadians are looking for an engaging content experience, thinking around: almost 5 connected devices and consume more than 8 different types Introduction there’s an abundance of choice. of digital content at least 5 times per week. This number increases by Compelling• content is an effective way to break through today’s The Evolving Consumer 20% to over 10 different types for Canadian millennials. increasingly digital landscape and engage consumers.

The majority of digital content consumption falls into niche content • cluttered The Content Discovery Process According to eMarketer, content marketing will see the greatest areas The majority of digital content consumption falls into niche content areas Introduction • Defining Native Advertising With more ways to access content than ever before, the type and increased investment in 2015,way second onlythrough to videotoday’s (Source: Ipsos Reid Compelling content is an effective to break increasingly • 5 Strategic Principles amount of content we look at daily is increasing—along with how cluttered digital landscape and The engage According to eMarketer, via eMarketer, Oct 2014). keyconsumers. to success is understanding how • 6 Communication Tactics quickly it spreads. Of all content shared via text or IM, almost a third content marketing will seeand thewhat greatest increased in 2015, second consumers discover inspires theminvestment to share branded digital of it is shared from an individual to a group. The bottom line is, that only content. to video (Source: Ipsos Reid via eMarketer, Oct 2014).

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The Canadian digital user consumes content across multiple devices, more so than they ever have before. They have, on average, access to almost 5 connected devices Source: Engage Better, Yahoo Canada, Jan 2015 and1 consume more than 8 different types of digital content at least 5 times per week. This number increases by 20 per cent to over 10 different types for Canadian millennials.

With more ways to access content than ever before, the type and amount of content we look at daily is increasing—along with how quickly it spreads. Of all content shared via text or IM, almost a third of it is shared from an individual to a group. The bottom line is, that whatever an advertiser does, they do need to think multi-platform; when Canadians are looking for an engaging content experience, there’s an abundance of choice. ❱ DMN.ca

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Engagement & Analytics

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Engagement & Analytics

Conversion rate optimization 5 small changes that can lead to a big increase in conversions

By Chris Lucas

A

s marketers, we’re on a constant mission to motivate action. Whether it’s convincing consumers to buy a product, sign up for a subscription, donate to a cause or commit to volunteer their time, marketing is the driving force.

There’s a lot of measurement behind solid marketing plans – both on the front end to establish a benchmark, and the back-end to evaluate results.

One of the most measurable ways marketers can move the needle – and show the results of their efforts – is through conversion rate optimization.

In marketing, small changes can make a big difference, and this is especially true when it comes to CRO. A few minor modifications to design, messaging or timing can lead to major gains in conversions.

Here are five small campaign tweaks that can payoff in big results: Change #1: Make it social.

One of the best ways to boost conversions is to extend the reach of your form. Contest forms, for example, pair perfectly with a social strategy.

When possible, embed contest forms in your Facebook page and other key social media channels. Conversion rates more than double (from 9% to 20%) when users integrate their forms with their Facebook pages.

You can also leverage social media to save entrants time. Offer to pull information from their social media profiles. Our data shows conversion rates can increase up to 189% when form users take advantage of our Social Autofill feature.

Change #2: Make your call to action button bigger and bolder.

What’s the final step you want visitors to take when they visit your landing page? Usually, it’s to click the call to action button. With that in mind, pay a little extra attention to this element. ❱ DMN.ca

Change the color to an attentiongrabbing hue or add some subtle animation when the user hovers over the button.

Also, consider tweaking your button copy to better communicate your value proposition. Create motivating text that drives people to take action – and be specific. Adding just one word after the word “submit” can boost conversion rates by as much as 320%. But even a simple “next” or “continue” can help guide users through to completion of multi-page forms.

Don’t forget, though: It’s still important to keep it short. The top 10 converting buttons in our Form Conversion Report all contained two words or less.

Change #3: Swap out your contact form for a proven performer.

Most of us are suckers for a chance to win or a free gift. So are most of our target subscribers. Switch things up and remove your standard contact form with one that promises some kind of added value.

The numbers speak for themselves: according to the 2015 Form Conversion Report, a simple contact form only has a 1% conversion rate.

But if your form is attached to a contest or survey, you can expect conversion rates of around 35% and 14%, respectively. And don’t forget about event registrations! These forms convert at approximately 11%, and participants are likely to be highly qualified leads.

Change #4: Brand your form.

Your forms are part of your suite of marketing materials – they should

have a look and feel consistent with your brand guidelines. Include your logo, feature familiar key messaging and create your form in your brand’s color palette. A generic form isn’t only uninteresting – it can appear less trustworthy. Don’t risk form abandonment by taking an aesthetic shortcut. Make sure your customers know they’re submitting their information to you and only you.

Change #5: Adjust your schedule.

Sometimes your form doesn’t require optimization – your approach does.

Like most things in life, timing is everything when it comes to conversion rate optimization. Certain forms attract more submissions at different times, and on different days of the week. Planning promotion activities around those peak times can make a big impact on conversions.

The 2015 Form Conversion Report revealed contest submissions peak

around 8 p.m. on Thursdays. If you want to promote an order or payment form, Tuesdays at 11 a.m. is the ideal window. On Wednesdays, plan to push event registrations at 11 a.m., and promote donation forms at 2 p.m..

Save your end-of-day promotion push for lead generation forms: Those get the most submissions at 4 p.m. on Thursdays.

To get the most bang from your buck, coordinate social media and email campaigns with the best time of day for form submissions. When marketing materials are delivered at the time of day recipients are most likely to click submit, you achieve better reach without expending any additional effort.

Chris Lucas is the Vice president of Marketing for Formstack

march 2015

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Infographic

The rise of the ‘deletist consumer’ THE RISE OF THE ‘DELETIST CONSUMER’

Aimia surveyed over 10,000 people globally in 2014 to get their view on communications.

The results were eye opening. High volumes of poorly targeted, irrelevant messages from brands have led to the emergence of a tougher set of coping mechanisms among consumers as they bid to control the communication flow.

ANNOYED AND IRRITATED: CANADIAN CONSUMERS ARE RECEIVING TOO MANY IRRELEVANT MESSAGES FROM BRANDS

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25% OFF

40% OFF

18% of Canadian consumers can’t handle the volume of email communications they receive from brands

56% of Canadian consumers avoid brands because their emails annoyed them

CONSUMER ATTITUDES ARE HARDENING TOWARDS BRANDS IN 2012, over a third of people were deleting or only reading the title of text messages and emails from companies.1

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...

TODAY, THESE CONSUMERS HAVE UNFORGIVING COPING MECHANISMS

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unfollow brands on social channels

close accounts

delete apps as a direct result of poorly targeted communications

HOWEVER, THESE CONSUMERS HAVE AN APPETITE FOR RELEVANT MARKETING MESSAGES

55%

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IN AN ERA WHERE MARKETERS CAN EASILY COMMUNICATE WITH THEIR CUSTOMERS, THEY MUST ENSURE THAT COMMUNICATION IS PERSONALIZED, RELEVANT, AND ENGAGING. Aimia Digital Consumers Research 2012

1

JOIN THE CONVERSATION. AIMIAINSTITUTE.COM March 2015

© 2015 Aimia Inc. All Rights Reserved.

©2015 Aimia Inc. All Rights Reserved.

DMN.ca ❰

// 18

Operations & Logistics

Why contact centers fail: effective email management can make or break relationships

R

esearch shows that email management solutions for contact centers are needed now more than ever. Only 30% of email inquiries are answered in less than one hour.1 Other responses may take several days. The problem?

Customers expect a response within a couple of hours for most inquiries, and even faster for time-sensitive issues.

“The unstructured nature of email makes it difficult to route or automate based on keywords and

rules,” explained Michael McBrien, Principal at Merlion, a contact center consultancy. “Today, when a customer calls in and refers to an email previously sent, the agent is usually ‘left hanging’ without access to the email exchange. Contact centers need an integrated solution for managing text-based information—one that can automatically categorize data and give agents a full view of the information they need to resolve an inquiry. With its Artificial Intelligence (AI)-based

Connected. Informed. Effective.

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solutions, Kodak Alaris is in an ideal position to help contact centers operate more efficiently and deliver outstanding customer service.”

Kodak Alaris is showcasing its practical approach to multi-channel responsiveness at the Enterprise Connect conference in Orlando March 16-18. McBrien will lead an interactive session entitled, “Don’t Leave Customers Waiting: How to Improve Responsiveness in a Multi-Channel World.” At Enterprise Connect, Kodak Alaris features the KODAK Info Insight Platform (www.kodakalaris. com/go/contactcenternews). Info Insight understands customer requests from any communication channel and provides agents with a 360-degree view of customer interactions.

Succeeding in a multi-channel world—where customers communicate by phone, email, Facebook, Twitter and text—is difficult but critical. Companies that fail to meet client expectations risk losing customers and diluting the value of their brands. Incoming email presents one of the most significant challenges for contact centers, especially as text-based customer service questions are growing ten times faster than voice-based inquiries. The white paper “Harness the Flood of Email for Exceptional Customer Service” explores the sobering facts and the resulting opportunities.

The good news for contact centers is that text-based communications can be efficiently handled using email management solutions. Email can be routed to the most effective agent based on individual skill sets. And by fully understanding the request, even less experienced agents can answer inquiries correctly when offered pre-populated suggestions.

The benefits of adopting an integrated email management solution are clear. Many contact centers around the world, including several globally recognized brands, have slashed costs and improved customer satisfaction using the Info Insight technology: ❯❯ A health insurance carrier has reduced the Average Handle Time (AHT) of inquiries from ten minutes to 62 seconds for all correspondence types ❯❯ An online car insurance provider is processing 40% of its emails without manual intervention, and automatically resolves 1 in 4 customer inquiries with suggested responses ❯❯ A German auto dealer handles 850 combinations of customer inquiry topics and automatically routes questions to the appropriate agent Info Insight enables contact centers to understand, classify and route text-based communications to the right decision maker. This improves First Contact Resolution (FCR) rates and offers cost-effective, superior customer service.

“Response times for email dramatically impact customer experience and can make or break relationships,” said McBrien, whose session at Enterprise Connect begins at 1:30 p.m., EDT on Tuesday March 17. “The Info Insight Platform is ideal for contact center managers who are struggling to cope with the surge of textbased communications using traditional email systems. I’m looking forward to an interactive discussion about the technologies that can help streamline communications and improve responsiveness to customers.”

1 The US Contact Center Decision Makers‘ Guide 2014, Contact Babel, 2014 Source: Kodak Alaris

march 2015

Financial Services

Marketing SUPPLEMENT

Supplement of

// 20

Banks struggle to harness big data B

ig data and customer analytics have and continue to be hot topics in retail banking. According to Bob Meara, senior analyst with Celent’s Banking practice, “62% of financial institutions in a recent Celent survey strongly believe that customer analytics offers significant competitive advantages and 53% strongly feel they need a granular, holistic and forward-looking view of customers to be competitive.”

But while banks and credit unions understand that there’s a need for customer analytics, questions still remain on what big data financial institutions need to generate said analytics, and where can they get it. In a recent predictions piece, James Plath, digital lead for the financial services industry at Gartner Consulting, touched on a viable source: “Banks own – arguably – the richest data set in existence on any person: transactions.”

Transaction data – data from consumers withdrawing and depositing at ATMs; data from customers making purchases at point-of-sale (POS) terminals; data from home buyers starting mortgage applications on their mobile banking apps and then completing them online once they get home – is chock full of rich customer engagement and customer experience intelligence. The problem lies in somehow getting access to it, and then making sense of all the information.

What is transaction data?

For anyone concerned about operational performance and consumer engagement, transaction data is your gold mine (or bitcoin mine, depending on where you see the greatest analogical value). Banking, retail and payment processing networks play host to an “always on” data source – consumer transactions.

Each transaction that travels across your ATM, POS, Mobile banking or Internet banking environments contains useful information on what the customer is experiencing, how networks and applications are

©fruttipics

By Marc Borbas

responding and what the business value of each transaction is from a revenue or service perspective.

Where is transaction data?

Similar to traditional mining – getting access to and refining the “gold” in transaction data is where the difficulty lies. There are an ever growing number of complex moving parts in a transaction network, and today’s banks, payment processors and retailers are also dealing with an explosion in the volumes and types of electronic consumer interactions they must support. For example, most banks now run a minimum of eight services per ATM, with many running upwards of 40 to 100. Back end transaction approvals need to come from a variety of value added service and host authorization connections, depending on the transaction type. Some may still go to the payments switch, but more now go to external applications servers and third party service providers. These increasing transaction volumes, infrastructure complexity and growing consumer expectations cannot be managed in a timely, cost effective way without real-time access to consumercentric transaction data. It will be those financial institutions that find a way to access, and more importantly, make sense of, all this transaction data that will meet and exceed the high expectations of today’s consumer.

Why use transaction data?

Forward thinking financial institutions have already started reaping the rewards from investing in tools that allow them easy access to transaction data.

For example, last year one of the largest banks in the Middle East began leveraging a solution from INETCO and NCR that allowed them real-time access to the data contained within every transaction flowing through their ATM network.

This solution provided the bank’s IT 62% of financial institutions in a recent Operations teams and ATM line of Celent survey strongly believe that customer business executives with easy access analytics offers significant competitive to transaction data, made available through configurable dashboards, advantages and 53% strongly feel they need alerts and analytics. The bank’s data a granular, holistic and forward-looking view “mining” efforts that previously took of customers to be competitive. days or weeks, is now done in real-time

❱ DMN.ca

– which in turn makes the intelligence gathered that much more actionable. The results: the bank reacts in seconds (rather than hours) to consumer related transaction issues, has improved ATM availability, and is able to optimize their ATM service offering through easy analysis of consumer usage patterns.

They’ve also been able to leverage the rich consumer intelligence gathered from their ATM transactions to build data-driven marketing campaigns targeting off-us consumers in efforts to convert these users into new, higher margin, on-us customers.

BECU is the largest credit union in Washington and the fourth largest in the United States. They also realized the value of leveraging their rich transaction data beyond the ATM operations silo. With the hard part of collecting and correlating this data already being done by INETCO Insight, they could now explore ways to utilize this data for adopting datadriven business strategies and performing robust customer analytics. Their recent licensing INETCO Analytics allows BECU to gain visibility into how their members are making use of their ATM channel.

“Understanding the member experience is of paramount importance to BECU. INETCO Analytics effectively shrinks our member transaction data gathering and analysis time from weeks down to minutes – which allows us to make decisions based on timely and comprehensive cardholder analytics.

INETCO has listened to the specific market needs of financial institutions to deliver a product that provides a lens into our member experience and our business,” Shirley Taylor said of BECU’s purchase of INETCO Analytics.

What’s to come?

I expect to see banks move from talking about Big Data, to deploying tools that allow them access to, and an understanding of, transaction data. And with that improved intelligence, I see these banks enhancing the consumer banking experience while improving their own profitability.

Marc Borbas is the VP of Product Marketing for INETCO. With

over 15 years of experience working with financial technology start-ups, Marc drives the product strategy for INETCO’s realtime transaction monitoring and customer analytics solutions. march 2015

Reach marketers & financial executives Our magazines are must-reads for key executives in core corporate competencies.

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• Equip their companies with the tools, technology, systems and hardware needed to manage their operations, to create new services or products, and deliver them to their market?

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Canadian Treasurer magazine, www.canadiantreasurer.com Canadian Equipment Finance magazine, www.canadianequipmentfinance.com Financial Operations magazine, www.financialoperations.ca.

// 22

Analytics spurs agility in data-driven marketing W

By Rachel Alt-Simmons

ith the explosion of digital media, people began to engage with each other – and the companies they do business with in new ways. The relevance of traditional print and broadcast channels declined, completely changing the consumercorporation dynamic. Digital channels opened doors for consumers, who are no longer passive participants in a one-sided marketing conversation, but empowered authors, publishers and critics. The digital landscape is participatory, a place where consumers can exchange ideas and marketers no longer drive the discussion. In this new digital world- everyday people are the style makers and trendsetters.

For marketers trying to compete in this new medium, it’s incredibly difficult to surface your message above the noise. While the amount of time consumers spend on web and mobile has increased dramatically, the amount of available content has increased exponentially: More digital content is created in a day than most people can consume in a year. With so many distractions and choices, your audience has a very short attention span. The exponential growth in digital channels has given rise to the importance of digital marketing. But digital marketing isn’t just about the channel, it’s the mechanism by which people are creating and sharing experiences; engaging not only with each other, but with companies they do business with.

For your financial services customers, there is no longer a traditional “path-to-purchase.” The customer journey is no longer linear, and purchasing decisions are taking place across multiple channels: both physical and virtual. With such high channel fragmentation, making strategic decisions on audience, content and platforms is critical. Marketers need the capability to leverage data to define their market, build outstanding content, tailor messaging and provide that messaging in the right medium – quickly!

With customer interactions constantly changing through your brand relationship, consumer behavior is difficult to predict. New consumer-driven marketing tactics are emerging every week, making six-month marketing planning cycles a thing of the past: Your digital strategy has to be adaptive and relevant. Slow and predictable internal processes must be replaced with quick and creative execution.

Marketers need to create messaging that speaks to each audience segment differently. Data-driven marketing gives them the ability to create that level of precision. ❱ DMN.ca

Data-driven marketing is about being relevant to your customers at the point of interaction: Bank of America launched their BankAmeriDeals loyalty program in 2012. The program mines transactions in their customers’ bank accounts to see what purchases they make, and sends them offers from other merchants that complement those purchases. Since the program launch, Bank of America has sent out more than 1.5 billion offers across their more than 40 million online and mobile banking customers. In a unique twist, the customer activates the discount online (web or mobile), uses their bankcard to make a purchase, and then receives cash back in their bank account. The bank estimates that they’ve saved customers $20 million since the program launch and that the program positively impacts customer retention.

Data-driven marketing helps you anticipate customers’ needs and create great experiences: As part of their focus on exceptional customer experiences, TD Bank launched their “Automated Thanking Machine” campaign in summer 2014. Thirty thousand customers across retail and online channels were surprised with a $20 bill or account credit. In addition, a few preselected customers received even bigger surprises during a visit to a branch: Their “customer thanking experience” included personalized gifts. TD created a YouTube video documenting the experience that went viral with more than 20 million hits to date: https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=bUkN7g_bEAI. Data and technology enablers are changing the competitive landscape: In late 2014, investment advisory firm Charles Schwab launched an automated online investment service called Robo Advisor. The system uses an algorithmic approach to automate portfolio management services. This low-cost service was created as way to reach an untapped market of investors, to “appeal to the masses and get more people into well-diversified portfolios.”

Financial services companies still have a way to go in creating cross-channel personalized customer experiences. In a 2014 global survey on consumer attitudes conducted by the SAS Institute, consumers rated the banking industry third, below online retailers and grocery stores, on their ability to personalize messages and offers based on customer interaction. As your customers’ digital footprints grow through increased use of always-on mobile devices and social media as well as the transactional breadcrumbs they leave behind, they’re expecting that data to be used to their benefit.

Australian bank Westpac uses data-driven marketing and analytics in support of their “Know Me” program

for their nine million customers. Westpac takes their customers’ digital and transactional data and creates a picture of who that customer is, where they are in their life journey, and anticipate what needs they might have.

Although their program is driven by the marketing organization, the bank is careful to take a service-oriented approach to their interactions. The benefits of the program have included higher conversion rates for offers and an increase in the number of products by household.

Realizing this “new way” of customer engagement is a transformational endeavor and many financial services organizations are struggling to keep pace.

In addition to traditional organizational challenges around product and functional silos, there can be an internal resistance to changing your current go-to-market strategy. Many marketers may also feel uncomfortable with the emerging technologies and analytics that are needed to enable data-driven marketing approaches.

Organizations are also struggling to keep pace with the consumer adoption and usage of technology and the data generated by those interactions. Consumers are more willing to share information as a tradeoff for increased personalization in content, offers and messaging. It’s also a multi-directional conversation: Consumers are engaging with businesses through social media and providing a treasure-trove of information on behavior, attitudes and sentiment.

With the explosion of data and information about customers comes great responsibility: With major data breaches being announced with alarming frequency, concerns around data privacy issues continue to challenge all industries.

Two-thirds of respondents in the same SAS survey agreed that recent news events on data breaches increased their concerns around privacy. Consumers still overwhelmingly expect personalization, but they want to be in control: 73 percent of respondents believed that companies who used information without explicit permission violated their privacy.

However, there’s some good news for the financial services industry: The likelihood of a person wanting to share personal information seems driven by the necessity of the relationship. Three out of four respondents stated that they would be more likely to share information with their financial services provider, a significant increase over other industries (telecomm, retailers, travel and entertainment). The more trustworthy the relationship, the more the consumer is willing to share.

Creating engaging relationships with customers requires significant organizational and operational change. Marketing velocity – the ability to respond march 2015

// 23 and adapt to your market – needs to increase at the same speed as changes in the market environment.

While digital marketing can reward organizations through better customer engagement, satisfaction and ROI, new levels of complexity introduce risk. A data-driven marketing foundation provides a framework for innovation, adaptation and execution, but each organization’s digital journey is unique.

When balancing personalization and privacy, allow your customers to opt-in. Be clear about what information will be collected and how it will be used. Allow your customers to periodically review the information you’re collecting to ensure accuracy.

Build the customer experience by incrementally collecting data over time and enhance it with analytics: Don’t ask your customers for too much information up front.

Financial services organizations are well positioned to evolve their marketing plans to bring life to the digital journey. This includes assessing the organizational, operational and infrastructure components necessary to support digital transformation. Companies are recognizing the need for cultural change as part of their digital strategy. Many are bringing in change agents to transform capabilities. One company approached its data-driven marketing transformation as if they were starting up a new company.

They sketched out how they wanted their marketing ecosystem to work and identified how their current operational model would need to evolve to support it. Incorporating digital thinking within the organization – understanding and engaging with consumers on their terms – was paramount.

Check us out online dmn.ca

Check out our sister publication, Contact Management.

dmn.ca is an extension of the printed publication.

The site features unique content, as well as weekly updates on direct marketing news.

Highlights include...

• thought leadership articles • Canadian case studies • insightful blog posts from industry experts

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Interactive advertising banners, buttons and square ads appear on every page of the site See other Lloydmedia Inc publications.

Canadian Equipment Finance, Canadian Treasurer, Financial Operations and Payments Business.

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Rachel Alt-Simmons is a business

transformation practitioner at SAS Institute, the leader in business analytics and software services, whose expertise extends to operationalizing analytic capabilities vertically and horizontally through organizations. As the Business Transformation Lead, she is responsible for redesign and optimization of operational analytic workflow, business process redesign, training/knowledge transfer, and change management strategies for customers.

March 2015

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// 24

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