Direct Marketing Magazine October 2016

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Environics Analytics one of Canada’s fastestgrowing companies

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How to transform your marketing organization

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vol. 29 • No. 10 • October 2016

The Authority on Data-Driven Engagement & Operations

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Vol. 29 | No. 10 | October 2016

DESIGN / PRODUCTION Jennifer O’Neill - jennifer@dmn.ca Advertising Sales Mark Henry - mark@dmn.ca CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Paul Mlodzik Leigh-Ann Clarke Fahad Muhammad Daryl Hemingway Robert Szyngiel Jenn Horowitz John Thies Yuri Levin LLOYDMEDIA INC. HEAD OFFICE / SUBSCRIPTIONS / PRODUCTION:

Advanced email analytics can increase ROI

Operations & Logistics

EDITOR Sarah O’Connor - sarah@dmn.ca PRESIDENT Steve Lloyd - steve@dmn.ca

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How to transform your marketing organization

Environics Analytics one of Canada’s fastest-growing companies

Q&A with Adele Sweetwood, author of The Analytical Marketer

Targeting & Acquisition ❯❯5

Converting analytics into insights and insights into sales

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Engagement & Analytics

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Data-driven creativity Converting call tracking data into more effective campaigns

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The art and science of client engagement

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Canadian banks cautiously embrace analytics

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Leveraging data to deliver nextgeneration customer-centric service

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Marketing in the moment Why audio watermarking is set to transform the way brands build and measure audience engagement October 2016

Using location intelligence for precisiontargeted direct mail campaigns DMN.ca ❰

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Industry News

Environics Analytics one of Canada’s fastestgrowing companies

By Sarah O’Connor

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nvironics Analytics (EA) has been named to the 28th annual PROFIT 500 ranking of Canada’s fastest-growing companies.

EA was ranked 332nd on the list based on their five-year revenue growth.

Since those results were calculated, EA acquired Nielsen’s U.S.-based location and site products and services on July 1st, dramatically increasing the size of their business.

“Companies become a part of the PROFIT 500 through innovative thinking, smart strategy and sheer grit,” says James Cowan, editor-inchief of PROFIT and Canadian Business.

“These firms demonstrate what Canadian entrepreneurs can achieve, both at home and across the globe.”

“Environics Analytics is honoured to have earned a place on the 2016 PROFIT 500 ranking,” says EA’s President and CEO Jan Kestle. “I’m passionate about what we do and I’ve tried to create an organization that’s responsive.

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“This achievement reflects the quality of our products, the dedication of our team and the increasing awareness by forward-thinking organizations of the importance of data and analytics for effective decision making.”

Founded in 2003, EA has grown rapidly by helping clients turn data and analytics into insight, strategy and results. Its staff of mathematicians, geographers, economists, researchers, statisticians and strategic marketers provide customer segmentation, trade area analysis, market assessment, predictive analytics, site evaluation and strategic consulting services, as well as more than 40 authoritative data products. EA’s client portfolio currently includes businesses, not-forprofits, universities and government agencies—more than 3,000 clients across Canada and the U.S. “I think marketing has moved from being viewed as a cost to being an actual contributor,” says Kestle,

in response to the strong showing amoung marketing companies in the annual ranking. “Marketing departments are involved in strategy, marketing departments are involved in the analytics and marketing has a seat at the table. I think organizations really are committed to customer centricity.

“The other thing is that technology has given consumers choices. The consumer is in charge of how they want to be marketed to—that means they get to decide which messages they are going to receive, what they are going to turn on, what they’re going to turn off.

This is unprecedented in history. How they are going to be communicated with by brands is in the hands of the actual consumer. What that means is that marketers inside of organizations have to make sure that that customer experience is complete, end to end.

The customer journey and all the touchpoints have to reflect what that brand wants to have as its interaction with consumers. That means that

marketing’s not siloed and that marketing and marketing customer databases and customer insights and program execution—they all have to be involved in that strategic exercise.”

When asked how the acquisition of Nielsen’s U.S.-based location and site products and services will impact the future growth of EA, Kestle responded: “The wonderful thing about it is its really going to accelerate our ability to invest in technology and build systems for North America, taking advantage of all the things we’ve learned in Canada.

“We’re delighted with the growth and with the PROFIT recognition for the work that we’ve done for the last 13 years in Canada, but even after the list was decided we’ve gone down this road that is obviously accelerating our growth tremendously but also accelerating our opportunity to expand the kinds of service that we do on both sides of the border, so we’re very excited about that.”

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Targeting & Acquisition

Converting analytics into insights and insights into sales

By Leigh-Ann Clarke

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t doesn’t take a genius to come up with one simple insight that can be applied to solve a client’s biggest marketing problem. Or, maybe it does.

Joe Amaral is vice president and creative director at Canadian marketing and communications agency, Clever Samurai (www. cleversamurai.com). Amaral has won just about every major creative honour there is, including Cannes Lions and Clio Awards. His work has shaped some of the best-known brands in Canada including McDonald’s, Apple, Nissan, Bell, Toshiba, Piller’s and more. And if you ask him what matters in solving their problems, he quips “it’s all about the insight,” leaving the word “duh” off the end of the sentence as he feels the answer to the question couldn’t be more obvious.

The obvious in Amaral’s mind is not always so obvious. That’s where the genius comes in. “How do we take data, from various sources, and then distill it into a clear and actionable insight?

It’s great to have information, but if we don’t have a clear business objective, what good is it?” he muses.

Amaral cites Johnson & Johnson, founded in 1893, as one of the best examples of using insight to fuel the big idea. “In the early 1970s they started marketing baby products to families. J&J had essentially dominated the baby market for decades and wanted to grow. The insight that drove the strategy was that baby products were milder than other products, so adults could use them everyday.” By 1985, 70% of Johnson’s baby powder was used by adults.

Andrew Osmak, CEO of call analytics provider Telmetrics (www. telmetrics.com), has more than two decades of experience building digital and mobile companies that empower marketers. Osmak, like Amaral, believes that sorting through the noise is critical. “Is the insight I am going to October 2016

glean from the data going to help my customer grow their business? If the answer is yes, find a way to use that data as soon as you can because your competitor is likely doing this already.

If the answer is no, store that data.

Why? Because you may discover that the ‘noise’ you were hearing today is gold for your customers and your own growth tomorrow.”

There is no shortage of debate on calculating the value of advertising when it relates to driving sales.

Pundits differ in their opinions of what are the right measures and the appropriate factors that are unique to each industry. Amaral recognizes the material differences between the marketing of utility companies, computers or food, as Clever Samurai has many clients in each of these and other categories.

“As marketers, our job is primarily to drive increased demand for a product or service.

And no matter how you measure it, sales increased or they didn’t,” says Amaral.

“We’re working with a client who sells prefabricated steel buildings across North America. Their point-ofdifference is that they have a complete turnkey building service versus most of their competitors who only provide the building materials. The market is looking for someone in the category to make the building process simple for them—‘just handle it.’ That one insight about the turnkey complete service is what’s fueling their market positioning. And, they will measure Clever Samurai on whether that insight drove their sales,” adds Amaral.

Advertising-to-sales ratio (total advertising expenses as a proportion of sales revenue) and advertising elasticity of demand (percentage change of the increase in advertising

relative to the percentage increase in sales) are common measures to evaluate the efficacy of campaigns.

Andrew Osmak’s Telmetrics’ operation adds a level of granularity and focus to those marketing campaigns that involve telephone calls from customers and prospects.

“We can gather an unprecedented amount of data on calls across all industries and media types.

We can interpret inbound calls to automatically categorize them as leads, low-value calls, existing customer calls, telemarketers and other categories. This helps prove the value of advertising and understand which marketing investments deliver not just calls, but actual leads,” comments Osmak.

for best conversion and maximum ROI on marketing investment.

Soon, using rich data, big data, marketing analytics—the name does not matter—will be completely democratized. We believe that every business should have access to data their marketing activity generates and know what to do with that data to solve their specific challenges.”

Big idea or big data, Amaral and Osmak agree that the ability to derive thoughtful insights continues to expand. “The MarTech industry is moving towards creating reliable, affordable and easy to use solutions to achieve this goal,” says Osmak.

Amaral is cautionary, however: “I’ve seen so many brands and marketers get lost in the forest, foraging around

“It’s great to have information, but if we don’t have a clear business objective, what good is it?”

Osmak’s past includes the growth and sale of Lavalife, by creating and expanding the online dating company’s market-leading mobile business. He strongly believes that “consumers control the conversation.

All types of calls that a consumer initiates—voice call, text, form fill, chat message, email—must be tracked and aggregated to ensure that this unique consumer is engaged in a way that matches their preferences and will convert that consumer into a loyal customer.”

He adds, “when turning data into actionable insights, look at all channels, do not exclude any particular communication type—be it a phone call or a text message—to get a complete picture of what’s working

for information—they have forgotten the aim is to find something actionable that can transform their business.

At an operational-level, you can address all kinds of marketing issues like acquisition and churn through effective use of data. However if you don’t have the right key insight to hang your brand upon, you’re simply going to flounder.”

Leigh-Ann Clarke is director of sales, North America for 360 Leads. The company provides sales lead management programs for new customer acquisition, retention, win-back and sales team performance optimization. She has been with 360 Leads since 2014, following her progressive management career at Yellow Pages Group.

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Engagement & Analytics

The art and science of client engagement How The Co-operators transformed their organization through analytics

By Paul Mlodzik

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t The Co-operators, we recently updated our strategic plan with a bold statement: “We will be THE industry leader in client engagement.” This means offering a superior customer experience that builds long-term relationships based on mutual value (and values).

Based on our J.D. Power rankings, Net Promoter Scores, multi-product sales and robust client growth, we are making good progress; however, the journey to better understanding and meeting the needs of clients has been challenging. As a result, we have become big believers in using a combination of art and science to conduct research and implement solutions.

Getting started Our efforts to better engage clients go back almost a decade. Despite a strong national brand and an excellent reputation for social responsibility, The Co-operators was not gaining market share. When we joined the J.D. Power home and auto customer satisfaction studies in 2008, we were discouraged to see middle-of-the pack rankings in virtually every category and region. It was a hard lesson to learn that a positive and friendly corporate culture does not always translate into a great client experience. ❱ DMN.ca

An in-depth analysis of the J.D. Power data plus subsequent client focus groups revealed a dozen “points of pain” for our clients. The issues spanned the entire operation, including price competitiveness (in pockets), turnaround times, policy documents, payment options, communications and more. In short, clients generally liked the company, but it was not easy to do business with us.

Building support This was the wake-up call that the organization needed. The quantitative and qualitative data were consistent, taking precedence over anecdotal stories and personal opinions. We introduced a series of metrics to focus on the points of pain and deliberately addressed each one. Some issues were relatively straightforward (e.g. claims communications and managing expectations), while others required a few years of process and systems work (e.g. improving policy and billing documents).

While we worked to enhance the client experience, the culture of the organization began to change as well.

With better transparency and metrics, we started to focus on client experience as a key driver of success. Within a couple years, metrics related to client

experience were being mentioned in the same conversations with revenue, profitability and expenses.

Getting serious By 2012, The Co-operators had established a balanced scorecard of client engagement metrics. We had addressed 10 of the 12 pain points and had seen a corresponding improvement in customer satisfaction studies. In fact, the improvements in the J.D. Power rankings could be directly linked to the pain points that had been resolved.

Client experience was now one of three key focus areas in the corporate strategic plan and every area of the company was accountable for supporting specific and measurable initiatives. As client satisfaction continued to improve, we saw corresponding improvements in client growth, retention and multi-product ownership.

Adapting to change By 2013, two major business forces started to hit the insurance industry: big data/analytics and digital technology. These forces had already transformed many industries, but the myriad of legacy systems and entrenched distribution networks

had slowed the tide in insurance. As a direct writer, The Co-operators had an advantage in being able to consolidate client information in a CRM system.

This allowed for improved client interactions and customized offers; however, the science and tools now available could do much more. We established a business intelligence team to work on advanced modelling, segmentation and analytics.

At the same time, digital technology was making great advances, especially in terms of the mobile experience.

In a business ruled by traditional distribution methods, the advent of the omnichannel distribution model was nothing short of revolutionary.

A truly seamless experience—where clients can move between physical locations, contact centres and the Internet—is extremely difficult to deliver in a highly regulated and fragmented industry. We believed that clients wanted a “call, click or come in” experience, but could we be sure?

The “deep dive” To advance our strategy, we used the new tools at our disposal to gain even deeper insight into our clients (and potential clients). We partnered with Forrester Research on a major project to develop client personas and journey October 2016

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Engagement & Analytics maps. The Co-operators provided client data and Forrester overlaid its demographic/psychographic segmentation. This was supplemented by lengthy personal interviews with both existing and prospective clients.

The end result was a set of five client personas that represent roughly 80% of insurance consumers.

Each persona represents a segment of clients with similar preferences, needs and behaviours. To truly “personify” the segment, each persona is given a name, age, occupation, photo, location and backstory.

Supplemental information about lifestyle, goals, technology usage, etc. is aggregated. The result creates a sense of empathy for clients, while offering practical insights on how to meet their needs and expectations. While personas do not (and are not meant to) apply perfectly to each person in the segment, they are powerful clues on how to engage and satisfy clients.

To “introduce” the personas to staff, an internal campaign was rolled out nationally in 2014, including: ❯❯ Life-sized posters of each persona (including a summary of key traits); ❯❯ Short videos of each persona, showing a glimpse of into their lives; ❯❯ Online training, customized by role (sales, service, claims); and ❯❯ An interactive client experience exhibit that toured all major offices.

The personas are highly valuable in several areas of the organization, none more so than marketing and communications. Both policy communications and direct marketing offers are customized in terms of features, language and graphics based on the client’s persona. By applying additional segmentation and analytics, we achieve greater net results on campaigns with far fewer contacts. This is not only efficient from the company’s viewpoint, but it improves the client experience by only presenting relevant and valuable offers.

Mapping a new world If personas described clients and built empathy, journey mapping gave us a whole new level of insight into the actual experience of clients. We created journey maps in two stages.

First, we used company experts to map a specific client journey; for instance, a Millennial making their first auto claim. The group started with the accident and then mapped out each incremental step until the client received their repaired vehicle.

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A visual representation of this “journey” was created, including what our experts deemed to be the most significant events.

We then convened a group of actual clients (from the target persona) who had made their first auto claim in the past six months. We put them through exactly the same process.

Although many of the steps and experiences matched up, about 25% did not—and this is where the real learning happened. For instance, one might assume that after an accident, a client would immediately contact the police, their Co-operators agent or our 1-800 claims line. In fact, we found that almost every Millennial in the group called their parents first.

And their parents, we learned, often gave them poor advice that hampered the claims process. In short, they were completely unprepared to make a claim

and their expectations throughout the process were much different than we had assumed.

Similar insights were gained when mapping the purchase of insurance for a new home, the assessment of life insurance needs and several other journeys. By comparing the expected journey (compiled by our experts) with the real experience of our clients, we found the “disconnects.” Some of these issues dealt with sales and service, but most were related to communications, expectations, processes and access.

As a result, we have made significant changes to each of these client experiences. Metrics are now in place to measure our progress.

engagement. It has confirmed our belief in a truly seamless omnichannel experience that puts the client at the centre of our business. From our clients’ perspective, this means three things: ❯❯ Know Me by understanding my needs, wants and preferences; ❯❯ Show Me by providing personalized advice and offers; and ❯❯ Empower Me by providing access and tools that fit my lifestyle.

The future is omni This fusion of art and science has profoundly affected how The Co-operators approaches client

Paul Mlodzik is vice president, marketing and communications, of The Co-operators Group.

At The Co-operators, we believe that we are one of the few companies in our industry with the breadth of products and distribution channels to make this a reality. And we will let our clients lead the way.

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Engagement & Analytics

Marketing in the moment Why audio watermarking is set to transform the way brands build and measure audience engagement

By Daryl Hemingway

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dvertising through broadcast media has historically been the most effective means of delivering advertising messages to the greatest possible number of consumers. The goal of all marketers is achieving action from the consumer, but the formula for measuring results of mass media advertising is a simple model of estimated audiences and is the same one used since the 1950s. This same model has also been adopted by much of the digital marketing world with popups and banner ads. As the thinking goes—run an ad many times and if enough people see it sales will go up. But sometimes, sales go down. And in either situation, no one definitively knows why. Until now.

The fundamental flaw of the old eyeballs/impression-based marketing formula is lack of response measurement. Frequency and reach is not always a true indicator of results or value for brands. Translated into the digital world, billboard-style impressions become just plain annoying. It also fails to close the loop and tell marketers the most important thing: are consumers actually acting on the ad through to purchase of the product or service advertised? Put simply: did the ad work or not?

Despite television retaining its top position, broadcast advertising still suffers from a one-directional communication model lacking in accurate analytics and it has paid the ❱ DMN.ca

who they are demographically.

Fortunately, the previously separate price, losing significant ad spend to 3. We can utilize moment marketing, and distinct worlds of entertainment, digital cost-per-click models. Further directing the right message to the broadcast and the Internet are now compounding the challenge for TV right audience at the right time to merging. This convergence of media, and radio are technologies such as get them to take the right action. combined with exciting new methods PVRs and mobile devices that have 4. We can avoid interruptive and of content recognition, such as audio fundamentally disrupted linear intrusive forms of marketing based watermarking (a unique silent code consumption and the traditional on profiling and better respect a embedded right into broadcast audio) broadcast advertising proposition. In consumer’s right to privacy. is offering marketers new ways to use the past, consumers were willing to 5. We can deliver a relevant message the second screen to reach consumers put up with commercial interruptions directly into the palm of the hand, with a more relevant meaningful during their favourite television based on what the brain is engaged message. Directly connecting shows, because they understood in at an emotional moment. the number one content medium that the advertiser was funding the (broadcast) to the number one place content they wanted to see; however, One of the basic tenets of marketing to take action (mobile) closes the we now operate in a world of instant is the fact that people make decisions ad loop for the first time and allows gratification for consumers. They emotionally and quickly, and then advertisers to measure the response now “time-shift” their television justify those decisions logically. Most of consumers and whether they take viewing experience to fast-forward of us have walked into a store and action on the message. through advertising, opting to move fallen quickly in love with a product: What does this mean for marketers? to a commercial-free uninterrupted a pair of shoes, a gadget or piece of 1. We can now expand Google-like viewing experience. This applies to furniture. We instantly feel that desire internet analytics beyond digital digital too, where the proliferation of to have it. Then the brain kicks in and to traditional consumer marketing ad blockers show just how annoyed we begin trying to determine if we touch points—television, radio, consumers have become by clutter have money to afford it, the place to film, video games, live events and and irrelevant ads. So how then do put it, the closet space and so on. even retail experiences. marketers deliver to consumers what By delivering the right kind of 2. We can measure who saw the they want, when they want it, without brand/advertising message at the message, how they responded and interrupting their content experience?

The key for marketers to be successful in this new online world is to not simply duplicate old methods into a new digital paradigm, but rather to use technology to market to people in smart, meaningful ways and offer the right message —John Wanamaker, advertising and marketing pioneer at the right time to spur the right action.

Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is, I don’t know which half.

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Engagement & Analytics moment that an individual is feeling an emotion, marketers are able to overcome the single biggest demand consumers have for both broadcast and digital advertising: relevancy.

And by directly connecting a person’s entertainment to a marketing message received on their mobile phone, we can provide a call to action that is contextual, non-intrusive and completely actionable in the moment.

Here are just a few ways marketers can use audio watermarking to drive consumers to action and build positive brand awareness: From 30 second spot to 15 minute engagement: During the Australian Open, KIA Motors Corporation leveraged audio watermarking technology in TV commercials aired during the tournament to connect directly to mobile phones of tech savvy car buyers watching at home. During a commercial, viewers used KIA’s Game On app on their mobile to try to return the serve of the world’s fastest server, Sam Groth, delivered onscreen.

Successful returns were entered into a leaderboard and each point entered the phone’s owner into a contest to

win a KIA Cerato Koup Turbo car.

Over 370,000 fans downloaded the app taking it to number one, used it 20 times and spent 15 minutes on average using the app to play the tennis game, resulting in a 79% more positive lift in brand sentiment and eight per cent increased car sales for KIA. From product placement to consumer purchase: It’s long been an tactic of brands to place a product in a film or TV show to create brand association, but beyond estimated impressions it has been impossible to track consumer awareness, sentiment or resulting action from that placement. Using audio watermarking, in the moment when people see your product with an admired celebrity (think Oprah sipping on her Cinnamon Chai Tea Latte) a ‘smart’ message is sent to that individual’s mobile phone with a direct call to action (e.g. 2-for-1 coupon). Soft advertising is growing rapidly and connecting shows to mobile directly is enabling brands to drive sales directly.

From live experience to emotional brand connection: Using audio watermarking, fans tuning into the

commercial free CBC broadcast of the Tragically Hip’s farewell concert could have received a ‘smart’ message on their mobile phone from Sunnybrook Foundation, inviting them to make a donation to the Gord Downie Fund for Brain Cancer Research. Giving audiences what they want, when they are emotionally engaged and motivated, delivers the instant satisfaction both brands and consumers seek.

From broadcast event to consumer purchase: To raise awareness of its new beer home delivery service, a Brazilian brewery can use audio watermarking to send a smart message to the mobile phones of viewers every time a promotional ad for the local football team runs. The smart message prompts them to place an order for beer now to be delivered just prior to the actual game. Connecting the online to offline world shows the benefit of the ongoing merger of broadcast and mobile.

Whether the goal is to drive consumers to purchase, to educate a buyer or build brand relationships, every marketer understands the power of being able to make a positive

impression on their target audience.

Delivering the right message at the right time and being able to measure the outcome to know the campaign worked is now possible.

Audio watermarking now offers direct marketers immense potential to create meaningful, relevant ‘marketing moments’ that not only enhance consumer engagement but also provides brands and clients with rich new data about those experiences and their outcomes, and helps them measure the direct impact of every campaign dollar spent.

Think of it as a smarter way to use technology to engage audiences.

Daryl Hemingway is the CEO and founder of SmartTones. He is an accomplished entrepreneur, filmmaker and an actual rocket scientist. Daryl earned two degrees from MIT leading to a career at NASA where he trained astronauts for spacewalks. As a writer and producer of TV and film, Daryl had a vision for technology to enhance audience experiences and founded SmartTones Media to help advertisers and content providers deliver more engaging content.

Do you make decisions about your marketing operations?

Are you responsible for customer acquisition, retention or loyalty?

Is your department in charge of fulfilling orders or customer service?

Sign up NOW for a free subscription to Direct Marketing magazine.

Visit our website at www.dmn.ca and learn more about the magazine Direct Marketing is a Lloydmedia, Inc publication.

Lloydmedia also publishes Financial Operations magazine, Canadian Treasurer magazine, Canadian Equipment Finance magazine, Payments Business magazine and Contact Management magazine.

October 2016

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Engagement & Analytics

Advanced email analytics can increase ROI

By John Thies

E

mail marketing and email service providers frequently give users a wealth of data from open rates, CTRs and conversions. Tracking, interpreting and using that data can, however, be a tricky beast. Do these data points offer enough information for businesses to make effective choices about how they market to consumers? Here, we’ll take a look at the advanced email analytics available to calculate engagement and overall effectiveness a little differently than the run-of-the-mill options.

Additionally, marketers need realworld advice on turning the data presented in front of them into actionable marketing strategies and tactics.

Reporting on engagement What does “engagement metrics” really mean? Other than a buzzword marketing aficionados use frequently, it can mean a lot of different things. To clarify, for our purposes engagement is defined as what happens between an open and a click.

When choosing email marketing software, ensure that the advanced analytics allow tracking of how long a subscriber has an email open. With this piece of data, marketers can get context on open rates to explain if readers are simply deleting the emails immediately after opening, or if someone took time to read and engage.

Standard thresholds for engagement include: ❯❯ Glance/Delete Rate - Email open for two seconds or less ❯❯ Skim Rate - Email open for three to seven seconds ❯❯ Read Rate - Email open for eight seconds or more If emails have incredibly high delete rates, consider what might have been done differently in this campaign versus others. Identify concrete elements that differ from past successes and eliminate them from your future campaign strategy.

Reporting this way can also provide ❱ DMN.ca

deeper insights into the viewing environment. This can be useful because it shows if email is more or less interesting based on reading environment.

For example, low read rates on mobile compared to desktop or web could be a result of poor mobile display. Or, it may have failed to render. Maybe the buttons weren’t large enough for an active reader.

Many different design elements are specific to mobile, so adhering to them ensures emails read easily for any inbox. Having engagement rate details specific to reading environment are crucial.

Use the power of heat Go a step beyond engagement reporting and visually see how your recipients are engaging and interacting with your email via heat maps. This technology lets you gauge what interests your audience the most within your email. Forget only tracking CTR, with a click map overlay you can see if your audience prefers pictures to text, where in the email most of the clicks happen, etc.

Everyone loves visuals and with data it’s no different. Some email testing platforms, such as Email on Acid, provide information on how recipients are interacting via heat maps. Technology like this helps gauge where the audience is touching and looking first.

Heatmaps can highlight where a reader is clicking. For example, if most readers only clicked within the top half of the email the most important parts of any corporation’s email should be toward the top. In seconds, click tracking will tell marketers the what and how of each click.

What if your main CTA didn’t get the most clicks in your campaign?

Consider a new strategy, placing text in different places and changing the text to make it clearly actionable. These two features specifically measure the effectiveness of the elements and design of email.

Tracking specific email clients Each email client platform is very

different and provides it’s own set of needs and stipulations that can create really gross looking emails. As a result, email developers need to focus most of the workload on coding templates for specific clients that your subscribers are using. Therefore, tracking performance on those clients becomes very important. Software can track what devices and platforms the emails are read on most often.

If, as a marketer, you experience a lot of difficulty getting new technology approved, analytics such as this help show why responsive and fluid-hybrid design are crucial in mobile email engagement. If your analytics demonstrate that half of your business’ emails are being read on phones, tablets or other devices, that is solid rationale to go responsive. Don’t wait!

Another way to use data is to optimize emails in clients and devices your readers use most often.

If the number one mobile device is the iPhone6 and everyone uses Outlook, marketers need to know how to fix alignment issues and media queries. Time and money can be saved if you focus on key email clients and devices.

Detailed subscriber reports Any analytics platform you use should have subscriber-level campaign reports. These snapshots can provide information on each subscriber’s interaction with email campaigns.

Some platforms enable a look at when the email was opened, what in the email they clicked and how they read those emails.

This data can be used for many various tasks. First, this type of data can give clarity into how attentive readers are to emails. If more than half of all opens happen two to three days after the initial email went out, “One Day Sale” promotions probably aren’t your best option. Retargeting customers who opened the email too late is another option, if you prefer.

Time-stamps for “time of day” help establish when readers are most receptive. By adjusting the initial send time to correlate with receptive time

frames, engagement rates will increase.

Geolocation reporting It might seem a little creepy, but knowing where contacts live can be dramatically powerful. By checking geographic location to track opens, businesses can answer crucial questions about deployment in individual time zones or if recipients are within reach of a local company event in the future.

Localizing subject lines is the best way to utilize geographic location and many top retail stores, including Target, have made good use of this tactic. Target identified which stores were closest to the recipient’s address, and sent them the featured name in the subject line with targeted storespecific links.

S-Digital used geolocation perfectly in an email campaign for the Open Golf Championship. The company included geolocation and routing services to create dedicated travel directions (to the Championships) for each and every recipient of the campaign.

S-Digital was able to increase online traffic by 250% with more than 500 actionable leads.

Success is best measured by data What you don’t know can hurt you and that’s why you need analytics software that will go beyond just tracking opens and clicks. Consider using a email testing service such as Email on Acid to ensure emails display accurately and ask every provider what kind of analytics are available to provide deeper insights than the typical CTRs and open rates. With a little extra data and some knowledge on how to use it, businesses can directly improve ROI and web traffic.

John Thies is the CEO and co-founder of Email on Acid, a service that gives email marketers a preview of how their emails are displayed in the most popular email clients and mobile devices. He resides in Denver, Colorado with his wife and son. When he isn’t working he’s either on the golf course or snowboarding in the fresh Colorado powder.

October 2016

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Operations & Logistics

How to transform your marketing organization Q&A with Adele Sweetwood, author of The Analytical Marketer

Adele Sweetwood is senior vice president of global marketing and shared services at SAS and author of The Analytical Marketer: How to Transform Your Marketing Organization (HBR Press, 2016). We asked her about her new book and what it means to embrace the life of an analytical marketer.

Q:

What inspired you to write this book?

Adele: This is the book I wish I had when I led the marketing transformation at SAS. I wrote this book to share insights and lessons ❱ DMN.ca

with others who are also reinventing their marketing organizations for the digital age. It provides a practical account of how to create a new marketing culture that thrives and adds value through data and analytics.

While I/we continue to learn and evolve every day, my hope is that I give other marketers the head start I didn’t have by sharing our experiences as we went through the metamorphosis.

Q:

Can you tell us a little more about the book? What’s the pitch?

Adele: Analytics are driving big changes, not only in what marketing departments do but in how they are organized, staffed, led and run.

Leaders are grappling with issues that range from building an analytically driven marketing organization and determining the kinds of structure and talent that are needed to leading interactions with IT, finance and sales and creating a unified view of the customer. The Analytical Marketer provides critical insight into the changing marketing organization— digital, agile and analytical—and the tools for reinventing it.

While I work for an analytics company, this book is certainly not meant to churn out marketing messages about our software. This book is based on my personal journey of transforming SAS’s marketing organization from “art” to “art and science.” Readers will learn about how our marketing team leveraged data and analytics to market in a new way and the needed technical capabilities of the modern marketer. I open up with some very candid lessons learned and profile various SAS marketers and their stories. The end result is a practical guide and set of best practices October 2016

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Operations & Logistics for creating a new marketing culture that thrives on and adds value through data and analytics.

Q:

How have data and analytics changed marketing?

Adele: Customers expect us to know what they want. They are more informed, engaged and in control than ever before, especially when it comes to marketing and communications.

Data and analytics change the expectations placed on marketing.

Personalization, digital footprint and the appreciation for privacy put a new set of requirements on marketing.

Understanding the value of the data and the power of analytics in terms of interpreting the needs of the customers has changed the way marketers design and implement campaigns, promotions or advocacy programs.

There is an always-on world happening around us, with a huge volume of data and an increasing number of channels (digital, social, etc.) at our fingertips. Data and analytics are part of the survival kit. So, along with the newest opportunities comes the fact that marketers (and marketing) have to reinvent themselves on a regular basis.

There is a new type of marketer—the analytical marketer, who effectively blends what is traditionally the creative side of marketing with the scientific side—enhancing the outcome. The biggest change marketing will see from data and analytics are the people.

Q:

If you’re a marketing manager trying to hire the right candidates for the modern marketing organization, what should you look for?

Adele: There is a new baseline for all marketers. The skill set includes a knowledge of data management principles and analytical strategies and an understanding of the role of data quality, the importance of data governance and the value of data in marketing disciplines. Today’s marketer needs to go well beyond reporting and metrics, and be more proficient in a full range of analytics, which may include optimization, text, sentiment, scoring, modeling, visualization, forecasting and attribution.

Marketers need to have experience with the technology, tools and design approaches that leverage data October 2016

and analytics. Campaign design, multi-channel integration, content performance, personalization and digital marketing can all be driven by fact-based decision-making, ideally with direct accountability to results and the ability to very quickly react and adjust to the demands of the customer and the market. The marketers I am referring to have a distinct blend of creativity and reasoning talents; they are inquisitive, inventive and enthused by a culture that is advanced and agile.

Q:

In the book you talk about a Best Friend Analysis? What exactly is that?

Adele: Consider the way that sites like Google, Yelp and others have changed the way consumers make everyday decisions such as choosing restaurants. For many, the first instinct is to look to their phone to see which dining spot has the highest ratings or the best reviews.

Why? People place a premium on the personal experience of those in their networks.

For business-to-business software companies like SAS, the impact of customer advocacy is critical.

These influencers can set the tone and provide a consistent positive influence throughout the customer journey. Unfortunately, this type of advocacy is tough to measure and hard to predict. The BFF analysis looks at how the SAS team found these advocates/influencers by digging into the data that they had on customers. How the team began to examine the behaviors exhibited by that group. How this information provided a better understanding of the range of activities that customers undertake and allowed the team to apply a scoring model for different types of interactions. This would allow the team to weight certain activities, helping further identify which customers are the best advocates—or “BFFs” or “best friends forever” as the marketing team began to call them.

The team then designs campaigns and outreach efforts to give these advocates the tools to foster and expand their influence.

Q:

Why are analytical marketing tools so critical for today’s marketer?

“The biggest change marketing will see from data and analytics are the people.” not only give you better results, they also allow you to become more flexible and responsive. The ability to make decisions more quickly, change investment strategies, change channels, adjust volumes and test new approaches means that as an organization you will be more relevant. By making the mindset shift to embrace analytical thinking, you also gain the ability to make adjustments on the fly; you don’t need to wait six months to see whether your campaign was effective or not. The data and analysis will tell you in real time what’s happening—which gives you the opportunity to make changes and tweaks also in real time based on how customers are responding. That’s powerful and empowering across the organization.

Q:

Any last thoughts?

Adele: These are no doubt complex times for marketers and I have no doubt that more transformational activities in marketing are coming. I also know that technology, advanced analytics, methodology and a strong analytical culture drive innovation.

This is no longer the era of Don Draper, the now infamous lead character in the TV show Mad Men, a creative genius who always seemed to know what kind of campaign the client would fawn over. Enter the era of math men and women, powered by the data and analysis they have at their disposal, leveraging it to inform and guide the right direction, encouraging inquisition and challenging the status quo.

Connected. Informed. Effective.

It pays to be a NAMMU member.

Talk to us: membership@nammu.ca 416-977-3703

Adele: Embracing analytical marketing tools and techniques DMN.ca ❰

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Operations & Logistics

Data-driven creativity Converting call tracking data into more effective campaigns

By Jenn Horowitz

I

n the 1990s, Star Trek introduced a robot character named Data, whose positronic brain was able to synthesize massive influxes of data into clear actions with predictable results.

Marketers deal with the same influx of data that our friend Data was; however, we aren’t equipped to process ❱ DMN.ca

it as quickly. Often with data comes analysis paralysis. We are inundated and unable to take action.

Here are six ways to use data to make better decisions for your advertising and marketing campaigns

1

Lower your cost-per-lead with call tracking

If you’re unsure which online source is driving the most leads, dynamic call

tracking arms marketers with reliable straightforward call data that helps them optimize their marketing spend.

The cost of lead acquisition is rising.

Without proper attribution and ROI calculations, you are unnecessarily inflating your costs.

Dynamic call tracking allows marketers to accurately track the number of calls generated from all online sources down to the campaign, keyword and channel. A unique call

tracking number appears for each visit to the landing page and is reserved for a set length of time. Once the customer phones the number, the call details can be viewed in your reporting dashboard and include the source, time and length of call, caller’s phone number and the termination number. The number of leads can be determined by first knowing the ideal length of call for the business and then comparing call length to October 2016

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Operations & Logistics

leads. By comparing the number of leads to the cost, it becomes immediately apparent which option will provide the most value for marketing spend.

2

Help businesses recover lost leads

If a business misses a phone call, you can help them recover the leads you sent them through text messages. A text message can be triggered to be automatically sent to the customer after a missed call or one that went to voicemail: “We’re sorry we missed you. Do you want to make an appointment? Reply ‘Y’ for yes.”

An appointment or another request can be completed over text messaging.

Empowered and in control of the conversation, customers prefer text messages over phone calls and emails and will open more of them. Once they have consented to receive text messages from you, the channel becomes an effective means for customer engagement. Promos, coupons, and reminders can be sent directly and you can be 98% certain that they will be opened and read.

3

Geotarget your ideal customer with call details

the benchmark to determine the likelihood the calls are leads.

A second option, caller segmentation, is a surefire way to determine which calls are leads. Before callers are patched through to the business, a short, personable message prompts the caller to press “one” if they are new to the company and “two” if they are return customers. From the reporting, marketers can easily see which source is generating the most October 2016

Effective geotargeting helps marketers optimize their marketing spend while reaching the customers who are most receptive to their product or service. If a certain demographic group is concentrated in an area, such as software developers in the San Francisco Bay Area, geotargeting optimizes advertising spend. Simply use call detail reports to improve the geotargeting of your advertising by identifying the regions that generate the most calls and focusing your advertising on the regions with the most customers.

The call detail reports include the full number of all the callers, telling you where your calls are originating and which media is most effective in this area. If most of your calls are coming from an urban centre and from

Facebook ads, it’s easy to optimize your digital advertising to reflect areas where you are having the most response. Likewise, it’s smart to ask why certain areas are not getting the response you may have expected.

Areas with low response may represent an opportunity to grow.

Taking the time to focus and periodically refocus your advertising will reduce the amount you spend on advertising while making it more effective.

4

Hyper-personalize emails using rich profile data

Once email became a highly competitive space for attention, the companies that stayed ahead of tools for personalization came up on top.

Personalization has become smarter with rich profile data that goes beyond a name or address. Collected through publicly accessible databases, rich profile data aggregates personal details to a degree that was previously unimaginable: income level, education, pet owner, employment and more; it goes far beyond the basic details, address and phone number.

Rich profile data can be used to hyper-personalize emails by using patterns of customer behavior with similar profiles to predict future needs and patterns. If you are a car dealership and similar customers have bought a car in the next six months, the caller can be placed in a certain nurture stream with personalized emails matched to the profile.

5

Identify consumer buying patterns to optimize market strategy Rich profile data can also be used to capitalize on hidden consumer buying patterns. In a data pull from 10,000 calls, the Data Insights Lab at Telmetrics learned that service and parts may be an untapped source of revenue for many car dealerships.

Thirty-one per cent of car owners were servicing their cars at a dealership but only 18% bought tires from a car dealership. Yet, 50% spent more than $500 on tires in the last 12 months.

If car dealerships changed their strategy to address the discrepancy between how many serviced a car and bought tires, they may be able to increase their revenue stream.

Introducing promos to their regular

customers that emphasize how convenient it would be to put on their winter tires while getting service.

6

Retain customers by proof of ad value

The recent controversy about fraud in digital advertising drove the point home for many marketers that paid leads need to be proved with reliable and accurate numbers. Ad fraud is knowingly charging for non-human traffic: impressions, click-throughs and more. If an agency can say with certainty to their clients that their ad generated 100 calls and 75 of them were leads, the client can see marketing as an investment and not just a baseless but necessary cost.

Solid attribution numbers are key for retaining customers and identifying areas for improvement. If a client feels that they didn’t receive the agreed upon result, call analytics can challenge clients’ perceptions on the success of a campaign. A client may feel that they did not receive many calls when in fact, their volume has jumped 100% and the calls that they did receive were leads with a longer call length than is typical.

The details of the calls can also alert business owners to internal problems.

For example, if a large portion of calls are going to voicemail, that is indicative of problems with the staff; whether it be employees not taking calls because they are goofing off or busy with other things or it may indicate you are short staffed. Missed calls are a leading cause of lost leads.

Data from calls has expanded beyond the voice call and is now inclusive of text and chat. That’s why phone numbers will be the nexus of data collection in the future. More than attribution, data pieces together a portrait of a customer, their wants, needs and likes. Speaking to that customer’s story will be the true test of any use of data.

Jenn Horowitz is marketing manager at Telmetrics. For 15+ years Jenn has created and executed strategic lead generation campaigns, brand creation and conversion optimization. At Telmetrics’ we interpret data that goes beyond the click, to phone calls, text messages and chat. Creating actionable insights from data analysis helps customers gain a competitive edge and increase revenue. https://ca.linkedin.com/in/jennhorowitz DMN.ca ❰

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Operations & Logistics

Canadian banks cautiously embrace analytics Leadership must balance new business insights with increased security challenges

By Yuri Levin

T

he banking industry is one of the most conservative sectors in Canada for good reason: banks must protect customers’ investments and meet increasingly rigorous national and international laws. But with the onset of FinTech and related technologies, the country’s largest banks have been taking a serious look at innovations that harness the power of big data and analytics to thrive in the new digital economy.

According to its website, the insurance branch of the country’s largest bank, Royal Bank of Canada, used predictive analytics tools to improve outcomes of customers’ claims for disability support from Canada and Quebec Pension Plans.

As a result, the number of clients who received CPP/QPP disability payments increased by two per cent—more than $425,000 in additional monthly benefit payments to customers.

Like many other industries, Canada’s banks have been gleaning meaningful insights from volumes of data to make effective decisions and offer what customers are looking for.

This can increase the trust they’ve developed with clients over the years and allow them to stay competitive and sustainable down the road. For example, in 2014, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC) tapped into years of customer data across its credit card portfolio and launched a travel rewards program that tailored service and product offerings for clients and enhanced their experience of personalized banking.

How do developments at banks compare to those in a larger corporate ❱ DMN.ca

landscape? A recent Smith School of Business survey of 250 senior leaders in Canada reveals that executives are now relying more on data analytics to guide strategic business moves.

Of those surveyed, 56% report that decisions informed by data analytics, as opposed to experience and intuition alone, tend to deliver better results.

They use more data and analytics for strategic decision making than in the past and emphasize intuition for crisis management and human-factor decisions involving their teams.

Challenges and risks in using data analytics Like any other new technologies, increased use of data and analytics also comes with challenges and risks.

One of the key risks in collecting and analyzing increased volumes of data for analytics purposes is security breach. This risk pre-dates the growth of analytics; however, analytics applications often require higher-value integrated data; for example, data that combines customer transaction and demographic information. The bigger the data, the more prone it is to being the target of hackers who steal customer information, particularly from banking and retail firms.

In Canada, the number of reported data breaches reached 20,456 in 2015, costing each breached company an average of $5.32 million according to the “Cost of Data Breach in Canada 2015” study released last year by Ponemon Institute. The study, which looked at 21 Canadian companies from 11 different sectors, indicates that data breaches cost an average

of $250 per compromised record.

Malicious or criminal attacks are the usual culprits of data breaches, but employee negligence, system glitches and human error contribute to the problem too.

Aside from data theft, managing volumes of information is also a key challenge. Storing and organizing massive amounts of data has long been a challenge for information systems professionals, but integrating data from multiple sources in the ways required by advanced analytics adds another level of difficulty, as does ensuring that the data remains updated and accurate. It’s no wonder that the Smith School’s executive survey revealed that there is still some hesitation among Canada’s organizational leaders to fully embrace data analytics. Executives report limited availability of accurate or reliable data, lack of tools for data collection and analysis and shortages of expert analytics staff.

Given these risks, what can banks and their customers do?

Bank clients are perennial targets of malware attacks to steal passwords and banks are prime targets for hackers seeking access to their databases. Banks must actively monitor their networks and continuously upgrade their ability to ward off online threats to avoid disruption of customer service.

On the customer-relations front, the risks posed by security breaches and the complexity of big data management can lead to customer backlash. As customers

become more aware of the data that firms are collecting, they can become increasingly wary of sharing information and may demand more details about the use of their data. To keep customers engaged, companies should be transparent on how they handle client information and should show tangible improvements in customer experiences as a result of collating more client data.

For modern managers, striking an appropriate balance between analytics and intuition is a key aspect of success in decisions, particularly those relating to customers and employees.

It is not either/or with these two approaches to decisions. There are some lower-level decisions that may be effectively handled entirely with analytics—inventory control and small-item forecasting, for example; however, formation of effective business strategies, even with good data available, needs intuition and experience. To be effective, and used, analytics solutions must have the capability to combine objective data with subjective data from managers to produce nuanced results. Analytics tools should be viewed as decisionmaking aids, not replacements.

Managers can use additional data to test their assumptions and recognize new patterns but should never be forced to ignore their intuition.

Yuri Levin is professor of operations management, director of master of management analytics and director of Scotiabank Centre for Customer Analytics at the Smith School of Business at Queen’s University.

October 2016

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Kicker & Logistics Operations

Leveraging data to deliver next-generation customercentric service

By Fahad Muhammad

C

ustomers’ expectations of and demands upon the companies that they buy products and services from are growing rapidly. They look at it this way: “If I spend money on your products and services, supporting your brand and your company, I expect you to be grateful for my support and fulfill my wants and needs. I expect you to make me feel special through all your customer service touch points.”

It is this customer perspective that you need to cater to and your entire customer service ecosystem must be 100% engaged in delivering it.

What are the data trends pointing us in this direction? According to Rosetta.com, engaged customers buy 50% more frequently, spend 200% more each year and are five times more likely to indicate yours is the only brand they would purchase in the future. This means your customer service strategy better go beyond just meeting the table stakes of being up to snuff.

The breed of customers that we are dealing with today will seek out products and services through various channels, such as web, phone, chat, email, video, text and the good old fashion way, face to face. This omnichannel approach is not going away—if anything it will continue to propagate and take on new forms.

This multi-sensory way of engaging with customers is the way of the future and this shift is happening because customers want relationships and more personalization. They also expect companies to listen more and communicate with them more frequently through their preferred channel, with timely responses and quick resolution of any issues.

The customer experience is no longer confined to the contact centre. A recent Forrester study indicates that 95% of customers use more than one channel to communicate with companies. This means a synergy between all those October 2016

channels must exist and that your customer service agents must be able to transition between those channels with ease and sophistication. The EMC.com study titled, “The Information Generation Transforming The Future Today” brings to light that only nine per cent of businesses innovate in an agile way both throughout their whole organization and extremely well.

The channel that is increasingly growing above all others and that demands the omnichannel experience is mobile. This means a company’s customer interactions must be able to take place in real-time, all the time and from anywhere, even if there is a desktop in the vicinity. How many of us are using two to three screens at once? Yes, that includes me. Also, Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) is changing the way contact centres function. The landline phone will cease to exist in the realm of customer service, as the phone is becoming more integrated with the computer.

How do you maintain ubiquitous, consistent customer service through various channels? In comes the cloud contact centre and, trust me, it will reign supreme. Gartner states that throughout 2016, more than half of the Global 1000 companies will store sensitive customer information within the cloud. The adoption of virtual call centres will increase due to improved security and efficiency. Other reasons why many will go the cloud route is reduction in cost, faster deployment, flexibility and scalability as well as easy management of remote contact centre agents.

Speaking of an agent, that’s changing too, from a real live person to artificial intelligence. Those sci-fi movies we have all watched are coming to life, no pun intended. Reactive virtual assistants and advisors are being designed to mimic human interactions via phone, text, listening to customers and even speaking to them. Gartner says that by year-end 2018, customer digital assistants will

recognize individuals by face and voice across channels and partners. They also point out that by 2020, smart agents will facilitate 40% of mobile interactions and the post-app era will begin to dominate.

Even with virtual assistants and advisors, customers still like to help themselves. Some of this is due to poor customer service experiences, some of it is wanting faster access to service and some of it is simply because they want to save on time by not having to contact a company’s service department several times and repeat themselves. Self-service is here to stay and is a large component of a multichannel customer service approach.

Speed is a defining characteristic of the modern contact centre. According to FastCompany.com, the days are long gone when it was okay to answer an email inside 24 hours. Some 39% of modern consumers expect a reply within four hours. Twitter and Facebook users have even less patience: 55% percent of social media

users want an answer in less than four hours. Face to face video time, in other words Web RTC solutions, are a great way to deploy live video customer service and live chat support.

The data is telling us that the classic contact centre that we are currently familiar with will morph into something highly digital and even robotic. Robot-like customer service is already here to some extent, but while humans automate it, wait and see what it brings in the future. It will be completely autonomous—robots that function independently to serve humans. Gartner.com is even predicting that my boss could be a robot one day. I’m not sure I like the sound of that, but I’ll have to adapt.

Fahad Muhammad is director, marketing and brand strategy for Telax. The cloud contact centre solution company helps service providers expand product offerings, enhance their competitive edge, and create powerful and lasting relationships with current and future customers.

DMN.ca ❰

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List Business

Using location intelligence for precision-targeted direct mail campaigns

By Robert Szyngiel

D

irect marketers know that the days of “spray and pray” with flyers and other direct mail initiatives are over. Effective marketing requires highly targeted campaigns directed to very specific customer segments; however, despite the best efforts of an organization to build a valuable database of customers and prospects, address data is often flawed and therefore it becomes an Achilles heel ❱ DMN.ca

undermining the success of direct marketing campaigns.

The city of Shawinigan in Quebec serves as a recent example of how database flaws can happen. On May 16, 2016, Shawinigan changed addresses as a result of a merger of seven municipalities that took place 14 years earlier. The project affected 70% of the more than 50,000 citizens and involved changes to addresses, street names, door numbers and postal codes. Similarly, each year more than 10% of Canadian addresses are

impacted by changes to postal codes or street names.

In addition to external factors such as address changes, many internal factors including sloppy data entry, systems integrations and merged data due to acquisitions can make location data in customer and prospect databases inaccurate. The reality is that customer and prospect address data isn’t static and is vulnerable to inaccuracies, which poses a significant problem for direct marketers who rely on the accuracy of their organization’s October 2016

// 19

List Business databases to achieve the best return on investment for their campaigns.

Using location intelligence to improve and enhance database information Fortunately, cloud-based solutions are available that can automatically consolidate, cleanse and validate address data, as well as remove duplicate records and assign unique geocodes to locations in a customer and prospect database. Using highquality cleansing tools can improve database quality by as much as 30% and ensure that mail campaigns are targeted to the right people.

Additionally, location intelligence can be used to identify new prospects that were not contained in a company’s database previously.

Once accuracy is achieved for address data, it is possible for a company to move to the next level by integrating additional valuable location information that will be helpful in segmenting customers and prospects. This location information can include data such as age, gender, family size, income, dwelling type,

than what can be achieved using census and postal boundaries.

drive time, drive distances and many other variables that can improve the direct marketer’s decision-making process. For example, if a company is marketing replacement windows, location data can be used to eliminate anyone living in an apartment from a mailing list. Similarly, if a high end retailer is opening a new store, location intelligence can help identify affluent residents to target within a certain driving distance from the store.

Using additional attributes of this kind enables an organization to understand which data points and geographic areas are associated with the most sales so that it can tailor marketing campaigns and easily refine programs to ensure that the right people are receiving the right messages. Moreover, some cloudbased location intelligence solutions include easy-to-use visualization tools that make it possible for business users to view location information on a map for greater insight, better collaboration and more precise analysis. Database data can dynamically identify clusters of relevant customers and create boundaries that are more relevant

One utility’s experience A case in point that illustrates the value of location intelligence for direct marketing is the experience of a major Canadian natural gas storage, transmission and distribution company that wanted to expand a home weatherization conservation program. In the past, the program had only been offered to customers living in subsidized housing, leaving a significant segment of its potentially eligible customer base with minimal access to the program benefits. With more than one million customers, the challenge was to only promote the program to the customers most likely to be eligible for it. The utility estimated that only 14% of its customers would be eligible but did not know where these customers were located geographically.

Turning to a location intelligence solution, the utility was able to visualize existing customer addresses and cross-reference those addresses with house size and house age range

characteristics. By tying all this information together, the utility was able to pinpoint the exact neighborhoods in which to promote the program, resulting in a 400% increase in the program uptake rate over previous direct marketing attempts to expand the program.

In today’s big data environment, there is a massive amount of information available that is relevant to buyer behavior. Location is tied to almost all of that information and can serve as the backbone for strategic business planning, ensuring that as marketing campaigns are designed they leverage accurate data that will make them more costeffective and targeted to achieve the desired results.

Robert Szyngiel is the director of product

management at DMTI Spatial, Canada’s leading provider of location intelligence solutions. Szyngiel has 15 years of experience in the architecture, design and development of enterprise datasets for Canada. For more information, visit www.dmtispatial.com.

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Print, 4x4.325", 4C

Media:

Direct Marketing Magazine

LIST SERVICES

BETTER DATA

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)

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Contact: Kim.Young@nadminc.com • Jannet.Lewis@nadminc.com • Jacqueline.Collymore@nadminc.com

Direct Marketing Magazine 10:43 AM With a qualified13-07-04 circulation of 6,400 primary readers and another approximate 11,000 secondary readers, Direct Marketing reaches a unique audience of marketing executives and their agencies who are responsible for creating, managing, supporting and fulfilling more than $51 billion in annual sales generated through a range of direct response channels.

To advertise in Direct Marketing Resource Directory

to advertise Contact Mark Henry, mark@dmn.ca

Contact: Mark Henry, mark@dmn.ca

// 22

Resource Directory LIST SERVICES

Mailing Services

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ŽŶ͛ƚ ũƵƐƚ ƚŚŝŶŬ ĚŝŐŝƚĂů Žƌ ƉŚLJƐŝĐĂů͕ ĚŽŶ͛ƚ ŝŐŶŽƌĞ ƐŽĐŝĂů ũƵƐƚ ďĞĐĂƵƐĞ LJŽƵ͛ǀĞ ĂůǁĂLJƐ ĚŽŶĞ ŵĂŝů͘ 'Ğƚ ƚŚĞ ďĞƐƚ ŽĨ ďŽƚŚ ǁŽƌůĚƐ ĂŶĚ ŝŶƚĞŐƌĂƚĞ LJŽƵƌ ĐĂŵƉĂŝŐŶƐ ƵƐŝŶŐ tŽŽĚ Θ ƐƐŽĐŝĂƚĞƐ͛ ϯ ŝŵĞŶƐŝŽŶĂů DĂƌŬĞƚŝŶŐ ;ϯ DͿ ƐLJƐƚĞŵƐ ĂŶĚ ďŽŽƐƚ LJŽƵƌ ƌĞƐƉŽŶƐĞ ƌĂƚĞƐ ϯͲϰ ƚŝŵĞƐ͊ dĂƉ ŝŶ ƚŽ ĂŶ ŝŶĐƌĞĂƐĞĚ ĨůŽǁ ŽĨ ƌĞƐƉŽŶƐĞ ǁŝƚŚ ϯ D͘

Ref: SMSL15

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adm_dm_4c.pdf 1 5/24/2013 4:35:39 PM

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bellhowell.ca © 2014 Bell and Howell Canada Ltd. All rights reserved.

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