January 01, 2013
Using data to align marketers' perceptions with the actual customer experience.
January 01, 2013
There's a difference between capturing a customer's wallet and capturing his heart.
November 06, 2012
With consumers in control of communication, it's up to businesses to harness social media and initiate new sales and service models. It's time more companies got on board.
October 01, 2012
Marketers and customer service leaders need to unite. The customer expects no less.
October 01, 2012
Should marketers care about services? Readers respond to the October Gloves Off question.
October 01, 2012
Jaguar Land Rover is leveraging cutting-edge technologies to retain customers in an after-sales environment.
Acxiom and Loyalty 360 released their joint research project, "Making Every Interaction Count: How Customer Intelligence Drives Customer Loyalty," at Loyalty Expo 2012. The research focuses on how most brands "are not leveraging (customer data) as a strategic asset that helps create and maintain long-lasting relationships with their high-value customers."
March 01, 2012
TWC's plan has upset industry analysts who feel that the introduction of usage-based plans could open the door for broadband providers to rid themselves of monthly rate plans.
December 21, 2011
John Dawes, VP of products and strategy at Tealeaf, a customer experience management (CEM) company, discusses the ways your website might actually be limiting transactions.
December 01, 2011
Some marketers may balk at the expense of Volkswagen's videogame for Microsoft Corp.'s Xbox to support the launch of the 2012 Beetle. However, Volkswagen of America EVP and chief product and marketing officer Tim Mahoney says the game — which mirrors the campaign's TV spots, showing consumers driving around in a Beetle and giving passersby high-fives — "seemed ideally suited to reinforce the TV spot."
November 16, 2011
Alterian will close its Chicago office as part of a restructuring plan that began in September, said Adrian Duffield, partner at College Hill, Alterian's financial PR agency. Alterian employees were notified on Nov. 6 that the shuttering process would begin immediately, he said.
Database company Oracle announced it has agreed to acquire CRM company RightNow Technologies, for $1.5 billion, both companies said in a statement. The transaction is expected to close by late 2011 or early 2012.
Brands must offer engaging, personalized and relevant marketing experiences to compete in today's marketplace, said Christa Carone, CMO of Xerox Corp.
September 28, 2011
Ragini Bhalla, director of marketing and communications at digital agency Fantasy Interactive, discusses her new role and how building loyalty online differs from offline channels.
September 12, 2011
Riley Gibson, CEO and cofounder of Napkin Labs, discusses how brands are using the "crowd-sourcing platform" to conduct loose-format focus groups.
September 01, 2011
Email marketing, considered the first line of customer engagement, leads the charge to increase Web traffic and drive sales. However, setting up an email service independently relies on a large time and capital investment.
Steve Jobs is a marketing genius. This is a fact. Some would say his greatest success is illustrated by consumer behavior leading up to and following launches of new Apple products.
InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) launched an integrated shopping rewards program, Priority Club Shopping, on August 3 that will enable IHG Priority Club members to earn loyalty points for shopping with more than 600 retailers, said Mark Shepherd, director of partnership programs at IHG.
August 01, 2011
To make communications relevant, marketers need information about each customer's preferences and interests. But where do you get this information? How do you coax customers to give it to you? A well thought-out preference center can make all the difference across all channels.
Netflix knows I'm upset but it isn't really worried. The online movie rental company posted a second-quarter revenue increase of 52% to $789 million compared with Q2 2010. The earnings fell short of Wall Street predictions, but the number of global subscribers increased 70% to 25 million, and nearly 75% of those new customers signed up for streaming-only plans, which is exactly what Netflix would like customers to do.
July 20, 2011
Jason Mittelstaedt, CMO of RightNow, a customer experience management (CEM) technology company, explains the distinction between CRM and CEM and why social media may never be a platform for direct marketing.
June 08, 2011
Liz Deutch, EVP and global director of customer engagement at Draftfcb, discusses her new position at the agency and the difference between customer engagement and CRM with Direct Marketing News. Deutch's career has spanned more than two decades, including roles with Ogilvy & Mather Direct, Ammirati and Puris, Enfatico and Young & Rubicam Brands (Y&R Brands).
May 18, 2011
Tamara Gruzbarg, senior director of customer analytics and research at private sale site Gilt Groupe, classifies the company's data analytics environment as "disparate" prior to February 2010. She says the company's various data sources were located in "different places and formats" and that "no single tool could access all of them."
I had the opportunity to tour Ideeli's SoHo office today to get a sense of the company's culture and how it plans to compete with competitors like Gilt Groupe, RueLaLa and HauteLook. Like the high-end products Ideeli sells to its 4 million members, the company's center of operations is chic and impressive.
The key to building customer loyalty is listening to your customers. There's no point trying to manage customer relationships if you don't know what it is your customers need. One way to build customer relationships is by creating a brand community atmosphere that fosters customer interactions with peers as well as your business.
Technology service providers earned $1.65 billion in revenue from analytics applications last year, a 17.7% increase compared with 2009, according to a Gartner report. Analytics revenue will increase 10.5% in the next five years, according to the research firm.
April 20, 2011
Meredith Integrated Marketing promoted David Brown to EVP and GM on April 18. In his new role he'll oversee Meredith Integrated Marketing's content and CRM business, including supervision of Directive, Meredith's database analytics agency.
American Airlines and British Airways began promoting the "Miles Millionaire" loyalty contest on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube on April 12 to acquire new program members. The contest, developed by OgilvyOne, is targeting existing American Airlines AAdvantage and British Airways Executive Club members, as well as prospective members.
April 13, 2011
The advent of group discount sites, search engines, auction sites and product review sites have eroded brand loyalty and made it more difficult for marketers to maintain strong customer relationships.
Dunkin' Donuts unveiled its first national customer loyalty program, "DD Perks Rewards," on April 5. The initiative allows members to redeem unlimited rewards for purchases made with a Dunkin' Donuts Card. Dunkin' Donuts will also ask customers who register for the loyalty program to opt in to its database to receive future email and SMS marketing messages about new offers, products and store openings.
Company of the week R2C GroupR2C creates, produces, distributes and measures messages that inspire and compel consumers to do something with a brand to drive commercial advantage. The full-service advertising agency specializes in creative, production, media, analytics and performance. |
What's in our mailbox this month: fitness postcards from Retro Fitness, American Woman Fitness Centers, Union's United Taekwondo Academy, and Bally Total Fitness. (We're totally pumped.)
Social data can improve a brand's bottom line and customer relationships. Just ask brands Infiniti and Diamond Nexus.
Here are three must-have data sets that every marketer should include in his or her email strategy.
