- 288 pages
- English
- ePUB (mobile friendly)
- Available on iOS & Android
About This Book
In the age of the Internet, how do you keep your customers coming back--again and again--when your competitors are always just one click away? How do you turn casual, anonymous surfers into profitable, "engaged" customers?
The answers to these questions can be found in The Eng@ged Customer, written by Hans Peter Brondmo, one of the Internet's best known and most successful direct marketing experts. In this new marketing classic Brondmo introduces readers to the new rules of Internet direct marketing and shows them how to use email to build service rather than marketing relationships.
A visionary in both the technology and marketing arenas, Brondmo has shown more company executives than anyone how to build lasting, profitable, one-on-one relationships with customers on the Internet. His client list includes such household names as Palm, Hewlett-Packard, Victoria's Secret, Amtrak, Wells Fargo Bank, OfficeMax, Wegmans Food Markets, as well as such Internet leaders as CDNow, E-Trade Women.com, Petopia.com, Sparks.com, and eBags.com.
The Eng@ged Customer makes Brondmo's expertise available to executives, managers, and marketers in both Old and New Economy businesses. The book combines a strategic perspective with tactical guidance, showing where and how to invest in order to build an Internet direct marketing program, and how to plan, develop, and implement your program for maximum success.
While sending email messages to customers may sound like a simple process, retailers and marketers all over the world have discovered just how difficult it is to do it well. Let Brondmo show you how to
- design email communications and marketing programs that have your customers complaining if they don't hear from you
- understand and manage customer information so that you can "get to know" each and every customer--even if you've got millions
- avoid spam and the potential nightmare of privacy violations
- anticipate the organizational impact of customer-focused Internet direct marketing
- define, measure, and track your success.
Whether you are an executive or a manager, The Eng@ged Customer will show you:
- how to keep your customers coming back
- how to rise above the increasing Internet clutter
- how to become the trusted voice that your customers rely on.
Frequently asked questions
Information
PART III
IMPLEMENTING CUSTOMER DIALOGUE
CHAPTER 6
ESTABLISHING A FOUNDATION FOR INDIVIDUALIZED CUSTOMER COMMUNICATION
THROUGH ONGOING COMMUNICATION
- Youâre not their best friend. Nothing is worse than the used-car salesman type who pretends to be your best friend before he even knows your name.
- Keep it short. Donât go probing for all kinds of personal information right away. When asking questions, indicate why you are asking and what value your customer will get in return.
- Listen. Online customers expect to be in control, and if you listen, theyâll tell you what theyâre interested in.
- Deliver immediate value. Start with a short email with some relevant information or a special offer.
- Show them you heard. Make sure that your follow-up contacts reference the information you received. This reminds your customers that youâre actually using what they gave you. It builds trust and establishes permission for the next level of contact.
CONTACT STREAMS
CUSTOMER CONTACT
- Targeting. Using data on your prospectsâ or customersâ interests and actions, you can select subgroups of individuals who are âeligibleâ to receive a particular message or sequence of messages. A home gardening supply store, for example, may send a message to everyone who has bought a lawn-mower from it in the last three months. It may refine the group to target only those who bought a particular model. Or it could target every customer who buys any kind of mower and automatically send a personalized thank-you note ten days after purchase.
- Personalization. Once youâve targeted the recipients of a message, you need to determine what the message will say and how youâll personalize it. You may choose to address the recipient by name: âDear Bill.â Or you may refer to something Bill has done: âThank you for your recent purchase of our Turbo III Deluxe Lawn Mower.â You may focus on something that Bill has asked for: âYou have asked us to notify you about new products we think might be of interest to you.â You might even mention specific regional or seasonal events or attributes: âFall is upon us, and time has come to begin to prepare for another winter of snow and ice.â
- Timing and sequencing. When should individual customers be contacted and how often? Events are leading indicators of a personâs likelihood to respond. But the same events donât usually happen at the same time for everyone. Some, such as major holidays, are common to large groups of people. Others, such as purchases, birthdays, anniversaries, graduation, births, or moving to a new house are far more individual. Having bought a Turbo III Deluxe Lawn Mower ups the chances that Iâll pay extra attention to news and information about gardening and landscaping. Since you know that I bought the model with all the special gardening features, you may want to notify me about the annual gardening show thatâs in town next week.
Tools and Techniques | How They Help | |||
Surveys: Ask a sample of your customers to tell you their opinions. | Although only a small percentage will participate, surveys can help you gain greater general insight into your customersâ and prospectsâ opinions and attitudes. Appending survey data to customersâ profiles can aid in follow-up communication and reporting. Online surveys can be performed quickly, gathering almost immediate results. | |||
Self-reported interests: Use live profile pages and active subscription forms to capture each customerâs interests and preferences. | These are core mechanisms for letting individual customers describe their personal interests and preferences, so that you can deliver relevant communications. | |||
Web-tracking and profiling: Track known individualsâ interactions with a website over time. | Knowing how often customers come to your store without actually identifying themselves has real value. So does knowing which parts of your site they spend most of their time on. | |||
Purchase data integration: Integrate product (SKU)-level information about each customer. | Keeping track of customersâ purchase history down to the product level tells you a lot about their wants and needs. You can use that knowledge to make highly relevant suggestions and recommendations and after relevant advice. | |||
Global anonymous prof... |
Table of contents
- Cover
- Title Page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Foreword
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Part I: Using Email To Engage Your Customers
- Part II: Taking A Strategic Approach
- Part III: Implementing Customer Dialogue
- Part IV: Looking Ahead
- Searchable Terms
- About the Author
- Praise For The Eng @Ged Customer
- Copyright
- About the Publisher