Today, it's all about coffee

So, what's a direct marketing blog doing talking about coffee? Well, it was on my mind today and the more I browsed around, the more coffee news I came up with, and felt the compulsion to share with you.

You've probably all heard about Starbucks' offer to give everyone who votes today a cup of joe. For free. Without requiring any proof of voting. I love that! We've been faced with so much depressing economic news (and don't get me started about the overkill on the election coverage...), that news about getting anything for free, especially one of my favorite things, puts a grin on my face. Kudos for Starbucks for being good to their customers and encouraging us all to vote. Oh, and kudos to them for garnering all of this good press and building customer good-will at the same time.

While I'm on the topic of Starbucks, check out this DM News article about their launch of a new loyalty program. If you spend more than $5/week at Starbucks, you will definitely find value in this card, even though it's not free. You know my take on this, as a database marketer--I'm drooling over the opportunities to mine the customer data and figure out new ways to sell more things and grow customer loyalty.

Here's an overview of the program, straight from the article:

The new Gold program, which goes into wide release on November 4, offers a 10% discount on most in-store purchases. Gold membership costs $25 annually and offers its own card, which users are encouraged to register for additional benefits such as complimentary beverages on their birthdays. Starbucks Card Rewards, the program that launched earlier this year, provides members with free drink customizations and WiFi hours with the use of a pre-loaded Starbucks card.

And, if that wasn't enough coffee news, take a look at this item (also from DM News) that talks about Caribou Coffee's launch of a mobile marketing campaign. I can see how this channel could be ideal for retailers like Caribou--catch your demographic (in this case, they wanted to boost sales to 18-34 year olds) when they're out and about and shoot them a valuable coupon ($1 off a large drink). Nice application of mobile marketing, wouldn't you agree?

So, there you have it, an update on direct marketing of coffee--with some loyalty ideas thrown in at no extra charge!

Gotta go--need to drink my Venti!

Loyalty Program for the Wine Industry

Those readers who know me know that I'm a bit of a wino. I love good wine, especially when it's paired with a yummy meal. Or, what about a nice crisp glass of chardonnay on a hot summer day? Nothing beats it.

You may not know that the name of my business, RRW, actually stands for Red Red Wine. The UB40 song was popular when I was in college and when my best friend and I decided that if we ever owned our own business, we'd stay true to our reggae roots and name it RRW. So, RRW Consulting (first called RRW Marketing) was born.

So, what does all this wine talk have to do with this blog's topic of Direct Marketing?

Since RRW's inception, we've been searching for ways to work with wineries--you know validate the name and allow me to really enjoy a fun client--with side benefits. We've developed programs and campaigns targeting wineries, with no bites from the actual potential clients. Well, I'm thinking that this is all going to change! I may finally be able to bring my direct marketing expertise to my favorite industry: winemaking.

Check out today's DM News Article: Jordan Vineyard offers rewards for loyal connoisseurs.

The article discusses the recently introduced loyalty program from one of Sonoma County's leading wine-makers.

"Jordan Vineyard and Winery, a California-based estate that produces Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay, has launched a new loyalty program called “Jordan Estate Rewards.”

The program awards three points per dollar spent on Jordan wines, food, wine tastings and other services and products. As of September, customers can start redeeming points for guest privileges at the winery, including tours, tastings, private dining, fishing excursions and overnight getaways — all rewards targeted to Jordan's core consumer audience of people that enjoy fine wine and culinary experiences."

We can only hope that other wine-makers follow suit and start to reward us wine drinkers for doing what we love to do!

From a direct marketing perspective, I like to see these wineries start to maximize the customer information that they've been collecting when people go wine tasting. Wine lovers love everything about wine and they certainly don't mind receiving email or other communication from their favorite wine maker.

Believe it or not, we've spent quite a bit of time thinking of direct marketing strategies that wineries could use to grow their business--both direct to consumer and retail. I'd be happy to share--just request the white paper called "Loyalty Marketing for Wineries".

And, if any of you in the wine industry would like to help me realize my dream of bringing my expertise (direct marketing) to an industry I love (wine-making!), please give me a call. We may even be able to work out some sort of bartering exchange for my work...

More on Grocery Loyalty Programs

The other day we commented on how Albertsons is canceling their frequent shopper program. No longer will they issue cards that shoppers swipe to receive discounts. In a nutshell, they cancelled the program because they weren't using the data.

Our comment was--what a shame that they didn't take advantage of the rich data to better serve their customers AND build more profitable, more long-term relationships.

Well, I came across some research that validates this premise. See the following article from "Promo Magazine", titled: Frequent-Shopper Data Improves Direct-Mail Offers: Valassis

The key finding from the research: "Using data from frequent shopper programs to target direct-mail offers can boost sales nearly 26%, according to research from direct-mail and FSI giant Valassis."

Perhaps Albertsons abandoned their program prematurely. Or maybe they just need some new marketing thinking!

TGIF. Enjoy your weekend. Happy 4th!

P.S. Valassis (the company that performed the research) offers their results at their website. The study is called: Swipe Past Common Benchmarks. How Frequent Shopper Card Data is Pushing Direct Mail Results Way Up. Good data for any consumer packaged goods marketers.

More on the Effectiveness of E-Mail Marketing

Continuing on our theme of effective e-mail marketing . . . Marketing Sherpa has recently released some very interesting statistics about the use of this channel in their E-mail Marketing Benchmark Survey.

The results of this survey are very compelling. Here's a sample:

• 61% prefer to receive marketing materials via e-mail
• 77% will open marketing emails from trusted sources
• 76% want to receive "relevant" marketing e-mails
• 67% are more likely to visit your website after opening a marketing e-mail

In fact, e-mail marketing sent to in-house lists has been shown to have excellent response rates, and can really help your company build customer loyalty. Further, due to the cost effectiveness of this channel, conducting relevant e-mail marketing campaigns can do a lot to help you reach your marketing budgetary goals -- and kick-start your ROI. The report also confirms earlier suspicions that the use of e-mail campaigns on prospect databases is at the opposite end of this spectrum -- open and click-through rates remain very low. Getting potential customers to opt-in or ask for your e-mail messaging is the only way to make e-mail campaigns effective.

And, the definition of spam has changed a bit. Where it used to be viewed as simply "junk e-mail" it is now more accurately viewed as "non-relevant e-mail from a source I don't trust."

If you'd like to review our ideas on integrating e-mail marketing effectively into your marketing strategy, take a look at our E-mail Marketing Best Practices White Paper.

TGIF!