Data Quality Remains Top Priority

We've seen too many CRM or marketing database initiatives fail simply because the data input to the system was full of duplicate or dated data. And, sadly, we've seen users judge the effectiveness of the database system solely based on the customer data they see, completely ignoring the other functions and system capabilities.

If that first impression is bad, you know that they'll never trust, nor use the new technology. What a waste of money...

That's why we're firm believers in using all of the tools and processes available BEFORE you import any data into a new database. And, this article from B2B Online highlights that point.

"Executing a fine-tuned data-quality strategy is essential in today's multichannel environment. As costs climb across the board due to a weakened economy, having accurate data becomes even more important to ensure targeted marketing messages actually reach customers and prospects."

Yep, actually reaching the people you're trying to target is, indeed, important...

The good news is that the marketplace is starting to realize the importance of data quality.

"Refining customer data quality and access to customer data have emerged as two of the top marketing investment priorities of b-to-b CMOs this year. Half of b-to-b marketers plan to put more resources against creating marketing databases, cleaning up customer data, improving sales force automation and CRM integration, according to Forrester Research in its “B2B CMO Investment Priorities for 2008” report."

This is even better news to the direct marketers (like RRW!) who understand the available data quality tools out there, and who have used the tools for years. From postal processes like NCOA to sophisticated customer data integration techniques that take advantage of large databases retaining multiple name/address versions, there are proven techniques that you can employ to get your data updated, deduped and as clean as possible.

Let us know if you'd like the white paper that we've developed around using these techniques. Just email us at info@rrwconsulting.com and we'll send it right over. It not only gives an exhaustive overview of the tools, but also provides some "Do's and Don'ts" based on our practical (ouch) experiences working with the various processes and vendors in the industry.

Customer Data Management is Good for the Environment!

Green marketing and direct mail seems like an oxymoron. I don't know about you, but I still get a ton of direct mail (and I love it, as you know). As an environmentally-minded person who is involved in direct marketing, nothing makes me madder than direct marketers who over-mail for no good reason. Case in point: My husband fancies a tall-person's retailer, Rochester's Big and Tall. Therefore, I normally purchase clothes for him from these folks. I love getting their catalogs, particularly around the various holidays. However, not only do I get a catalog from them at my home address, my husband gets his very own copy at our home address, and I get a third copy at our post office box. Now, being a good direct mail steward, I have contacted Rochester's to tell them that we really only need one catalog -- not three. I just called them again (because I just received more catalogs -- hence the rant), and I'll let you know if it works this time around. Grrr.

So, what's my point? Not only does it make good business sense to be green, it also makes for better customer relationships. Green marketing is about more effective data management -- that's it in a nutshell. There are businesses and consumers out there who love to receive direct mail -- they want to be communicated with in this fashion. The key is to identify them and communicate with them more efficiently.

In an article from Multi-Channel Merchant, appropriately entitled "Is Your Data Green," author Jeff Zabin stresses this point. "Each year, more than 100 million trees are destroyed, three million cars’ worth of energy is consumed and reprehensible-by-any-measure amounts of greenhouse gas is emitted into the atmosphere—all in the name of producing, distributing and disposing of direct mail solicitations." Yikes! That really drives the point home.

But there is also some good news. Zabin notes that some of the largest retailers, such as Office Depot, is taking steps towards greener direct marketing. "For its part, Office Depot has adopted a number of database marketing practices and technologies to help eliminate duplicate and returned catalogs, including a real-time customer data integration solution. The solution combines transaction data with advanced analytics to enable employees at the point-of-sale to cross-sell and up-sell in a more effective manner. It also allows Office Depot to know which (and how many) direct mail offers and catalogs to send to which customers—and when—to maximize revenues while minimizing both costs and environmental waste."

This is an excellent example of utilizing intelligent data management tools to increase Office Depot's ROI and increase customer satisfaction. While this example utilizes real-time customer integration techniques, there are also lower-tech data management tools that can increase your efficiency. We have clients who have simply added in old-fashioned address hygiene tools and effectively decreased the amount of returned mail that they had been receiving. In addition, there are many companies out there who don't update their data as often as they need to. So, you can go as high or low-tech as your particular business needs dictate. The important thing to remember is that what you do impacts both your profitability and helps to cut down on your carbon footprint. It's a win-win scenario.

Zabin is so passionate about this, he is in the process of creating a benchmark report “Green Marketing: Leveraging Customer Data to Reduce Environmental Waste" for his company the Aberdeen Group. According to Zabin, "The goal of the report is to further educate the marketplace about the value of customer data management from a green marketing perspective." We applaud Zabin and the Aberdeen Group for bringing greater focus to this area. We've also written a handy white paper on Effective Customer Data Management if you're interested in learning more about the different types of data management tools available for you to use in your businesses.

Once again, it IS easy to be Green!

What is Your Data Quality Gameplan?

If you are frequent readers of our blog, you know that one of the subjects that we are most passionate about is that of maximizing good data quality. Data quality can make or break your direct marketing success -- and it's been proven time and again. We are always amazed when we run into those who have not adopted this mantra -- and the resulting dollars that are wasted on marketing with dirty data. It's all about data cleanliness, my friends -- and there is simply no way to market effectively without clean, quality data.

In fact, QAS has recently posted several articles about this very subject. In their most recent post, they post some of our very favorite kind of proof -- dollars! According to the article, "Businesses across the US are expected to have increased their budgets for direct marketing as they see the potential benefits of campaigns launched on the back of effective data quality systems, according to new figures. The latest Media Business Report from Jack Myers revealed that traditional types of marketing, including direct mail, continue to be popular among businesses of all sizes. Based on current rate of growth, the group has forecast that total direct marketing budgets across the country will increase by 3.6 per cent in 2007." Now, that's music to our ears for sure!
It seems like such a simple equation-- so why doesn't everyone just do it? Well, in order to consistently clean and manage your data, it takes both a time and a financial investment. However, even with the use of very simple techniques, like widely-available, inexpensive data hygiene tools, you can distinctly improve your data quality in short order.

It is very important to fully understand what your company actually needs when you look at data quality tools. There are those firms out there that have expensive, sexy data management and integration tools that are very effective -- but only necessary in some circumstances. When beginning to look at your data and database to determine what types of data cleansing tools and techniques you need in your particular company, start with a hard look at exactly what you are trying to accomplish. If you aren't sure, bring in an expert (like us!) to help you assess your situation and wade through the many different tools and solutions that are out there in the market. It's just as important not to over-spend in this area as it is to actually bring the tools in themselves. For more of our tips on this, take a look at our Data Quality Whitepaper. We wrote this Whitepaper based upon our experiences in assisting our clients in implementing sound data quality practices. It outlines some of the pitfalls to avoid -- and these will definitely be helpful to you as you assess your own particular situation.

The good news for us direct marketing types, is that direct marketing budgets are expected to increase -- yahoo! As the article states, "In comparison, several other areas of traditional media advertising, including yellow pages, are expected to grow by less than one per cent as marketers react to poor rates of return."

We'll take our 3.6% all day long!

Direct Marketing Success: Integrating Your Customer Touchpoints

DM News has recently reported on the DMA's study of the catalog industry. The results of the study are that this industry, too, has embraced the thought of integrating customer relationships across all channels of marketing. It seems like an old thought -- I know we've been talking about this for years. However, talking and acting are two different things.

The whole premise behind Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is to understand and know your customer, how much business that they do with you, how they prefer to do business with you and how to treat those who spend a lot with you the right way. Most companies haven't done a great job at this -- irrespective of the dollars that they've spent on CRM technology.

The DMA's study entitled: "Multichannel Marketing in the Catalog Industry," is based on surveys completed online by 474 catalog marketers. The study also "indicates that nearly 70 percent of respondents saw an increase in multichannel sales over the prior year and 59 percent increased their catalog circulation in 2005." These are some great trends for catalogers!

Not surprisingly, the DMA study found that "multichannel marketers have learned that consumers expect to interact with one company with integrated systems that are consistent across all channels." As consumers, this seems like simple logic. If the message isn't consistent, we get confused about the offer and the value of the offering.

Here are some of the study’s other key findings:

• Of the respondents with mail-order catalogs, 44 percent of total sales were consummated via the Web, up from 39 percent in 2005.
• 33 percent of respondents believe that their online sales were “incremental.”
• Respondents whose online sales are increasing reported an overall 20 percent growth rate.
• The Web site/e-catalog was the primary marketing channel for 45 percent of respondents, followed by the paper catalog with 33 percent of responses and retailer stores with 22 percent.
• In 2007, 82 percent of respondents plan to employ e-mail promotions, which was followed by discounts/special sales with 67 percent of responses, coupons with 38 percent and prize/sweepstakes promotions with 33 percent.

Although the study focused on catalogers, there is a lot that can be taken out of it by everyone. It is incumbent upon all of us who are responsible for direct marketing to understand that as we engage our customers through the different channels available to us (and more are being added all the time), we must first understand that our customer relationships fully -- then market to them appropriately across the channels. And, we need to focus on the message and the offer to ensure that it is consistent across channels. For more on our ideas on effective multi-channel marketing, take a look at our white paper.

Becoming the Master of Your Customer Data

In a recent article from Business Intelligence Network, Richard Skriletz discusses the importance of "Mastering Master Data -- How to Succeed with Master Data." Skriletz talks about how really understanding and integrating your customer data is key to building more profitable customer relationships -- and how solving this business problem with help your business reap huge rewards from a profitability perspective.

It goes without saying that in order to effectively compete in todays competitive marketplace, you must truly understand your customer relationships. Skriletz (and many others) have referred to this piece of mastering your data as being customer centric. It is important to understand the transactions that your customers perform with you, however, it is even more important to understand the customer relationship as a whole. Skriletz states it well: "This is the first challenge to becoming customer-centric: recognizing that a series of fragmented customer interactions delivered by separate customer service, account, product or billing business units does not ensure customer satisfaction. Businesses where customers churn are beginning to tackle this challenge in order to keep their high-value customers."

In our work with the telecommunications industry, we've experienced this first-hand. In the late '90s and early '00s, many of the large telecommunications firms were losing as many customers as they brought on to their network. It's really quite astounding to think about this. Those firms that embraced the concept of mastering their customer data and effectively looking at the entire customer relationship, were able to stem the tide of churners and create more loyal -- and long-term customers. Those who didn't -- well, let's just say there are fewer telecom companies out there today, and this is a contributing reason for their ultimate demise.

We've written a white paper (titled Data Management Solutions) on effective customer data integration techniques. We are passionate about this topic because we've seen our customers benefit greatly from utilizing this tool to make their direct and database marketing efforts more successful than ever. Let's all become masters of our customer data environments! We promise it'll make you a hero!

Save the Environment--with Direct Mail?

Want to save the planet? Start by cleaning up your direct marketing
Marketers are realizing that by re-examining data hygiene, they can help their company reduce its environmental footprint

This is the title and description of a recent article in BtoB Magazine. Interesting take and rationale behind why direct marketers should ensure that their list is as clean as possible prior to mailing.

From the article: "Results of the 2007 ImagePower Green Brands Survey, released in May, demonstrate a shift in attitudes about environmental issues—in short, they're no longer on the fringe. Nearly all Americans display environmentally friendly attitudes and behaviors compared with a year ago. The online survey of more than 1,500 U.S. residents, conducted by WPP's Landor Associates; Cohn & Wolfe; and Penn, Schoen & Berland Associates, also found that corporations are increasingly expected to ensure their business practices are sustainable.

In light of such evidence that "green" is moving mainstream, marketing's proverbial four "Ps"—product, price, place and promotion— may soon be joined by a fifth: protecting the planet."

Well, whatever rationale it takes--it just makes good sense to make use of the data hygiene and customer data integration (CDI) processes available to us today. It may be time to examine today's practices to make sure that your process is as up-to-date as possible, that you are using the latest technology that will result in the cleanest possible data.

Let us know if you'd like our white paper on data management. We provide an overview of tools and practical list cleaning advice.

And, heck, you can even pat yourself on the back--you're doing your part to save our planet :)

When it comes to Customer Service, Cox Communications Leads the Pack!

In a recent BusinessWeek post, it is happily declared that "Cox is a cable company that people don't hate!" Since you probably now know that I am wont to get on my soap-box at any mention of terrible customer service, this article came as a breath of fresh air in an industry that is, unfortunately, known for it's annoyingly bad customer service. In fact, a variety of metrics, from network performance and reliability to billing and cost, customers in several regions describe Cox as their preferred provider.

So, how does Cox accomplish the impossible? Well, the article reports that Cox uses only one customer-care provider, with multiple call centers located across the US. In addition, rather than pushing call-center reps to get customers off the phone as quickly as possible, Cox tries to handle care issues on a single call. Not only that, the reps get graded on how well they eliminate problems, as opposed to how quickly they can get rid of the customer.

Furthermore, and this really brings tears to my eyes, Cox seems to hold true to an tenet near and dear to all of us direct marketers -- customer data integration. At Cox, rather than having separate databases for care reps and field technicians, these groups actually utilize the same database so that the customer does not have to tell their story multiple times as they are transfered from one department to the other. There is no transferring and no repeating of oneself. Incredible!

Finally, in a true testament to going over and above the call of duty, Cox has even started a "geek squad" to help customers with technical issues, whether they involve Cox's gear or not. I think we all know that this is virtually unheard of in any industry. This additional group alleviates all of the finger pointing that normally goes on when trying to trouble-shoot an issue with your telecommunications service.

This is some very impressive stuff. Here's hoping that the rest of the industry will see how Cox is winning away customers and jump on this excellence-in-customer-care bandwagon. Congratulations Cox -- on a job well done!

Integrating Customer Data

We loved this article by Balaji Yellavalli of Infosys, "CRM: Putting the Cart Before the Horse." It speaks about the challenges that large companies (in this case financial institutions) face in understanding the entire customer relationship. He cites typical CRM systems that wait for a customer to transact and then the system must reactively collect transaction data and is "continuously trying to catch up and build a 360 degree view of the customer." Quite the challenge...

Then, the next hurdle is to ensure that you are associating the appropriate transactional data with the right customer. This is where Customer Data Integration (CDI) becomes so very important. Yellavalli defines CDI as "the creation and maintenance of a centralized repository of core "master data" – the multiple facets (demographic, household, even updated credit-worthiness data) of information that identify a customer."

RRW agrees with his assessment that CDI is critical to successful CRM practices. We've even put together a White Paper that provides an overview of CDI tools, and relates some of our personal experiences building a 360 degree view of the customer. We'd be happy to share this with you.