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What is an acceptable amount of time that a business process or model is in place before we can challenge the assumptions and basis for it?
Maybe this would be a good exam question in a MBA class. Answers are sure to vary and elicit a number of opinions. But I would answer that as soon as a process is in place, it’s fair game for challenges. Every day I think about finding more efficient ways to accomplish tasks or even eliminating processes that don’t add value to the goal of the organization.
The most successful process challenges are sourced from measured results. If the results aren’t what we expect then the process is open for modification in an effort to change the results to be more favorable. That concept seems so simple, but in reality it can be very difficult to execute.
I think the problem is that challenging an existing process or the assumptions that made the process is a bit like challenging the status quo. In many business environments challenging the status quo is akin to “rocking the boat”. It’s considered risky. It could impact baseline business metrics, people, and even the cash flow of the business. Big companies grow to be risk averse and create processes and procedures to minimize risk.
“Named must your fear be before banish it you can.”
Yoda was right. Before we can remove a fear in our life, we must call it by name. Marketing technologists (or really any person in position to challenge assumptions), must be ready to change assumptions, processes, and business model when they have data and results to support the challenge. An essential goal of the technologist is to understand how to deliver better business results for stakeholders by understanding how technology can provide solutions.
The technologist drives new work and solutions within an organization as a result of their everyday actions. The technologist sees patterns and variables in data that may not have previously existed. The technologist finds reasons that customers can’t complete the desired action and proposes ways to remove the barrier(s). The technologist identifies ways to make processes more efficient, regardless of the people involved with the existing process.
“Do or do not. There is no try.”
Three examples from my story.
I find myself with opportunities to challenge existing models each week at work. I’m not always successful in changing the model. Sometimes its because my idea was wrong. Sometimes it’s because others don’t agree with my opinion. Sometimes it’s because others are too busy to listen. But there are times when my challenge succeeds in making a better way. Here are three quick personal examples of challenging the status quo:
- In a B2B business model that does not sell direct to consumer the team thought they shouldn’t use sponsored search adwords because that would be considered “direct”. But what if we purchased ad space and sent the consumer to our existing site which honors the B2B contract with the client? It worked and the team found discovered a little about the click-through-rate of branded keywords in search results.
- Customer address changes are a touchy topic when you are selling a financial instrument because it can increase the likelihood of fraud. But address changes are part of life. So why not emulate the process followed at bank or credit union when their account holders need to update their address? It worked for my team and provided the single largest increase in customer conversion rates for any software release the team had ever released.
- In the early days of the internet I became the product manager for a web site where a customer order resulted in a notification to the call center. The call center would print the notification and then rekey the customer data into the order system. This print-to-key process was ripe for a more efficient method. So I suggested it and a few months later we integrated the web site to the ordering system. Bye-bye paper process.
Are you changing the model?
In the spirit of continuous improvement we all need to look for ways to challenge the processes that govern us. Adjust, measure, and react. I’m not talking about creating change just because some process is old. I’m also not talking about using technology for the sake of technology. I’m talking about using the tools of a technologist to understand how the purpose of the business process and how technology can make it better.
What say you?
Are conferences worth our time?
I spent the last two days at Digital Summit 2012 conference in the Atlanta area. As today neared the closing session, I was reflecting on some notes I had taken and I thought “what am I really learning from all this?” Certainly it’s a question that attendees, presenters, sponsors, and booth marketers ask themselves at conferences. Was the conference worth the cost, energy, and time spent?
The classic answers.
- It’s a chance to network and find out what others are doing in my industry.
- It’s a chance to listen to speakers talk about how they have solved problems we all face.
- It’s a chance to find leads and prospective clients.
- It’s a chance to find new ideas to help us solve problems.
Well maybe. My experience is that groups of people from the same organization tend to hang-out with each other and not network all that much. As I look around a room when speakers are talking, I see a large percentage of people checking email from work and not really listening to the speaker. As with most everything we do in life, we get out of it what we put into it.
There are different conference formats.
If you have never attended a BarCamp you should so that you can compare different conference styles. I have twice attended Product Camp Atlanta for product managers and marketers. These conferences are less structured, often with participants voting on the topics to be discussed. Participants are encouraged to become part of the presentations in a knowledge-share and discussion format. Sales pitches are discouraged and can be “booed” by participants.
Now I’m not promoting BarCamps over the traditional trade show conferences. I’m just pointing out various styles. Whether the conference is full of vendor booths, speaker sessions, or collaborative learning groups, we still get out of it what we put into it.
Digital Summit had a few recurring themes.
If I had to summarize all of the presentations I heard at Digital Summit this year it would be: Use data to measure how people are interacting with your brand so that you can influence them take some action (purchase, share, converse).
Nothing earth shattering with that statement. It covers some the basics of marketing. But as you would expect at a digital marketing conference, there was heavy emphasis on analytics, advertising, mobile, social, and search. I found some speakers engaging and others not so much.
A few specific thoughts that I think are worth repeating include:
- Michael Loban of InfoTrust saying that “what gets measured get’s done”. Loban talked about data existing in context. Marketers should understand the data in context and find what is actionable.
- In a talk about mobile development Jim Zimmerman of Thuzi discussed the importance of navigation in mobile design. It should be simple and clutter free. Consumers won’t navigate burdensome sites on a mobile device.
- Tony Haile of Chartbeat gave a unique presentation because he didn’t use any slides. He made the content of his speech engaging and relevant. One key thought from Haile was that real-time data is useless unless you setup your organization to respond quickly to events. The idea of the adaptive business is to create fast tactical responses to achieve better results. He used Toyota and the US Marines as examples of this concept.
It’s our professional game.
At the end of the day, conferences are about making connections with people in our professional game. Just like a professional athlete works to sharpen their skills, a professional knowledge worker must do the same.
I’ve coached youth athletics for almost ten years and one thing that is a must for any coach wanting to stay on top of his game, is networking with other coaches to trade knowledge. It usually involves exchanging ideas on different drills to run for certain skills. That’s the same concept as sharing information at a conference. Fresh ideas and new insights.
So what are really learning at conferences? We’re learning to stay connected with people. We’re learning to share knowledge. We’re sharpening our skills because the next time we play our professional game we want to score more.
So let’s score more. In fact, in your professional game you can run-up the score. If you were at Digital Summit 2012 or have other thoughts on professional conferences I’d like to hear from you.
We are multi-channeled consumers.
More and more we live in a multi-channel world. How many purchases do you research online ahead of the actual purchase transaction? If you are like me then your research involves multiple retailer sites, a search for promotional offers, and reading customer reviews. Digital media makes it all possible. It’s fast and you can do it from the comfort of your own home.
But sales channels are a marketer mindset. Consumers don’t think about channels when they are going about their daily routine ( and that’s a good thing for consumers). It allows consumers to be educated on not only the product they are purchasing, but the company who is selling the product as well. My experience is that in many cases the price of the product is roughly the same. But things like return policy, customer service, convenience of locations, or shipping fees could provide the greatest distinction between choices.
For retailers running a business all these touch points create a set of business questions. Which channel(s) receive credit for the sale? Which channel(s) should be allocated the most budget spend? How many channels did the customer touch before making their purchase? And so on and so on…..
Enter channel attribution to help marketers.
Internet analytics providers are starting to implement features for channel attribution. I received a monthly product update email from Google that contained a link to their channel attribute support for Google Analytics premium customers and about four months ago I discussed the same features in the Adobe SiteCatalyst platform with some colleagues.
Marketers love attribution because it helps them understand how their efforts affect the entire sales cycle. This enables better decisioning for budgets, channels, promotions, and features. What this means in practical terms is that all interactions with a customer are tracked for measurement. So for example interactions with email click-throughs, search keywords, promotional offers, etc. The big idea is to correlate all these interactions at the end of a sale instead of just looking at the individual purchase funnel of the last transaction.
Look for a set of niche channel attribution consultants.
Let’s be real though, channel attribution is a complex topic. It requires a significant understanding of how customers interact with channels and a great deal of planning to setup. Once it’s implemented the analysis of the data isn’t trivial either.
This will become a consultants paradise over the next few years. The capability will be closer to companies now that major players in the internet analytics industry are adding the feature to their tools. But the amount of planning required, the expertise to configure the tool, and the ability to interpret the information will be a barrier to entry for many organizations. They’ll need consultants.
This is making us all better.
The gradual changes will be good. Business departments at Universities and Colleges will begin to teach more about how channels coexist, not how they operate in silos. Some industry players now teach that the concept of a channel is outdated. They see customer interactions in touch-points. Businesses will begin to make smarter adjustments to budgets and technology use. Marketers will make smarter decisions for 1:1 marketing tactics with consumers.
This is the perfect area for marketing technologists to fit within an organizational framework. The technologists have a role in system architecture, planning, implementation, as well as operational support for measurement and analysis. It’s a wake-up call for organizations that marketing is becoming more dependent on technology and that technology is only useful if it’s helping marketing bring business to the organization.
Are you thinking about channel attribution in your marketing and technology plans?
Each week I capture, mark, and comment on blog posts and news articles around the internet. This is a short-list of three links that I think others will find valuable for their thought lives.
- 6 ways to Increase Prices on Your ECommerce Site by Gagan Mehra of Practical eCommerce. Pricing of products to maximize profits is an important topic and can lead to complex financial analysis. In this post, Mehra does a good job of reviewing some practical tips and ideas that could help eCommerce operators increase their average cart values.
- Is the Digital Wallet Going Analog? by Demitri Kalogeropoulos of the Motley Fool. Lots of companies are trying mobile payment solutions in the market. But what caught my eye in this article was the mention of Hope Depot having an option for PayPal payments at the point of sale in their stores. The customer doesn’t need a phone or plastic. They simply use the touch screen with their PayPal credentials to complete the purchase. Could the future of payments not involve mobile devices?
- Wal-Mart to Offer Cash Option for Online Purchases by Christina Cheddar Berk of CNBC. Wal-Mart is trying a pay with cash option for online customers. If the customer elects to pay with cash then they have 48 hours to complete their purchase at a store location. They then choose if they want the merchandise shipped to the store or to their home. What this means is that the store cash registers must be able to pull information about the online purchase. Nifty integration. But will this be a hit with consumers? Seems to me like it eliminates the convenience of ordering online.
Let me know what links you shared, tagged, or commented on this week.
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