Tracking customer behavior across multiple channels

By Bob Williams, Leave a comment | Posted December 10th, 2011 in Customer Focus, eCommerce, internet marketing | Tags: , ,
Two ads. Two shows. One Brand.
While traveling home this week I was skimming a Delta Sky Magazine and noticed two full page ads from Cirque du Soleil. My first thought was that the ads were repetitive. They had different pictures but they were advertising  entertainment from the same brand. With just one page separating the two I thought maybe it was an A/B test for the advertisement.

On closer examination I saw that the two ads followed a template that was constructed to show seven different Cirque du Soleil experiences. The banner strip in the middle of the page had a raised block for the specific show. Each show is themed for a different “mood”.

The call to action on the ads was exactly the same. They contained the same URL and phone number for tickets. As a marketer I wonder if the URL and phone number are unique to the print-ad campaign in any way or even to Delta SkyMiles magazine. There is no promo-code, adcode, or offer code to enter  in the web site or give to the phone agent to identify the source otherwise.

(I forgot to get a picture of the actual ad and cannot locate it online. Sorry!)

Tracking customer behavior across multiple channels.
Marketers know that tracking leads back to the source of the customer origination is important because it helps us to fine tune our messages to those that attract customers. Before any business transaction takes place a customer must be engaged with something that they find valuable. How do we know what that is unless we track responses and listen?

But here’s another thought for tracking codes that’s becoming more relevant to marketers today.  Channel boundaries are blurring because technology brings products and our brands closer to the customer. But do you have a way to track each customer touch point and associate each touch point to the final business transaction (your conversion goal)?

For example I might see a banner ad on a website and respond to it, but not place the order on the web site (the initial lead). After I see the offer I may leave the website and price shop the product with competitors. Then let’s say I become distracted and forget about the product (happens a lot with all the stuff competing for our attention). The next day I receive an email from the original store and it reminds me that I wanted to purchase product X. So I follow the link in the email and purchase the product in the online store.

Who or what gets credited for the sale?
In my example, does the online banner ad or the email get credit as the ad that generated the sale? Most sales analysis tools will track the last touch to the end customer. But multiple touch points are a new way of thinking for marketers. Maybe this makes decision making more complex, but as marketers we need to know all the content that is connecting with our customers. This includes not only what creates interest to close the sale, but also what generates the initial attraction/interest  to the product.

Here’s some advice. Find out if your internet analytics tool has the ability to track visitors behavior across multiple visits. In today’s evolving digital world, customers may be seeing your marketing messages in more than one channel or from more than one source. Don’t lose site of the overall effectiveness of your marketing work because you only count the last ad touched when the order is placed.

This will require some retooling of your analytics tracking, reporting, and decision making but it’ll be well worth it in the extra insights you’ll gain about your customers.

An idea for credit card companies investigating fraud incidents

By Bob Williams, One comment | Posted December 1st, 2011 in Ideas | Tags: ,
This past summer my Visa credit card number was stolen. I was out of town when I received a call from my credit card company asking about suspicious activity. There were charges appearing from a state that I was not vacationing in and where I do not reside. Thankfully they had already shutdown the card. I just needed to review the chargers with them and state which charges I did not make. They mailed me an affidavit in the mail to sign stating that I did not make the charges and issued me a new account number.

That process worked well and was easy to follow. I appreciated the fact that they were proactive and stopped the fraudster from committing additional violations using my credit. However once it was over, I had no further contact with the credit card company about the matter.

As I think about it, there is an opportunity here for credit card companies to help prevent future fraud incidents. Well, maybe not completely prevent, but at least reduce the likelihood of ocurrance.

I consider myself to be pretty good at keeping up with consumer advice about how to protect my financial matters from crooks. But in this case, my credit card company didn’t share any information with me about how they think the fraud happened. Maybe they didn’t know. But giving customers a bit of fraud education when they are victim’s is in the best interest of the account holder and the credit card company. Maybe I made a mistake I could learn from and not repeat.

At the end of the day I didn’t lose a dime. But I could in the future if I am a victim to another identity theft crime. I assume the credit card company had to write-off the fraudulent charges so they were the loser. My suggestion to credit card companies is to educate the consumer on what they could do different not only from a general list of best practices but with any specific information about their particular incident.

Why you need to know about Google+

By Bob Williams, Leave a comment | Posted November 25th, 2011 in Ideas, internet marketing | Tags: , ,
What is Google+?
On June 28, 2011 Google announced a new social platform named Google+ (also written as Google Plus or G+).  Most people I know and reviews I’ve read compare the platform to Facebook. The influence of Facebook is apparent from the stream (status updates) to connections (friends) to photo share.  But Google+ has some unique features and a few advantages that I think you’ll want to consider.Google rolled out Google+ initially by invitation only. Once someone was a registered user they were allowed to invite a limited number of friends to also participate.  This gave Google a controlled ramp-up of users where they could measure usage and make adjustments based on feedback.

Then on September 20 of this year Google loosened the enrollment restriction and made Google+ publicly available to anyone at least 18 years of age. That’s helped to expand the growth rate of the platform which now has over 43 million registered users. They have not given any date if and when the age restriction will be lowered. Facebook currently allows registration beginning at age 13.

I’ve been a registered user on Google+ since the first month and in general, I enjoy the using the platform. My problem is that it’s become another place to be “social”. What I’ve found over the past several years is that I have a different set of friends on different platforms. LinkedIn is for professional connections. Facebook is for personal connections. Twitter is for technology and industry connections.

So where has Google+ landed for me? Right now it’s a mix between between the big three (Linkedin, Facebook, and Twitter) as I have shared information with early adopters spanning all three groups. But this is exactly what Google+ was designed to do. Google calls it real-life sharing because you share information with groups of people that fit a segment of your life.

Google+ primer for individuals.
Circles. Google uses this geometric shape as a metaphor to “circles of influence” and the building block for Google+. A Google+ circle is a group of people that share a common trait with you. You can name your own circles and put your connections (friends) in them. A single connection is not limited to a single circle, you can put the connection in as many circles as you like.

So the big idea is to organize your circles as you do your life.  For example, here are some of my circles thus far: family, coworkers, professional connections, digital and internet marketing, sports, and church.

As I share information such as photos, links, status updates, etc. I choose which circle(s) can see the information.  If I’m reading updates I can filter the information stream to only show updates from specific circles.

One other feature to know about is hangouts. A hangout allows you connect up to nine people in a multi-point video conference. It’s like a conference call with video and you can share information for everyone to see.

Google+ primer for businesses and groups.
When Facebook went main stream we all know that Marketers were anxious to get their brands onto the platform to connect with their target audiences. Facebook fan pages followed and it’s hard now not to find companies, organizations, and groups that are not linking to their customers, fans, and members on Facebook.

On November 7, Google announced Google+ Pages for businesses, groups, sports clubs, etc. I did a quick search on a few brands that I’ve connected with in the past and found them right-away: Starbucks and the Atlanta Braves. I expect Google+ pages to grow quickly over the next 6-9 months as organizations that already active with social media expand their reach for the Google+ audience.

Here’s why I’m big on organizations using Google+ Pages. Search. Search is the money engine for Google. You may use other Google products like gmail, google voice, or google apps for free, but you’ve probably seen ads displayed within the application. That’s their commerce engine. Companies pay to list ads on our screens based on content within the page.

Google+ indexes pages and posts and contains the ability to +1 a post. To see that Google indexes pages and posts type this in a google search “atlanta braves site:plus.google.com”. This tells google to look for the search keywords “atlanta braves” listed on the site plus.google.com. It limits the search results but shows you that the pages and posts are indexed.

You may have noticed the +1 button on some news sites, blogs, or search results. This is a way that Google devised for internet users to add a ranking of what content is important to them. I think of it as a vote. Google is using these votes to influence search result priority.  That’s something businesses are concerned about and a nice advantage for Google+.

So what do we do with Google+?
Can this platform gain wider scale adoption? 43 million registered users is a big start but will internet users abandon Facebook or use multiple social platforms concurrently? I think it’s a tough battle for Google but they are continuing to look for ways to keep their search results in front of consumers.

Most casual internet users will use the social platform where their friends are and may not want the challenge of managing multiple profiles. But some are concerned about new policies on Facebook, the ads, or a group of friends they don’t know how to manage.

For businesses using social media to make contact with their customers, I think they have to maintain a presence on both Google+ and Facebook. Use Google+ for some unique internet search advantages. Use them both to create opportunities for valuable conversations.

I plan to continue to use all four major social media platforms (LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and Google+) for now. They each serve a purpose for communication right now and I need to stay educated on trends and happenings around the internet.

What about the little things?

By Bob Williams, Leave a comment | Posted November 17th, 2011 in Ideas | Tags:

We’ve all been told that it’s the little things that make a difference.
Sports coaches love this phrase. They tell their teams that it’s the little things, or the fundamentals, that win a game. In relationships it’s the little things that make people feel special. I’m thinking simple things like opening the door, giving flowers for no particular reason, or even just saying thank-you.

In business it’s the little things that keep customers. Part of a healthy B2B relationship is knowing the client’s needs. What market conditions are they facing? How are they challenged in running their business? What makes them successful? Knowing this level of detail is something we get by paying attention to the client. A little thing.

For B2C it can be about that little extra touch that keeps customers coming back again and again. Look at Chick-Fil-A and how their employees tell customers that it was “my pleasure” to serve you. Look at the return policy of Zappos and how it creates a no fear online buying experience.

Another business principal is to learn to say ‘no’. You can’t do it all. Focus on what’s most important.
Look at this quote from Steve Jobs “People think focus means saying yes to the thing you’ve got to focus on.  But that’s not what it means at all.  It means saying no to the hundred other good ideas that there are. You have to pick carefully.  I’m actually as proud of the things we haven’t done as the things I have done.  Innovation is saying ‘no’ to 1,000 things.” -Steve Jobs

Wait a minute. Doing the little things means saying “Yes”, even when it’s not the most immediate path to revenue or cost savings.

We’ve also been told to focus on tasks that are important but not urgent.
In his book The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, Stephen Covey classifies work tasks in quadrants of ‘important’ and ‘urgent’. Covey suggests that most people spend too much time focused on tasks that are both urgent and important. This creates an unbalanced and hectic life because it focuses more on emergencies and responding to the demands of others. Covey’s recommendation is to focus on tasks that are important but not urgent.  This enables one to complete tasks and to work in a non-emergency mode. The theory is that over time it creates less urgent tasks because the focus is on solving the truly important tasks.

So where do the little things stand on Covey’s quadrant?
Are the little things in the quadrant of “not important”? Are they “not urgent”? Or do they belong somewhere else?  If it’s the little things that make a difference then I’d say they are important, but not urgent. That puts them in Covey’s sweet spot quadrant of what we should be focused on completing.

What do you think? Are the little things that important? What are the little things for you?

Are you crazy enough to create change?

By Bob Williams, Leave a comment | Posted November 11th, 2011 in Agile Organization, Business Process Management, Career | Tags: ,

I sat the in the office of a colleague not long ago and made a comment about how I thought a particular company procedure was too bureaucratic. We’ve all been there. Maybe you haven’t voiced it out-loud, but you’ve surely thought it. My point was that it wasn’t necessary to go through all this “stuff” to get to real objective of the process. It was a case where checking a box on a to-do list had become greater than what you were trying to achieve.

But what came next was one of those life stopping moments.  My colleague said “What? Do you think you can change it?”. It was said not as a challenge to create change, but as a cynical reply to admit that this is just the way it is and that I wasn’t big enough to change it. The response brought back memories of conversations at home where I had said “no” to some things my kids wanted. My wife called me a “Dream Squisher.”

It’s one of the ironies of life. People are encouraged to not make waves. Just fit in. Just follow the process. Keep the status-quo. Don’t rock the boat.Yet the people and teams of people that we celebrate are those that are able to create change. Those that are able to succeed despite all the red-tape that human institutions create. Those that at one time may have been labeled “cowboys”, “insubordinate”, or “crazy”.

The classic Apple commercial made in 1997 celebrating the “crazy” ones comes to mind.

Here’s to the crazy ones: the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in the square holes, the ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules and they have respect for the status-quo.  You can quote them , disagree with them, glorify or vilify them.  Bout’ the only thing you can’t do is ignore them.  Because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius.  Because the people who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world, are the ones who do. – Apple Advertisement

So I ask, are you bold enough to challenge processes that have lost sight of the original objective? Are you crazy enough to dream of different and more efficient ways of solving customer needs? Are you willing to stand-up and explain your “craziness”? If so, then make your mark. Dont’ be a dream squisher. Live out-loud.

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