We all know about engaging with our customers…  but have we taken the time to consider how relevant the message is that we deliver to them in each communication?

Over 100 marketers attended our UK Smart Perspectives Event in London on Thursday June 23, 2011. The event was kicked off by Michael Nutley the former editor-in-chief of New Media Age, the UK’s leading source of news about interactive marketing and media. His provocative keynote introduced many of the key themes facing digital marketers today – themes that were echoed throughout the conference.

The key insight he shared is that most companies are struggling with consistency across their communications. Take for example, a website, a call center script, a banner ad, an email, a digital commercial and put them against one another… are they consistent? As marketers, we are increasingly seeking a ‘single customer view’ to better understand who buys from us and why… or why not. But are we showing our customers a single view of our own organizations? Or are we allowing mixed messages to muffle our marketing?

Is the message you are delivering to your customers consistent across all communications?

In today’s world, relevancy is more important in communication than ever. Relevance trumps what we’ve traditionally thought of as being ‘creative’. The new creativity will come from how we combine our understanding of our customers’ digital journeys with the way we present our messages back to them. Silos within marketing need to be eliminated: the marketer needs to have one view of the customer.  And the customer must have a single, clear view of the marketer’s company. Only then can the conversation of marketing really flourish, and drive value.

The challenge is how do you use both data and creative assets to pull a relevant message together?

Filter for Relevancy

In our panel discussion with customers, we addressed the tension that exists between giving consistent messaging to people to understand who you are in a broad context, or universal communication, versus the tight focused one-to-one communication you can deliver via email marketing programs.

Eli Pariser, in his new book, The Filter Bubble, tells how, despite always going out of way to hear opinions of people across the political spectrum, Facebook had suddenly – and subtly – scrubbed clean his feed of any right-wing, conservative content. The social networking giant had identified that he really only clicked on the liberal points of view, so had decided the Republican point of view was irrelevant to him… and edited it out.

During the course of our interactive panel session our customers shared their relevancy challenges and how they are addressing them.

eBay Customer Provides Direction

Amanda Metcalfe @amandametcalfe introduced eBay’s new Fashion Store in the UK . Relevancy in communications is critical to their business… however, she shared an example showed how much work is still to be done. After purchasing a mouthwatering new Jimmy Choo handbag, she received an email from eBay that claimed to provide a personalized selection of items, tailored to her needs. In fact there was just one thing on that ‘list’: a charger for a Sony Playstation. A hugely missed opportunity.

eBay is a great example of the tension between ‘broadcast’ content that goes to everyone and the value truly personalized messages can deliver to buyer, seller… and to eBay itself. eBay believes all customer journeys should begin at the (same) homepage, then quickly become deeply focused.

In an email world, I believe that most organizations will find that keeping that kind of consistent, broadcast content can form a valuable bedrock – a foundation on which to then build the highly personalized progams that deliver much higher relevance and value.

This relevance is founded on the three core strands of data: declared data (e.g. from a preference center, surveys or a welcome program), purchase data, and observed (behavioral) data.  By integrating data into their communications and delivering a stream of relevant messages, customers will value the relationship much more highly – and reward it with loyalty, with cash and with advocacy.

FitFlop Fashion in Stock

Rowan Luckie runs @FitFlop and shared they have a link to a search page that displays items that have low stock. They use a combination of scarcity and social proof by sharing reviews to drive demand. They have an active passionate user-base that shares how FitFlop have changed their lives. Customer reviews pull in advocacy of other passionate enthusiastic fans, and then back it up with fashion currency-low stock. They don’t face the typical retail challenge of large discounts. Their margins are in tact.

Visit This Exhibition and Purchase a Memory

For @BritishMuseum, Fabrice Druelle told us it can difficult for them to target on past purchases, as items that customers buy are often one-off purchases. What has worked for them is delivering email marketing communication focused on linking a memorable merchandise piece alongside a particular themed event at the museum. For example, during the current Afghanistan exhibition, emails recommending the book of the exhibition and other replica items have proved very successful.

Just Getting Started on Segmentation

@JoytheStore is in early stages going from sending their first emails to entire base to using segmentation. In their communication they found out that if they segmented gender, they received immediate returns ensuring males receive emails that contain male models and females receive female fashion-focused communications. This transition is showing immediate success, with open rates, click rates and revenue all growing dramatically. An extra 2.3% of the customer base clicking is a great indicator of how well relevance can deliver value.

Software + Strategy = Value

Today’s technology equips marketers like never before with the software tools to gain insight from the data gathered by listening to customer’s digital journeys. Throughout the day, it was clear that to extract the best possible value from this technology – whether on-premises or in-the-cloud – you need to have a clear strategy in place – and a roadmap to follow. There are simple methods you can put into action to develop a plan that delivers success in your email marketing campaigns.

We will continue to discuss these more in depth. For example, our upcoming webinar on automation June 28th will provide insight on how you can automate your campaigns. Less work for you, more return on your investment.

With these great customer examples, we realize that many companies out there are struggling with putting successful programs into place. We want to ensure we deliver value to you by continuing to impact your email marketing campaign success metrics positively.

What challenges are you facing in your email marketing communications?

Webinar: Email Marketing Automation-Improve ROI without Lifting a Finger

About the Author

Michael Weston (@sandlines) is GM and Senior VP of Europe, Middle East and Africa.