Leverage the power of email to drive and maintain customer loyalty

The market is flooded with loyalty programmes offered by organisations in a variety of industries. There are the usual suspects: airlines, hotels and banks; but now even insurance institutions and your local coffee shop are playing the loyalty game. Each one is faced with the challenge of getting their loyalty programmes to stand out from the clutter, be relevant and to achieve a favourable ROI.

Share these 5 reasons:

If you want to know more about leveraging the power of email to drive successful customer lifecycle communications, then get in touch with us.

Ross Sibbald
striata.com

Putting out a welcome mat in the digital world

"Hello. Welcome. Good to meet you. I hope you enjoy your time with us." These phrases are regarded as a common courtesy in daily personal interactions, yet they are not carried over into the digital space. In a virtual world, where people are 'meeting' and engaging with brands for the first time, it has become imperative that brands 'set the stage' by initiating an email welcome campaign for new customers. This establishes trust, expectations and communicates important information about the brand.

What happens when a customer signs up for a service or purchases a product from your organisation within an ecommerce environment? In many instances they are sent a proof of order or purchase. When signing up for regular newsletter communications, an online confirmation is also sent, followed by an email requesting that the customer confirm their registration. These transactional notifications serve an important purpose, but cannot replace the value of providing a customer with an orientation on what to expect of future interactions with your company.

An email 'welcome' communication series is vital, as it opens a dialogue with your customers and is an opportune time to gather feedback on their preferences. This can be done through surveys, polls and setting up of online preferences, enabling targeted communications that will keep your customers engaged in the future.

More than just a welcome...

Welcome campaigns should be designed according to the complexity of your service offering. As an example; I recently signed up with a popular rewards program for an international airline. After initiating the relationship, I received a 6 part welcome series. The series was sent to me over a 20 day period with each email addressing a different aspect of the service - thus orienting me one step at a time.

If a customer has registered for a service that includes multiple communication types from your organisation like an eBill, transactional mail, newsletters, special offers etc, inform your customer about these communications and when they can typically expect to receive them.

Failing to address these important areas is a lost opportunity at a time when a customer's engagement with your brand is at a peak – it is now that they are more likely to open and click-through.

 

Basic rules to remember when introducing a welcome campaign to your customer communication lifecycle:

• Use a clear, branded 'from' address
• Demonstrate how to add your 'from' address to the safe sender's list
• Include the word 'welcome' in the subject line
• Get the information needed to personalise the salutation - it's a fact that personalised welcome emails are more effective
• Send your welcome mail as soon after registration / interaction with your company as possible - the more time left between the initial customer contact and the welcome mail, the lower the open and click through rates
• Use this opportunity to engage with your customer through other channels e.g. following company on social media, downloading mobile applications etc

Without a warm welcome and a friendly tour of your home, your new guests may feel lost and not stay very long – in fact, they will probably find the back door and make a quick exit. Don't let the same thing happen to your new customers.

Nicola Els
striata.com

Dedicated IP or shared?

The effectiveness of your email marketing campaigns could be related to your decision to use either a dedicated or shared Internet Protocol (IP) address.

One of the key challenges of deliverability is achieving and maintaining an excellent sender reputation with ISPs and Webmail service providers. Your sender reputation is one of the deciding factors of whether to block your emails or let them through.

Sender reputation is associated with a sender's IP address – the theory is: if you have a good sender reputation your IP address can be trusted, which equals valid email and a higher delivery potential. There are many additional factors that can affect deliverability, but let's zoom in on the specific issue of dedicated vs. shared IP.

Understanding the implications of a shared IP address

If you are using an ESP to deliver your email marketing campaigns, it's likely that your emails are being sent from a shared IP address used by multiple clients on that system and infrastructure.

Sharing an IP address has many benefits, but there are certain risks too – which a reputable ESP should be managing on your behalf anyway.

The good and the bad of a shared IP address:

• Good sender reputation is developed by consistently sending email, ensuring the bounce rate is kept low and the interaction is high (opens and clicks). If you are not a consistent email sender – sharing an IP enhances your sender reputation by leveraging off other senders on the same IP.
• A good reputation is also derived by adhering to email best practice - benefitting you if these sound policies are adopted by all the senders sharing the IP.
• The flipside of sharing is that you are at risk of other senders behaving badly and should the shared IP earn a poor sender reputation, your deliverability will be adversely affected.
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If a shared IP is not desirable, then what do you need to know about a dedicated IP?

• You have full control. Your practices alone determine the sender reputation of your IP address. There is no risk of others spoiling the party.
• Unfortunately, the flip side of this is that you need to maintain regular volumes to keep your IP address 'warm', which can be difficult if you do not communicate with your database on a frequent basis (at least weekly – if not daily).
• Over and above this, if you happen to slip up on the odd occasion and not adhere to best practice, you run the risk of putting your IP address under threat of blacklisting. You do not have the luxury of falling back on the good sender reputation achieved by others.

To sum up:

1. You need to discuss the benefits of a dedicated vs. a shared IP address strategy with your ESP.
2. Question their shared IP sender reputation and what proactive measures they are taking to keep their shared environments in good standing with ISP's.
3. Your ESP should also consider your overall communication strategy and advise you on the best fit for your needs, rather than what is best for their needs.

Haydn James
striata.com

Why send out an RFP? Understanding the why, will help focus the RFP

In a world full of choice, the RFP seems like the perfect process to find that Email Service Provider (ESP) to meet all your goals. Or is it?

Time and time again, this process fails, not in terms of appointing a vendor, but in terms of finding the right partner to implement the best solution for an organisation.

So where does it all go wrong and what's the solution?

This is the first in a two-part guest blog post I recently did for Email Vendor Selection based on finding the perfect ESP for an organisation. It focuses on the reasons RFPs are put together and whether this lengthy process is always necessary.

Before embarking on the RFP process, ask yourself whether the reasons for undertaking this process are sound. Here are a few points to take into consideration before you produce a RFP:

What is your motivation for an RFP?

To get better pricing - if you'd like better pricing from your current ESP, rather go back and negotiate. Sending out an RFP to get better pricing can damage the relationship with your ESP, and remember it's a hugely time-consuming process - not only for you, but for all the vendors involved. If corporate governance requires you to get pricing from a number of vendors, rather prepare a one-pager with your current requirements, then ask for quotes.

To use it as an 'idea and strategy' exercise - you need to be 90-100% sure of the strategy before you invite vendors in. Don't use the exercise to get a strategy. If you are unsure of the direction you want to take, rather find an ESP that can strategize with you. Keep in mind that an RFP won't necessarily highlight the best strategists.

To compare apples with apples - no two ESPs are the same. Email marketing includes a lot more than just features. What is the team structure in the company? Do they have a high staff churn rate? What do other vendors have to say about them? These answers won't necessarily be answered in an RFP process. Do research outside of this process to understand whether the ESP is the right fit.

To tick the technology box - most ESPs provide the same technical service and can give you a list of features that sound great on paper. Again, an RFP is unnecessary here as there are reputable established tools, such as those found on the Email Vendor Selection site where you can compare functionality.

The right approach to an RFP:

If a simple feature check is not what you're after, then an RFP may be the right choice for you. To get the most out of this exercise, consider the following points:

1. Look for an ESP that is ideally positioned to help you to fulfil your specific requirements, based on your email marketing strategy.
2. If this is a new company strategy and the process is required from a corporate governance perspective, do your research before going out to RFP.
3. If you're serious about changing your current ESP, make sure to document the reasons for the change (e.g. account management, deliverability, cannot fulfil the entire scope of requirements) and structure the RFP accordingly.
4. Scope out the specific goals that need to be met. Knowing what you want means getting the right questions on the RFP. The feedback from the participating ESPs will be so much more valuable.
5. Meet the potential ESPs before-hand and then use the RFP process to map out the functionality, structure and pricing across these ESPs. Meeting up with ESPs will determine whether they will suit your company culture and if they have the staff required to meet your specific requirements.

Email, at your service - as always

In the late 70's, Japanese electronics companies introduced the fax machine to the masses and businesses were poised to never buy another stamp again. Over thirty years later, with the number of pages sent per year exceeding 200 billion in the United States alone, I still see the mailman three days a week.

Email made the same promises not so long ago and even though the number of email users will increase to 1.9 billion in the next few years, the only dead medium at this stage is the telegram.

Email is too ingrained in our lives to become a "dead" medium

There has been a lot of talk in the blogosphere and at conferences aboutthe future of email, with big names in social media even laying down the gauntlet by declaring it a "dead" medium. Even though there has beenmassive growth in social media registrations, typically surpassing new email uptake, there is still a lot to be said for the faithful email.

Asa service originally intended for "techies", its simplicity has allowedit to evolve alongside newer technologies. From the personal email replacing the informal letter to the invaluable business tool used by every corporate employee, email has become a ubiquitous service in our daily lives. Just a few years ago, email was limited to the work desk and maybe a bulky desktop at home. With the advent of the mobile revolution email has become a vital part of our daily lives, right therein our pockets keeping us in touch (almost) 24 hours a day so it's easyto see how a technology loses its excitement when it becomes so ingrained in our lives.

Email is a necessity

Being ingrained in our everyday lives is, of course, a good thing. It ensures the longevity of the medium as it has long since been upgraded from a convenience to a necessity. Spam is now largely under control with better software, filters and practices giving emails a more "official" feel. This gives the sender not only a duty to uphold the validity of their communication but also an advantage that was non-existent previously. Many customers are now expecting the emails they receive to be worth their while and no other medium provides this freedom.

By allowing targeted information and marketing, transactional data and the ability to receive personalized feedback all to the same inbox, the email address still remains the most important known piece of customer data.

To get the most out of this valuable tool you need to consider all aspects of email including distribution, best practice, effective campaign concepts and appropriatecalls-to-action.

You may own this incredibly valuable piece of customer data but are your email communications maximized for best response?Alex Papadopulosstriata.com

Letter to the Editor

Dear Head of Online Customer Service at AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon, Sprint and Verizon Wireless

I recently gave some thought to your internet customer self service strategy and felt compelled to write to you.

Your website is great for only two reasons:

The first is, I can make purchases online and the second is that I can find customer service contact numbers. Sadly, for me the benefits end there.

Online purchases work for me because the alternative is either talking to customer service representatives or having to go to the store, neither of which I find to be a particularly pleasant experience. So good on all of you for enabling me to make purchases without having to meet a single staff member!

But here's what I'm never going to do at your site:

I'm not going to view my bill on your website. Why should I go to all that trouble when I can simply wait for my envelope? By the way - I can never remember my password and I really enjoy costing you $5 each time I call! (I get a kick out of that. So far in my relationship with my landline provider I am $355 up.)

If I can remember my username & password, it takes me more than 60 seconds to find my bill on the website. Sprint, I counted 27 clicks (4 minutes) Good job!

You know how long it takes me to open my envelope? 2 seconds. You do the math.

I'm not going to look at my usage. See point above - I see my usage perfectly fine on paper.

I'm not going to try and troubleshoot my problem. You know that's impossible with all the variations of devices etc. I still can't fathom why any biller would consider trying to put that online. What I will do though is find the 'contact us' page and then I'm going to call you. ($5 – "ka-ching")

I'm not going to pay my bill there. Why would I go to 12 different websites when my bank does an excellent job of allowing me to pay all of them through one location? I know the banks were a little slow to this game in the US but it's all done now. I anticipate that all consumer eBill payments will eventually be initiated through internet banking.

So… How about:

• Instead of me having to take time to visit your complicated website to view my usage, you can simply email it to me once a week?


• Instead of visiting your website to view my bill, you simply email it to me?


• Instead of notifying me that there is new information on your website for me, you simply email me that information.
  

You should know that your customers are not stupid. We will visit your website when there is something there that we want to do, like buying a new service / accessory. You do not need to con us into going there through the pretence of customer service.

I have a novel idea, why don't you email my bill to me. That way, I'll have to do nothing to get it. And I'll like you more because instead of making my life infinitely more complicated, you are actually being useful and enhancing my experience.

PS – see here in case you need a reason to stop sending me a paper bill: http://bit.ly/9vYX0l

Yours in despair

Irritated in NYC

Will Social Media Kill the Email Star?

Social media is the next big thing. So much so, that some online gurus are predicting the death of email in favour of social media and social networking. It is said that the ‘traditional’ communication channels, namely email and instant messaging, are becoming obsolete and no longer fulfil the needs of online users. So, what are the needs of the Social Media generation? One of the trends identified by www.trendwatching.com is the concept of ‘nowism’. This trend translates into society’s requirement for instantaneous information from multiple channels. Although the requirement for ‘nowsim’ has been clearly established, a consolidated tool that provides for instantaneous information across all communication channels has not yet been developed.

Yes, ‘nowism’ is highlighted by social media, but this medium alone does not address the vast array of requirements that fall under ‘nowism’. Nielsen recently published a study in which they found that consumers of social media were also the highest consumers of email. In the United States, email usage grew by 21% in 2009 and social media by 31% during the same period. Email is now the anchor for business communications and with the rise of mobile email devices, the growth is set to continue for many years to come. The latest report “China Mobile Internet Market Survey in 2009 Q4” issued by Analysys International, shows that the subscribers of China Mobile Internet has touched 205 million. China Mobile accounts for 69.07% market share, China Unicom and China Telecom accounts for 27.20% and 3.73% respectively.

Gartner predicts that 20% of organisations will be using social media and networking tools as their key communication medium by 2014 - that leaves 80% using email and traditional communication methods. Let’s take a moment to imagine a corporate world where social media is used in replacement of email communication... There are the obvious advantages of transparent communication between employees:

• the medium encourages collaboration amongst its users,


• the information is never lost as it remains in the ‘cloud’,


• interactions are instantaneous and lag times between responses virtually eliminated,


• Spam no longer menaces inbound communications to your profile (although social media spam is on the rise).

One of the concerns around using social media, at the expense of email, is the blurred boundary between business and personal profiles of users. An email identifies you by a signature and domain, distinguishing between business and personal communication, whereas a social media profile may include information that that is inappropriate in a professional environment. In addition, do you want to share your personal information with everyone? If you drop your car off at a panel beater, would you want your client to receive your status update in this regard?

Social Media uses email as its primary promotional medium. You require an email address to join any social network and all notifications around activity on your profile are sent to your email address. Is a collaboration of the two mediums therefore not the answer to the two arguments? Google Buzz seems to think so. With the ability to share information publicly or privately, integrate messages with your email, take note of real time updates and connect with other social networking sites, it presents itself as the answer to all. All companies wish to increase employee productivity and as Robert Scoble blogs, “an application that allows a spam-free in-box in which e-mail, SMS, RSS, IM, voice, and video - even “tweets” if you like - can co-exist” may do just that.

Social media may just be the best supporting act to the Email Star !

Nicola Els
Head of eBilling
www.striata.com

I DO NOT want another mailbox

It seems like every time I get another / new financial services provider, I get another mailbox.

Let’s be clear, consumers do not want additional mailboxes. It is complicated enough, keeping multiple email accounts in sync between work, home and mobile devices, especially as most of us have at least two accounts. (Some of us three or even six…..)

On top of these, we now have banks, credit card providers, eBill consolidators and telecommunications providers, all insisting that the only way they will communicate with us electronically is within their portal. I don’t know about you, but after receiving a cryptic message that some unidentifiable communication type is waiting for me, I have to navigate to a portal, remember a username & password and then find the well hidden message center to read the actual message. (5 clicks??)

Then to make matters worse, it is usually some inane, useless message that I wouldn’t have read in the first place. After my bank cried wolf the first 15 times, I simply started ignoring these messages completely and also turned the paper back on. It takes me 2 seconds to throw out useless bank paper mail.

After email, the only way to get my attention is to call me or send me a paper letter. If banks cannot reach a point where they can deliver email communication and eDocuments in a secure way that does not require me to jump through hoops to get them, then paper it is going to have to be.

This is the primary reason why paper suppression initiatives are failing here in the United States. Consumers wish to be communicated with in a manner that is convenient to them and until it is in the inbox, it is simply not.

Statements & bills: If you cannot find a way to send them to me electronically, then although I may pay them electronically (because that is more convenient for me), I will not turn off the paper bill.

Other communication / letters: If you cannot communicate with me in the channel of my choice – email, then sadly you are only left with paper / phone.

Bottom line: in order to change consumer behavior, you have to provide alternative solutions that are at the very least as convenient as the current one, but preferably more.

(PS – Nobody cares how ‘green’ paperless is if it's less convenient than the paper option. This is clearly shown by the fact that after 7 years of trying, 97% of all consumers are still getting all the paper they did before. In fact, now they are also getting all the paper communication about their online initiatives too.)

Garin Toren
Chief Operating Officer
www.striata.com