Posts filed under ‘Online’
Email or Mail RoI? It’s Shades of Grey Really …
I was intrigued by this item, An Investigation Into the ROI of Direct Mail vs. Email Marketing.
The post refers to an article published by the Harvard Business Review, Why Email Marketing Is King which analyzes the effectiveness of email marketing compared to direct mail.
- mail and email
- mail only
- email only
Wait for it … the email-only campaign performed 95x times better in terms of ROI.
Email is so much cheaper than conventional mail and it may perform better as documented. Postal services are unlikely to become much cheaper, let alone near the cost of email dispatch, but will email remain better in performance?
31 January, 2013 at 10:10 am Tim Roberts ARTS Australia Leave a comment
More Cloud Based “Monkey Magic” for CRM
On the subject of cloud based monkey business **, I just came across a great article fom MailChimp. Be a Survey Ninja: How to Mashup CRM Data With Your Surveys
The post does address using MailChimp specific functionality in the form of Custom Variables when integrated with a CRM application, but the basic premise is valuable and possible with many other implementations, whether basic or sophisticated. Take every opportunity to segment communication, monitor response, manage messaging accordingly and gain meaningful feed back using the insight of all the variables at your disposal. I still aspire to the idea of starting with a basic set of information about a consumer that is augmented by each and every communication, contact and transaction and this can be further enhanced by responses to market research over time. That could build a richer picture comprised of a comprehensive set of benavioural, attitudinal and descriptive variables to more accurately predict purchase propensity, value, volume and timing.
Many of you will know will already know what a great EMS MailChimp is. I have used many major solutions in this area, but I have always been impressed by MailChimp’s ease of use, affordability, impressive functionality and accessible help and documentation delivered with a chimp chuckle.
I have been impressed by the granularity and flexibility of the statistics generated by MailChimp while collating email statistics to inform online marketing benchmarks for 39 NZ cultural organisations as part of the Optimiser project for Creative New Zealand. The success of MailChimp in the arts in this part of the world is indicated by the fact that MailChimp is used by over half of the Optimiser participants who use an EMS. A significant advantage of MailChimp over comparable offerings is that it has Google Analytics seamlessly integrated in its statistics whch among other things enables the quantification of online activity with tickets sales in both numbers and value. More Monkey Magic
A notable advantage that MailChimp offers is the success it has had making available an API that has supported integration with a huge variety of different third party software and service vendors. MailChimp supports a great deal of different types of integration by making its API readily available and accessible. It supports a diverse variety of solutions under four main categories:
- CMS
- CRM
- eCommerce
- Mobile
Under the remaining Other category are a large number of different applications such as: SurveyMonkey, Informly, Google Contacts, Facebook, Google Analytics, WordPress, and even ticketing solutions like Eventbrite, University Tickets, Ticketscript and Regtix.
MailChimp supports integration with numerous leading CRM solutions, including (but by no means limited to): Insightly, the open source CiviCRM, Salesforce, Blackbaud Raiser’s Edge, Microsoft Dynamics CRM, Sugar CRM, Zoho CRM, and the amusingly titled Less Annoying CRM.
** Did you spot the obtuse reference to sixteenth century Chinese novel Journey to the West by Wu Cheng’en produced for Japanese TV in the 70′s and translated and broadcaast in Australia as Monkey.
4 January, 2013 at 9:20 am Tim Roberts ARTS Australia Leave a comment
Ticketmaster May Not Be What Arthur C. Clarke Had In Mind?
Interesting post and question raised by Drew McManus in is blog Adaptistration. In this interview from the ABC in 1974, Arthur C. Clarke was certainly prescient, albeit an unabashed enthusiast.
He does describe a more democratic business model and adds a then utopian dream of SOHO or satellite working. Some of it does not seem so far fetched 37 years on?
Like Drew, I am sure that monopolies/duopolies and intermediaries imposing legal barriers that restrain trade were not part of Arthur C. Clarke’s vision.
Wouldn’t you just have loved to pull an iPhone out of your pocket and see the look on his face?!
18 April, 2012 at 12:05 pm Tim Roberts ARTS Australia Leave a comment
Does Social Media have a role in CRM?
I don’t know, what do you think?
I was asked by a client the other day whether Social Media should have been documented more in a CRM specification. I said that I had presumed so, but when I tried to define tasks or information requirements that overlapped CRM to Social Media a short paragraph seemed to do the job.
I am not diminishing the value of Social Media. But Social Media is about a conversation and the extension of Customer Relationship Management is not Customer Conversation Management.
Listening is more important than talking, preaching or promoting. The latter does not encourage or enhance engagement, listening does.
So back to CRM. I guess you could record a customer’s FB page, twitter account, Linked in page and so-on. But that is just like recording phone numbers, it does not mean you are or will listen to them or learn from them what interests them, excites them, annoys them, even what they think about you and what you do.
I think the missing link is legwork. Sorry for the mixed analogies, but the legwork of listening is essential, whether automated or manual. Listening to Social Media channels may result in learning and provide the trigger for activity. That trigger may be a complaint, compliment, indication of a prospect or a warning of a defector (maybe lapsing subscriber is less inflamatory). Various Social media channels need to be monitored for triggers and when a trigger is identified, a CRM may then assist in managing the customer incident, communication, activity, induction, loyalty, upgrade, re-attraction and other stages of an ongoing, developing and evolving relationship.
Therein lies the challenge, identifying triggers by the action of listening to the multitude of conversations. A CRM can record Social Media identifiers, integration will eventually enable the monitoring of the social media channels for individuals. However, intelligence will be required to be added to that listening to accurately identify triggers for the proactive (even just reactive) management of the relationship.
Then we get to the issue of privacy … oh boy – let’s leave that for another day.
3 April, 2012 at 1:12 pm Tim Roberts ARTS Australia 3 comments
Does this indicate that people prefer to book at the source? Hotels provide some clues.
I always find it valuable to watch other industries for clues to trends and innovations.
The hotel industry may hold some clues regarding the changing role of intermediaries. Yes, it is a different industry, as is airlines. But that does not mean that there may be enough similarities to provide valuable insight. After all entertainment, hotels and airlines all sell or licence the right for a person to occupy a specific location for a specified time period. Agreed, there may be some differences in where the booking takes you physically and metaphorically. But there is one overriding similarity – it is a perishable inventory. Once the curtain goes up or the planes takes off, that seat is gone forever and has no value.
“room nights booked through hotel websites last year grew consistently in each quarter, growing 6.8 percent in the fourth quarter compared to the same time in 2010.“
Consumers are increasingly buying direct from the hotel, rather than travel agents or online travel agencies.
“Overall in the transient segment, the OTAs (Online Travel Agencies like Expedia and Hotels.com) accounted for 11.4 percent of all hotel rooms booked for the fourth quarter; GDS (Global Disctribution Systems used by Travel agencies) accounted for 19.3 percent; hotel websites (e.g. hilton.com) accounted for 26.5 percent; direct bookings accounted for 25.0 percent; and voice, or 1-800 numbers, accounted for 16.7 percent.“
“Hotel companies have been focusing on educating customers about the value and benefits of booking direct on their websites. These companies have been investing in improving their websites and web value proposition to ensure hotels and customers understand and believe in the value of booking direct with them online.“
That sounds like a good strategy for entertainment as well, the event owner selling directly to consumers without the need for intermediaries. At the very least, the benefits of control over the service ‘promise’ made, the service delivered and the reduction of additional service fees and commissions all makes sense. As suggested, it is important to educate and inform customers and for the not for profit entertainment sector a major, related issue is transparency.
“… consumers are spending an increasing amount of time shopping and comparing hotel options online, often visiting between 8-15 different websites to make an informed decision.” Consumers are getting cleverer at comparing options and they are more and more skilled at accessing AND sharing information on options.
“While a hotel’s website continues to drive more and more bookings for hotels, it is important to recognise that different channels cater to different types of customers, and having an appropriately diversified and optimal mix will drive improved revenue and profit outcomes,”
Different strokes for different folks at different times and different situations.
Selling directly to customers is not the only option, but it looks like it increasingly must be one option and an important one at that.
22 March, 2012 at 1:19 pm Tim Roberts ARTS Australia Leave a comment
What do you reckon about the likely impact of these Marketing Trends on CRM in 2012?
Here are some more predictions of marketing trends that will impact CRM in 2012 according to Judith Aquino of CRM.COM in 5 Hot Marketing Trends (not surprisingly, mobile is at the top):
- Mobile Marketing
- QR Codes
- Voice Of Customer (VOC) Monitoring
- Social Media Marketing
- Video
Finally, she suggests an additional trend with the ‘news’ that Groupon and Daily Deals sites have fallen to earth and are no longer seen as the ‘answer’. Surely, you would have to suggest that they were only ever good for pissing of existing and loyal customers with unfocussed discounts in the guise of prospecting for new customers – BUT without gaining any personal details with which to build an ongoing relationship with those new prospects?
2 January, 2012 at 5:47 pm Tim Roberts ARTS Australia Leave a comment
More transparency added to unfair ADD ON FEES
Fee Transparency = “a compromise to freedom of speech“
Oh pullease … my ass
Add on fees for “convenience” et al are just that .. convenient ways to squeeze more out of the consumer.
Here is a good comparison of airlines and concert tickets. They are both interested in yield management and revenue maximisation, but responsible behaviour comes down to one thing: … TRANSPARENCY
The High Price of Add-on Online Fees
28 December, 2011 at 12:32 am Tim Roberts ARTS Australia Leave a comment
Isn’t it time you looked at integrating ticketing on Facebook?
Rob Martin, Digital Marketing Manager at The Lowry, Salford explains the implementation of Facebook ticketing at their venue as reported on the AMA COMMONS. Of note is the fact that at a cost of just £500 to integrate the new service, it paid for itself in the first month!
According to Rob “On average we sell around 50% of our tickets online, with the percentages rising for music and comedy.” Google Analytics revealed how important their Facebook page was for referring traffic, so logically they explored the option of selling tickets directly from Facebook.
“Live performances and ticket inventory taken from the Box office system into the … CMS now allows the website to share that information with Facebook users. The Facebook Events Page is a web application that … retrieves the current event information from the website via an exposed web service.“
Read more about the solution that paid for itself in a month: Lowry’s portrait of a Facebook ticketing operation
29 November, 2011 at 9:38 am Tim Roberts ARTS Australia 4 comments
Who are the Big 3 in the War in the cloud?
A quick primer to the main providers of CRM in the cloud and currently battling it out:
1. Microsoft Dynamics CRM
“If you are an Outlook shop, Microsoft Dynamics CRM is a no brainer. The application’s core offering is your standard fare CRM feature set, but it is adding social media functionality as fast as it can.“
2. Oracle Public Cloud
“brings its formidable database and business application bona fides — of which CRM is just one part — to the cloud.“
3. Salesforce.com
Just need someone to solve that issue of integrating external ticketing software/service transactions for those stuck in venues with exclsuive ticketing contracts …
17 November, 2011 at 12:04 pm Tim Roberts ARTS Australia Leave a comment
Do you know of any other successful integrations of CRM with ticketing solutions?
I was contacted by Lauren Carlson a CRM Analyst with Software Advice.
Lauren introduced me to a review she wrote on five CRM alternatives to consider other than Salesforce, namely:
- Microsoft Dynamics CRM
- NetSuite OneWorld CRM
- Oracle CRM On Demand
- Sage SalesLogix
- SugarCRM
The review is Salesforce Alternatives | 5 Cloud CRM Systems to Consider
I recommend having a browse, not because I have a problem with Salesforce. However, I do think that comparison is always useful, as is competition. I would also suggest that the needs of entertainment wrt CRM are specific and the major requirement that is not addressed by any of these is integration with transaction capability, such as ticketing, memberships or donations.
There is are only two such integrations I know of currently:
- Patron Manager is built on a Salesforce platform and incorporates a variety of transaction types (including: Ticketing, Subscriptions and Donations) within the web-based service developed by Patron technology in New York.
- Event2CRM is an integration of Microsoft Dynamics and Eventbrite online ticketing developed by CRM Innovation in Kansas.
Do you know of any other integrations of CRM with ticketing solutions? Let us know by all means by adding a comment to this blog.
There is a short common sense summary available from Software Advice: Ten Steps to Selecting the Right CRM Software that you can download after registering.
14 November, 2011 at 5:38 pm Tim Roberts ARTS Australia 6 comments
