How can brands deepen customer loyalty?

When I was growing up, I had some great friends. Highly accomplished and smarter than I. So much so that I was seen as the "guy from outside", not one of them (in some places, at least).

Then, I did something. A little something without forethought that eternally made me a household name (at least, in one friend's case). This single act would contribute to my well-being in their home. :)

Back then, most of my friends were applying to Grad schools in the US for their higher studies.

One particular friend of mine, let's name him Jim, was also going to the US for higher studies. As was the procedure back then in the city I came from, visa applicants to the US had to queue up outside the consulate in unearthly hours, in some cases, this could be as early as 2 AM, on the roads. A rather weird system of first come, first served existed to even apply (this was before the advent of Online booking clearly) for the US visas.

Jim was almost apologetic as he looked at me - It was best done if someone could take turns in the queue (it was almost inhuman for 1 person to stand for more than 10 hours and you lost your place if you venture out for a break!).

I offered to go in early morning. So I found myself standing outside the consulate on a chilly morning at about 4 AM with hundreds of others as well.

That was it - This single act of "kindness" was all it took for my friend, his brother, his aged mom and dad to look at me as lovingly as one of their own!

So much so that my friend insisted that I stay with him many years later when I visited the US and ensured I was comfortable.

If there is a lesson for brands from real life, then here it is. If Brands can act as good samaritans for consumers, if brands can put their neck on the block, if they can do "good" deeds for their customers. They have already won half the battle. They have captured not just "share-of-wallet", they have captured "share-of -heart". 

And I am not talking about the fancy title of "CSR" here. I am not talking about charity drives and donation camps conducted by companies. I am not talking about raising funds for Cancer awareness. While these are noble initiatives definitely, I am talking about essential marketing by companies. 

Every single Marketing campaign, Every single promotion released, every single ad released on print, Every single communication out to consumers need to carry this spirit of do-good. Recognize the human at the other end. Keep his end benefits in mind. Act Responsible.

From Marketing to humans, move to Marketing is human.

Everyone loves a Cornetto!

Now, I am sure all of us have eaten a Cornetto at some time or the other. Ah! the pleasure of biting into the Cornetto! Are you surprised to know that it has been around since the '60's according to this article (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cornetto_(ice_cream))?

If by now, you have not already started drooling over this as I have, here is some more temptation for you:

Aha! Now, try resisting this! :-)

Hold on, this is not a blog about Cornetto itself or ice creams or chocolates (sigh! how I wish it was!) itself, this is a blog about Marketing/Analytics.

Have you ever wondered what makes the Cornetto a favorite ice cream for many of us? I mean, sure there are a dozen ice creams out there and newer and better ones at that, but the Cornetto does seem to hold a small, special place..I will tell you what my top reason for loving the Cornetto is (and I am sure I will hear a few dozen yes's to this) - 

a) It looks yummy for starters
b) The first bite is full of Ice cream and nuts and your chosen flavour

And you go wow, that was sure nice but then the follow-through experience is even more yummy, ain't it? Once you bite through the ice cream, the chocolate! Yes!!! the chocolate is hidden and comes as a slurrp-pleasant surprise! You just want more of it! 

But wait, it isn't over yet - 

The very last bite of the waffle cone - again, there is just that last bit of chocolate that makes you go wow! 

A complete "I-Scream" experience, if there is one!

Good Marketing is just this - if you are able to deliver a Cornetto experience to your customers/TA/Segment, you are probably doing it right. 

The first look, the first bite, the follow-through and the climax - if we are able to package all these elements well in our offers to customers, we will hit bullseye sooner or later.

Unfortunately, for many brands, if the eDMs are fantastic, the follow-through customer experience is not just that great (coupled with the fact that we are talking channel-agnostic experience), if our follow-through experience is just great, our last-mile execution and actual delivery to the customer sucks.

If you have had such great experiences with brands, kindly leave a note. Happy to note your comments and eat my Cornetto too!

Just one Cornetto,

give it to me,

delicious ice-cream, of Italy,

creamy vanilla and choco dream,

Give me a Cornetto,

from Wall's ice cream.

Cornetto, anyone?

Cheers!

How Agile can Analytics be?

As many practitioners and Project Managers know, managing SDLC projects has its own nuances - and typically, there are some proven (?) methods of managing large accounts - waterfall and other such methods. However, What we do here is to see how to successfully incorporate Agile practices in managing Analytics assignments. From my experience in both managing web-based applications and Analytics assignments, Analytics is not as "malleable" to following a set of SDLC process. I would love to hear thoughts from enthusiasts on what their experiences are in this. What process do they follow? What has proven successful?

Long Long (Xer)Ago...

We are in the field of customer value maximization. I am not sure if this was by design or by chance, but we seem to be rather well-placed as a hybrid model between an ad agency (though we dont deal with print or TV media), an Analytics consulting company, A technology player and a Process enhancer - We cater to most of our clients needs across these 4 pillars of our company. In short, any marketing initiatives that can be measured is where our capabilities are. We either architect such programs (online brand strategy, usability, building customer segments, CRM roadmaps and so on) or take up currently running programs and help customers derive greater value. While one team is busy designing that awesome creative (incidentally, one of our creatives got short-listed for awards last year), another team is busy help a customer increase sales through his portal, while yet another team is working on building strategic segments of customers.

sample this: http://demo.xerago.com/eps/Portfolio/portfolio/index.htm

Boy, do we live in interesting times!

Value for money!

As we know, most of todays businesses has been hit by the recession (with the exception of pharma, Food industry and a few others). Given the state of affairs, is there even a need to invest on something as (abstract?) as Analytics? The point is yes - it makes more sense to invest on Analytics today rather than in any other time in the past or future. This is because our marketing spends have tightened, we do not want to over-contact customers and end up hurting them, we do not want to contact those customers that would never react to our offers, we do not want to send out fancy, expensive brochures to all and sundry.

The old adage "A penny saved is a penny earned" holds good today more than ever before and Analytics helps us do just that - we can build recession-based models that tell you what kind of books are to be displayed on your shelves to what food can you serve on your airline.

Careful investment on Analytics can prove beneficial to your business (and no matter which business you drive, there is always room for Analytics) and can help take informed decisions on which customers to contact, what to offer them and improve your share-of-wallet overall.