Good Customer service - Do or Die?

In my previous roles, I used to handle a bit of Delivery management. Of course, I know all about projects not being completed on time and the unpleasant situation of handling the customer. They should have given me an Oscar for the reasons I came up with!

On a serious note, what is good customer service? Does it mean you need to deliver 100%, all the time? Does it mean even if a few people get killed, thanks to your unrealistic schedules, you got to deliver? Of course, all the textbooks on delivery emphasize so, they even talk about under-committing and over-delivering.

While there cannot be compromise possibly on deliveries, some studies tell us over 60% of the projects are never completed on time. 60%?? Wow! So does that mean all companies, big or small, go through bad delivery days? Y-e-s! Does this mean, all companies, whether they adopt CMM/PCMM/Prince/PMP methodologies have skipped deadlines? You bet!

So, how does, one really handle this? As I was waiting for my MRT here in Singapore, this poster caught my eye:

Neat information!

What this sign tells us may be true for managing our customers too:

a) While this is certainly an inconvenience for passengers (even more so in peak times), the sign clearly manages our expectations. We got to do the same with customers!

b) It manages expectations, in advance, not AFTER the train arrives and we realize this is not a good way to board the train.

c) Customers (in this case, the general public) do not expect 100% adherence (not all the time), they just want to be warned to enable them to plan their lives!

Good delivery/customer service is not just about doing a darn good job of delivering on the committed dates. 

Good service sometimes translates to ensuring your customers know what is coming up and what is not!

It helps them plan their schedules, their lives, their stakeholders better. Infact, customers almost expect delays to happen - they don't want it all, they just want us to tell them in a timely manner so as to make changes to their plans.

Of course, this does not mean we start delaying projects with post-it notes. This only means, in those inevitable delay phases, it is important to prepare customers, give them time to react and offer a plan B.

What are your thoughts?

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!

Web + Campaigns + EBM = $$

I was browsing through Amazon.com the other day, browsing through its various titles, not looking for any one book in particular (though I have been wanting to read Daughters of Arabia ever since I read Desert Royal)

After some 5-10 minutes of general browsing, I switched over to other websites and abandoned the Amazon session. This set me thinking - what if my web Analytics and my Campaign management solution in the back-end exchanged information with each other on my activities on the website?

An intelligent integration of Event-Based Management solution, Campaign management solution and Web Analytics solution can do wonders if done well - I could have got an email from Amazon with a discount on Daughters of Arabia - now, that could have converted me from a casual browser to an actual customer! Ah! Nothing succeeds like success!

Do think about this while I try to check with my local library for a copy!

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.

Event-Based Marketing...

What is Event-Based Marketing and how does this differ from traditional Marketing? The write-up below tries to describe EBM and why it can be successful.

Traditional Marketing uses (typically) predictive models that tells us which are the customers that are likely to respond given the offers we have on hand. The predictive model scores the customers (usually, on a sample data set and this is applied on the universe) for further marketing. The flip side (to the traditional approach) is that its still a bet, albeit, a calculated one and it does work well, but many times it tends to go wrong as well. Cut.

Enter EBM, the (old) new kid on the block. EBM is not "likely" marketing or about marketing the offer you have on hand (whether the customer is interested or not), EBM is about watching the customer closely (tracking her transactions) and set up sensible workflows that capture certain events (which are of marketing significance to you) and immediately (well, almost) reach out to her with an offer. The chances of the customer reacting to your offer is higher since the offer is made because the customer has made a certain transaction - no statistical probability here, no predictive models here, no neural networks here. Pureplay transaction-based marketing.

The good thing about EBM is it works! We recently helped a customer design/run some complex transaction workflows and our customers have been pleased with the results they have seen. It works!

If you would like some help with designing Event-Based Marketing programs, do not hesistate to email.

Happy Marketing!