What do you say to your valuable customers?

If you are an Amazon customer (& who isn't) you will undoubtedly have received regular emails from them saying something like 'We've noticed that customers who have purchased book X have also bought book Y. You can order yours for just £15......'

As someone who has been focused on helping companies to increase customer lifetime value for over 20 years, the linking of personalised emails with dynamic content based on an individuals buying / browsing behaviour is a great development. 

When done well it can also be very profitable. Firstly, you are talking to an existing customer. You are reminding them about a past purchase and suggesting something relevant that they might be interested in. You can monitor the results to see what worked and what didn't and incorporate the learning into future marketing activity.

It's not just for big companies

These Customer Lifetime Value strategies used to be something that only a relatively small number of big successful businesses could do because of cost & complexity. This is no longer the case. Many of the strategies can be applied to smaller businesses, especially those online. Email broadcasting solutions have also become much more affordable.

Not everyone gets it

A Mac is a great tool for designers but just because you have a Mac doesn't make you a designer. (I can vouch for this as I use a Mac but I am no designer.) 

My wife Julie, received a letter from a director of a company called The Shoe Tailor. Like Amazon it was personally addressed to her but it made a general offer (10% discount against any purchase in the latest catalogue) rather than a specific offer based on a past purchase. 

Their copy left a lot to be desired. It referred to '...Mrs Hawtin is one of our most valued customers.' Given Julie has only made one purchase from the company of less than £50 around 2 years ago, it lacks credibility to position her as 'one of our most valued customers.' She might be a valued customer, but most valued?

The letter also included an email purporting to be from the Customer Service Manager to the Director. Apart from highlighting Julie hadn't purchased for a while it says '...it seems a shame that Mrs Hawtin missed out on the recent offer of the free travel bag with the matching trolley bag for just £10. Did you see them? See attached image as a reminder.) Are we really supposed to believe that this was a genuine internal communication between Customer Service and the director?

The Amazon email is an example of a communication designed to be helpful, relevant and encourage a sale. For me, the crass copy in the Shoe Tailor example misses the mark.

What do you think?

Web marketing tips that any business (large or small) could apply to attract and retain new customers

• Capture customer behaviour data (visits / purchases) as part of your web marketing strategy to increase customer lifetime value
• Analyse the data to identify who to talk to, when to talk to them & what to say
• Automate the process and use letters or ideally emails to send an appropriate message based on your data analysis
• You have to do more than just say "Hello Peter" - Offer appropriate content based on their previous online behaviour
  
• Make sure the copy is appropriate for your brand but do not try to con or patronise your customers - they are not stupid
• If you are unsure how to do this, get a web marketing expert to help

Remember...web marketing is about solving customers' problems profitably.

Peter Hawtin is an internet marketing specialist with Brand New Way, a UK web marketing agency (based in Wiltshire & Bristol) which helps companies to attract and keep valuable customers online.

More about Christmas web sales

On the 10th January I wrote about record UK web shopping on Christmas Day.

As an update, (according to the Wired Blog Network), Apple's boss Steve Jobs announced at Macworld last week that they had sold 20 million songs on Christmas Day. The iPod is a great device with excellent software. But by selling content through iTunes, Apple get a continuous revenue stream 24*7, 365 days a year.

If you had just been given an iPod for Christmas, it is natural to you want to put some music or video or TV programmes on it. With the shops closed where else are you going to go?

Being digital, Apple have no production, warehousing or distribution costs and no stock write offs when they get it wrong. In a recent article Seth Godin explores digital pricing and wonders why many online retailers follow traditional retail price points.

Remember...web marketing is about solving customers' problems profitably.

Peter Hawtin is an internet marketing specialist with Brand New Way, a UK web marketing agency (based in Wiltshire & Bristol) which helps companies to attract and keep valuable customers online.

Does your web customer service walk the talk?

I have been a customer of Charles Schwab for many years. They were innovators in online share trading and were quick to develop a terrific user friendly website that has been very successful. 

When is comes to customers service they talk a great game. Earlier today, I logged on to their site and sent Customer Services a question. A little later I had an email response. It said

'Thank you for contacting Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. - where outstanding service is our goal every day. This is a confirmation notice that we are in receipt of your email. Your email is very important to us, and you should anticipate a reply within approximately two to three business days. We sincerely appreciate your business and look forward to serving you.'

Mind the gap!

It's great that Charles Schwab have a goal of 'outstanding service every day'. It's certainly better than having a goal of inferior service every day. I am delighted they consider my email important. 

I know I have high expectations but a response of two to three business days for a company operating in any business, yet alone online share trading, is far too long. It leaves a big gap between expectation and delivery.

A cunning plan

It may be part of a cunning plan, where the reference to 'two to three business days' might be intended to lower customer expectations for Schwab to then 'over deliver' by responding in one to two business days.

If so, it failed. In an earlier blog (When was the last time you delighted a customer?) I wrote how amazed I was when Amazon responded to my call back request  within 2 seconds. That's what I call great service and a great web marketing strategy.

Web marketing tips that any business (large or small) could apply to increase provide great customer service and customer lifetime value:-

• Don't imply you offer great service if it is well below the best in class. Consumers are not stupid

• Make it easy for customers to contact you when they have a problem - then you have a chance to fix it and keep their business as well as solve a problem that may be affecting many more customers who can't be bothered to contact you

• Make the website simple, fast and easy to use. Study your web metrics to find out what's working and what isn't.

 

Remember...web marketing is about solving customers' problems profitably.

Peter Hawtin is an internet marketing specialist with Brand New Way, a UK web marketing agency (based in Wiltshire & Bristol) which helps companies to attract and keep valuable customers online.

Do your website visitors leave too soon?

So, you have worked really hard to attract a targeted prospect to your site. Do they stop long enough or leave too soon?

Are you reviewing web metrics?

I am assuming that you know how long the average visitor stops on your site. However, based on conversations with many businesses I know that few actually review their website performance on a regular basis. This is one of the reasons I believe that 95% of business websites fail to deliver real value. If this applies to you, then one of the best tips you will get all year to improve your business performance is to set up key web metrics and a programme to review them on a regular basis. Read Is Measuring Marketing ROI A Key Part Of Your Web Marketing Strategy

It depends on site type and quality of content

Back to how long is long enough for a website visit?  One web metric is how long people stop on your site (Visit Duration) and this will depend on the type of site and the quality of content. If you are visiting a site to check the weather, you might only be there for 20 seconds. If you are planning to buy a new car then you might spend more than 20 minutes doing research and getting a detailed quote based on your specification.

How do you start?

A good start point is what do you want your targeted visitor to do on their first (and / or subsequent) visit? How long should this take? Let's assume that you have decided that a targeted 1st time visitor should easily complete the desired task in 5 minutes. 

Depending on which web metrics software you are using you should be able to establish the average visit duration. Make sure you split out the duration for 1st time visitors from regular visitors as the figures are likely to be different.

Averages hide the real picture

If I had one foot in a bucket of scalding water and the other foot in cold water, on average the temperature would be comfortable but it hides the real picture. It's useful to also look at visitors who leave really quickly as well as those who stop a long time. So if 50% of 1st time visitors leave in less than 60 seconds when you believe the average desired visit should be 5 minutes then this suggests either:-

• the content does not match the visitors expectation 
• you are attracting the wrong people to your site who leave immediately after they realise this (wrong keyword or ad copy)
• they don't know where to go because the site structure or navigation is confusing so they go somewhere else

Reviewing other web metrics will help identify which of the causes is most likely for your website.

Alternatively, if you have a content site and you make money from ad revenue you might want people to stop longer. Looking at more 'committed' visitors, say the share of visitors who stop over 20 minutes is something you would want to increase.

Either way you need to determine a guide time that works for your website and review performance on a regular basis to identify areas for improvement. Remember time is money!

Web marketing tips that any business (large or small) could apply to attract and retain valuable customers

• Make measuring marketing ROI a key part of your web marketing strategy

• Have a business objective for every marketing activity e.g. attract x target web visitors per week at less than £z per visitor or achieve p sales per week with an average revenue of £q at less than £r per visitor 

• Measure your web performance against your key objectives on a regular basis. The more you spend, the more frequently you should measure
  

• Identify what's working and what isn't

• Make improvements based on the learning

• Continue measuring & improving

• If it's too daunting for you or you need help then get a Web Marketing ROI expert to help

Remember...web marketing is about solving customers' problems profitably.

Peter Hawtin is an internet marketing specialist with Brand New Way, a UK web marketing agency (based in Wiltshire & Bristol) which helps companies to attract and keep valuable customers online.

Record UK web shopping on Christmas Day

What did you do on Christmas Day?

Open presents, eat and drink too much, go to a church service, argue with relatives, watch TV? Well according to latest research, around 4.4M people in the UK went shopping online, spending £84M which is up 269% compared with last Christmas. 

Most shopping occurred after 3pm with the busiest period between 8 and 10pm. Some retailers like Argos who usually start their store sales on Boxing Day, started their online sales one day earlier.

'e-camping'

A Dixons director talked about a new phenomenon called 'e-camping' where buyers mimiced traditional sales behaviour (of camping outside waiting for the store to open) by signing up for email alerts to secure products with limited supply like the Nintendo Wii. 

Is shopping online at Christmas antisocial?

I am sure that some people are desperate to get out on Boxing Day drive to their local shopping centre, then wait 30 minutes for a parking space, fight their way through a busy store, wait 10 minutes to find a member of staff, then wait 30 minutes more to find one who knows anything about the product, before joining a queue at the checkout. I guess there are some downsides too!

For me, spending 15 minutes online making the purchase is a lot less hassle.

However, when I worked with UK supermarket Asda, I was always struck how many Asda shoppers shopped every day. Listening to customer research groups, it wasn't necessarily because they needed to but because they wanted to. Many actually really enjoyed supermarket shopping. It was the highlight of their day. It was 'their time' and got them out of the house to meet other people and socialise. Some like looking for bargains and what is new.

It's not for everyone

As in all things people are different. Some will take advantage of the benefits that the internet brings. Others will not. That makes life varied and interesting especially for us web marketers.

Remember...web marketing is about solving customers' problems profitably.

Peter Hawtin is an internet marketing specialist with Brand New Way, a UK web marketing agency (based in Wiltshire & Bristol) which helps companies to attract and keep valuable customers online.

European Commission rules it is unlawful for Apple to charge more for iTunes in UK

Regular readers will know I am a big fan of all things Apple. I buy most of my music from iTunes which generally cost less than buying CDs. They always try very hard to entice me to buy more music and make it very easy and fast to make the purchase.

However. I was concerned to find out that UK buyers pay nearly 10% more for downloads than other European countries. According to Reuters, so were the European Commission who have just ruled that this is unlawful and prices should be the same throughout Europe. I'm not sure whether this means UK prices will drop or European prices will rise but I would be surprised if prices didn't fall to the lower level.

I am not an expert on legal and anti trust laws but if you offer an identical product or service to different consumers at different prices then in an online world, people are likely to find out quickly and ask why. A short term gain is likely to lead to long term pain.

If you are planning to sell to different segments at different prices then consumers need to accept that there are differences between the products or services you offer, otherwise they might think you are ripping them off.

Take cars. The VW group own the Volkswagen, Audi, Seat and Skoda brands. Cars from each brand share many components and offer similar levels of performance, safety and economy. However, the Audi version will cost significantly more than the Skoda but Audi drivers will not feel ripped off because they are buying more than the nuts and bolts: they are buying the Audi brand and how it makes them feel.

The difference with iTunes is a song downloaded in Germany is identical to the song downloaded in the UK and any difference in pricing is seen as being unjustified. 

Perhaps Apple should be offering some additional sample tracks in the UK to justify a different cost which would also probably lead to more sales and higher customer lifetime value as customers bought a 2nd download as a result of liking the samples.

What do you think? 

Remember...web marketing is about solving customers' problems profitably.

Peter Hawtin is an internet marketing specialist with Brand New Way, a UK web marketing agency (based in Wiltshire & Bristol) which helps companies to attract and keep valuable customers online.