Sometimes, the most obvious is the hardest to see... If you really want to know what people are interested in Ask...

1. Ask...

2. Sometimes, the most obvious is
the hardest to see...
If you really want to know
what people are interested in
Ask...

3. My mail...
• A gallup poll
in 1980
– Event looked most
forward to in you
daily life
63 % said getting
and reading the daily
mail

4. Junk mail
• 98% want more
control of their mail
• 94% say they get too
much unwanted mail
• 71% think the buying
and selling of consumer
data is unethical

5. 6
time
Response
Rates
Lower results
Volume
Of mail
more mail lower results ...
more mail lower results ………

6. A step back...
what is effective marketing ?
• The right product
• The right consumer
• at the right time
• But we focus all our
attention on the .5% that respond,
what about the other 99,5% ??!

7. 7
More and more
sophisticated data
Individual
Response graphics
Geo-demographics
Demographics
Lifestyle
Pyschographics
???
Sophistication
Individual

8. And none of
that is true...

9. “Problems cannot be solved by
thinking within the framework
in which the problems were
created...”
Albert Einstein

10. Using DM techniques
for lunch...
• RFM
– This is what you ordered
last time
– And this is how much
you ate...
• Analysis techniques
– Based on your weight,
height, social background
• You expect them to
ask, why don't you ?

11. Why ask?
• To know what your consumers want
– When you know, it is easier to
sell to them
• To learn more about what
they think of your services
• Consumers are more
different than the boxes
we put them in
• Consumers want you to ask

12. Targeting isn’t as simple
as it used to be…

13. Who to ask..
• Your clients
• Your ex-clients
• And your prospects…

14. Why aren’t more
companies asking…
• Pile ‘em high and cheap key to lower cost
per response
• It is easier to put consumers in groups
• I already run satisfaction/ dissatisfaction studies
• Addresses and consumer data
are seen as a cost, not an investment
• And many don’t believe it would work

15. 3 myths
• Most consumers won’t give marketers personal
information about themselves
• Even if they did, it would cost too much
• You can't believe what consumers say

16. Consumers like to
answer surveys
• Through multiple contacts we
are getting response rates
upwards of 33% on a 12 page
survey with over 2000 questions
• Client surveys work in lots of
categories (Response rates:
insurance: 15 %, Health, 30%...)

17. It doesn’t cost that much
• A 20% response
£ 2 per response
• Even less with
external companies
• More importantly,
what is the cost of
not doing it

18. Survey data is data you
can count on
• If consumers answer,
they want to tell you
something
• Tests on survey data
– 2 surveys 3 months apart
– 87% of the answers
were the same !

19. Integration of a database
loading program in your
marketing mix

20. Identify the questions to Ask
• Identify what you would like to
know
• Throw away half
• And focus on what you need to
know to market to consumers more
effectively

21. Really Ask
• Would you possibly consider changing
credit cards ?
– ❏ yes ❏ possibly
What happened to No ?
Ask in the way consumers talk

22. Include surveys in
your ongoing
communication
• Reader Digest Case
– A survey sent with
almost all bills since
1969
– 75 % of their
customers have
answered at least one
survey

23. Collect Data, in
your prospection
actions...
• Columbia House
example
– On order forms
– On the phone
– Whenever they can...

24. Don’t forget consumers
after they buy
• A nice warm and fuzzy communication
• Response rates up to 30% !
Traditional thinking
Level of
Consumer
Interest
Time
A decision to
Participate/purchase
The time to Ask
Reality

25. Run joint surveys with
consumer specialists
• Simplicity
• Lower cost
• Brand building
if done right

26. Invest in quality data
• There is a whole new generation of companies
focused on permission
marketing
• They offer an easy way to ask many of the
questions you should be asking

27. Case Story: Cardisense

28. Background
• A heart drug sold by Merell Dow
• About to lose patent protection
– Generics normally take 50 -70% of the market
• They decided their best hope was to
establish a real link with consumers

29. Action Plan
• Development of a general newsletter “Cardisense”
• A survey in each issue
• Creation of direct response to get names addresses
• A full-scale database loading program
– 3 survey waves with reminders
– Ongoing update surveys

30. Execution:
Intro Letter
• simple
• clear
• friendly

31. Execution:
Newsletter
• Consumer driven
content
• Benefits orientated
• Not just about selling
• Asks again and again for
consumers to react, tell..
• A survey in most issues

32. Execution:
Survey
• Low-tech
• Friendly
• Easy layout
• Interested in the
“whole” consumer

33. Results
• A 80% coverage of their user base (over
500,000 households )
• 10% have written spontaneous letters
• No loss in sales when their patent ran out

34. If you want better results,
all you need to do is Ask
• It is the only way to really know what people
are interested in
• It is an easy way to develop better
consumer relationships
• Stop promoting to profiles and list segments,
promote to people
• Learn more profit more..

35. ideas are not the key to
success, action is…
some things are self evident…
it makes sense to ask,
don’t be the last one in
your market…

36. Now it’s your
turn to
Ask..