Reward loyalty by badges, not points.
- or -
Points are only one measure of loyalty.
The main problem with points is that they eliminate the ability to view and therefore engage different types of people different ways. Points can only be plotted on a single dimension, a line. Marketing personas allow for a multi-dimensional analysis to resolve into distinct clusters and each cluster may have different defining types of data. Why not also have a multi-dimensional view of loyalty: Loyalty Personas?
New data types are being added to CRM databases. Beyond social behavior there are also conversational and relationship data. These new data types should be presented with their unique analytics types, not reduced to only points. A conversational view of an individual should look different then a behavioral view. Reducing each one of these to points wipes out the ability for customer service to understand that the person they are helping is willing to post a negative review, their ability to take the review viral, and reduces the effect of the question, "if you are now satisfied will you make a post about this experience?"
A more sophisticated system would use a badges rather then points. Badges provide both a means to measure to the brand and an opportunity to provide appropriate goals to the customer. Loyalty Personas would be created from clusters of badges.
The goals of a brand are many and varied. Obviously there would be a badge for the top buyers of a brand’s products. There could also be badges for the top viral distributors of brand content, top contributors to charities supported by the brand, and top participants in new product creation. There could be bronze, silver, and gold levels for each badge. Platinum would not just be the top buyer, but also the most effective brand advocates.
Rather then attempting to reduce all data into a single type with a single measurement, badges allow for compiled measurement of data types and analytics techniques. If the buying cycle is no longer a funnel, then neither should be the loyalty program. People can be in various states and moving in various directions. Badges allow for analysis of this to be conducted from the original data rather then from an abstraction with reduced meaning.
The goal of Loyalty Pesonas is to recognize great customers whether they buy a lot or not. When a customer needs help or earns a reward, they would be recognized by their Loyalty Persona and served appropriately. Great customers would be recognized as those with the highest badge levels rather then simply to top point earner. Brands would have reasons to sustain contact with the customer. Customers would have the ability to earn recognition through more means then only their raw spending power.
Monday, January 24, 2011
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Nature and Nurture
Everyone has nature and engages in nurturing.
Traditional CRM attempts to crunch all data into the form of individual characteristics, i.e.translating all data into a descriptions of individual nature. Effectively, this meant behaviors, e.g. purchase and web analytics, were converted to attributes.
With social networking coming to the fore, there are two new types of data available: relationships and conversations. CRM practitioners should resist the temptation to crunch these new types of data into individual characteristics. Rather, they should find the means to analyze these sources in their native forms. Use conversations to predict conversations to recruit the right conversationalists into the brand’s fold. Use relationships to predict relationships to establish new relationships with the brand.
Similarily, start analyzing behaviors using behavioral analytics.
An object in motion stays in motion. A change in characteristics implies influence by another. Beyond using native techniques for each type of data to analyze that data type, CRM practitioners should also be analyzing data in each type to infer data in the other types. A change in behavior may imply a conversation occurred.
Everyone has nature and engages in nurturing. Social CRM practitioners should embrace analyzing nurturing data in its native form and should be analyzing all data sources to derive nurturing data from other types. This way, they will optimize their opportunities to sustain the relationship between people and their brand.
Traditional CRM attempts to crunch all data into the form of individual characteristics, i.e.translating all data into a descriptions of individual nature. Effectively, this meant behaviors, e.g. purchase and web analytics, were converted to attributes.
With social networking coming to the fore, there are two new types of data available: relationships and conversations. CRM practitioners should resist the temptation to crunch these new types of data into individual characteristics. Rather, they should find the means to analyze these sources in their native forms. Use conversations to predict conversations to recruit the right conversationalists into the brand’s fold. Use relationships to predict relationships to establish new relationships with the brand.
Similarily, start analyzing behaviors using behavioral analytics.
An object in motion stays in motion. A change in characteristics implies influence by another. Beyond using native techniques for each type of data to analyze that data type, CRM practitioners should also be analyzing data in each type to infer data in the other types. A change in behavior may imply a conversation occurred.
Everyone has nature and engages in nurturing. Social CRM practitioners should embrace analyzing nurturing data in its native form and should be analyzing all data sources to derive nurturing data from other types. This way, they will optimize their opportunities to sustain the relationship between people and their brand.
Saturday, January 15, 2011
Venn and the Art of Persona Management
People measure the value of a product they acquire over their life with that product. Service after the sale is one way a brand maintains a relationship with the customer during this whole time, but this only occurs on initiation by the customer. Social also gives a brand an opportunity to maintain a relationship during this whole time by providing a means for the brand to monitor and initiate a conversation.. For a brand to respectfully initiate a conversion, it needs information that people would not normally provide to marketers.
Social media, customer service, and other sources are making more information available to CRM databases. Additonally and through newer technology, data is being added to CRM databases based on analysis of unstructured text sources. Should all this data become immediately available to the marketing team?
A history of negative exploitation of personal data has created a social phenomenon resolving into a concern for privacy. This is especially true in marketing where there are laws against invasive marketing tactics e.g. CAN_SPAM and Article 29. The practice of permission marketing has long attempted to provide a means for people to control what information is available to marketers and what means of communications are acceptable. With social, this is evolving into trust-based marketing.
When a person reveals a portion of their totality to another, they are revealing a persona. A great way to perceive an individual’s set of personas is through Venn diagrams. I have a working persona and a family persona. My skill as a chef applies mostly to my family persona, but occasionally to my work persona when we have pot-lucks. I may share with customer service that they have terrible zippers on a new jacket, but I can live with that until the jacket wears out and before considering buying a replacement, I would want to know that the new zipper is better. I would not want marketing to immediately start peppering me with ads for a new coat.
(side bar: interesting use of Venn and persona)
The current practice of CRM database marketing is to exploit all available information on a person and to make this information available to all groups. Customer service, sales, marketing product development, and loyalty all have a need for some of the data, but all desire all of the data, but only some have earned permission or trust to use the data. If a company allows access to all this data to every group within the company, they may violate the norms of permission and trust-based marketing. Marketers need to earn not just permission but also trust in order to utilize additional information about their customers. The more someone trusts another, the more information they will share. Customers will be quicker to trust a brand if every contact with the brand follows sustainable marketing techniques. A cross functional team comprised of the groups above is the ideal mechanism to ensure sustainable social interactions based on gaining trust of their customers. By participating in this team, Marketers will also earn this trust.
Information is information. The CRM analyst should be free to invent new ways to analyze the information using all sources but not be the decision maker of its use. The goal of persona management within CRM should be to only reveal internally the information the customer would want revealed. The arbiter of use should be a cross functional team that manages social for the company. The tool to visualize these choices is Venn.
Social media, customer service, and other sources are making more information available to CRM databases. Additonally and through newer technology, data is being added to CRM databases based on analysis of unstructured text sources. Should all this data become immediately available to the marketing team?
A history of negative exploitation of personal data has created a social phenomenon resolving into a concern for privacy. This is especially true in marketing where there are laws against invasive marketing tactics e.g. CAN_SPAM and Article 29. The practice of permission marketing has long attempted to provide a means for people to control what information is available to marketers and what means of communications are acceptable. With social, this is evolving into trust-based marketing.
When a person reveals a portion of their totality to another, they are revealing a persona. A great way to perceive an individual’s set of personas is through Venn diagrams. I have a working persona and a family persona. My skill as a chef applies mostly to my family persona, but occasionally to my work persona when we have pot-lucks. I may share with customer service that they have terrible zippers on a new jacket, but I can live with that until the jacket wears out and before considering buying a replacement, I would want to know that the new zipper is better. I would not want marketing to immediately start peppering me with ads for a new coat.
(side bar: interesting use of Venn and persona)
The current practice of CRM database marketing is to exploit all available information on a person and to make this information available to all groups. Customer service, sales, marketing product development, and loyalty all have a need for some of the data, but all desire all of the data, but only some have earned permission or trust to use the data. If a company allows access to all this data to every group within the company, they may violate the norms of permission and trust-based marketing. Marketers need to earn not just permission but also trust in order to utilize additional information about their customers. The more someone trusts another, the more information they will share. Customers will be quicker to trust a brand if every contact with the brand follows sustainable marketing techniques. A cross functional team comprised of the groups above is the ideal mechanism to ensure sustainable social interactions based on gaining trust of their customers. By participating in this team, Marketers will also earn this trust.
Information is information. The CRM analyst should be free to invent new ways to analyze the information using all sources but not be the decision maker of its use. The goal of persona management within CRM should be to only reveal internally the information the customer would want revealed. The arbiter of use should be a cross functional team that manages social for the company. The tool to visualize these choices is Venn.
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