It’s not often that I direct you to another site for more than a moment, but this one is worthy of bookmarking, my dears. We all wrestle with how to measure the new online environment and this one captures advances we should all be watching. Yes, it’s from Forrester. http://blogs.forrester.com/marketing/ The posts are informative and applicable – in an area where those of us in CRM all seem to need a bit of education because the space is changing so rapidly. New tools come up regularly and it’s hard to understand web analytics. I am especially fond of the posts on attribute modeling and management. So, please,check it out.
Also, Booz Allen’s strategy and business magazine, long one of my favorite places for insightful and interesting thinking just released an article that comes near and dear to my heart – the fact that the old ways of segmentation are dead, or at least dying. Please check out this on self segmentation, nice work. IBM of course, has lot of great new tools and techniques arriving daily and I will share some of those as they become more public over the next few weeks. Until then, try to digest some of these as you add new arrows to your quiver.
-c-
Cristene Gonzalez-Wertz
#IBMCRM
Peter Sullivan/Australia/IBM@IBMAU, Cristene Gonzalez-wertz/Philadelphia/IBM@IBMUS
So, I am not, I admit it, a last minute holiday shopper. This is generally a boon for those who I do buy for, because I end up being drawn to the mall like a moth to a flame and get more stuff at the end after I had technically completed my list. So, I have started my shopping and am about halfway through it. However, I wanted to make it clear that I am saving money – and helping everyone I know to save money on what we purchase this year.
And what I do with that money is either adopt kids from the Angel tree at work to buy gifts for them or donate it to Philabundance to provide Thanksgiving dinner.
I bet I can save you at least $25 with these simple reminders, and more likely, about $50-60. Given that eMarketer reported that Harris Interactive and ING Direct survey found 54% of people were looking to spend over $300, that’s between 10 and 20%. Why not save a little while spending a little? So, here is what I am proposing. If one of these ideas can find you some extra savings, can you put a little bit of that into some charity bin, box or cup to share it? Sure it’s a little extra work,but it’s worth it! You’ll feel good, they’ll feel good. That’s what this is all about.
Here are some ways to do it:
1. Go online and search for retailer coupons at the places you intend to shop. This is often not on the retailers site. If you want to purchase from Target, go search on Target coupons. You might find free shipping, you might find 15% off, or a save $25 on a $150 purchase. (Such as I did today with Neiman Marcus, The Artful Home and Garnet Hill, respectively).
2. Keep checking on the aggregators – these people are wonderful – Gilt.com, RueLaLa.com, Ideeli.com, Hautelook.com. Be sure to examine the return policies though. Since these are limited runs, very often you need to ensure you or your “giftee” will love it. Sometimes these guys will tell you that you need to be invited. Just search on invites for the same company – generally it works. If push comes to shove, ask me and I will refer you to the list. (Please note, there is an incentive paid to the person who adds you, thus my adding you earns me some reward. I just wanted to disclose this…)
3. Do not be afraid to CALL for free shipping or offers – even if you missed one or have one that recently expired. J. Crew, Talbots, GAP brands…what harm is there in asking?
4. Keep track of prices of what you purchased – and don’t be afraid to go get the difference if that item goes on sale. It’s your money.
5. Put things on your wish lists. Lots of companies are putting out offers for what is on your wish list. This works especially well for the over $50 items. Include the sutff you want and the stuff others want…no one asks you to specify whose wish list it’s on.
6. Next, and this is a marketing no-no, but this is for you as consumers, not you as marketers – be willing to abandon your shopping cart. Why? Some retailers are following up abandoned carts with 10 or 15%. It’s worth a shot and the prevalence of retained carts is becoming sufficient that it makes sense to try it. One word of note, though, don’t try this with the aggregators listed above – you get 10 to15 minutes and then the item can be lost for good.
7. Also, many retailers are following up with follow on offers for repeat purchases. So, if the shipping is free or relatively inexpensive, it may be worthwhile to create one order and see if you can get savings on the second one – this works with Bath and Body Works and Overstock.com.
8. Overstock.com is 2.95 in shipping everyday. Bluefly is flat rate 7.95. These people get the fact that shipping shouldn’t be a profit center. If you are annoyed as I am about overpriced shipping, start at this link, where you can find lists of free shipping across the greater web world.
There you have it – a few quick tips. You can save time, or save money, or save a little bit of both…but be sure to share the wealth a little with those less fortunate as we head into the holidays. It’s been a tough year, but we can find some things to grateful for, no?
These guys are just "howl at the moon" hot! The power of wolves
So, where exactly did my week in Australia go? Despite the inability to see any native creatures (except two very fine gentlemen wearing the cult-fave, female-swoon-inducing three wolf moon t-shirts and the review that started sales phenom), we had a very successful week, mostly visiting with Financial Services clients looking to create better and more solid relationships with consumers.
Recaps for the more serious among us:
Since I used her in just about every demonstration of Strategic Service, I want you know that my niece Jessica is a real person. She really does have the challenges I described in trying to figure out where her paycheck goes and how to make it go further. There is not a bank that could “sell” a service that helps her do that (not legally at least). However a bank that could help her solve this would have her loyalty. This, at its heart, is Strategic Service Delivery. It takes the power of the data a bank possesses and uses it for its customer’s good. Similarly, what if a financial services provider can tell you, based on how much you want to pay for insurance, what that decision means? In other words, where does a low price leave you under-covered? Where does it place the most risk? How can “esoteric” or complex financial and insurance topics be made real for someone? Don’t just tell me that “for the price of a latte…” I could do something different. Use the power of the data – expressed as visual content to help me make more informed decisions. Jon Stone, Keith Swanson and I are going to work on creating some powerful visuals for this during my next trip.
I was lucky enough to meet with a group of bank executives who really do want to create the future of banking – and financial solutions. National Australia Bank was not only kind in sharing their time and insight, but their viewpoints. They understand how cool the future of banking could be. They also understand their challenges and those of the industry in getting there. Still and all, I look forward to watching the forward progress I know they will make. Rob, Mark and Alistair – I thank you for continuing to inspire me.
Keith Swanson developed an affection for a statement I use a lot in my presentations, so I built him a graphical treatment for it. 
Speaking of the power of content…video, video, video for retailers. Well, video can benefit everyone but it can especially benefit retailers who have been slow to adopt in the Australia market. With so many goods being shipped onto the continent, Australia can no longer view itself in an insular fashion. Ask yourself – why are there 100’s of shows that depict how to style, remodel, and transform your home, your garden, yourself? People enjoy seeing it as it happens. People like before and afters – they get it. Show someone how to use your product and it will do more for you than the text paragraph ever could.
I used ano
ther set of numbers to make the point about the rapid escalation of technology and adoption, and I know I hve mentioned them before. This time all I did was make a slide to support them. Here it is. The sources are: the Apple Blog, the Facebook Blog and the Twitter Blog. As well as Wired Magazine and TechCrunch. I think these numbers are extremely powerful. As I write this, I am in one of the countries with the fastest growing adoption of Facebook (percentage wise), Kuala Lumpur. So much so, that everytime I log into Facebook there is a recruitment message for translations. One of the other things about this trip – it continues to remind me of how large and varied the world is.
I offer my sincerest thanks to IBM CRM BAO Leader Rod Bryan for hosting me, to Jodi Weightman for flawlessly coordinating and executing my classes and scheduling. To Jon Stone, colleague and friend, cheerleader and bag carrier and fellow social media expert. To Scott and Keith for knowledge, guidance and the patience of saints. 
Here are some of the pictures I snapped on a magnificent Friday evening with a few members of the team over a glass of wine.
My IBM Institute for Business Value colleague, Guy Blissett, just released a new consumer products study I find myself referencing quite a bit (including in my own research for CRM, The Path Forward). I thought you might find it helpful to know more about it.
For those who are not familiar with Guy’s work, let me introduce him… Guy has 10+ years of experience consulting to the consumer products industry working with some of the leading global firms on issues such as market-entry strategy, new product development, and customer management. He currently develops IBM’s point of view on the industry future, identifying implications of trends and recommending responses to both existing and emerging issues.
In a recent survey of 4,000 consumers across the US, he found that consumer behavior is in fact fundamentally changed (echoing the reference we used in the study from the Economist). While Guy presents his findings in terms of Consumer Products, the consumer he writes about is the same consumer we will see across industries. We presented a similar finding in the 2009 CRM Leaders Research “ The Path Forward.” The consumer of today and tomorrow – at least through 2012 – demonstrates greater restraint, focuses on stability and demands value. In a few words, the primary shift is from “want” to “need” and from “price” to “value.”
Price versus Value
It’s not a secret that the consumer feels these are very uncertain times, with declining home values, less job security, worries about affording and preserving one’s health, the challenging economy and even terrorism.
Guy offers some prescriptive advice for companies looking to strengthen existing relationships and create new ones:
| Position | Focal Area |
| Warm & Fuzzy | Identify areas of positive emotional attachment, small moments of joy and delight |
| Simpler times | Stress that a reduced complexity for life has its own rewards- less stuff equals more ability to enjoy |
| Home cooked meals | Enable the satisfaction of creating something good that can be enjoyed |
| Clean home | Present the clean and well-ordered home as welcoming and warm, even if the world is not right now |
| Freshness | Address the seasonal goodness and availability of items; limited availability drives today’s enjoyment |
With 68% of respondents saying nutrition is the most important consideration when food shopping, it’s important to put these concepts in context. Thus, a healthy meal, with five ingredients that can be prepared in 30 minutes in one pot using local produce is likely to win out over convenience and pre-packed offerings that might cost more. This correlates with Guy’s finding that 45% purchasing less prepared foods, and 29% are purchasing less pre-packaged foods.
(Recipe sites and broad social networks are likely to see traction here – as people seek to connect to new ideas and other people’s coping advice. Are these parts of your strategy? Are you focused on the consumer needs as the primary area of interest?)
Guy’s research here shows an interesting need among those consumers making less than $20,000. The wants of lower income consumers around nutrition are offset by a need to feel satisfied. As such, 45% of those making less than $20K want foods that keep them full longer.
New consumer strategies are emerging on how they spend their money. They are looking for value and shopping differently. As we saw in the 2009 CRM Leaders research, Guy’s consumer product research shows a new reliance on reducing spend in some areas and at some stores and using mobile coupons and leveraging online communities. They are very consciously allocating their spend across different stores.
Changed Behaviors
Consumers are reducing spend in some areas, and increasing them in others… putting more thought into brands they purchase and the type of products they need. This was certainly true in Health and Beauty – where 34% choosing less expensive brands of health and beauty products rather than forgoing… i.e., giving them up entirely. (See prior posts on trading down behavior in HBA and loyalty)
That being said – when consumers want to spend, the top splurge item not on their grocery list is dessert foods, echoing the warm and fuzzy aspects of enjoyment.
Guy also notes that the one place they are not willing to trade down and cut back for on spending is for their children. It’s better to sacrifice more on the adult side to leave room for children’s favorites.
Last, the behavioral shifts we have seen over past 18-24 months are likely to stick as economy improves. As we indicated in the Path Forward, New Models for Customer Focused Leadership, consumers are fundamentally changed. Guy’s research findings lend credence to ours. He indicates that approximately half of those consumers who changed their shopping behaviors as a result of the economy will retain those new behaviors as the economy improves.
My friend and IBM colleague, Adam Cutler keeps the following quote near his desk and it applies in light of Guy’s findings:
Change versus Irrelevance
More on Guy’s Consumer Products research here
More on Cristene’s CRM Leaders research here
In keeping with our series of posts and visuals on the top 50 websites (see prior versions for August and June), here is the October picture, created this afternoon in Korea while I work from an ugly tiny hotel room in Suwon. So, there are only a few change-ups in the top 50. Facebook and Yahoo swapped places. As did Baidu and Yahoo Japan. Same for Twitter and Google Germany. Linkedin.com breaks into the top 50, and the BBC remains the only true news outlet in the top 50 – way to go BBC! Ask.com exits the 50 (it fell one spot – ah the agony of it!) and one adult site swaps in for another near the bottom of the 50 – still and all, it goes to show that our priorities as an internet user population are thankfully elsewhere. As always, the data comes from Alexa.com, which they compile daily.
also available at wordle.com
And the round up for companies I think are interesting and where they finished this month:
Apple, Adobe and ESPN are 58, 60 and 59. CNET was 70. Mashable – 443 (I think I will start the campaign to move mashable up – it needs more love for the fantastic info it provides). Google Russia – 76 – that is an AMAZING number. Zynga, which is social gaming, was 61. This is interesting because we obviously prefer social gaming to news – where the New York Times came in at 98, the Guardian UK at 248. At least they both beat Reuters – at 250. The weather from weather.com was 112.
Samsung was 735, Sony at 1243, Nokia at 2398 and Panasonic at 3029…
And on the social side, J-date was 6,947 th, against match.com at 406 and Plenty of Fish at 339. The people of massive profiles, eHarmony, found themselves at 1,236.
The Banks…with the exception of behemoth Bank of America – at 198, most were into the 1000’s except ICICI Bank of India was squarely in 610. But Deutschebank 1066, Commonwealth Bank (Australia) 1405 and Isbank at 2558. Rabobank was 2019. (As a B-of-A customer, there is nothing about their online approach that makes them unique different or engaging…it’s volumetrics there. It would be nice if they did offer more, God only knows they could. )
So, net net – even with a global financial crisis still going on, what do we see: people want to connect to people and finding stuff (as in Googling) is more important than the news. Details on things like the latest big screen TV are more important than the real-world news, which is more important than dating. Finally, after having a date, you want to check your bank balance…
…the next time we do this, it will be the holidays…and we will be focused on retailers…
take care. share the love with your comments.
Cristene Gonzalez-Wertz
#IBMCRM
Finally! Here is the downloadable version of the whitepaper. Enjoy – and please let me know what you think. -c-
Cristene Gonzalez-Wertz
#IBMCRM
So, I received printed versions of the first of the five whitepapers in our 2009 CRM Leadership Study, The Path Forward: New Models for Customer Focused Leadership. I am really excited about it.
The first paper is what we have termed the Umbrella – the one that introduces you to all the concepts so that we can deep dive on respective topics in the subsequent four, which all launch on November 11, God willing. At least now that we have the approach settled upon and the tenor and demeanour, things can move more quickly.
I left you with a flavor for what was in the study last time. So let me pick up there.
As businesses take the first tentative steps forward after the recent global economic pressures, it is time for marketing, sales and service executives to confront the undeniable market forces exposed by the downturn. Consumers are fundamentally changed, the world is increasingly digital and business models are challenged to be viable. As CRM professionals seek to develop new paths forward, they must quickly focus on developing customer insight and digital channels leadership that will allow them to transform customer experience, open new markets and reduce organizational complexity.
As we said when I started this dialogue a few weeks ago, The Path Forward reveals that 80 percent of global CRM leaders believe they are prepared to handle the demands of the current economic environment. And while there is a lingering doubt about the economy, most expect recovery to begin no later than mid-to-late 2010. However, this desire to continue our worries about the economy will likely to impact business decisions and results for the foreseeable future.
The depth of the recession and the likely-to-linger residual effects leave behind significant questions about the viability of old ways of doing business. For example, are the tried and true business models – those that created the economic boom of the early part of this decade – still valid? If you read the last post, you know the answer is No, the old business approaches will not resolve the problems of today and tomorrow. They do not reflect the way consumers want to engage with businesses. Businesses also find themselves challenged to have the data when and in the format they need to create strategic insights that drive real growth.
Our observation across multiple industries and geographies shows new market forces that are emerging will likely drive a major transformation of business models and customer engagement functions over the next few years. Customer interactions will have to be reshaped to address the changing dynamics of how people make purchasing decisions and engage with companies. They won’t be buying products – they will be selecting among solutions that work, which CONTAIN a product. If you are still selling products, you may just find your revenue growth constrained.
At the forefront of change is the digital information explosion. Consider, for example, that more data will be created in 2009 than in the past 5,000 years combined. This lovely blog post from Andreas Weigend former chief scientist from Amazon makes the point eloquently. It’s not about just search – it’s about context. And with the world’s four billion cell phones, two billion Internet users, thirty-three billion RFID tags and many billions of transistors adding data
to the stream minute by minute, the information clutter is not going to abate anytime soon. It’s going to get worse. And companies are trapped in the middle of that – mostly without a differentiator in sight (or on site for that matter.)
It’s not just the consumer who is faced with too many options – companies are inundated with so much information that making sound decisions becomes exponentially more difficult. The challenge becomes effectively mining the large mountains of data to find those bits of information and enable actions that add real customer value. Closing this gap – from insight to action across any and all channels – is the foundation of new paths to leadership. Today’s Marketing, Sales and Service leaders, regardless of industry, business model or geography must:
• Listen across a wide array of connected people and things
• Learn by collecting, connecting and reducing data into insight made faster by technology
• Engage the customer simply and directly, moving seamlessly from decision to action in the business processes that drive relevant experiences
• Harvest these interactions to continuously improve customer engagement through all channels, devices and people.
That sounds simple, right? My colleague Steve Lavalle, in a new piece of research he is completing actually notes that organizations must take the data they collect and use it to challenge the status quo to create new opportunities, predict and prepare for the future by evaluating trade offs effectively and proactively and do something bold: empowering employees to act.
Companies need to rapidly get good with big dirty noisy disparate data generated everywhere and by everybody. They need to develop a greater ability to mine data, leverage analytics and create an effective communications platform. Doing that opens the door for three categories of leaders to emerge by 2012:
• Customer Insight Leaders, who optimize myriad data, transform it into something useful and create measurable value;
• Digital Channel Leaders, who harness new methods of creating value through customer interactions and new products, services and business models in an always-on digital world;
• New Era Leaders, who incorporate the best practices of each.
Dimensions of Leaderhsip
Further, these three segments will be able to choose – based on the business conditions they face and the market positions they want to occupy – from among three distinct levers to increase their potential for differentiation:
Radical Cost and Complexity Reduction
Innovative Market Making
Strategic Service Delivery
Depending on the specific needs of the company, it may choose just one lever or combine elements from all three to craft a unique path forward.
Cost and Complexity Reduction entails taking costs out of business to make operations leaner, more flexible and more accessible to customers.
Innovative Market Making focuses on social business design to engage customers, partners and suppliers in creating value. It provides the opportunity – or
imperative – to cocreate solutions and products alongside customers, partners and vendors – even competitors.
Strategic Service Delivery uses all available channels to improve the customer experience. Whether the customer chooses to call the contact center, visit a retail outlet or branch, find the answer via the Web or engage through social tools such as microblogging, strategic service considers the customer’s goals
and enables customer success. It optimizes every channel to be responsive and engaging – however, whenever, wherever and why-ever the customer chooses. It also allows the customer to move seamlessly from channel to channel – for instance, moving from the Web to the contact center or to a retailer to purchase what he or she has found.
In the data-intensive, customer-friendly, digital age, leaders will be defined by how they develop and leverage insight to respond to ever-changing consumer demands. They will do this while embracing new digital communications for sales, service and marketing. Whether they focus on differentiating
themselves through Customer Insight, Digital Channels or both, they will recognize the benefits by taking quick, decisive action to pursue their path forward.
Why would you want to make the investment in doing this? Because Leadership has its advantages according to the nearly 500 participants that we surveyed through the Economist Intelligence Unit:
The Lift of Leadership - up to 5x better performance
We will dive more into this next time, as this post has gone on way too long already. However, we hope to convince you not only that leadership has its privileges, but that you can get there…looking forward to it.
-c-
Cristene Gonzalez-Wertz
#IBMCRM
So, I promised to post my pictures of my last trip to Korea quite some time ago and as I am now planning the next, it jogged my memory. And I feel a little guilty, so without further ado, here they are: Chang Deok Gung Palace (the hidden garden style palace) and Gyeong Bok Gung Palace (the more citified palace).
Again, God bless the Korea tourism people – great documentation, talented and engaging guides. And beautiful artifacts of a long and varied history. Enjoy!
Hi! I am just playing with transitioning the blog to a new and improved format with new functionality. So, if you see things moving around or playing, that is why. I appreciate your patience and your advice. -c-
So, based on the 2009 IBM Institute for Business Value CRM Research, 80% of us are thinking we will survive and nearly that amount expect recovery by mid 2010.
What that means is that you cannot go into your 2010 plan still saying the market will be bad. For one, it will mean you won’t get your fair share of the money to engage and manage customer relationships. For another, you’ll still be accountable for results, so there’s not a win strategy in continuing to blame the bad market. In the US, 93% of us said we could survive – so guess what? Senior management is not going to let you off the hook, whether you are in sales, service or marketing. And those who a CxO title were more bullish than everyone else. No getting around it.
Next year, as well as for the next three years, you told us you are likely to still view the economy as a concern (57%), and that capital pressures (27%) will continue. I don’t disagree in theory. However, where I think that leads us is fundamentally different. Three areas take the stage for me:
1. There are a lot of business models pushed to the breaking point. Newspapers specifically, but media overall, travel, financial services, healthcare.
2. Consumers have fundamentally moved on – and are now way out ahead of most of the companies they do business with in terms of sophistication and smartness
3. Digital channels have changed the game and will continue to change the game even more, and some companies are still stuck on the “go” square of the monopoly board.
So, as you’re planning, here are some facts and thoughts for you to turn over.
No part of the organization has undergone greater change in how they work or what they do than those in charge of managing customers. From interactions, to experiences and even products used, the rise of smarter customers has changed the work of CRM. Smarter customers are using a myriad of technologies, almost none of which existed 10 years ago. More than 50% didn’t even exist just five years ago.
The social universe - big bang...
Yet adoption of these types of technologies is accelerating faster than at any point in history. While it took almost 10 years for the internet to cross the 100 million users threshold, Facebook crossed the 200 million users in less than 3 years. Apple reports in its first year of operating the App Store, users have downloaded one of its 65,000 offerings over 1.5 billion times. While it takes a company 3 years to deploy SAP, whole new business models and engaged customers can change the world in less time and with greater impact. (Okay, so I might get in trouble for saying that, but it’s true! Remember folks, I work for IBM but this is my opinion)
Business Models in Crisis
So let’s look at those business models for a second…in the actual whitepaper we spell out 9 at risk, but for space reasons, I’ll only go for 3 here.
Airlines are grounded: Business travel declines, the rise of even greater deal hunting and the awful “stay-cation” place incredible burdens on a capital intensive industry. Even profitable airlines like United are experiencing declines, and others have it even worse. My employer claims to have saved $320,000 on one meeting hosted in Secondlife.
Financial Services, the New Cable Companies? Sentiment for banks continues to erode. Only 35% of bank customers remain highly committed to their bank this year, down from37% in 2008 and 41% in 2007 according to J.D. Powers. Given the private/public partnership that banks are operating under, and the growing dissatisfaction, banks face extreme challenges. However, this NYT quote just seems to say it all for me:
But the best case for Business Model Innovation I saw came courtesy of HBR.org with this on Nichepapers, describing potential new models.
So, my friends, it’s everywhere. And while it was exacerbated by the crisis, some of this was prevalent before.
The Smarter Consumer
Aside from my colleague Susan Duncan’s simply fabulous work as to what is going on in the mind of financial services consumers, my favorite sources over at Pew Research gave us some interesting datapoints as well. Making the case that the Luxury Goods market is way off (which you could do just as well by checking out Ruelala.com, ideeli.com, gilt.com, etc) or the fabulous Recession.net. We actually created a study graphic to support this:
http://pewresearch.org/pubs/1281/internet-source-economic-recession-news-and-advice
And then there is the Economist offering this: there are good reasons to think that what promises to be the worst downturn since the Depression will spark a profound shift in shoppers’ psychology.
Digital Channels: The New Game
So, you’ve gotten this far, and I know you believe in Digital Channels, I will keep this part of the program brief.
A few things that I have seen that change the game: Best Buy offering Twelpforce – this is Amazing. I know some people are concerned, but the model is a perfect response.
The Royal Opera House in London tries to create an opera through Twitter I sent in my thoughts…wonder if they made the final version.
Kia brings us Go Hamster Go on Facebook. New tech, engaging approach and the customer doesn’t even see herself gaining brand affinity
Evian rewrites the rulebooks – and their website with Skating Babies…
Air New Zealand creates a campaign so different they decide to redo their safety video to echo it – and 4mm people drop into watch it.
Reviews, and comedic talent make an item the number one seller in its category on Amazon.
Progressive does what seems near impossible, makes Auto Insurance somewhat less painful to purchase. They also include what was out of range.
Cadbury designs an advert so weird, Brit TV host Lily Allen pokes fun at it.
So, it’s time to move on – and get ourselves on the path forward. Don’t be afraid to check the review mirror, it’s okay. But, as one of my favorite videos puts it, the only way is up
Let me know what you think. -c-
Cristene Gonzalez-Wertz
#IBMCRM
