In fact, Mazda just did a marketing blog and got "absolutely slammed for it, and I think they should have been," Beavis says. "It's wrong. Blogs are not for marketers. It's a good example of violating consumers' trust, and I've forbidden it."
Tip #7. Test offers that show you trust your product
Beavis wanted to make sure that he substantiated the implicit claim that "we're here to stay, we look after the car, and we stand behind our product."
For example, complimentary scheduled maintenance for three years was standard in luxury cars, but not in mainstream cars. So Beavis tested complimentary scheduled maintenance for all new Mitsubishi vehicles for awhile.
Results were positive enough that the offer is now standard.
"The quality of the cars is such that we can afford to offer this," he explains. "People want worry-free motoring and that's what we're doing."
Currently Mitsubishi Motors has just 1-2% of the market share, "but that's still a lot of cars," notes Beavis.
US Market Training Program Breeds Success For UK Marine Suppliers
In 2002, the British Marine Federation (BMF) enlisted Home Port to develop and administer a unique US Market Mentoring Program to assess and prepare UK marine suppliers to sell their products in the US. The results have been very positive and the BMF has prepared case studies of two companies that have learned that proper training and support breeds success in the world's most competitive marine market.
Learning from The British Marine Federation (PDF)
Learning From Land Rover
Land Rover North America Inc. is prepping U.S.
consumers for the fourth-quarter arrival of the new
Land Rover LR3 sport utility vehicle. The British
automaker is using direct response print ads,
television spots and online banners to drive traffic to
the campaign centerpiece site at findyouraq.com.
The site lets users test their "adventure quotient" as
a way to pique interest in the LR3.
Learning from Land Rover (PDF)
Learning From Jet Blue
"It's very easy to throw $75 million [into marketing],"
says Amy Curtis-McIntyre, VP Marketing JetBlue
Airways. "It's much more difficult when your boss
tells you that you have under $10 million to launch
an airline." The relatively small marketing budget
forced Curtis-McIntyre and her team to
perform "more efficiently and more intelligently."
There were five lessons she learned along the way.
Learning From Jet Blue (PDF)
Learning From Samsung
A new study found that retail stores are still relevant
in this age of e-commerce. It seems that 69 percent
of online shoppers browse through traditional stores
before buying over the Internet. They like to feel,
hold, try on and try out items first, says the study
by the USC Annenberg Center for the Digital Future.
Samsung opened the Samsung Experience in New
York recently, featuring absolutely nothing for sale --
just rows of cell phones, camcorders, laptops and
other electronic devices. They call it the Unstore.
Learning From Samsung (PDF)
Marketing To Hispanics
There are 38 million U.S. Hispanics, representing 13 percent of the country's population. The Hispanic population is now the largest ethnic group in the United States, surpassing African-Americans.
Hispanic spending power is expected to grow to nearly $1 trillion in five years.
Some of the leading US insurance and financial service providers have developed ambitious Hispanic marketing programs. What can marine marketers learn from them?
Marketing To Hispanics (PDF)
Learning From Blue Fly
From: MarketingSherpa
June 14, 2004
Creating Superlative Customer Experience - Bluefly CEO Details Five Tactics
For Bluefly CEO & Founder Ken Seiff there are three problems with traditional retail success metrics such as order size, gross margins, and fill rates:
Problem #1. They're retrospective and thus limited in terms of predicting future success and guiding improvements.
Problem #2. There are so many metrics that it's difficult to draw out a focus for concerted action.
Problem #3. Many employees don't readily identify with these metrics, since their efforts have little immediate impact on them.
So what Bluefly wanted was an alternative that unifies these metrics in one measure, allows all employees to work toward a clear goal and which correlates with likely future profitability.
The answer: customer satisfaction.
But since every retailer claims customer satisfaction as a goal, just how does the Bluefly approach differ? Here's what Seiff told us.
Tactic #1. A different mindset
The customer experience drives satisfaction. But Seiff argues that businesses focus on too narrow a definition of this customer experience; one based on customer interactions with, for example, a website's services and features.
But that's a company perspective and not a customer one.
Seiff explains, "Our customers were writing us letters that were speaking about experience using a different vocabulary. We got letters like 'thank you for making me feel pretty today'. And what we were thinking about was how good is our search, how fast is our site, and how fast do we get the orders out the door."
"It became clear that our customer was measuring us against a very different set of standards. We needed to build an organization that was single-mindedly focused on creating the experience which we were being measured by."
Tactic #2. Understanding the basics
To do that, you need an understanding of the customer experience from both a practical and theoretical perspective.
Seiff says two things are required for a customer to connect with a business in the positive emotional way that underpins maximum satisfaction. "The nuts and bolts of the business need to be working frictionlessly, and the business needs to be talking to the customer in a way that connects at not just a utilitarian level, but at a deeply psychological level."
How?
Seiff explains, "You aren't creating an 'experience' if it's not fundamentally different from what everyone else is doing."
But that doesn't mean drastic changes are required - it means paying attention to all the areas of the business where you can enhance the customer experience by doing something unexpected or surprising.
"Customers get jaded because there's so much commodity to the shopping or buying experience in the world today. When you can find tens or even hundreds of ways to distinguish yourself you wake the customer up."
An example: Third party credit card statements (like VISA) don't say "Bluefly, Inc." and the charge amount. Instead, they say, "Bluefly.com thanks you" and the charge amount.
Another example: The packing tape on Bluefly boxes reads, "Sealed for fashion freshness."
"It really doesn't cost any more to do that, but it does help distinguish the experience because it tells the customer that a company that cares about their packing tape must also care about their product, and must also care about their customer. These are the kinds of little things that can contribute -- if done in large numbers -- to creating a very strong brand and an extremely strong relationship and bond with the customer."
Tactic #3. Understanding the challenges
But that's not all there is to it. For example...
-- The customer response to the experience is not linear. The real rewards only come when your experience is much better than everyone else's.
Seiff notes, "Customers only talk about the businesses that are superlative. So there is a critical threshold which says 'be great and you build the bond. Be good and customers will shop with you until they find someone who's great' - or simply just more convenient."
-- The components of the experience that drive satisfaction are not the same for each customer. Seiff says, "There's no one part of the experience that all of our customers say, 'that's what makes it for me at Bluefly'. So it's really important to get all the big and small parts to be great."
-- Improved experiences raise customer expectations. "What was extraordinary and unexpected at the beginning becomes common over time ... you actually work against yourself because the customers expect more, and what it takes to impress them becomes progressively more and more difficult."
The Bluefly answer to these issues? Create a working environment that encourages enhancements across every element of the customer experience and ongoing innovation: a cultural revolution.
Tactic #4. Changing the culture
Seiff notes that a reorientation toward the customer experience is easier than you might think. Non-executive employees in particular relate better to the customer experience as a priority, rather than to (for them) abstract numerical metrics. You release their desire to contribute by giving them a more relevant goal.
"You get to sit with your team and say, 'tell me today how you're going to improve what we do to excite or entertain the customer more tomorrow.' And everybody can contribute on that level."
Some of the changes Bluefly introduced or are working on are...
-- New recruitment and training criteria. Seiff says, "It starts with the people. We are spending an enormous amount of time defining the kinds of people who we want to work in this company; what it is about how they think and how they think about the customer that's meaningful to us."
-- Reorienting weekly management team meetings so the main focus is on what's being done to improve the customer experience.
-- Performance and payment incentives, as well as employee of the month awards, will reflect the success of an employee in improving the customer experience.
Tactic #5. Encouraging customer and employee input
But where does the actual inspiration for customer experience enhancements come from? Seiff says there are three main sources...
-- Customer satisfaction surveys
Bluefly uses an online customer satisfaction survey tool to measure customer satisfaction (baseline and changes through time) and to understand what parts of the experience are most important to customers. The company analyzes and discusses the results on a monthly basis.
-- Customer feedback
Seiff says that satisfaction surveys, "give you areas to focus on but they don't necessarily tell you what activities to undertake." Direct customer feedback, however, often includes practical suggestions. So every two weeks, customer service distributes a summary of customer ideas and issues.
-- Employees
Employees have the knowledge to come up with customer experience innovations and enhancements, if given the right tools, resources and culture.
So the customer experience priority is a major part of staff training and management-employee interaction. Bluefly's also creating an internal customer experience group with the expertise and resources to help shepherd any improvement through the organization.
Any employee can recommend a project to the group that improves the customer or employee experience; "Because happy employees create a happier customer experience."
Seiff notes that... "when you create a culture where everyone is focused on the experience, you get employees who don't accept a poor experience. And when that happens ... the passion is so great to fix it, improve it or build it for the customer that the experience gets raised to a new level."
Though Bluefly's transformation is still in its infancy, Seiff's already seeing positive results come out. He says, "Our business has never been stronger."
Learning From Virgin Mobile
From: MarketingSherpa
April 19, 2004
Virgin Mobile's Research on Six Critical Attributes of 15-24 Year-Olds & How to Market to Them
Since launching mobile phone service in the US less than two
years ago, in July 2002, Virgin Mobile has gained 1,750,000
customers. That's no mean accomplishment in an already saturated
marketplace.
Marketing Manager Marcy Roth attributes much of the company's
success to reaching out to an underserved market. "It's a mature
industry with close to 60% saturation, and one of the only
segments that wasn't being reached was the youth markets," she
says.
Virgin Mobile aimed to satisfy that segment. Through ongoing
research in the field and through an online panel, focusing both
on their demographic target and the vertical industry, the
company came up with a plan to meet the needs of the youth market
(defined by the company as 15- to 24-year-olds) not just with
pricing but with a fully branded product that "really speaks" to
the user.
Roth shared the six attributes most youths have in common, and
how Virgin Mobile targets those attributes with its products.
Attribute #1. They're into personalization
The youth demographic sees their possessions as extensions of
themselves. Things such as cell phones are symbols of who they
are, Roth says, and they want to personalize them.
To appeal to that market and make personalization easier, Virgin
Mobile offers a variety of different handsets to choose from.
They also have thousands of ringtones online for users to
download.
But Roth's team knew that letting users customize their phones
meant more than just how the phone looks and sounds -- it meant
letting users customize how the phone works and what it can do, as well. So, they came up with some VirginXtras. For example:
Rescue Ring
Rescue Ring allows users to set up a rescue call for a pre-
determined time. "The phone says, 'Repeat after me,'" Roth
explains. "'Oh, my god. No, really? I'll be there in ten
minutes.'" In other words, a user pretends to have a conversation
that they can use to get out of a nightmare blind date or other
situation.
With Rescue Ring, Roth says, "You don't need a friend or someone
to hang out around the corner. Kids love it. One girl at a focus
group, she uses it all the time, even to get out of school
commitments."
VoiceMania greetings
Kids can choose from canned comedy, music, and extreme sports
personality recordings as their voicemail greeting option.
Attribute #2. They're into music
It's pretty simple: the youth market digs music. What better way
to tap into that than an exclusive partnership with MTV?
"Even if kids are not particularly MTV watchers, kids love
music," Roth says. "[The partnership] reinforces that we're
focused on kids."
The partnership allows for exclusive MTV-related content on the
phones. Among other things, users can access MTV news, download
ringtones of songs currently playing on MTV, send text messages
to Total Request Live (an MTV show), and send text messages to
other MTV.com members.
Attribute #3. Their tastes change quickly
To keep the youth market happy, you have to evolve your products
constantly, Roth says.
Keep offerings fresh and current with the times. "We had an Ozzy
[Osbourne] application" for awhile, she explains. Now that Ozzy
is no longer quite so hot, applications in connection with other
MTV shows have taken its place.
Attribute #4. They're the household CTOs
"They're the ones who program the VCR for their parents. They're
on the computer as soon as they can reach the keyboard, they're
texting during class, IMing when they're supposedly doing
homework," Roth says.
Give kids the keys to fun technology and they'll use it. "They're
much more likely to pick up the phone and know how to use all the
features within an hour," she explains.
Song ID is one such application. "You know when you're in a car
and you hear a song and you don't know who it is? You can dial a
code and the phone listens to the song and can tell you what the
song is," says Roth.
Attribute #5. Friends and family are important
Young people are impressionable when it comes to viral
applications. They want to be in touch with friends and family
and they want easy ways to make that happen.
That's why text messaging is so popular, says Roth, noting that
60% of their customers use text messaging. "One person starts to
text," she says, and soon "they're texting about which side of
the cafeteria they're going to meet for lunch."
The younger members of the youth market look up to older siblings
and "want what their older brothers have," Roth says. "You show
them a new phone that might have a 'kid' handset, and they say it
looks like something for their kid sister."
Attribute #6. They know they're being marketed to
Young people are savvy from a marketing standpoint, Roth says.
"They know companies are trying to market to them and companies
are trying to use their lingo. They're sophisticated consumers,
they know what they want."
Roth's team goes out of its way not to talk down to young
consumers. "We're pretty straightforward, we don't try to use
slang," she says. One of their taglines, Live Without a Plan, was
chosen because, while it's appealing to the youth market in
particular, it doesn't condescend.
Language on the site hovers on the border of hip, without
crossing the line. It's lively, but not trendy. For example: "Had
enough of the cellular charade? Then cut the cord and come with
us."
Learning From Chrysler
Chrysler Group, Auburn Hills, MI, used direct mail to
invite millions of consumers to dealerships nationwide to
view nine vehicles being launched this year.
They are invited to attend brand-specific national
Premiere Night/Days events that will give a sneak
preview of the new Chrysler, Jeep and Dodge products
before they become widely available. Chrysler says it is
the biggest vehicle launch in company history.
Learning From Chrysler (PDF)
Learning From Patagonia
Outdoor gear supplier Patagonia has some self-imposed
limitations when it comes to marketing their
products.
"We're not going to partner with companies that don't
have environmental activism as part of their values, as
part of their behavior." says Patagonia's Craig Wilson.
And many traditional marketing vehicles - like TV, radio
and print ads - are out, too, "...we don't philosophically
go there and we don't go there financially either."
Instead, Wilson says it's customer loyalty and word of
mouth (WOM) that drives the business. Learn about
Patagonia's seven steps to supporting WOM-based
growth.
Learning From Patagonia (PDF)
Learning From Harley-Davidson
The stunning marketing success story of motorcycle
manufacturer Harley-Davidson has been told to boating
industry audiences on at least two occasions we can
recall in recent years.
By 1983, Harley had dug a deep financial hole for itself.
Money for advertising was more or less nonexistent.
Starting with the creation of the Harley Owners Group
(HOG), using newsletters and club magazines, the
company built what is arguably the world's most loyal
customer base, one customer at a time. From one
chapter in 1984, HOG has mushroomed to 940 chapters
around the globe. Could you do it, too?.
Learning From Harley-Davidson (PDF)
Learning From Baldrige
The Malcolm Baldrige (US) National Quality Award is a highly-regarded symbol of excellence in manufacturing and services, for small companies as well as large. The program focuses on strategic planning for quality and quality improvement programs.
Among the key measurements for companies vying for the Baldrige Award is excellence in customer and market knowledge, customer relations and satisfaction.
We've extracted the relevant evaluation guidelines from this year's award information package. Click the link below to read them - and use.
Baldrige Quality Award Guidelines (PDF)
Why Visit Customers?
Regular readers of Home Port's monthly newsletter Marine Marketing News, know that Home Port isn't shy when it comes to promoting the
value of the Internet as a communications tool. But we've also just as often cautioned that the Internet isn't the be-all, end-all. Sometimes, there is simply no better way to grow your business than good old-fashioned, face-to-face contact with your customers.
We received an email recently from Steve Wotherspoon, general manager for Home Port client Impulse Marine of Australia. It was sent partly to gloat about his sales achievements in 2003, but mostly to drive the point that it can really pay off to hit the road every so often. Here's Steve's message:
"Last year I ran an exercise with regard sales and relationships. I was keen to test my theory that relationship=sales although there are a multitude of other scenarios.
It also tested lowest price does not necessarily apply if a solid relationship exists. Doesn't sound logical does it.
Ok, here it is. I jumped on a plane and flew 5 hours to meet our dealers in West Australia for the first time although we did have an excellent relationship over the phone. I did not think sales would increase as telephone contact was very good and they were loyal to our products and we enjoyed what was rather historic sales figures.
The meetings were rather uneventful except for a little information about our product which there were unaware of.
It is now 6 months since that visit and sales have risen 100% for those customers I visited in those states.
I visited Melbourne which is some 2 hours away via plane and repeated the exercise. More as a sign of respect as I had never meet these customers in three years. I left Brisbane @ 5am and returned at 9pm seeing 4 dealers in Melbourne.
My earlier trip to West Australia was only 2 weeks previous so I had no figures on the likely sales increases.
Sales from the 4 Melbourne customers rose from by up to 485%.
One customer in particular now refuses to purchase cheaper product as he likes the R & D we undertake and gives us 100% support because we are extremely active introducing new products.
Pricing was altered to reflex multi buys across the range.
SUMMARY
This story is pretty much what business should do but many cannot find a tangible return for justifying the expenditure of flying, car rental, accommodation and rep time.
Visiting customers is pretty much commonsense but not many of us personally do it yet your top management love getting out into the field to meet their customers. No so for many struggling manufacturers and suppliers.
Whilst you can engage all types for marketing exercises we do tend to forget the best marketing is to get off your bum and go see your customers.
CONCLUSION
Our company policy has now changed where we fly out to various states twice each year to visit ALL customers on our data base.
The effect on sales we estimate will vary from 50% - 100% increase in natural sales.
This increase is due to products being recommended at the point of sale. This recommendation cannot be achieved without meeting the sales teams.
Sometimes we need to revisit the little things we have forgotten.
Our sales for the six months to date have risen by 62% and that is great momentum."
Learning From Sea Ray
By Greg Proteau, Senior Counsel
In September, Sea Ray Boats Group President Cynthia Trudell addressed the annual conference of the (US) National Marine Bankers Association. The former Saturn president and relative newcomer to boat ownership plans to apply the benefits of automotive industry improvements to her company's brands.
One of Trudell's initial observations upon joining the industry was that it appears there are more "followers" than "leaders." This not only creates "brand blurring," but also confuses the public with respect to a brand's "promise" and "guarantee." After two years in the industry, Trudell affirms the expectations of consumers as it relates to car ownership will continue to transcend to boat owners in the retail and ownership experience. Further, she asserts that the boating industry will follow automotive trends as it relates to distinctive styling, intuitive functionality, and the pursuit of "hassle-free" ownership. As competitive pressures increase, inability to excel in all three of these arenas will put boat builders at risk.
To ensure Trudell's team is poised for the expectations of the 21st century boater, they are working on a multitude of integrated strategies. On the manufacturing front, Sea Ray has been hard at work reducing manufacturing variation and increasing precision through the use of robotics and closed mold technology. These pursuits are intended to take boat building to new levels as it relates to precision and quality. On the product front, Sea Ray has been focused upon designing integrated systems, like the automotive industry, as opposed to "bolt-on" accessory solutions. The purpose of this thrust, she contends, is to increase reliability, serviceability, and offer "intuitive" functionality that the "bolt-on" approach is incapable of delivering. She firmly believes that these efforts will provide an incentive for those who would like to join boating but in the past have seen the aforementioned as "barriers to entry." As Trudell pointed out, "At the industry level, we must work very hard at attracting newcomers into boating given the high point of 500,000 new registrations in the late 1980s to our current steady status of approximately 300,000." To that end, she asserted, it is imperative for boat builders to move from a "push" (we know what customers want) to a "pull" (we need to understand our customers' needs, wants, and desires) model of operation.
As it relates to Sea Ray, such a transition of operation has engendered a better understanding of generational needs and preferences both for today and tomorrow. For instance, there is strong linkage of preferences and brand loyalties between "Boomers" and "Echo-Boomers" while there are unique preferences and lesser loyalty among "Gen-X-ers." As in the automotive industry, the Gen-X-ers pose a challenge for not only attraction, but also the demographic population size that is less than either the Boomers or the Echo-Boomers. The challenge for all boat builders, Trudell contends, is understanding these differences and acting upon them. A "following" mentality will perhaps be insufficient as these generations come into full play. A key strength for Sea Ray to meet emerging expectations, Trudell relates, is the dealer network, which she describes as "Critical Partners." In her presentation, she outlined how Sea Ray and its dealer network are working together to take themselves to the next "partnership" level that is a function of both parties enabling each other to achieve higher levels of customer enthusiasm.
To manage this emerging generational diversity, the price of boats and cost of boating are other Trudell concerns. Over the past two years, the group has aggressively utilized "lean" methodology to take the waste out of the operating system and design so that greater value can be delivered to the customer. In addition, Sea Ray is able to take advantage of leveraging parent Brunswick Corporation's buying power and recent acquisitions of parts and accessory distribution businesses, electronic technologies, and component suppliers. On the service side, integration of sophisticated dealer management systems will reduce retail and service costs while the recently announced Brunswick Acceptance Corporation will provide a stable wholesale financing arsenal for dealers.
Having a leadership position in retention of residual value is important to Sea Ray and is accomplished through a keen focus on quality, continuously improving the service capability of dealers, distinctive styling, and technology innovation, Trudell asserts. Responding to a question about boat leasing as an alternative to ownership, she offers an emphatic, "No. We've all seen what leasing has done to the automotive OEMs; and there is no reason to believe, if used widely in the boating industry, that the same end effect would not occur."
Trudell's long-term outlook is positive. Runabouts will continue to be strong in 2004; cruisers will follow the U.S. economic recovery. Yachts will continue to be a battleground for all OEMs given the increased competition from European boat builders.
Finally, Trudell wants boat builders and dealers to take a greater role in teaching proper boat operation and boating basics to men and women. Eliminating mistakes from the moment of delivery and first use will "keep the heart rate down for all parties" and enhance the joy boating can bring to families and friends.
Learning From Saab
Saab Cars USA is using an interactive, web-linked CD "e-Booklet" and an online version to attract new customers to the 2004 Saab 9-3 Convertible, a model that marks a redesign for the vehicle. Distributed by direct mail, e-mail and at saabusa.com, the 50MB file is like a paper brochure with sound, motion and online interactivity.
Saab Case Study (PDF)
Learning From Golf
Golf's tough. And so is the golf business. There are too many golf courses and not enough new golfers. (Does this sound familiar?) Learn how a golf course management company implemented a successful loyalty card program for one of their high-end properties that charges golfers a membership fee to access discounts.
Golf Course Loyalty Case Study (PDF)
Learning From Rolls Royce
Every two years, aviation and aerospace press, manufacturers, and major buyers gather at the Paris Air Show. For Rolls-Royce, this June's show was the most important marketing, sales and media relations event of
the year. But the company's marketing team worried that terrorism threats and SARs fears would keep many of the regular attendees from coming. If press, prospects and customers don't attend your biggest
show, what do you do?
Rolls Royce Case Study (PDF)
Selling Service Plans
Here's another success story from Home Port's growing
archives of RV marketing case studies. Affinity Group,
Inc., owner of Camping World and the Good Sam Club,
gets a 16% conversion rate and an 80% renewal rate for
an RV service plan from a monthly direct mailer that's
almost two years old. Learn how they do it.
Affinity Group Case Study (PDF)
Learning From Lands' End
Lands' End is one of the most experienced catalogers
and online retailers of casual wear in the United States,
but with customers in 185 countries, even the Sears,
Roebuck-owned company faces challenges in its forays
overseas.
How do they address each country's market differently -
with a limited budget and just three people on the
marketing team? Learn more about this leading-edge
merchant's global business development strategy.
Lands' End Case Study (PDF)
Learning From Outside Magazine
Outside, a travel and outdoor sports magazine,
has introduced an online service for consumers who
want to live the active lifestyle they read about in the
15-times-a-year publication.
The web site is designed to help consumers shop stores,
find gear or book a trip. Online ads, editorial, e-mail
promotions and direct mail will tout the portal. In the
fall, a national print advertising campaign rolls out.
Outside Magazine Case Study (PDF)
Learning From RVs
It's no secret that the recreational vehicle industry's Go RVing media campaign has been very successful promoting the RV lifestyle, increasing participation rates and driving sales of RVs. Learn how they did it.
Go RVing Case Study (PDF)
Learning From Affinia Hotels
Only about 3% of the guest history records at hotels owned by Affinia, New York's leading all-suite hotel chain, included an email address and permission to use it. The marketing team engaged the whole company, using online and offline tactics, to dramatically increase the email addresses in its database from about 12,000 in early 2002 to more than 10 times that number today. The best-performing hotel in the chain is consistently capturing permissioned email addresses from more than 80% of its guests. Learn how they did it.
Affinia Hotels Case Study (PDF)
Learning From Sears
US retailer Sears, Roebuck & Co. is using its web site to help boost the ROI from its weekly print newspaper circulars. About half of the items in the home improvement, lawn/garden, appliances and electronics categories are available via online fulfillment. Delivery for apparel from its women's, men's, girls', boys' and babies' sections is unavailable. Site visitors are encouraged to build printable shopping lists for items not delivered.
A link for weekly store ads appears in the left margin navigation menu at Sears.com. Clicking the link leads to a page asking visitors to input their ZIP codes to show the nearest Sears location. Also appearing are featured product offerings, which vary by what each store carries. A 'cookie' remembers the visitors' ZIP code on their next visit to the store ad page, and it again will pitch offers available at the nearest store. If visitors wish to search products at another location, they can enter a different ZIP code.
The weekly store ads link was added to Sears.com after customer surveys showed 10 percent of the retailer's major appliance customers had researched items on the Web before purchasing. Sears estimates that such customers generate more than $500 million a year in sales.
Sears weekly store ads
Learning From General Motors
Auto maker General Motors is taking steps to boost customer retention by offering a loyalty program for car dealership service offerings in all 8,000 GM retailers in the United States. The "In Vehicle Merchandising", or IVM program provides multiple cross-sell opportunities for GM retailers during each customer contact point-- such as when a customer brings a car in for service-- and gives customers a range of up to six promotional offers at any one time.
IVM captures service customers at the point of sale by three methods: a dispatch/control number that is placed in the customer's vehicle, enabling retailers to assign different codes to different service teams to easily identify which team worked on the vehicle; a Care Card, which contains six coupon offers and dealership information; and a keytag.
Customer communication tools include windshield service reminder stickers and direct mail postcards, which are mailed to customers who have not returned to the dealership in the past 12 months.
Learning From Porsche
An ongoing direct and interactive marketing campaign for Porsche Cars North America Inc.'s new Cayenne sport utility vehicle has generated 110,000 leads.
Of those leads, 25,000 came from direct mail and 85,000 from a Web microsite, call center registrations and point-of-sale. An estimated 75 percent are hot for dealer follow-up for test drives when the Cayenne hits showrooms.
Direct and interactive marketing helped Porsche to establish demand and build a database of qualified prospects well in advance of the vehicle launch.
The campaign's numerous tactics serve an overall call to action: ask affluent consumers willing to pay $55,900 for the Cayenne S and $88,900 for the Turbo version to visit www.porschecayenne.com. Visitors can get the inside scoop on the development of Porsche's first SUV and its first non-sports car in 54 years.
There were multiple objectives. First, the goal was to generate response and capture prospect data. Second, Porsche wished to strengthen anticipation for the Cayenne. Third, it sought to build support and credibility for the vehicle. Fourth, it wanted to offer in-depth information. Fifth, it wanted to provide exclusive nuggets on the vehicle's development. Finally, Porsche aimed to actively drive qualified dealer traffic.
Porsche's direct outreach began in December with mail to 200,000 qualified prospects.
Creative tied in with the print advertising's theme of focusing on Porsche as an automaker with a rich heritage. The headline on the box mailer read: "Only one sport utility vehicle has bloodlines like these." Images of Porsche's 356 coupe, the 959 and the 911 Turbo accompanied.
Inside the box was a 12-page booklet, personalized letter from a Porsche North America executive and a response card to gauge purchase intentions and timing. The mailing list was compiled using current Porsche owners, respondents to past campaigns and callers to Porsche's toll-free number. Leads from dealers, subscribers of auto and lifestyle magazines and owners of rival SUVs, sports cars and sport sedans and wagons also were targeted.
All names were screened to create a proprietary profile, with attitudinal and purchase intention data that reflected the makeup of the prospective Cayenne buyer. The model was built using owners of Porsche and other big-ticket cars, plus data from an attitudinal segmentation study.
Preliminary response based on the modeling yielded satisfactory results. Eighty percent of the respondents said they were likely to buy an SUV. Forty percent said they planned to buy one in seven to 12 months.
A second mail piece in February to respondents of the invitational mailing was accompanied by a personalized e-mail to all porschecayenne.com registrants, informing them that the second chapter on the site was ready for viewing.
The theme for this round was testing, chronicling Porsche engineers' experience as they tested the SUV in extreme conditions around the world. A letter, brochure and video with on-location footage went out.
A third mailing in March to all hand-raisers and e-mails to site registrants informed them about the third chapter online. Called "Revealed," it showed teaser snapshots of the Cayenne. A letter, photo and sketch of the vehicle were in the package.
A fourth mailing to the same hand-raisers and a complementary e-mail effort, called "Technology," went out in June. Recipients were privy to 360-degree shots of the SUV and specs.
In September, a fifth mailing will include a limited-edition hardcover book under the "Building Cayenne" name. This book highlights the people and places responsible for the Cayenne.
Another mailing will drop in November, delivering a short emotional film on the Cayenne as well as a full Cayenne model brochure.
Also, the automaker's flagship site at www.porsche.com., has been responsible through banners for generating traffic to the Cayenne site and registrations. The Cayenne site alone has generated more than 80,000 registrations, 70 percent of which are considered hot.
Ads in auto enthusiast and lifestyle publications continue to support the program.
Learning From Nissan
Nissan North America started the fall release of its new high-end SUV, the Nissan Murano, with a mailer in July to more than 250,000 existing customers.
The piece went to current owners of the Pathfinder, Maxima, Altima and other Nissan models. "We wanted to do something unique for our owners," said Melissa Adams, Nissan's manager of direct response marketing. "The idea is to raise their awareness and interest in the car. We took that group of owners and lessees and filtered it down to people with annual income in the area of $50,000 who are in their mid-20s to mid-30s."
Nissan currently has the Pathfinder and Xterra SUVs. Both are more rugged and truck-like than the Murano, appealing to drivers interested in off-road driving. The Murano is being marketed as a more upscale vehicle along the lines of the Lexus, Mercedes-Benz and BMW SUVs.
The mailer, which includes a cover letter, is a high-end piece that has a four-page foldout display in the center. The cover of the piece reads: urban SUV. The booklet has inside and outside shots of the car along with information on special features.
The mailer contains a business reply card for the consumer to request more information on the Murano. Consumers are asked to provide their names, addresses, telephone numbers and e-mail addresses as well as what other types of cars they have in their households and what other Nissan models they are considering.
Those who respond to the mailing will be contacted with another mail piece when the second stage of the campaign begins in late December.
Nissan also is sending a similar mail piece to 15,000 people who either visited the Web site or auto shows and filled out a form requesting information on the car. Another 800,000 current customers, some of whom will include the 250,000 recipients of last month's mailer, will be notified about the Murano through billing inserts in July statements.
Those who respond to the mailing or billing inserts likely will get follow-up e-mails as well. Nissan also will send a lease retention mailing to customers whose leases may be ending around the time the Murano becomes available.
BoatBuilder Builds Loyalty With Email Campaign
CHALLENGE: A small boat manufacturer that had always sold direct to consumers was building a dealer network for the first time and needed a cost-effective way to get boaters to not only visit dealerships once, but repeatedly.
Classic customer loyalty programs - such as collecting names at boat shows and then mailing them special offers - are generally very successful in getting repeat customers, especially for parts and service.
However, these programs are also typically labor intensive. And if there’s one thing a small boatbuilding company typically doesn't have, it's the staff with time to handle hands-on marketing campaigns.
So the boatbuilder called on Home Port Communications (HPC) to test out an email-based loyalty program to help drive traffic to its new dealerships.
CAMPAIGN: First the manufacturer and its new dealers needed to start collecting email addresses with permission from existing customers and prospects, at the dealerships, on web sites and at boat shows. HPC developed a standard form to collect email addresses and other information that would useful for marketing. A variety of incentives were offered to encourage customers to provide information for the form, including drawings and parts & services discounts. Zip codes were used as geographic identifiers.
Once a week, completed forms were sent to HPC for entry into a master customer/prospect database. Dealers were given a supply of pre-addressed, postage-paid envelopes to make it really easy to send off the forms.
After the new forms were entered into the database, each customer/prospect received an automatically generated Welcome message. Instead of just saying, "You've been added to the list", the message immediately began offering value. The subject line reads: Welcome, Enjoy your (discount). (Now who's not going to open that?)
The system generated two other email messages over a three-month period. The first was an emailed coupon for a parts discount and the second a discount for seasonal service.
In addition, HPC worked with the boatbuilder to develop several factory incentive and new-model introduction email promotions, each with a slightly different premise, driven whenever possible by offline campaigns the boatbuilder is running at the time. 1. Every email is personalized
2. Every offer has a clearly marked deadline, usually a dateabout 15 days after the email is sent.
3. Graphics and colors used match the offline branding.RESULTS: In just over six months almost 30,000 boaters filled out the form to join the boatbuilder’s email list. It was an aggressive campaign. Now, to continually build the list and make up for list churn, the sign up forms are always readily available at dealerships, boat shows, etc. and on the web.
While it is difficult to directly attribute boat sales to the email, a sizeable increase in leads has been documented (especially when new models were introduced and prospects were given a first opportunity to reserve a new boat online), there is a noticeable increase in traffic and documented increases in parts and services sales at the dealerships when an email promotion is underway.
More details:
- The emails get an average 60-65% open rate (this is unusually high for pure marketing email.)
- While the initial welcome campaign works well, the follow-up campaigns have been very lucrative.
- A boater-get-a-boater campaign was a tremendous success. 24% of the boatbuilders’ list submitted friends' emails for a special parts/service discount coupon. Then more than 1,800 of these friends redeemed their coupons in person at a dealership, often with another boater in tow. (That's a 25 % redemption rate.) Plus 16.5% of referred boaters clicked on the button to join the boatbuilders’ email list to receive future offers.
What Can We Learn From Land Rover?
Land Rover North America's effort the second half of last year to allow consumers to configure and place orders online yielded 618 confirmed orders and 1,027 additional sales leads for its new 2002 Land Rover Freelander model.
Called Freelander IPO, the program at freelander.com went live in August, four months before the Freelander, a $26,000 small sport utility vehicle, hit dealer showrooms in December. The site demonstrated the features and British heritage of this latest Land Rover to hit the U.S. market.
Not only did Land Rover gain orders and leads from consumers interested in the Freelander vehicle, but they also gathered valuable information to help them more effectively target potential Freelander consumers for their future offline marketing initiatives.
Starting in December, when Freelander cars hit showrooms, the freelander.com site was taken down. Now, consumers typing that Web address are taken to a special Freelander section on landrover.com.
