by Jim Derochea - Marketing Communications, Solutions, Multi Channel Guru
When buying an acquisition list, do you ask whether the list includes communication channel preferences of the individuals on the list? Or have you polled your own customer base about how they prefer their communications delivered, which channels they prefer? I am amazed at how many companies still don't ask. I am likewise amazed at how many companies that do ask, only ask their customers in broad terms, lumping all communication into one bucket and then are surprised when they still don't get any increased activity or ROI.
It is a step forward, obviously, to ask for your customer's communication channel preference, but if your company sends your customers communication information across different content types, such as benefits, rewards, legislative, account data, general info and billing, to name a few, then you are not asking the right questions. At the very basic level, you need to be asking them which channel they prefer for each type of communication that your company sends them.
In my opinion, if a company asks for just one global communication preference even though they send out communication information across different content types, then they are far more likely to have a low opt-in rate for other channels from their customers. Studies show that many people still don't fully trust the internet for distributing certain kinds of personal information, such as personal benefit info, financial info or other highly personal information, so given the option of just choosing one channel, the fear of their personal info getting compromised will win out. Therefore, many customers will choose to just stay with conventional print/mail channel, to assure that their info stays secure.
On the other hand, if you ask them which channel of communication they prefer for each type of communication that you send them, then you are far more likely to get your customers to opt-in to their preferred channel for each of those types of communication. Depending on your customer demographics and your own company's objectives & ambition, you may even choose to dig deeper by asking for such information as your customer's language preferences for each channel and communication type to deepen the connection with the customer. In either case, the customer is far more likely to be more engaged with your company, because they are much more likely to actually read it, because they are receiving information how they prefer to receive it.
To illustrate the point about using other' preferred communication channel, , I heard this anecdote from Dr. Charles Dwyer during one of his insightful "Power & Influence" seminars. In essence, his story referred to a Manager who was having trouble getting a response from a key client regarding some critical information that the Manager needed to meet a project deadline.
The Manager went to the Director, to alert him of the issue and the unlikelihood of making the deadline. The Manager relayed that she had left several voice mails and emails over several days, but had yet to receive a response. The Director asked the Manager how this client usually communicated with them, to which the Manager noted, was via fax. The Director then urged the Manager to send a fax to the client to request the information. Within 15 minutes the Manager had the key information in hand, from the client. Why? Because the Director knew that the best means to communicate, engage or influence someone, was usually through the means that they preferred to use. Just as that Manager's emails and voice mails were a waste of energy and diminished the chance of her reaching her project goal, likewise is it a waste of time, money and resources to send your constituents information in the wrong communication channel. But unless you know for sure, then you are throwing darts in the dark when you choose the communication channel for them. Every so often your dart hits the target andsometimes you put a hole in those new jeans hanging over the dresser that's 5 feet to the right of that dart board, but more often than not, the dart sticks to nothing.
Having your customers choose to opt-in to their communication channel preferences will likely create opportunities to lower your communication costs (via electronic delivery channels vs. print/mail channels). You may then choose to leverage some of those savings to incorporate more relevance and actionable content into some of some of your customer touch points to make them more impactful and engaging. Not only could your hard costs to deliver your various planned messages decrease, but, the overall engagement level, ROI and retention levels should all see favorable, if not dramatic improvement, which we all know, positively affects the bottom line and helps to create a more enhanced long-term relationships with the customer.
So next time you ask your customer if they want, "Coffee, Tea or Milk?" make sure you ask them, "Cup, Glass or Thermos?"
Jim
ReplyDeleteGreat post and I can only recommend the value of what you propose in this post. If we have made such significant investments in channel infrastructure then it is equally important to be focused upon the processes that support their use.
It's not what you have but how you use it that counts!