American culture and the work place have experienced dramatic changes, especially over this past year. Today dual income families are the norm. Unemployment is up. So is the average work week. The corporate demand to do more with less has had a significant impact on incentive program participants … and their families. The result is a significant increase on the stress levels of the family.
Incentive travel programs have long been a key way to motivate performance by providing experiences that embody attributes such as camaraderie, credibility, respect, fairness and pride – all key attributes associated with the 100 Best Companies from the Great Place to Work Institute. So how does the family play into this?
Incentive travel programs aren’t just an opportunity to recognize and reward the employee, channel partner or customer for their commitment and achievement; but, a chance to recognize the sacrifices and support the family made as a whole. Including the family in the program can greatly boost participant engagement and performance.
Leading organizations are turning toward the adoption of more family friendly program elements. The main reason, it’s a significant motivational factor that provides families the opportunity to share in striving for and achieving incentive goals, as well as in the reward and recognition. After all, participants with families look to their spouse and children for support and want to have an opportunity to reward them as well.
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Monday, November 9, 2009
5 Ways to Increase Campaign Response Rates and Avoid Relationship Penalties
Consumers have had enough! A continued exposure to a steadily increasing number of marketing messages, campaigns, advertisements, offers and the like are suffocating relationships. Think about it, messages exist everywhere from traditional magazine, newspaper, television and radio to blogs, emails, web pages and the list goes on and on and on; okay, you get the idea. To quantify this trend, in Accenture’s 2001 Insight Driven Marketing Report, a typical consumer went from an average of 650 messages they were exposed to a day in 1985 to over 3,000 in 2001; share of mind has definitely become a competitive field for businesses.
The unfortunate effects on the attitudes and behaviors of the consumer as a result of undifferentiated, overly abundant and brimful frequency of messages necessitate action by which companies communicate to their existing and future customers. The following five steps will assist in getting a lift out of response rates and increase in overall campaign performance.
1. Integrated Media Channels
Even with the most appealing offer that is strategically appropriate and tailored for specific individuals, response rates are not guaranteed. The main hurdle that remains is that of effectively connecting and communicating with your audience. Determine what channels are most preferred by your targeted audience and create a media plan that integrates direct marketing efforts into a connected stream of touch point activities.
2. Targeted Messaging.
Regardless of the communications channel(s) used, a degree of customization – whether personalization, versioning or targeted offering based upon what is known of the customer – will greatly assist with response rates. At the end of the day, effective campaign performance is about relevance – promoting and communicating directly to me what I may want, when I might need it and from who I might buy it.
3. Don’t Beat Around the Bush, Be a Straight Shooter
Although it’s important to capture the immediate attention of the customer in the headline, do so with brevity and clarity. Another pitfall of campaign efforts is that while a creative message begins with a lead-in, it quickly strays away from what originally captured interest. Often referred to as somewhat of a bait-and-switch, this tactic quickly diminishes the credibility of the promoter in the mind of the consumer. As such, relationships can be damaged and future opportunities can be hindered.
4. Consumers Like it Simple
Hypothetically, if a communications piece went out and it had all of the necessary components such as being targeted, was straight to the point and even involved integrated communications channels, response rates can still be ineffective if the consumer isn’t lent a simplified means to respond. Often enough, campaigns become disenchanting for the consumer due to a clear call to action being missed, an overly complicated process to respond or demands that are too high from a time perspective to complete the transaction.
5. Don’t Over Communicate
Email is one of the largest culprits to consumers being bombarded and overloaded with offers, representing instances where they are receiving hundreds of emails each week. As a result, this channel continues to dwindle in its effectiveness. While new channels have emerged from texting, RSS feeds, PURL’s, Social Media and the like, it’s important to remember that you don’t need to be everywhere, all of the time, hounding (if not annoying) customers and potential customers. Consumers are simply overworked and, for the most part, getting more and more turned-off. Think of your touch point activities as currencies and spend wisely. Awareness isn’t always a good thing, especially if perceptions are not all that flattering.
These guidelines are pertinent to any sector or market situation. Following any number of them provides improved results, but incorporating all of them into communications planning yields a synergistic effect that turbo-charges the effective connectivity with the customer.
The unfortunate effects on the attitudes and behaviors of the consumer as a result of undifferentiated, overly abundant and brimful frequency of messages necessitate action by which companies communicate to their existing and future customers. The following five steps will assist in getting a lift out of response rates and increase in overall campaign performance.
1. Integrated Media Channels
Even with the most appealing offer that is strategically appropriate and tailored for specific individuals, response rates are not guaranteed. The main hurdle that remains is that of effectively connecting and communicating with your audience. Determine what channels are most preferred by your targeted audience and create a media plan that integrates direct marketing efforts into a connected stream of touch point activities.
2. Targeted Messaging.
Regardless of the communications channel(s) used, a degree of customization – whether personalization, versioning or targeted offering based upon what is known of the customer – will greatly assist with response rates. At the end of the day, effective campaign performance is about relevance – promoting and communicating directly to me what I may want, when I might need it and from who I might buy it.
3. Don’t Beat Around the Bush, Be a Straight Shooter
Although it’s important to capture the immediate attention of the customer in the headline, do so with brevity and clarity. Another pitfall of campaign efforts is that while a creative message begins with a lead-in, it quickly strays away from what originally captured interest. Often referred to as somewhat of a bait-and-switch, this tactic quickly diminishes the credibility of the promoter in the mind of the consumer. As such, relationships can be damaged and future opportunities can be hindered.
4. Consumers Like it Simple
Hypothetically, if a communications piece went out and it had all of the necessary components such as being targeted, was straight to the point and even involved integrated communications channels, response rates can still be ineffective if the consumer isn’t lent a simplified means to respond. Often enough, campaigns become disenchanting for the consumer due to a clear call to action being missed, an overly complicated process to respond or demands that are too high from a time perspective to complete the transaction.
5. Don’t Over Communicate
Email is one of the largest culprits to consumers being bombarded and overloaded with offers, representing instances where they are receiving hundreds of emails each week. As a result, this channel continues to dwindle in its effectiveness. While new channels have emerged from texting, RSS feeds, PURL’s, Social Media and the like, it’s important to remember that you don’t need to be everywhere, all of the time, hounding (if not annoying) customers and potential customers. Consumers are simply overworked and, for the most part, getting more and more turned-off. Think of your touch point activities as currencies and spend wisely. Awareness isn’t always a good thing, especially if perceptions are not all that flattering.
These guidelines are pertinent to any sector or market situation. Following any number of them provides improved results, but incorporating all of them into communications planning yields a synergistic effect that turbo-charges the effective connectivity with the customer.
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
In good times and in bad, Incentive Travel is POWERFUL
Published in Return on Performance Magazine - 2nd Quarter 2009
It’s no secret the incentive travel industry has been under tremendous pressure over the past several months. As the economy began its unfortunate and downward spiral, the virtual vise became tighter and tighter for companies that had to justify every dollar spent. With the advent of the American government’s Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), a series of unfortunate events created a seemingly perfect storm on the use and benefits associated with incentive travel programs. A massive level of negative, and often precarious, media attention generated an ominous surge of public and government outcry.
None of us seeks to validate lavish and ludicrous expenses racked up by out-of-control executives. But it’s important to note the magnitude at which the hospitality and travel industry has been affected by this uproar. The U.S. Labor Department reported a loss of nearly 200,000 travel-related jobs in 2008 and predicts an additional loss of 247,000 jobs in 2009. During the first two months of 2009 alone, the U.S. lodging industry lost more than $1 billion in revenue from the cancellation of corporate meetings and events. Travel incentives clearly have merit in our society at large, and at our companies, too.
Organizations -- especially publicly held companies -- are now being held accountable as never before to share how their incentive travel program decisions are made. Not only that, executives must demonstrate the values these programs deliver against associated expenses.
While determining hard ROI figures can be difficult, the established merits of incentive travel are easy to recite. From driving sales, strengthening channel relationships, improving employee morale and loyalty, rewarding and recognizing performance excellence and a variety of other targeted objectives, incentive travel programs provide substantial value to companies. A variety of studies have been done to support these statements; the Incentive Travel Council recommends the following key resources:
- The U.S. Travel Association http://www.ustravel.org/
- Incentive Marketing Association http://www.ropmagazine.com/
- Incentive Research Foundation http://www.theirf.org/
- SITE http://www.siteglobal.com/
- The Forum for People Performance Management and Measurement http://www.performanceforum.org/
In cases where the values of Incentive Travel programs aren’t necessarily in question but rather the spend itself, think about how you'll continue to strive towards achieving organizational goals during a down economy - it's already challenging in and of itself. Consider your participants' perspectives. Should public or shareholder perception be of concern, think long term. Reducing or taking away an incentive travel program from your employees, channel partners or customers can have negative consequences against the very objectives originally targeted. At the end of the year, the gap created through the incentive travel program’s absence will show itself in the worst possible place - your bottom line.
So, at the end of the day, in good times as well as in bad, when every penny counts and you want to ensure you’re getting the most value out of your spend dollars, think about how that can be done. Few alternatives provide the same degree of motivational power to drive performance and lend the levels of incremental value and sustained benefits as Incentive Travel programs.
Friday, January 16, 2009
The ROI of CRM - Customer Data, Check; Now What?
Okay, so you have the technological foundation laid for CRM, but what’s next? This is a common question corporate executives are left with after spending millions of dollars of development costs associated with the architecture of data bases to bank customer data. No, it’s not as easy as you were probably lead to believe, there’s no green button that puts everything into motion, simply terabytes of data electronically warehoused that are providing no business benefit in their standalone state. So, where do you go from here?
While some organizations have gone with a shoot then aim approach with only results that have shaken the needle, success has been wreaked from those following a disciplined strategy; mining, analyzing and synthesizing the data they hold. Analytics has become the enabling ingredient of CRM solutions. Considering the profile of today’s customer is quite different from just 10 years ago, understanding their differences, likes, dislikes, drivers and other characteristics has become paramount in developing solid business strategies to grow relationships. Why is this important?
-Brand loyalties are weakening and not nearly as strong as they once were
-Consumers are better educated. The advent of the internet provided the perfect outlet for consumers to source from in making their purchase decision(s)
-Promotions have desensitized customers to the point of being numb
-Consumers are more price conscious and demanding value in what they pay, the service they receive and the level of convenience experienced
-Consumers are not as easily put into a segmented class. There are far more segments today than ever
Been caught with your CRM pants down? Still not clear on what all the technology and customer data you’ve successfully centralized provides to your organization? Share your thoughts on how you recommend moving to the next level.
While some organizations have gone with a shoot then aim approach with only results that have shaken the needle, success has been wreaked from those following a disciplined strategy; mining, analyzing and synthesizing the data they hold. Analytics has become the enabling ingredient of CRM solutions. Considering the profile of today’s customer is quite different from just 10 years ago, understanding their differences, likes, dislikes, drivers and other characteristics has become paramount in developing solid business strategies to grow relationships. Why is this important?
-Brand loyalties are weakening and not nearly as strong as they once were
-Consumers are better educated. The advent of the internet provided the perfect outlet for consumers to source from in making their purchase decision(s)
-Promotions have desensitized customers to the point of being numb
-Consumers are more price conscious and demanding value in what they pay, the service they receive and the level of convenience experienced
-Consumers are not as easily put into a segmented class. There are far more segments today than ever
Been caught with your CRM pants down? Still not clear on what all the technology and customer data you’ve successfully centralized provides to your organization? Share your thoughts on how you recommend moving to the next level.
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