Fast results with e-mail

Tweet

A brief article on the website btobonline.com reports on some of the key numbers regarding commercial e-mail responses.

Experian Marketing Services conducted the research in March of 2010 analyzing 44,011 mailings from 404 Experian ChetahMail clients.

This research found 75% of the opens and clicks and 47% of all response transactions happened in the first 24 hours of e-mail delivery.

Companies marketing business products and services tended to get the quickest responses of all with 52% of transactions and 79% of income logged in the first day. On the other extreme, e-mailings for travel opportunities only recorded 13% of responses and 11% of revenue on the first day. All other business types fall somewhere in between.

Not surprisingly, subject lines featuring limited time offers drove the fastest response rates at 59% of all transactions on day one.

In summary, there aren’t any major revelations here. It just confirms what traditional direct mail has proven again and again – if you have a clear, direct offer that delivers a desirable benefit at a price that doesn’t require excessive justification or approval, you can generate significant orders effectively and quickly.

To talk to someone about using this tool to speed up responses to your brand, contact us today by e-mail or phone, 903-534-5220.

Benefit: The Second Level of Brand Development

Tweet

Ask 10 people for a definition of a brand, and you'll get 10 different answers. That's because the meaning and value of a brand grows with time and experience.

To simplify this topic for discussion here, we’re considering just three levels of brand development. In our initial post we identified level one as applying a brand as identification. This post will present Level 2: Brand as Benefit.

When, in the course of business, a perceptive leader recognizes that his/her company's individual strengths and capabilities can be integrated into a broader customer benefit significantly unique to his/her company, the brand advances to the second level.

Several years ago, Dell computers used the unifying brand promise, "Easy as Dell", to integrate a broad range of product and service advantages into a single statement of benefit. This approach allowed them to feature everything from their bundled productivity tools and 24/7 customer service to their custom-built hardware configurations and even durability.

It made Dell not just another seller of high-tech systems, but "the" source for easy solutions. Plus, it established a strong emotional appeal that, combined with the logical presentation of product features, produced high levels of brand preference and purchase intent.

Conveying a clear, desirable benefit with your brand forces competitors to do more than just meet or beat your specific product or service features. It demands that they deliver a notably better value-added total experience as well.

Read about the other two levels of brand development now.

If you want to talk to someone about taking your brand to the next level, contact us today by e-mail or phone, 903-534-5220.

Most Firms Don't Really Sell Value

Tweet

In a BNet.com interview with sales trainer, Jeff Thull, author of "Mastering the Complex Sale", he makes the point that most companies do not do a good job of selling value. They promote lists of features and leave the recognition of how that benefits the buyer to the customer himself. He suggests a different approach.

Suggesting most companies communicate value at the product level – how their product or service performs its specific task better in some way than other options – Thull identifies three levels of value. He defines them as (1) the product level, (2) the process level and (3) the final customer benefit level.

He makes the point that simply promoting a long list of your product's or service's advantages may in some cases do you more harm than good as the customer can perceive this solution as too complicated and back away. Or as not significantly different from other competitors who typically work from the same list.

He instead recommends expressing value in terms of how your solution impacts your customer's ability to better serve their customers. Limiting the focus of the presentation to fewer points that are clearly expressed in terms of performance metrics within the customer's business.

He cites an example of a Shell Oil division who changed the way they expressed value in the sales process and went from $150 million in revenue produced by 110 sales people to $750 million produced by 44 sales people in a period of five years.

This is a great example of what a brand really is and can do. It defines the value your company, product or service brings to the table in terms that position it to deliver on the aspirations and objectives of your audience.

To read the full interview, click here.

To talk to someone about helping you raise the value of your brand to a higher level, contact us today by e-mail or phone, 903-534-5220.

Gut Reaction

Tweet

Even though Americans want to be recognized as international and wise in the ways of the world, there are still differences in the way successful marketers appeal to U.S. consumers.

Take for instance the mixed results in the development of probiotic nutritional technology brands such as Dannon Activia yogurt that promote enhanced gut health and digestive system performance. It’s a subject often addressed directly in other cultures, but one most American consumers can’t stomach.

There have been a number of missteps by some significant players in this new category of packaged foods.

Dannon, however, has found a comfortable balance between an emphasis on feeling better and speaking clearly. Their results are a testament to a marketer understanding how to build a strong brand that is culturally relevant.

They did it so well, in fact, that sales for the premium-priced Activia brand increased 16% in 2009 over 2008. And that is in a global economy that hammered most other premium brands.

Read more about gut-healthy marketing.

To talk to someone about improving the health of your brand’s communications, contact us today by e-mail or phone, 903-534-5220.

Going Online For Good Bacteria

Tweet

It wasn’t too long ago when it seemed the only good bacteria was dead bacteria. My how times have changed. One of the biggest sellers in packaged yogurt these days prides itself on being full of beneficial bacteria.

And although there is a significant difference between a probiotic ingredient like the active cultures in Dannon Activia yogurt and a feed ingredient like Previda™, that exhibits prebiotic characteristics, some of the terminology and language are similar.

Previda is a nutritional feed additive made from wood sugars released during the pine pulp processing step manufacturing fiberboard building materials. It has been used successfully in early trials as a component of feed rations for fish, shrimp, livestock and companion animals.

Cornerstone participated in product naming, labeling, literature development and most recently website creation. At present, materials are basic covering applications, chemical analysis and preliminary research data. As more solid test data is developed, additional technical content will be introduced and more aggressive claims can be supported.

All communications materials carry the brand promise of “better health from the inside out” and feature colors and imagery designed to reflect the product’s natural origin and growth enhancing value.

To learn more, visit the Previda website.

To talk to someone about enhancing the performance and growth of your brand communications, contact us today by e-mail or phone, 903-534-5220.

The Honey-Do List Is Coming Back

Tweet

Once upon a time home improvement was a major national pastime. Then the recession hit and many homeowners put a freeze on unnecessary spending. Research shows a thaw may be beginning.

The Remodeling Futures Program at Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies suggests that expenditures for home improvements is expected to increase 5% this year over last year.

Polling by American Express in late March found 62% of respondents plan to make some type of upgrade this year. 53% plan some type of interior remodeling. And 36% plan some type of cosmetic work.

Interestingly, while 1 in 5 say they are acting because the project can no longer be put off, almost half say they are making the change to improve their home’s appearance. Only 11% say they are doing it to increase their home’s value as most see the present economic environment hostile to home sellers.

This suggests that the biggest opportunity for brands targeting homeowners is to appeal to their desire to make investments in their home for the sake of its livability and enjoyment rather than its resale value.

Read more about the expectations for increased remodeling.

To talk to someone about helping your brand take advantage of the present economic environment, contact us today by e-mail or phone, 903-534-5220.

The Importance Of Highlighting A Problem

Tweet

Before you can make a sale, your prospects have to recognize a need they want to solve. And the greater their sense of need, the higher their resolve to obtain relief.

That means that the more clearly you help them identify the problem, the better your chances of motivating the response you desire. But it requires a balance of urgency and tact to address negative issues that often aren’t top audience priorities but, if resolved, can provide significant benefits.

One way to do that is to help your audience develop a clearer picture of the discomforts or challenges they've been subconsciously overlooking. Chances are, once you help them recognize the problems, the dissatisfaction they cause will become a lot harder to forget. And your solution for eliminating that pain a lot easier to accept.

That's because this approach demands attention, stirs the emotions and focuses the resolve of your audience. Plus, it's effective.

Read more about helping prospects picture their need more clearly.

To talk to someone about helping you raise your prospects' level of need, contact us today by e-mail or phone, 903-534-5220.