2. Sometimes, the most obvious is
the hardest to see...
If you really want to know
what people are interested in
Ask...
3. My mail...
• A gallup poll
in 1980
– Event looked most
forward to in you
daily life
63 % said getting
and reading the daily
mail
4. Junk mail
• 98% want more
control of their mail
• 94% say they get too
much unwanted mail
• 71% think the buying
and selling of consumer
data is unethical
6. A step back...
what is effective marketing ?
• The right product
• The right consumer
• at the right time
• But we focus all our
attention on the .5% that respond,
what about the other 99,5% ??!
7. 7
More and more
sophisticated data
Individual
Response graphics
Geo-demographics
Demographics
Lifestyle
Pyschographics
???
Sophistication
Individual
9. “Problems cannot be solved by
thinking within the framework
in which the problems were
created...”
Albert Einstein
10. Using DM techniques
for lunch...
• RFM
– This is what you ordered
last time
– And this is how much
you ate...
• Analysis techniques
– Based on your weight,
height, social background
• You expect them to
ask, why don't you ?
11. Why ask?
• To know what your consumers want
– When you know, it is easier to
sell to them
• To learn more about what
they think of your services
• Consumers are more
different than the boxes
we put them in
• Consumers want you to ask
13. Who to ask..
• Your clients
• Your ex-clients
• And your prospects…
14. Why aren’t more
companies asking…
• Pile ‘em high and cheap key to lower cost
per response
• It is easier to put consumers in groups
• I already run satisfaction/ dissatisfaction studies
• Addresses and consumer data
are seen as a cost, not an investment
• And many don’t believe it would work
15. 3 myths
• Most consumers won’t give marketers personal
information about themselves
• Even if they did, it would cost too much
• You can't believe what consumers say
16. Consumers like to
answer surveys
• Through multiple contacts we
are getting response rates
upwards of 33% on a 12 page
survey with over 2000 questions
• Client surveys work in lots of
categories (Response rates:
insurance: 15 %, Health, 30%...)
17. It doesn’t cost that much
• A 20% response
£ 2 per response
• Even less with
external companies
• More importantly,
what is the cost of
not doing it
18. Survey data is data you
can count on
• If consumers answer,
they want to tell you
something
• Tests on survey data
– 2 surveys 3 months apart
– 87% of the answers
were the same !
20. Identify the questions to Ask
• Identify what you would like to
know
• Throw away half
• And focus on what you need to
know to market to consumers more
effectively
21. Really Ask
• Would you possibly consider changing
credit cards ?
– ❏ yes ❏ possibly
What happened to No ?
Ask in the way consumers talk
22. Include surveys in
your ongoing
communication
• Reader Digest Case
– A survey sent with
almost all bills since
1969
– 75 % of their
customers have
answered at least one
survey
23. Collect Data, in
your prospection
actions...
• Columbia House
example
– On order forms
– On the phone
– Whenever they can...
24. Don’t forget consumers
after they buy
• A nice warm and fuzzy communication
• Response rates up to 30% !
Traditional thinking
Level of
Consumer
Interest
Time
A decision to
Participate/purchase
The time to Ask
Reality
25. Run joint surveys with
consumer specialists
• Simplicity
• Lower cost
• Brand building
if done right
26. Invest in quality data
• There is a whole new generation of companies
focused on permission
marketing
• They offer an easy way to ask many of the
questions you should be asking
28. Background
• A heart drug sold by Merell Dow
• About to lose patent protection
– Generics normally take 50 -70% of the market
• They decided their best hope was to
establish a real link with consumers
29. Action Plan
• Development of a general newsletter “Cardisense”
• A survey in each issue
• Creation of direct response to get names addresses
• A full-scale database loading program
– 3 survey waves with reminders
– Ongoing update surveys
33. Results
• A 80% coverage of their user base (over
500,000 households )
• 10% have written spontaneous letters
• No loss in sales when their patent ran out
34. If you want better results,
all you need to do is Ask
• It is the only way to really know what people
are interested in
• It is an easy way to develop better
consumer relationships
• Stop promoting to profiles and list segments,
promote to people
• Learn more profit more..
35. ideas are not the key to
success, action is…
some things are self evident…
it makes sense to ask,
don’t be the last one in
your market…