It’s only 10 am, but already I’ve ‘experienced’ a number of companies.

I experienced Albuquerque’s Sun Tran Bus as it stopped, right on time, in front of my house. I experienced Starbucks—in store while ordering and again at home reading “the way I see it #299” printed on my cup. I experienced an auto service center, and the indifferent employee I spoke with about a faulty airbag sensor (my third actually). I experienced NPR. I experienced Diners Club, and the helpful call center employee who updated my mailing address.

The list goes on. And every experience is important. Dare I say, vitally important. Sun Tran, by being on time, improved my willingness to ride with them in the future. Contrarily, the service center, unmoved by my third airbag sensor problem, raised service and reliability concerns. Bottom line: the quality of these experiences matter. They influence brand perception, strengthening or weakening the customer/company bond.

While most companies would agree customer experience plays a vital role in their competitiveness, few enjoy the organizational capabilities and competencies to holistically understand, and more importantly influence, the state of these experiences.

To help, Peppers & Rogers Group partnered with SAS and Jubelirer Research to undertake the first in a global series of empirical investigations designed to understand, explore, document and assess concerns of customer experience. Their recently published research report presents insight into the forces reshaping marketing and expounds the Customer Experience Maturity Monitor, a 5-step tool you can use to assess and improve experiences of your customers.

If you are interested in learning more about this research there are a few options:

• First, you can register and download the free research report, which includes the 5-step 'Customer Experience Maturity Monitor' assessment and improvement tool;



• And second, you can register for a free on-demand AMA/SAS Webcast – Multichannel Mayhem: Tapping the Customer Experience for Competitive Advantage.

Alan Gormley, SAS’ Director of Customer Intelligence Solutions for EMEA, recently published an article titled “Using Online Customer Experience to Drive Sales.” The content of this article fits nicely with our learning and improving video, which explored the topic of doing something with the customer data we collect.

Read Alan’s article on page 16 of Direct Marketing’s December 2008 issue (direct link to the PDF).

Alan goes beyond talking about doing something and offers insight and suggestions. One example that hit home to me was focused on online banking – specifically collecting data from “customer service” tools like mortgage calculators. Allan asks why Banks don’t capture and use this data; he observes that “[i]f customers log on to do some banking, and then use the calculator there is value to be gained. The bank now can get a pretty good idea of [customer] intentions.” He’s right.

Recently I logged on to my credit union to pay bills. While there, I looked at the mortgage rates and used their online calculator to review a few refinance scenarios. The credit union, if it was listening, would know I’m considering a refinance. They would know the rough amount of funds I’m looking at borrowing. And they would know the terms I’m attracted to. If pushed to the lending arm, the bank could use this data to follow up, and possibly write a new loan. They didn’t.

Alan had a great quote in the article, he wrote “It is important to understand that people’s actions and needs online are a good indicator of their needs offline, and that the key is to connect the two.” Straightforward? Yes. Easy? Not so much.

I’m a consumer. And I’ve been buying more, and more, from online sources since the late 1990’s. And even when I choose to purchase an item locally, I conduct any research via the Web. It’s not even worth noting the reasons in favor of this approach, because we all know them.

But until the Web can deliver a physical, tactile experience, online shopping will never fully eliminate my intermittent desire to browse through a printed catalog.

With that said, you’d think I’d be delighted to return from an extended holiday break and find a foot-tall stack of mail order catalogs waiting for me. I wasn’t. Of the 30+ catalogs, not one had I requested, or even opted-in to receive. And worse(!) these catalogs were all so horribly designed and printed that none were worth the effort to open. The lot of them were placed directly in the recycle bin.

Martin Schneider’s similarly stuffed mailbox prompted him to blog about it at CRM Outsiders (a great blog by the way and included in The Best CRM Blogs of 2008 list) in a post titled Catalogs - Sending the Wrong Message with Direct Mail?

Martin brings up some great points about the inefficiency, costs and environmental factors of catalogs that I fully agree with, however he loses me when he suggests that retailers “will do more to show they are in line with their customers by reducing or eliminating the printed catalog.” I’m empathetic with the frustration, but there are printed catalogs I would hate to do without.



A recent example of a retailer getting their mail-order catalog right is Snow Peak. Snow Peak, for those of you who don’t know, is a 50-year old Japanese company that designs and builds outdoor living tools (luxury tents, kitchen gear, sleeping systems, etc.). Their products are made to last a lifetime, and their Outdoor Lifestyle Catalog is no exception.

The Snow Peak Outdoor Lifestyle Catalog is exceptionally designed and printed. It has beautiful photography and product imagery. It has 345 pages, more than 30 of which are of philosophical ponderings and poetry. The catalog tells a story and is arranged in a clear, logical fashion. It is inspiring and helpful. It was not sent to me until I asked for it. I could go on and on.

The bottom line: the Snow Peak catalog moved me from considering a few products to purchasing a few products. It positively reinforced my opinion of their brand. And it is sitting on my bookshelf today.



This is why I cannot agree outright with Martin’s comment; a number of retailers do do a fantastic job with their printed catalogs. But, the reality is many don't. If it’s more likely than not that a catalog travels directly from mailbox to recycle box, it’s time to address the issue.

Retailers, in my opinion, will do more to show they are in line with their customers—not by reducing or eliminating their printed catalogs—but by thoughtfully considering their customers.

Stop the unsolicited mailings. Improve the catalog. Redesign it. Print it well. Tell a story. Make the catalog so good that customers seek it out. Make the catalog so good that customers not only buy from it, but become true fans of what you are doing.

In short, treat printed catalogs as an end, not a means.

Do you know of other retailers building fans with exceptional catalogs? Leave a comment to let us know about them. Any thoughts about why the good-to-bad ratio is so unbalanced? And more importantly, is there anything to be done about it – or are we stuck with what we have?

Welcome to the wrap-up of our first video blog series Grounds for Conversation: Practical Insights for Customer-Focused Marketing.

I know I can say that everyone involved with this project has enjoyed the journey—and it has been a journey. As I stated in September’s introduction post, much about this project was new for us: the short(er) videos, the blog, the free-flowing discussion… We’ve learned a lot about interacting with you in new ways and we're excited to continue this format into 2009.

Paul Sweeney, Director of Innovation at VoiceSage and blogger at You’ve Been Noticed, provided us with some great advice about our next series. Paul said our production was excellent and we could further improve our next series by focusing content on the "real deal", or the "insider conversation."

Paul also set us on the road to involve experts in the social media space in our discussions. Great idea! These people make their living reaching out to customers on their terms -- and their involvement in our customer intelligence discussions would likely provide excellent insight. Do you agree? Your feedback really is invaluable, so let us know your thoughts.

Have a look at the final thoughts from our hosts:



Download the written transcript of this video.


Once again, thanks for being part of the discussion!

In case you missed or would like to revisit any of the videos, here is a summary of the 8-episodes:

• Week 0: Introduction. A quick overview of the series outline and the three I’s of Marketing: Insight, Interaction and Improvement, which are described in further detail as the videos progress.
  
• Week 1: Making Customer Data Work for You. Learn how to improve the access to, integration of and quality of enterprise wide customer data.
  
• Week 2: Knowing Your Customers’ Next Steps. Explore how an organization can drive value by using predictive analytics.
  
• Week 3: Achieving a Complete Customer View. Discover how to uncover hidden traits about your customers and calculate their profitability.
  
• Week 4: Optimizing Your Segmenting Strategies. Learn about contact optimization as well as specific ways to improve your organization’s marketing strategies.
  
• Week 5: Tracking Down Your Most Profitable Customers. Hear how new media types can enable you to integrate your customers, products and offers into a complete marketing campaign.
  
• Week 6: Measuring and Reporting What Matters Most. Understand what it takes to break free from informational silos and create a more standardized system of reporting and analysis.
  
• Week 7: Making Sure Your Investment Pans Out. Learn how to optimize your marketing ROI and establish marketing metrics.
  
• Week 8: Learning and Improving. Understand the steps needed to give people at every touch point within your organization access to better information.
  

Welcome to the eighth and final installment of our video blog series Grounds for Conversation: Practical Insights for Customer-Focused Marketing.

Today’s discussion focuses on enhancing the customer experience. Until now we’ve been talking about collecting, and cleaning, and storing, and segmenting, and analyzing customer data. All well and good, but at some point we need to think about doing something with the data. We need to act on it in a way visible to our customers.

To get us started we’ve invited Retha Keyser to join us. Retha is a SAS Customer Intelligence Product Manager with direct experience working with companies to improve the customer experiences they deliver. She believes the best thing you can do is to provide employees, at every touch point within your organization, access to less (you read that right: less!), but better information.

Wouldn't you know, as I was writing this post I came across a great article written by Alan See (whom I'm now following on Twitter @AlanSee) titled "Customer Intelligence Is Meaningless If You Don't Tie It to Strategic Action." Alan writes:

Customer Intelligence solutions provide the ability to identify your most valuable customers and empower your sales and service organizations to make smart decisions that result in wonderful customer experiences... ...[but] Intelligence without strategic action may very well be worse than not having the intelligence at all."

We couldn't agree more.

Have a look:



Download the audio from this video in MP3 format.

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iTunes Podcast

Again, thank you all for joining us for the past eight weeks!

I'm happy to post the seventh installment of our 8-part video blog series Grounds for Conversation: Practical Insights for Customer-Focused Marketing.

Today's topic is especially relevant given the state of our economy and tightening marketing (and customer) budgets. It's more important than ever to know exactly what impact your marketing efforts are having on your organization as a whole. And if you’re not sure of the answer – or if you’re sure the answer is you don't know – then don't miss this informative discussion.

Listen in as Karen (who is joining us via phone from Las Vegas) and Jeff talk with Mark Chaves, a SAS Customer Intelligence Product Manager, about how you can optimize your marketing ROI. The three of them discuss how marketing relates to your overall organization and how to establish all important marketing metrics to measure indicators that will help you achieve your goals.

Have a look:



Download the audio from this video in MP3 format.

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iTunes Podcast

I hope you enjoy the seventh installment of our series. Be sure to tune-in next Thursday for episode #8, our final episode of this series, to learn how to act on all the customer data and segmentation work we’ve been discussing during our prior episodes. Because, let’s face it, if all we’re doing is collecting and storing data, we’re wasting resources, and worse, missing opportunities to improve the relationships we have with customers. Stay tuned!

Followers of the customer intelligence video blog series Grounds for Conversation: Practical Insights for Customer-Focused Marketing may be interested in a new research initiative focused on building more profitable experiences with customers.

Jeff Gilleland, the host of our video blog series and the Global Strategist for SAS Customer Intelligence Solutions, has teamed up with Peppers & Rogers Group, and Harris Interactive (formerly, Jubelirer Research) to deliver the Customer Experience Maturity Monitor, a study of the current state of customer experience management within Fortune 500 companies.

Their research has uncovered what's working, what's broken, and the most important priorities for more profitable and mutually valuable customer experiences.

This afternoon I talked with Jeff and asked him what he learned from being involved with this research project. Here’s what he said:

“The research confirmed something that many of us intuitively believe: companies that have better customer experience management capabilities, along with a strong customer orientation, enjoy a real competitive advantage. 81 percent of companies with a 'high customer-experience maturity' reported they outperform their competition...and, here’s the kicker...companies that reported outperforming competitors also reported plans to spend more on future investments in customer experience capabilities.”

If you'd like to learn more about this research, Register to attend the live Webcast, "Multichannel Mayhem: Tapping the Customer Experience for Competitive Advantage," which will be held on Nov. 12 at 1 p.m. Eastern Time (U.S.) (The Webcast will also be available for on-demand viewing after the live broadcast.)

Thank you for joining us for the sixth installment of our continuing video blog series Grounds for Conversation: Practical Insights for Customer-Focused Marketing.

Today, we explore how to establish key customer-oriented metrics and incorporate accountablity into your marketing organizations and lines of business.

This is all about tearing down organizational and informational silos, and creating a more standardized system of reporting and analysis. We’re glad to welcome back Michele Eggers, for this animated discussion about building a strong integrated marketing platform that facilitates growth and gives you a complete view of your enterprise.

Have a look:



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I hope you enjoy the sixth installment of our series. Be sure to tune-in next Thursday for episode #7, to listen in as we discuss using emprical evidence to guide your marketing investment strategies. Stay tuned!

SAS’ Brent Lever has been having a great back-and-forth with Paul Sweeney, Director of Innovation at VoiceSage and blogger at You’ve Been Noticed, about the idea (and importance!) of planning communications to your customers and integrating those communications into an overall strategy.

The timing for this could hardly be better, as Brent just finished his most recent white paper titled Adaptive Contact Planning, Building customer trust and value through improved contact policy management.

I’m including the Table of Contents and the introduction for Brent’s paper below. If you’d like, you can download the full PDF.

Hello again and welcome to the fifth installment of our continuing video blog series Grounds for Conversation: Practical Insights for Customer-Focused Marketing.

Today’s topic is one that can obviously make a big impact on your marketing ROI and organization’s revenue: Engaging high potential customers.

To discuss this topic we're pleased to have with us Michele Eggers, from SAS' Customer Intelligence Global Practice. Michele shares her insight with us about how organizations can integrate their customers, products and offers into a complete, multifaceted marketing campaign by exploring new media types and getting smarter and more interactive in their customer communications.

Have a look:



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I hope you enjoy the fifth installment of our series. Would you like to see Michelle back discussing other customer intelligence topics? - Let us know!

Be sure to tune-in next Thursday for episode #6, to learn how to establish key customer oriented metrics and incorporate accountability into your marketing process. Stay tuned!

Welcome to the fourth installment of our continuing video blog series Grounds for Conversation: Practical Insights for Customer-Focused Marketing.

During today’s discussion, Karen and Jeff welcome Brent Lever, a SAS Solution Architect, to delve into the topic of contact optimization and the specific steps needed to improve your organization’s marketing campaigns and customer segmenting strategies.

They also address a number of important questions for your organization to consider, such as:

• When is the best time to contact your customers?
• What channel or channels are the most effective?
• What are the most attractive offers?

Have a look:


Download the audio from this video in MP3 format.

 Subscribe to podcast feed   

iTunes Podcast

I hope you enjoy the fourth installment of our series. Let us know what you think about the best time to contact customers or about the offers and channels you personally respond well to. What get's your attention?

Be sure to tune-in next Thursday for episode #5, where you'll meet Michele Eggers (you're going to love Michelle), to hear her view of how to track down and engage your most profitable customers. I'm sure this will be a lively episode. Stay tuned!

Welcome to the third installment of our continuing video blog series Grounds for Conversation: Practical Insights for Customer-Focused Marketing.

So far, we’ve been having a great time discussing these different aspects of customer intelligence, and hope you’ve been finding the content beneficial. As always, we encourage you to share your thoughts about the videos, or the customer intelligence topic in general, by posting a comment to our blog posts.

In today's video, we explore how your organization can achieve a complete customer view. If it sounds like an overwhelming task, you’re in the right place. Uncovering hidden traits about your customers and calculating their profitability can be a difficult process for many organizations. But it needn't be overwhelming.

Watch as Karen and Jeff talk with Tony Adkins, SAS' Product Manager. Tony shares real world examples with us about how new technologies can enable an organization to segment and profile its customers based on profitability and bring about positive change.

Have a look:

Download the audio from this video in MP3 format.

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I hope you enjoy the third installment of our series. Please share your thoughts by leaving a comment about this and future segments below. And be sure to tune-in next Thursday for episode #4, where we’ll delve into contact optimization and discuss specific steps needed to improve marketing campaigns and customer segmenting strategies.

Welcome back to our continuing video blog series Grounds for Conversation: Practical Insights for Customer-Focused Marketing. We hope you enjoyed last week’s discussion on managing customer data.

In today’s video, Jeff and Karen, along with Tonya Balin, SAS' Analytics Product Manager, explore how you can use predictive analytics to know your customers’ next step. They discuss how an organization can drive value by focusing less on historical data and more on answering forward-looking questions, such as, Which customers are more likely to respond to a marketing campaign? And Who are my most profitable customters?

Have a look:



Download the audio from this video in MP3 format.

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iTunes Podcast

I hope you enjoy the second installment of our series, and again we want to hear from you. So let us hear your thoughts by leaving a comment about this and future segments.

Also, be sure to tune-in next Thursday for episode #3, where we explore how to segment and profile customers.

A few days ago we announced our video blog project Grounds for Conversation: Practical Insights for Customer-Focused Marketing.

Today, I’m happy to post the first installment in our eight-part series. This discussion is all about making customer data work for you.

Watch as Karen and Jeff explore the growing importance of data management and data quality with expert Dan Soceanu, Product Marketing Manager of DataFlux. These three discuss real-world scenarios and how organizations can improve the access to, integration of, and quality of, enterprise wide customer data. Have a look:



Download the audio from this video in MP3 format.

 Subscribe to podcast feed

I hope you enjoy the first installment of our series and again we want to hear from you. So let us hear your thoughts by leaving a comment about this and future segments.

And be sure to tune-in next Thursday for episode #2, where we explore how you can use predictive analytics to know your customers’ next steps.

Beginning this Thursday, October 2nd, SAS and HP will launch a new, unique series of eight, 15-minute video blogs titled Grounds for Conversation: Practical Insights for Customer-Focused Marketing.

Several components of this project are very exciting:

First, There’s no product pitch or sales agenda – just a lot of great ideas about how you can build closer and more productive relationships with your customers.

Second, the project is video based. It’s not a series of lengthy white papers or articles, and it’s not another 60-minute webcast discussing how wonderful a particular company’s products are. These are short, 15-minute conversations between people who know the Customer Intelligence market.

Third, it’s a series that will last at least eight weeks, perhaps longer given your involvement via comments and questions. And I have commitment from each of the subject matter experts to respond to any questions you raise or comments you have. So let us know what you think – about the videos or content, or about the process or concept behind this project. I promise, we’re listening.

Fourth, as a company, we’re learning a lot with this project. Almost everything we’re doing is different. We’re not making anyone register to view the content. We’re publishing the content through our blog to invite audience participation. And although we used a script and a teleprompter for the opening and closing statements, the discussion is free-flowing and conversational. There are no PowerPoint foils. No product pitches. You’ll notice that even the imagery we used is different: it’s minimal, simple and devoid of ostentation, just like the content.

I’m lucky to have found two wonderfully intelligent and personable hosts for this series. Each week Jeff Gilleland, Global Strategist of SAS Customer Intelligence Solutions, and Karen Heath, a Managing Practice Principal with HP, sit down with experts in the customer intelligence field to discuss how organizations can achieve higher value and profit through marketing.

Much of what’s discussed is related to the Three I’s of Marketing: Insight, Interaction and Improvement, which are described in further detail as the videos progress.

Here’s a quick video introduction:



Of course, a big part of this experience is you! I encourage you to contribute to the discussion by sharing your ideas and questions with the speakers and fellow viewers via the comment box below.

There will also be additional resources that we’ll be offering you throughout the weeks. You’ll be able to download related whitepapers, webcasts, case studies and more!

This is undoubtedly going to be a great learning experience for us all, and I’m excited to begin. Meet us back here this Thursday to watch the first episode!

P.S. You can click the “continued reading” link below to view the full video transcript.