e-mail Marketing

A Permission Marketing Primer: Picking and Choosing

Permission email marketing has morphed from best practice to legal requirement in several countries. In the next three issues we'll explore what Karen Talavera, president of Sychronicity Marketing, refers to as the "Six Cs of Permission Email Marketing." Here are the first two:

Conscious consent

"Terms like affirmative consent, passive consent and third-party consent abound," writes Talavera. "But when it comes to genuine, 100 percent permission marketing, the only consent that matters is conscious consent." This means subscribers make an active decision to receive future communication. This is different from having the box for future messages pre-checked on a registration form and expecting subscribers to deselect it if they don't want future messages. For conscious consent, the subscriber must physically check the box and agree to your correspondence.

Choice

Let recipients set their preferences for the manner and types of communication they receive. Some might want news about your company but not promotions, or accept messages by email but not postal mail. Some sites let subscribers determine the frequency of contact. "It's fine to restrict choices solely to what you can realistically manage," says Talavera. "Aim your sights on under-promising and over-delivering rather than vice versa, and your customers will reward your efforts."

The Po!nt: Says Talavera, "With marketing channels of choice proliferating and messaging devices diversifying, it's not hard to imagine ... [a] future where permissions are granted not only by marketing channel ... but also by content, device, time and place."

Customer Behaviour

Who Can Resist a Bargain?

Many marketers believe customers are attracted to discounted prices. Yet this assumption may be wrong. While a lowered price might make people more inclined to buy your product, they may also be less satisfied with their purchase.

Researchers at Stanford, INSEAD and MIT found that consumers who were given an energy drink felt the product was less effective if it was purchased at a discount. Consumers who drank the discounted product felt they that had a less intense workout than those who purchased the drink at its regular price.

When advised that the drink helped improve mental acuity, consumers who were told that the drink was purchased at a discount were able to solve fewer word puzzles than those consumers who used the same product purportedly purchased at the regular price.
Also, consumers exposed to strong claims about the energy drink's effectiveness were able to solve more word puzzles than consumers who received weaker advertising about the product. Your marketing messages, therefore, may impact your product's potency. Advertising claims, even if not based in fact, may become reality to customers.

The Po!nt: Customers may, in fact, get what they pay for. Price drops, and advertising overall, may shape consumers' expectations, making them believe a product is not as effective, and hence lower in quality.

Get to the Point

Nickel and Dime on the Not-So-Sly

In a post at his Living Light Bulbs blog, Ryan Karpeles talks about the wrong way to make a buck. And he offers a prime example: Dollar Rent a Car, which recently introduced a $2 "topping off" charge to any vehicle returned with a full tank of gas. "Not only is this obnoxious," Karpeles complains, "but it's also unfair to the customer ... you either pay $2, or you get stuck with the bloated 'local refueling charges' (which are always higher than the market cost of gasoline)."

If the company needs to generate an extra two bucks from each transaction, Karpeles suggests that rolling the surcharge into a rental fee—where it's likely to go unnoticed—would secure the revenue without alienating customers.

It's a principle worth considering if you find yourself in a similar situation. For instance, would you feel ripped off if your $240 hotel room came with complimentary Internet access? Of course not. But you might resent a $15 connection charge when it's added to a $225 daily rate. Likewise, you probably wouldn't give a second thought to a $603 plane ticket that included refreshments; but if you pay $600 for the ticket and they want $3 for a soft drink, you're going to roll your eyes at the price gouging.

The Po!nt: "Before you enact a bunch of new policies to make an extra buck," writes Karpeles, "think about what kind of message you're sending. There's probably a lot better way to accomplish the same thing."

Marketing Inspiration

Social Security Shenanigans

Everyone knows you're supposed to guard your social security number like a state secret. After all, those nine digits are the open sesame for criminals who want to run up huge tabs on credit accounts opened in your name. They get new computers, Caribbean holidays and expensive watches; you get to spend years rebuilding your credit.

So it's more than a little shocking to watch this television ad for a service called LifeLock. It shows a large panel truck cruising the streets of Manhattan with the social security number of its CEO Todd Davis emblazoned in a bright red, easy-to-read font. We kid you not—it's right there for all of New York, and anyone with a television, to see. The seeming insanity continues at the LifeLock Web site, where the first words you'll see are: "My name is Todd Davis. My social security number is 457-55-5462."

It turns out Davis isn't out of his mind. Instead, he's actually making the best possible case for his product. "Why publish my social security number?" he asks. "Because I'm absolutely confident LifeLock is protecting my good name and personal information, just like it will yours." He finishes off by announcing a $1 million guarantee.

You can probably anticipate why we consider this Marketing Inspiration: By making himself as vulnerable to identity theft as anyone can possibly be, Davis exhibits a breathtaking confidence in the service he sells. How we can convey that level of faith in our own companies?

Get to the Po!nt

Setting Your Evangelists on Track

In a post at the Church of the Customer Blog, Jackie Huba asks a question you've probably faced at some time: How do you handle a customer evangelist who is misrepresenting your company? Even though the offender's facts may be correct, his or her stance could be off mark. It can be a tricky situation.
On one hand, you've put a lot of thought into positioning your products or services in a certain way; on the other, attempting to micromanage the word of mouth is likely to backfire. So how do you react? According to Huba, you have four basic options:

• Make a public correction. Leave a comment at the customer evangelist's blog, for instance, that thanks them for the attention and gently clarifies your company's message.


• Make a private correction. Include the same content in an email that leaves the person free to follow up as they see fit.


• Acknowledge the mention without a correction. Express gratitude privately or publicly, and leave it at that


• Do nothing

Huba recommends the third route, and offers a tip for keeping future evangelism on target: Invite the person to join a special program that gives "inner circle" access to your latest news and updates.

The Po!nt: "If the customer's information is technically correct but incomplete, or uses her own words and not yours, get over it," she writes. "A word-smithing scold is old."