'List Fatigue'...Or Just Strategy Fatigue?

The Problem: My database is delivering steadily declining response rates. How do I overcome "list fatigue"?

The Solution: Take the time to find out what your customers and prospects really want to receive from your organization, and how they want to receive it.

"List fatigue" is often a euphemism for the customer and prospect fatigue that results from marketing that's largely untargeted and undifferentiated. I call this "spray and pray" marketing.

When the same kind of generic message goes out to tens of thousands of people at a time, it's inevitable that interest, and response rates, will drop. When economic times are tough, the decline usually occurs at an accelerated pace.

If customers or prospects feel that your marketing is not relevant or exciting, they are likely to forget that they opted in to your list (a common occurrence), and will consider your emails to be spam. In a recent MarketingSherpa survey, 74 percent of respondents defined "spam" as "e-mail I did not sign-up to receive."

The solution is to stop "spray and pray" and adopt opt-in/preference driven communications.

Have an opinion about "spray and pray" versus opt-in/preference driven marketing? Comment below and share your thoughts on this post!

However, we must explain exactly what information we’re asking for, why we’re asking for it, and the customer benefit of targeted and relevant communications. When customers have a compelling reason to self-profile and share detailed information, they will opt-in in significant numbers.

Forbes.com highlighted our article Target That Marketing as posted by Investor's Business Daily.

Microsoft’s online Business Resource Center is a best-in-class example of an opt-in/self-profiling relationship strategy. By creating a Voice-of-Customer driven opt-in relationship marketing program, Microsoft generated opt-in rates that ranged between 45 to 95 percent -- the opposite of "list fatigue"!

Try This:

Learn more about Microsoft's targeted opt-in relationship program. Then conduct research to understand what value proposition would be required to motivate your customers and prospects to self-profile their preferences and opt-in to a deeper relationship with your company.

5 Pre-conditions for Obtaining Detailed Opt-In Preference Information

The Myth: Consumers are no longer willing to share in-depth information with marketers.

The Reality: There are 5 prerequisites that, if addressed by marketers, have proven effective in engaging consumers, (BtoB and BtoC), to share detailed Opt-In self-profiling information.

In a previous blog, we discussed the critical consumer decisions that take place within what I call the Reciprocity of Value Equation. Insights which identified the Reciprocity of Value Equation and the following 5 preconditions are based on numerous Voice of Customer research efforts conducted for companies such as Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard, NBC Universal, and HMS National.

Read Ernan’s article in Sales and Service Excellence, titled: “Do You Trust Your Customers?” The article provides 5 steps to help you re-think your marketing.

Research findings indicate that decision makers in both the B-to-B and B-to-C realms have 5 pre-conditions for sharing in-depth information:

1. Consumers have to trust that the company will adequately safeguard their information and use it in a responsible way. 2. “Responsible” means that consumers must believe that their information will not be rented or sold to third parties. 3. “Honor my preferences” reflects the expectation that their Opt-In self-profiled preferences will be used to drive increasingly targeted communications and offers. To overcome the legacy of receiving untargeted and irrelevant communications, consumers must see an obvious improvement in relevance. If the value is not obvious, consumers will assume you are sending “more of the same old” and feel you betrayed their trust and expectations. 4. The value consumers receive in exchange for providing in-depth information must be obvious and compelling. To overcome the legacy of receiving untargeted and irrelevant communications, consumers must see an obvious improvement in relevance. If the value is not obvious, consumers will assume you are sending “more of the same old” and feel you betrayed their trust and expectations. 5. Consumers must see proof that the company will be able to deliver on requirements 1 through 4 above, not just once, but consistently over time. If this occurs, they will be motivated to update their ever-changing interests and preferences and thus, ensure that your Opt-In database remains fresh.

Try This:

Ask your prospects and customers how they would define “relevant and targeted” communications and offers from your company…and what information they would be willing to share with you in order to receive that value.

Also, check that you have the support to create the “clearinghouse” function to evaluate all the various communications that different divisions and business units want to send...and that you will be granted the authority to suppress those communications that are not relevant to the expressed preferences of individual customers.

Will They Still Love Me Tomorrow?

We just returned from a lovely vacation in the Caribbean. As we've done for the last 30 years, each year we find a new place to relax and recharge.

These properties take pride in providing exceptional service. The staff quickly learn our names, food and seating preferences, and ask about the interests of our family members, so they can recommend the appropriate activities and outings. This level of personalized attention is always impressive and adds greatly to the quality of the vacation experience. However, once we leave the properties...all the love and attention vanishes!

How is it that these wonderful properties, which value personalized engagement on-property, do not sustain the engagement once we leave?

We know from our previous experience with hospitality clients such as Starwood’s Luxury Collection and Orient Express, that customer retention is critical. Once a guest crosses a certain threshold, such as 2+ visits, they are very likely to return multiple times. Many of these guests will often bring additional family members.

So, given the importance of retention, why isn't all the customer information they have gathered during our stay used to drive highly personalized communications per our preferences?

Please refer to the Investor’s Business Daily “Target That Marketing” article which provides voice of the customer marketing tips and guidelines.

They know our names, the names and ages of our children, our interest in adventurous sea and land excursions, and our love of art, foods and wines. Imagine the exciting and targeted communications, updates and offers which could be sent based on what they know about us!

With all this rich information, all we receive after our stays, if anything, are generic newsletters and generic offers.

It's not just the many Hospitality marketers that are missing the boat. Think of all the millions of Retail purchases just made during the holidays, with all those opportunities to ask customers their interest in receiving future information related to the items they purchased.

It makes you wonder why so many companies still don’t “get it”. It seems that as we enter 2011, the goal of building the relationship and earning the repeat purchases still lags behind going for the short term "quickie sale".

So how about a New Year's resolution to value your customer today…and continue to love them tomorrow?