Must Read Classic Articles
These articles are keepers for customer retention
oriented, Data-Driven marketers; they are selected primarily because they
provide very short-in-supply case studies, metrics, or process models for
relationship marketing, customer retention, or customer loyalty marketing on the
Web. This is an archive; for the latest check out the blog.
**** Bring
'Em Back
February 21, 2005 Target Marketing
A nice primer on one of my favorite topics - defining a customer
defection. You can't increase profits by retaining customers if you don't
define what a defection is first! Then it's a matter of using
the right metrics and timing.
*** Big
Ideas 2005
February 7, 2005 Target Marketing
Wisdom from the "gurus" on what will be hot this year in marketing, as
direct and database marketing continue to bleed into and influence all marketing
strategies and programs.
*** Profits, One Customer at a Time
January 24, 2005 destinationCRM Magazine
This is a very good, straight-up discussion on valuing customers. The idea
of using a "relative value" is something I
have preached for years. Don't get hung up on trying to derive
"absolute" values for customers; use a consistent valuation model,
then start turning
your customer data into profits.
*** KPI's: Taming the Metrics Chaos
January 14, 2005 DM Review
This article is about supply chain KPI's (Key Performance Indicators) but the
methodology and framework is sound and could be used in any business to develop
and track metrics that really make a difference to the profitability of a
business. If you're looking to develop KPI's for customers and need them
right away without a lot of development time, these
will work just fine.
*** Use
a Brand / Response Marketing Model
December 27, 2004 DM News
I can't figure out why the brand and direct approaches are always at odds.
Personally, I think branders dislike the accountability that direct brings to
advertising. This article gives a organizational explanation which also
works. Either way, a mix is best. Conceptually, it's like having a
"slider" mix control with brand at one end and direct at the other;
the optimal mix setting of this slider for any ad approach depends on the
products being sold.
*** KPIs:
Not All Metrics are Created Equal
December 14, 2004 DM Review
Yea, it's tough this time of year to find any really interesting articles out
there. Readership drops and attentions are elsewhere; editors
"save" the good stuff for January. But buried among the year-end
reviews and 2005 predictions was this article, with a fabulous case study on
supply chain Key Performance Indicators. KPI's are central to the idea of
turning raw data into actionable
information.
**** Put the Horse Before the Cart
November 21, 2004 Target Marketing
I can't describe this article any better then the lead-in, so here ya go: Effective housefile segmentation begins with sound strategy and defined goals. The ability to market to customers with different needs, in different ways, requires what marketers call housefile segmentation. But what you many not realize is that housefile segmentation isn't so much a technique or a tool as it is the result of goals, strategy and research coming together.
**** The
Power of
Perfectly Timed Communications
November 11, 2004 DM News
What's the difference between a trip wire
and a trigger? Beats me. I like trip wire much better because the
target is is initiating the action, whereas with a trigger, it's implied someone
else is initiating action against the target. No matter,
really. This article lays out the case for very High ROI marketing
programs activated by events. Of course, if you want to learn how do so
what it says in the article, read
this.
**** Connecting Marketing Metrics
to Financial Consequences
November 9, 2004 Knowledge@Wharton
Now that's a wild idea, huh? Don't let those marketing freaks get
away with spending money and not proving what the ROI is, I mean, every other
"C-level"
has to. Start the process by sending the CFO this
link.
**** From
460% to 1165%:
Analytics shine a Light on Select Comfort’s search ROI
November 2, 2004 Internet Retailer
There has always been a lot of speculation that online research drives offline
sales, though I've always had problems with the methodology used in prior
studies. This one conclusively links online search behavior to offline
sales using - get this - dynamically generated toll-free numbers for each search
phrase. Claude
Hopkins would be proud of this one.
*** Getting Personal: Relationship Marketing
October 27, 2004 Catalog Age
Ah yes, Relationship Marketing,
the father of CRM. Unlike the bratty and difficult child, Relationship
Marketing is elegant in simplicity and has been practiced successfully for a
decade. The concept is simple: use the Customer
LifeCycle to improve the financial performance of marketing programs.
For all the details on "how" to make this happen, get
the book.
** Get More Conversions
October 18, 2004 Catalog Success
If you've been following my web metrics work for a while, nothing in this
article is going to surprise you. If you are just coming around to the
idea that the real leverage in the web model is to convert more site visitors to
action, this article is a list of things you can do.
*** Stand
by Me
October 4, 2004 CFO IT Magazine
You know, it must be because I have always worked in technology-driven sectors
that this kind of thing astounds me. This is a new idea, that the CFO and
CIO should work together? Perhaps the adoption rate of data-driven
marketing (see also article below) is being influenced by all of this "old
school" thinking. You can bet that in companies that live and die by
the data that the CFO and CIO are joined at the hip, and marketing has a
strategic seat at the boardroom table instead of the lunch table.
article touches on some of the issues.
See "Classics" Article List
(more articles outside this site)
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