8.1     INTRODUCTION

In the introduction to this section I mention CRM, here's a couple more points. I am not a great supporter of CRM [as you can probably tell from my comments in the book], relationship marketing - yes, but it is NOT the same concept as CRM [something non-marketers are often ignorant of]. Although he doesn't mention CRM, Seth Godin is critical of it in this rant against 'permission' that I would be proud to have made. See Seth Godin's rules on permission - note that it is from his book Meatball Sundae. There is also the concept of VRM - Vendor Relationship Management. This is the reverse of CRM [where the organization seeks to manage the relationship with customers] with the onus being on the customer to manage their relationship with organizations - read my musing on the subject. It is also becoming common for CRM to stand for Customer Relationship Marketing. I much prefer this term to 'management' - the reason for which will be self-evident if you read my comments on the subject in the book.

Continuing the theme of relationship marketing is this article - Securing Brand Loyalty Through Relationship Marketing. Despite its title, it concentrates mainly on the use of email - so it fits into this chapter well.

Here's a very interesting article on [perhaps] the future of relationship marketing - or at least the online aspect of it. I have included it in this chapter, but it could just as easily be part of social media marketing or even the last chapter that considers the way all marketing - offline as well as online - should be integrated. See The Brave New World of the Engaged Web.

Don't forget there are also email marketing sections on my own website in tips, hints and advice and interesting articles.

*pg 256* Email is dead - or is it? Here's some more research that suggests that email is still an effective tool for e-marketers to use - Email Increases Likelihood to Buy by 50% ... and this is from March 2009 - Opt-In Email Next Best After Family and Friends.

It would seem that customers are more willing to give up their email addresses than we might think, read more - and for an example of poor practice in gathering email lists, take a look at Saga - [opting out of] doing things properly?

The title of this article - Teens, College Students And Young Adults: Where Does Email Fit? - doesn't tell the whole story, it includes some interesting demographics on who uses email.

More reinforcement for the 'email is alive and well' argument comes from ExactTarget's Digital channel preferred by US Internet users for messaging.

*pg 257* Legal attempts to stop spam: Federal Trade Commission and EU Directive on Privacy and Electronic Communications

*pg 261* Legal aspects of email marketing: Not only does this page from the UK's Business Link have some good advice, there's a wedge of links on it too - and for a page of links to the various issues, try this - Email marketing and the law.

*pg 261* Email technical issues: This article - How Geeks Can Increase E-Mail Delivery - covers the basics, whilst this one - email deliverability - concentrates on ensuring your emails render properly in the receiver's email window.

*pg 262* Guilty of spam by association: For more on dedicated IP addresses, see this article - Evaluating Dedicated vs. Shared IP Addresses.

*pg 263* Today's the day: One way to - hopefully - send emails at the right time is to match-up new emails with the day/time that th e recipient has opened previous messages. This is one piece of advice in this article - Best Send Time? When Recipients Are In The Inbox.

Usability expert Jakob Nielsen offers some advice on Transactional Email and Confirmation Messages

In section 8.2 I cover the difficulties in developing a mailing list - well one of the best sources is customers. Having taken their money, however, the savvy marketer will look to develop a relationship - this article includes some research-based suggestions - Buyers Are A Big Email Opportunity.

This article - although based around the financial crisis of October 2008 - gives some good examples of how email can be used outside of a direct marketing environment - Are You Maximizing The Communications Value Of Email?, and this is another excellent example of it in practice - nice holiday message.

In the book I have included a list of types of email that can carry a marketing message - and towards the end include 'event related' - this article gives some good examples of that practice - Building Customer Loyalty - Some Creative Examples.

Is email is still the poor relation of customer service? See my examples - #1 and #2.

It is often the case that emails from organizations cannot be replied-to - it's a poor practice, here's an example - excellent customer-service-that-rejects-plaudits

The content of this article is all rather basic - but if you are new to email marketing [I assume you are, otherwise why are you reading my book?] it is an excellent start-point. Note also that it is about newsletters, but many - if not most - of the points are relevant to direct marketing emails - email secrets.

When discussing e-newsletters it is often difficult to identify where long, regular emails stop and newsletters start. Take this one from ASDA, for example. The subject line says it is a newsletter, but it more resembles a direct marketing email - it certainly doesn't have much 'news'. Or maybe ASDA thinks receivers are more likely to open an email that says 'newsletter' in the subject line?

If you are not sure what RSS is, watch this short video - RSS in Plain English.

At the beginning of this section I make the point that personalization is not the same as customization - and concentrated on how an online service can be personalized. However, the web can be used to sell customized products - where the customer 'customizes' their product online. Examples include: NikeiD where you can choose the colour[s] of your footwear, Marks & Spencer who allow men to order 'made to measure' shirts from a range of fabrics and styles, and Zazzle, where you can add your own art work to things like mugs and t-shirts - the difference here being that Zazzle will then sell the products and pay a royalty to the 'designer'.

Personalization and segmentation can go together, this article - Using Segmentation to Improve Site Conversions - gives some basic ideas how and why.

Personalization of websites is still rare, but here is an example of the practice - Ocado offers customers pre-loaded shopping baskets.

This link could have been in the last chapter - but the emphasis is more on personalization then advertising - Personalized Ads Pack Bigger Punch.

In the text I say that web page personalization is common in B2B environments. It is possible that some of these examples are actually an 'intranet' - a kind of 'private' Internet-based network which is accessible only to invited participants ... in this case, regular customers.

Towards the end of the chapter I mention Yahoo!'s LAUNCHfast - where users can build their personal 'radio station'. Well don't go looking for it, Yahoo! closed it down in February '09, replacing it with access to existing radio stations - but no personalization.

Although I have always been rather sceptical about the potential for web access via mobile phones, 2009 has been described as the year mobile came of age, and I have to admit that my scepicism is waning a little - particular when I read stats like those in Seven Signs of the Desktop Web Apocalypse. That said, research like this - Only 24% of UK consumers access the internet from their mobile phone - suggests that mobile web access still has a long way to go. In particular, note that most mobile web access is for facebook and the like - which use special apps to access, and so are not typical websites as such.

At the beginning of this section I question what the mobile web actually is. This chart has some interesting stats, but take a look at the categories used - a reasonable delineation of 'mobile'? An example of my problem with 'what is mobile marketing?' is the use of apps [applications] on smartphones. Are they part of mobile marketing? Probably yes - but are they part of Internet marketing? Whatever, here's some examples of marketing with smartphone apps, this one -
Mobile commerce: should you have a site or an app? - raises a good question for marketers.

This article is more about how badly most websites perform on mobile devices than it is about mobile marketing - but I think the two issuses are inextricably linked. As a footnote - with the help of one of my students I took a look at this website on an iPhone, and it seemed to work OK - perhaps a victory for substance over style?

This research - Speed Trumps Quality for Mobile ‘Net Users - considers the issue from the point of view of the most important group of people - the users [that is: customers]. Take particular note if you are looking to advertise on mobile sites - it would appear that users are willing to accept ads.

Although I am sceptical about mobile purchasing, this section is called 'mobile marketing'. Perhaps it is this wider perspective that mobile will really add to the marketer's tool box. This title of this report - Consumers with mobile broadband do go online to check prices whilst in-store - says what it is about, whilst this one - Kraft Foods launches mobile recipe and shopping list service - is an example of innovative thinking, and this research suggests that customers not only use these types of application, but expect them. This list might be wishful thinking, but I think it is a good indication of what the future might bring. Here's some more new applications and the title of Geo-Location Services Get Social tells you what it is all about.

The final chapter of the book emphasises that e-marketing is just part of the contemporary organization's marketing efforts this research on how people use their mobile devices demonstates how off- and online cannot be considered as seperate entities.

Mini-stat - Mobile shopping is popular in Japan.

Not too many examples in this one - Mobile Marketing: 12 Tips for Planning Your Media - but still some good food for thought.

Two Reasons Why SMS Should Be on Your Shortlist uses a presidential candidate's campaign as a case study.

What about posting products' ratings and reviews in-store and directing customers to read more on their mobile phones? See [US beauty retailer] Sephora Simplifies Selection Process With Mobile Reviews. However, my view would be that the phone screen is so small, you may as well put the message on the [physical] poster.

This article looks at mobile marketing from a wider perspective - in other words, how 'mobile' can be used for more than accessing the web - Driving Mobile With Full Visibility.

In the book I make the point about websites designed for PCs/Macs not working on mobile devices, and it seems sites-for-mobile are going through the growing pains that the [full-size] web went through a decade ago. Says who? Jakob Nielsen says so, and - in my opinion - he is never wrong, see Mobile Usability.

*pg 281* Proximity Marketing: This article on - Bluetooth marketing - explains the concept in more detail and suggests further uses.

This is a question and answer session with Ben Freeborn about Interflora's mobile site - I think it is very informative about some of the key issues in mobile selling.

Mini-stat - In the book I suggest that it is intangible products that sell best on mobile devices. Seems I might be wrong - I had forgotten about students ordering their pizzas, see What do customers want to buy on their mobiles?

Although the title of this one - Halfords launches Text and Reserve service - suggests something rather straight forward, the facility also provides for customers to 'look-up' the right part.

This [chapter's] page starts with the differentation between personalization and customization - so I'll finish by combining the latter with mobile. This article tells how you can order customized trainers from Reebok on your mobile phone - I would be interested to see just how many customers do so.

As we covered in chapter 7.2, one way of paying for ads is through 'pay-per-call' - and technology has now taken this onto mobile devices where the user can click on the ad and a call is put through from their mobile phone. For more, see - Google To Introduce Click-to-Call (Billing) in Ads on Mobile Devices.