August, 2004

Benchmark Portal and eGain reported in a recent study that 41% of large U.S. and Canadian Companies didn't respond to email messages indicating a high-value intent to purchase.

Amazing.

Benchmark Portal and eGain reported in a recent study that 41% of large U.S. and Canadian Companies didn't respond to email messages indicating a high-value intent to purchase.

Amazing.

Looks like someone's thinking about the customer experience at Verizon.

The New York Times reported today that Verizon will not release the names and numbers of their 40 million customers for use in the directory--even if a customer wants to participate.

In the latest issue of Darwin Magazine, consultant John Bolden makes a case for a Chief Change Officer to lead and manage change initiatives within organizations. He may be on to something.

Read the article here: Time for a Change

DMA News reported yesterday that Harrah's was fined $40,000 for mailing to about 260 of the 7,300 people on Missouri's casino-exclusion list (6 people complained to the state Gaming Commission). Apparently, Harrah's purchased a couple of lists and failed to suppress those on the casino-exclusion list before mailing. The article also reports that Harrah's marketing director and database marketing director resigned.

Apparently protests from a number of safety groups have caused GM to pull it's latest Guy Ritchie-directed Corvette commercial showing a boy dreaming about driving a Corvette.

The ad's pretty benign and GM is big enough to have weather what would have been a short-lived protest. Yet the way the spot's been circulating around the web, it'll probably be seen by more people wanting to see for themselves why it was pulled than would have seen it on the airwaves.

What a great way to turn publicity, GM. Great viral marketing.

CIO Insight Magazine's August issue featured an interesting research study with regard to CRM projects. The survey headline, Will Old Problems Sink New Users? says it all.

From my perspective, the focus continues to be technology, when the customer's needs, values and expectations must be placed at the forefront. So yes, as long as IT departments lead these projects, "old problems will sink news users".

I just caught an article in The Register about a promotion for the new Resident Evil game, Resident Evil: Outbreak which advertised by sending "unsolicited SMS text messages on their mobile phones telling them they are infected by the so-called T-Virus".

Now, there's a smart thing to do.

On the surface, it certainly seems like a cool idea. Yet, to those unsuspecting people who received the following message: 

Don Peppers wrote an article a few weeks ago entitled, Does RSS Spell Doom for Email Newsletters?, in which he touched on the pro's and cons of RSS and concluded, "The simple truth is that RSS technology has the potential to bypass inbox clutter, and companies want to be ready if it does."

At the bottom of the there was a link to Peppers & Rogers new RSS feed, so I clicked over to see the details.

With regard to the feed itself, the website indicated:

Every time I've gone into Blockbuster the last few months I've been hit up to participate in their monthly rental program as soon as I get to the register. Each time, and it's got to be 10 by now, I tell the clerk I'm not interested in the program. My patience with them on this issue is now almost transparent.

Over the weekend when I was asked the "Has anyone told you about our..." question it was followed by, "You've already rented 50 movies this year, including this one.

Last night, for the second time this week, I've heard from two different salesman from the local Ford dealership--both of whom I'll refer to as, "Bob".

These calls start off with a comment about a need for late model vans in the local market and Bob thought I'd be interested in trading since he could give a good trade in value, and there were some great rebates going on.

"I can tell by your service record you take care of your van," Bob said.

"What?," I asked, "Are you mining the service records for leads?"

David Wolfe's recent blog posts about the marketing discipline are thought provoking.

In Why Marketing Under performs he addresses the fact that marketers, unlike engineers, have no common foundation. Unlike engineering, which has a mathematical foundation, marketing does not have a universally accepted theoretical foundation.

About a year ago I wrote here about the Netflix business model and other entrants into the market (Blockbuster and Wal-Mart). I got a lot of feedback about that article, most of which telling me (some of which was polite) that I was off my rocker. The paragraph that seemed to draw the most response was this one:

"Simply put, I don't believe this business model is sustainable as it currently operates.

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All You [2-year subscription] asin: B000W3MB5M

On Friday, August 13, Time will launch a new title, All You, which will be available only at the newsstand and initially only at Wal-Mart.

It strikes me odd that so many supermarkets have loyalty cards. First of all, nearly every supermarket offers the programs with price-off incentives. In other words, have the card, get a special price. Where's the loyalty in that? Many people (including those in my immediate family) have cards to all the local supermarkets and take advantage of the special pricing on key merchandise at all of the stores. Again, where's the loyalty?