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Loyalty Programs Really Pay Off

Three Reasons to Hire a Professional Designer

LOcking in a LasTing ReLaTiOnsHiP wiTH yOuR cusTOmeRs

ISSUE THIRTY-SIX

MARKETINGADVISOR

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Want to sell more? Try building relationships with your customers. Yes, it really

can be that simple. People like to do business with people. More specifically, they like to

do business with people who care about them, who listen to what they have to say, and

who are accessible and responsive to their needs. By using the variety of tools in your

marketing arsenal, you can build relationships that keep your customers engaged and loyal.

Print. Newsletters, direct mail

letters, postcards, and

other printed materials are

great relationship builders. As you use

these tools, don’t always be trying to

sell something. Share information. Give

advice. Provide useful resources so that

your customers look forward to each

communication. Consider selecting

interesting or unusual substrates, folds,

and bindings that take advantage of the

unique, tangible characteristics of print.

Data. Knowing your customers helps

deepen relationships over time. You will

speak differently to the Gen-X crowd than

you will to Baby Boomers. You will speak

differently to a recent college graduate

than you will to the head of a household

with children. Using data doesn’t have

to mean full personalization, although

it can. Segmenting into different target

audiences can also be highly effective

by allowing you to speak to customers

based on their common interests.

Multi-channel marketing. Every marketing channel

has its own sweet spots,

so understand the power

of each channel and maximize it. Print

creates the sense of gravitas and trust.

Email and mobile allow immediate

communication and facilitate click-

through feedback. Social media fosters

long-term engagement and community

building. Understanding the sweet

spots of each medium and layering

them over time reinforces your brand

and helps you stay top of mind.

Personalized URLs. Personalized URLs allow you

to connect with customers

and get their feedback

using a simple, personalized online

interface. By asking their opinions on

products, services, and their experience

with your company, personalized

URLs let people know that you care

and that their voices are being heard.

It also gathers additional information

on those customers so you can better

target and customize communications

with them in the future. Relationships

require two-way communication!

Social media. Social media is not a sales

channel. It is a relationship

channel. Use social media

to engage your customers in a larger

community. Get your team members

interacting with your customers as

genuine, caring human beings. Have

your team participate in discussions

(whether on your sites or third-party

sites) so your customers know you

are really listening. Sponsor contests.

Create discussions around the culture

of your business, or fun and unusual

ways to use your products.

Regardless of the channels you are

using, ensure that your phone number,

Web address, and links to your Facebook

page, Twitter account, and Pinterest

boards are included and clearly visible.

Give customers multiple ways to contact

you and encourage them to do so in

the ways they feel most comfortable.

As a marketer, you have

tremendous resources for

building long-lasting, positive

relationships with your customers.

Need help using them? Give us a call!

What tools do you have at your disposal?

BuIlD BuSINESS By BuIlDING RElATIONShIpS

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Case Study: Hotel ResortTake the example of this New

Jersey-based hotel and resort that

used loyalty programs to encourage

20% of its customers to repeat

business just the first year alone.

The resort learned the value of

loyalty campaigns when it implemented

a program that gathered information

on customers on their first visits. It

immediately followed up with colorful

brochures thanking them for their visit and

inviting them to return again. Automated,

trigger-based workflow was used to

get these mailers into customers’ hands

immediately while their good memories of

time spent at the facility were still fresh.

The resort was willing to spend a

significant amount of time, money,

and energy to develop these mailers

because it knew that once a customer

returns a second time, his or her loyalty

is cemented. Thus the extra effort spent

getting those customers back in the door

would pay off in long-term profits.

The program now has been running

for years, and the facility is nearly

always booked to capacity. Ongoing

CRM programs permit the resort to

effectively resell, upsell, and cross-

sell to its customers, all the while

building additional rapport and trust.

Loyalty programs take a little extra

time and effort to set up, but once

they are up and running, they are

highly cost-effective to maintain. The

benefits? They speak for themselves.

Really Pay Off!

Loyalty Programs

Case Study Results

• 20% of customers receiving the direct mailers booked with the hotel or used its facilities the first year — nearly 30 times the industry average for static direct mail campaigns.

• The resort recorded record revenues from its services and had the most lucrative month in the company’s history.

• Quarterly earnings doubled year over year.

D oes your company have a loyalty program? A way to keep customers engaged with your business and encourage repeat business

over time? If not, it might be time to get started.

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E ngaging customers involves more than just sending out

informational or promotional print pieces. It involves touching customers’ emotions and engaging with them at a deeper level that draws them in. That’s why, even with so much template-based design available these days, professional designers still play an important role in today’s marketing communications.

Here are three areas where professional design can really make a difference.

Professional designers know things the average person doesn’t. Want to grab someone’s attention?

Use color and graphics! But when

you’re creating the pieces yourself,

sometimes even the most eye-popping

colors just don’t reproduce as you

expect. Or when you re-size a picture,

it becomes pixilated no matter what

you try. What happens if your paper or

finishing cost is more than expected

or your project is delayed because

of design and format considerations

that were overlooked upfront?

Professional designers do more

than place text and images on a

page. They take into consideration

everything from aesthetics to

substrates to prepress, binding, and

finishing that the average marketer

can’t possibly be expected to know.

If you’re doing 1:1 marketing, designers

play a key role, as well. This is because

variable fields can bring some unexpected

surprises in a document layout. For

example, if you have 1” maximum

available space, that’s no problem if the

recipient’s last name is Smith, Walker, or

Johnson. But what happens if someone

has the last name Salomonowicz or

Drozdovandropopozgiopanatzakis?

(Yes, these are real last names!)

Those and other possibilities have

to be planned for upfront.

Your company’s image is affected by the quality of your marketing materials. Like it or not, buyers judge a book by

its cover. If your marketing materials

look unprofessional — if your colors are

muddy or your hairlines don’t match

across the fold — your company will

appear unprofessional, too. When all

else is equal between you and your

competitor, the company with better

designed brochures and marketing

materials will get more sales.

Good design accommodates multi-channel. In today’s

competitive, multi-channel marketing

environment, you must not only be

able to design for print, but for the

Web, email, mobile, and more. Each

has its own nuances in design, color,

and format. Professional designers are

expected to be comfortable working

in most or all of these formats, and

the ability to create consistency across

multiple channels is one of the hallmarks

of professional design and marketing.

If you’re tempted to shave a few

dollars off your budget by cutting out

a professional designer, think twice.

These critical links in your marketing

chain bring value far beyond just creating

printed (or electronic) documents.

They are the creative force behind the

professional image of your company, and

some things are just worth paying for.

Three Reasons to use a professional

Designer

MARKETINGADVISOR

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lOOK AT VAluE OVER A lIfETIME

W hen you think about evaluating the success of

a 1:1 printing campaign, how long a window do you use to determine the dollars it generated? Do you cut it off after a week? A month? Several months? What about the lifetime of the customer?

Lifetime customer value (LCV)

is an overlooked metric that

needs to be a larger part of how

marketers measure their success.

Granted, LCV is very difficult to estimate,

but it’s important to keep the issue in

mind. Customers gained through 1:1

printing tend not just to purchase more,

but to be more loyal than customers

gained through static methods. Thus, the

benefits of customer retention must be

considered alongside other factors in

evaluating the cost-benefits equation.

You don’t have to calculate out LCV

indefinitely. Many companies estimate their

LCV out for three to seven years. Otherwise,

it’s considered too speculative to be useful.

True Measure of EffectivenessEven if it’s an estimate, LCV gives you

a much better idea of what value your

marketing campaigns are creating.

For example, the Print on Demand

Initiative case study archive contains a

case study submitted by a small lawn care

company that sent out a mailing of 300

1:1 pieces to great effectiveness. When

the campaign revenue was considered in

isolation, the mailing barely broke even.

But the company knew that its customers

tend to be very loyal over time, so the

addition of every new customer meant

several years of recurring revenue. As a

result, the owner estimated the campaign

ROI at 8000% on a LCV basis, something

that made this a best practices case study.

How do you view your customers?

On a one-off basis?

Or as having Lifetime

Customer Value?

How do you determine LCV? There are a variety of factors to consider: Churn rate: How often do customers leave your customer base?

Retention costHow much does it cost you to support, bill, and incentivize your customers?

Periodic revenue Do you have recurring revenue streams? How much do customers spend during an average period?

Profit margin

You don’t have to calculate out LCV indefinitely. Many companies estimate their LCV out for three to seven years. Otherwise, it’s considered too speculative to be useful.