I have an iPhone. Therefore, I am an AT&T customer. As a result AT&T has added me to their email distribution list, and I now am on the receiving end of several email tactics. My favorite (and not for a good reason) are the acquisition tactics.

I want information that matters to me when interacting with a business. At some point, I have opted in to receive communication from a company, so I care what the company has to say. But, what a company has to say better matter to me. Make email content relevant. Take what you know about me as a customer and apply that knowledge. What interactions have I had with a company? What are my shopping habits surrounding the products? Have I offered up any personal information that could be useful in targeting communication to me? Am I am mom? Do I work?

Now, I have always believed I am a bit of a tough customer. But, it turns out I am not alone. Relevance is important to most women, and it is even more important to women who are mothers. Fifty-eight percent of women surveyed say they want information that pertains to their lifestyle or relates to their recent purchases. Seventy-one percent of women responded that they are willing to share information like an email address, their age, and their gender to receive discounts, promotional offers and coupons. If I am interpreting this survey information correctly, women want information that is pertinent to them, they want savings offers, but THEY WANT INFORMATION. Did you hear that, companies? Women want information from you… that is half the battle right there.

Companies must surprise women with information that actually matters to them. Spend some time getting to know them, demonstrate that they are valued. Right now, send them a savings offer that is relevant to them (go ahead, I will wait). We all know that if women do not like what they are hearing from a company, they will tell their friends (just like I told you about AT&T). But also keep in mind that if women do like what they are hearing, not only will they tell their friends but they will also remain a loyal customer!

I am a bit of a nerd when it comes to usability. I really get excited about the idea of tweaking a page to get just the right response… and learning why it works. When I overheard someone here at Knotice talking about an eye track study and heat maps, my ears perked up. Turns out this was an older study and specific to news media websites, but it got me thinking about how customers view the creative that is worked so diligently to perfect.

There are a lot of good studies that use eye tracking from the biggest names in usability. And there are a bunch that reveal what shape is made when the heat map is complete – an “F,” a “Z,” something that looks like the “solution” without the maze, etc. But there are also a few places where all the different studies tend to be in agreement. Most of these studies are centered on how we all read text.

Usually we scan. Customers are very adept at reading email and making quick decisions on it. A longer publication like a newsletter may get less than a minute’s attention from the most engaged readers. Email, unsurprisingly, competes for a limited – usually fixed – amount of time with everyone else’s email. Readers do not add to their email time budget for each new subscription.

So what can be done? Here are a few standards I always strive for when reviewing email copy and layout:

• Clearly all the shapes created by these heat maps put emphasis on the top left. That is how we in the West read, left to right and top to bottom, so this comes naturally. Put the goods there.
• Some studies will show that the best length for a text link is 7-10 words. Often eye trackers guide us to make the first few words count. That may be all that is read (or scanned) before a decision is made to click or move on.
• The same principles apply with headlines. The first few words matter the most.
• Text links are best and buttons are second for getting clicks. Anything that looks like an “ad” in the content, regardless of how well it actually supports the content, will likely be ignored.

It may not be possible to get the budget, time, or desire to do an eye track study, but it does not mean improving the content is impossible. Besides taking my word for what works, do some A/B testing. Conduct a focus group with a few customers. If something new and different is learned, let us all know.

One of my prevailing themes on The Lunch Pail is untangling marketer confusion within the very broad topic of "mobile marketing."

“Twitter is text messages, right? And since it’s free, I think we should dip our toe in the ‘mobile marketing’ waters here first. If it works, maybe we’ll consider creating a budget for opt-in SMS marketing.”

The misconception is simply that Twitter is a viable replacement for opt-in SMS text message marketing. Or, that the benefits of “free” far outweigh the potential benefits of anything you have to pay for.
However, please consider two very critical areas where Twitter falls short as an SMS-marketing replacement (even if it is free, for now):

Twitter is not mobile marketing

Some Twitter users leverage their mobile devices, enabling tweets to be forwarded to their mobile devices as SMS. But many do not. And if they are receiving SMS text messages from Twitter it may be for select members only – primarily close friends. On the other side of the spectrum, a group of followers may be following one business’ tweets in addition to hundreds of other brands and marketers with all of the tweets stacking up in a web queue. So, for all of those followers, how many are receiving and reading marketing messages at the intended time and place? In a lot of circumstances, tweeting will not classify as mobile marketing either in the technical sense of being accessed on a mobile device, or in the spirit of mobile marketing which is designed to leverage timeliness and location to make a marketing impact.

Twitter is not database or direct digital marketing

Twitter is not database marketing and please do not let anyone argue that it is. Twitter followers do not represent a marketing database in any respect, not like the opt-in database of mobile phone numbers you can gain with savvy SMS marketing. Twitter followers are fans and perhaps loyalists, but they are not individually addressable in a scalable way. Marketers are unable to gather additional data points such as a location, product preference, or purchase history and layer these attributes to create more comprehensive follower profiles. Marketers cannot segment and target your tweets based on these attributes, as is possible with SMS marketing. Marketers cannot personalize in any scalable way. Marketers cannot insert dynamic text in a message, or have the user click thru to a personalized mobile web page with a targeted offer or generate a unique barcode for in-store redemption, or track an individual user’s preferences, activity, and behavior.

Twitter, and any form of social media, definitely has a role in a direct digital marketing tactical plan. However, marketers must be diligent about understanding that different roles exist for different applications.

Let’s compare how these benefits break down.

SMS is more targeted, timely, and provides a broad array of useful, automated, interactive touchpoints:

• Timely and targeted offers drive purchases, move foot traffic, and influence purchase decisions at the point of sale.
• Provide helpful information on-demand by using Web services and APIs hat query online applications for information like store locations or shipping status notifications.

Twitter can support promotional messaging and drive foot traffic, but is excellent for achieving larger branding, positioning and PR goals:

• Help establish key terms and positioning points for the business with hashtags, tapping into the power of trending topics and searches.
• Build a network of fans, loyalists, and advocates who help distribute a message through the social network. ReTweets!
• Twitter is a better channel for establishing and honing a brand personality because of the highly social, discussion-based nature of the application.

While Twitter definitely has a place in a tactical game plan, please do not fall victim to the misconception that opt-in SMS text message marketing is somehow obsolete.

Bryce recently published a white paper called, Making Sense of Mobile Marketing. Download it for free!

One of the newest additions to the growing Knotice family of customers, Duane Reade, is using Knotice's on-demand marketing software to ask New Yorkers an important question: How do you like your cookies?

Duane Reade is blanketing New York with posters and in-store creative pieces that urge customers to express their preference for either hard or soft cookies. Customers can vote one of two ways. The first is by visiting www.hardorsoftny.com and voting via the Web poll. The poll (powered by Knotice!) collects votes and reports on the current results in real time. Customers can also enter their zip code to help Duane Reade find the “hardest” and “softest” neighbors in New York.

Duane Reade customers can also text the keyword POLL to Duane Reade’s shortcode and participate. Upon the request, our software sends the poll question to the customer’s mobile phone. The customer can reply with either HARD or SOFT to lock in their vote. The customer also receives a reply thanking them for voting and includes a snapshot of the current live results of the poll. The message invites customers to visit the hardorsoftny.com site. The site recognizes their mobile browser and serves up mobile-optimized content accordingly.

Duane Reade’s campaign is a fun and engaging way to get customers involved in a new product offering. Everyone – young and old – has an opinion about how they like their cookies. By making clever use of Knotice’s polling and mobile capabilities, Duane Reade will soon be able to tell the world which way the cookies crumbles in the Big Apple.

As The Lunch Pail's newest contributor, I will provide updates on some of the most cutting edge direct digital marketing programs and campaigns from some of Knotice's newest customers. Today's installment involves a really cool example of onsite targeting.

Classic is using Knotice’s onsite targeting technology, called Concentri^® SiteTarget, to deliver finely tuned marketing messages aimed at specific customers based on profile attributes and past website activity. Knotice’s onsite targeting transforms formerly static website content into “Live Zones” that rotate content based on the attributes of the customer viewing the content. One area on a website displays different content for different customers. For example, a current Classic customer who has visited the website in the past and then clicks through to the parts and service part of the website is eligible to receive a discount offer for routine maintenance on their car while a new visitor to the website is eligible to receive a special APR promotional offer for the purchase of a new vehicle. These different marketing messages are delivered without interrupting the overall appearance of Classic’s website or the creating additional page-load time.

How does this work? Knotice’s onsite targeting code snippet is directly tied into each and every Web page in the Classic Auto Group family of websites. The direct tie-in allows Classic to capture website browsing activity with precision – even for anonymous site visitors – and using information about website visitors to deliver relevant, targeted content to individual customers based on their activity. For example, a customer who prefers a Ford may not want to receive an offer about Chevy. Classic creates the content and defines exactly which customers should receive what content. Concentri^® SiteTarget translates the basic understanding of a one-on-one interaction at a dealership to the digital channel.

Classic is taking Live Zones into the fast lane by even incorporating them into the slideshow content on the website. Now, within a single slideshow content element, Classic can control which visitors see which slides.

Knotice is excited to add horsepower to Classic Auto Group’s direct digital marketing!

The holiday season must be just around the corner. At least I hope it is… or that snow outside my office window is a huge bummer. But, while the weather is getting colder, the economy appears is in the beginning stages of a thaw. However, according to some industry analysts, the impact of a thaw may not be felt in time for the fast-approaching holiday season. Despite some cautious forecasts there is reason for guarded optimism in the online retail world.

First, some perspective. Last holiday season overall retail sales declined 2.4 percent. Despite the negativity of last holiday season some retailers, like Macy’s and other leading department stores, are already adjusting earnings forecasts upward.

The news of upticks in some earnings forecasts was followed closely by the forecast from the National Retail Federation (NRF). The NRF predicts that overall holiday retail sales will decline by roughly one percent this year.

But, there is good news as of November 3, 2009.

When considering only the online retail sector, Forrester Research is forecasting an eight percent increase. According to the report, online retail remains a bastion of hope for the economy and the retail industry as a whole. The eight percent forecasted growth is higher than last year’s actual growth of five percent. In the online retail world, the economy has thawed and consumers are spending.

Part of the explanation for the growth from some analysts is a solid percentage of incumbent online shoppers shifting more time and resources to online spending. A recent study from the e-tailing group proves the shift. According to the study, in 2008 44 percent of holiday purchases came from brick-and-mortar stores while 49 percent of holiday purchases were online. It was the first time the Web had ever been responsible for a larger percentage of sales than traditional channels.

With forecasts for online retailing increased this holiday season, and the growth forecasts of the online retail sector only getting better, marketers must ensure all of the necessary tools for direct digital marketing are in place to maximize the increasing value of the online channel. As consumers willingly adopt new technologies in the name of added convenience, marketers must be properly positioned to leverage addressable channels. Great direct digital marketing campaign execution this holiday season will make an already strong sales performance stronger.

Bryce Marshall, The Lunch Pail's resident mobile marketing expert and Knotice's Director of Strategic Services, recently responded to an interesting question about mobile websites and mobile apps. His answer was compelling enough to become good reading here on the Lunch Pail. If you have a question for Bryce about mobile marketing, please post it in the comments and he will answer it in a future post!

Here is the question posed by mobile marketing specialist Alexander Gregori followed by Bryce’s answer:

“I have long wondered why a company, any company, would choose a marketing tool that can only reach a fraction of its potential customers. Applications or “apps” are just such a marketing tool. Volkswagen America seems to be the first international heavyweight to have realized that they can reach almost everyone of the over 4 billion mobile phone owners worldwide with a mobisite (mobile websites) instead of an app.” In short – why do companies bother with mobile apps over a mobile website?

The follow are Bryce’s comments:

Primarily, apps and mobile web sites have different strengths and should be applied accordingly, as complements, not interchangeable replacements.

A mobile site should be optimized to provide essential content to the greatest number of consumers – valuable information like customer service/help, product information, finding locations, etc, with complete cross-browser, lowest-common denominator functionality in mind. Providing easy access to information, performing simple tasks, streamlining content, and ultra-basic navigation are all essentials when attempting to maximize reach. As it stands today, many mobile browsers are poor and do not provide a positive consumer experience for complex or multi-stage tasks, or where data/character entry is required.

There is a tipping point when it comes to directing consumers to a dedicated device app on an iPhone, Blackberry, Android, Palm, etc. An app can be used for:

• Complex tasks like a truly user-friendly experience for searching and buying airline tickets. Frequent flyers and business travelers love to have the same level of usability and speed in searching/booking that they expect on the website-proper, which is difficult to achieve today on a mobile site.
• Close engagement with a consumer on very focused elements of the brand experience. I know some of the folks who worked on the Nationwide Insurance app, which places heavy emphasis on allowing Nationwide customers (and non-customers) the ability to log all details of an accident, take photos of the scene, find the nearest repair shop, call a tow truck, call the police, and call their agent – all in a very usable experience. This is a perfect case study of delivering real interactive value, and focused on one specific but extremely valuable aspect of the overall business.

Mobile browsers today do not realistically allow Nationwide to accomplish all of these objectives – or anything remotely close to a positive consumer experience – with a mobile website. However, the browser technology is improving quickly, and possibly in 18 or 24 months this experience may be possible. While apps are used now to fill gaps and create engaging mobile experiences, a mobile website end-game is necessary to migrate this functionality over to the mobile Web in a few years’ time.

A quick strategic note: If any marketer is planning on developing apps, please plan on developing an iPhone, Blackberry, and Android app – at least! Nothing irritates non-iPhone users (like me) more than brands that only take the time to create an iPhone app. These brands are basically communicating to the majority of all smartphone users that they are not valued because they do not have an iPhone. iPhones represent approximately 20 percent of all smartphones in the U.S…. Blackberry represents approximately 50 percent. It is time to for marketers to think beyond the iPhone.

Remember, if you have a question for Bryce about mobile marketing, please post it in the comments and he will answer it in a future post.

The annual CTAM (Cable and Telecommunications Association for Marketing) Summit wrapped this week. A central theme of the CTAM Summit is the discussion of the "TV Everywhere" concept. TV - in its current definition - has to adapt. Competition from the Web - where video content is available anytime through Hulu, YouTube, and thousands of other sources - is creating a fragmented media universe and cuts into the recurring monthly subscription revenue that cable operators have found so profitable for many years.

Cable providers are in a rush to figure out the logistics of making programs available to customers not just through TV but also through computers and mobile devices. The idea is to create the same wealth of content customers receive for their monthly cable expenses, but make it available across all three of the screens customers use most. The goal is a completely channel-neutral content accessibility strategy.

The potential user experience is compelling, but the consumer will not patiently wait – the development of this experience has to be a top priority. A generation of consumers under 18 already spends more time with Hulu, YouTube, and their iPhones than they do with a TV. The cable TV brands we know well are virtually meaningless to this generation. The youngest consumers will not look to or accept content from brands with which they have no association.

With a shift in the logistics of content delivery inevitable the consumer needs time to adjust their perceptions about how a cable company delivers content. The average consumer does not associate Time Warner Cable or Comcast with “online episodes of How I Met Your Mother or Deadliest Catch.”

Bottom line, the general consumer needs to undergo behavior modification. The cable companies need to build awareness, create smooth transitions from one screen to the other, and guide customers to adoption. Pointing customers to the right content at the right time manufactures the ideal customer experience.

The expansion of content availability provides one very distinct, potential opportunity: Customers must be logged in to access content. This enables a completely trackable media environment where each access point and interaction provides a wealth of data that is mined to identify behavior patterns and preferences, and then develop insights to create a more dynamic and user-friendly experience.

Direct digital marketing is essential to the behavior modification process. Direct digital communications are ideal because they allow marketers to focus on the three devices through which customers are consuming content: the computer, a mobile device, and even interactive TV.

Behavior modification is about creating opportunities for the customer to find, explore, experience, and embrace a new content and technology relationship. The flexibility to manage timely communications across digital channels is possible thanks to a wealth of customer data to drive segmentation, targeting, and event-triggered messaging.

Here are a few quick examples of how smart direct digital marketing strategies expedite the mass adoption of a trackable, user-friendly media experience:

• Timely text messages remind a customer to view a favorite sports highlight show while waiting for a flight
• Emails alert a customer that episodes of a favorite program are available for viewing online
• Dynamic and interactive TV content promoting new Fall programs that appeal to a customer based on past viewing habits
• Automated email or text messages remind customers of unwatched programs and movies on their DVR (hint: these should be sponsored!)

The current competitive and platform challenges for the cable operators are real. But the opportunities for a “TV Everywhere” concept to deepen relationships with subscribing customers are immense. Direct digital marketing plays a critical role in making the dream of a content-consuming utopia a reality.

No sooner did I report the changing consumer perception of behavioral targeting – a notable shift toward acceptance – than a new study emerged showing the exact opposite. One quick note before diving into the details: This new study, and seemingly the focus of every emerging study on behavioral targeting and consumer acceptance, is focused on network behavioral targeting. Onsite targeting is again immune to consumer ire for reasons I have highlighted before.

While most online marketers defend the practice of network behavioral targeting, it is unwise to ignore the overt consumer adoption hurdles. Data is collected on individual users largely without their explicit knowledge (though processes are being installed to change that fact) across the entire Internet for the purposes of serving up relevant ads for consumers and increase conversions for marketers. An important tactic and goal for marketers is perceived as an invasion of privacy by some consumers and the powerful lobbyists that represent them. Now the growing list of lobbyists have received additional information to build their case.

According to the study from a collection of research organizations that includes the Annenberg School for Communication, the Annenberg Public Policy Center, and the University of California Berkeley School of Law, most adults – 66 percent – in the United States prefer to not be on the receiving end of targeted ads online.

Alarmingly, the study also concludes that the percentage of Americans against behavioral targeting ticks up upon gaining insight into how the data is collected and used. Interestingly, earlier studies from ChoiceStream and Q Interactive indicated that consumers are more accepting of targeted ads and content. And, while the most recent study is inconsistent with other findings, a majority respondents of the Annenberg/Berkeley study do believe businesses handle their data well.

On the surface it is quite easy to look at the results of the Annenberg/Berkeley study and condemn those skeezy marketers! However, the same study concluded that up to 50 percent of American consumers would accept targeted ads – a massive shift of nearly 20 percent – if the relevant ads also offered discounts.

So, marketers are back to the same basic conversation that has taken place for decades. Consumers are willing to accept any type of content or advertisement provided it is valuable to them as a consumer. Marketing is now and always will be about creating value. The more value marketers create, the greater the likelihood the channel/approach used to communicate that value is accepted. The same principle applies to mobile marketing, too.

While onsite targeting is widely adopted and accepted, network behavioral targeting can benefit from a similar level of acceptance if those employing the technology changed the approach to consumers. The content is as important as the technology. Using a variety of mechanisms to deliver content is great, but any marketing campaign only yields results if the content is valuable to the recipient. Marketers have the power to reverse negative perception of any behavioral targeting method – just offer content consumers want!

The annual CTAM (Cable and Telecommunications Association for Marketing) Summit has kicked off in Denver as of yesterday. The CTAM Summit in a phrase: Hundreds of very smart folks gathering to strategize and plan for marketing their broadband, cable, and telecommunications services to the masses.

Marketers at CTAM are looking for wins – from the big, mountain-sized wins as well as the quick, daily wins. The search for the easy marketing wins is why is it great to talk about the value of and straightforward solutions for onsite targeting and testing.

The guys in the high corner offices can strategize about media platforms, and the content distribution rights, what is free and what is paid for, and the disappearing young male TV viewer. The marketers in the trenches worry about providing relevant and timely experiences to customers and prospects through the corporate website, microsites, and landing pages.

The technology, tools and concepts are straightforward with onsite targeting and testing – no high corner office types needed here. The IT team deploys some simple code snippets on the website and then they are out of the equation (the math is simpler when IT is not a factor).

Get those marketing synapses firing and quickly recall all of the straightforward, undeniably successful marketing and communications practices that are employed across direct mail, email, telemarketing, etc. Include those basic tenants in the web experience across the .com site and .net customer portal. IT is the 101 things like:

• Is this website visitor a customer? If so, talk to them like their business is valued and offer them more opportunities – include offers for services they do not already have, not offers on those they already do have (for less than what they are paying now).
• If they are a customer, in addition to seeing the great offers for additional services, perhaps they want a simple “Thank You” and a small but valuable demonstration of your affection, like a coupon for a free movie or a gift card to a local restaurant.
• What services are available for prospective customers in a given footprint (and which are not available in their town, yet… but will be soon)?
• Which offers are most compelling across demographics groups? Is it the savings and convenience of a bundle, the enviable speeds of the broadband Internet, or the economy of the basic, “lite” packages?
• Are there special offers that are just for that customer’s area? Can the website provide this information without requiring a zip code first?
• In those battleground markets, where customers have seen their neighbors switch to AT&T and Verizon… and now they have serious doubts about the quality and value of their service, too… they are on the fence. Some positive reinforcement of their purchase decision is helpful to get them off the fence and keep them off?

Yes, the website can be the frontline tool to satisfy customers and prospects needs with the right offers, the right information, and the right communications at precisely the right time. This is what onsite targeting enables. Lots of little, daily wins adding up to one very big thing: success.