More trouble at Tesco

I recently posted about Tesco on my marketing blog, regarding my frustrating attempt to get a straight-forward answer from a Tesco call centre employee. Well, plus ca change. More recently I tried to sign up for a Tesco credit card. The Scottish woman I spoke to told me I could sign up online. Fine, says I, but can’t I also sign up over the phone, since this was advertised as such and indeed one of the options I was given by the automated call routing system was: “To sign up for a Tesco credit card press 1”, which I duly did.

“No,” she said. “You cannot sign up over the phone.” I repeated the above a couple more times, and she repeated her terse statement a couple more times, impervious to my assertion that this response defied logic. I asked to speak to a manager. Another Scottish accent came on the line, this time male. He said he couldn’t comment because he hadn’t been privy to our conversation. I said that was a ridiculous thing to say: either take my word for what happened or record all phone calls, but don’t come over as if you are some kind of neutral judge, above the fray. But all he added was that the woman I’d spoken to was a longstanding employee and knew her job.

But then he said: “We can mail you an application form if you wish”. I said, that is all she needed to tell me, that was the obvious answer to my question: “Why would Tesco advertise a telephone number to call if you cannot actually make any meaningful use of that number?!”

But still the manager failed to acknowledge my point or to utter anything remotely resembling an apology.

Am I contributing to this Tesco arrogance and idiocy by joining their loyalty scheme and thus doing my bit to make them even more of a monopoly? Probably. But my Tesco shoddy customer service file is now well and truly open, and I’ll be keeping a firm eye on this one.

The minefield Of mobile marketing

By Jonathan Bass, Managing Director of Incentivated

Mobile is one of the most effective channels for marketing your business and communicating directly with your customers. It’s instant, targeted and gets results. More businesses are turning to mobile, and not just to target the youth market. The sector is growing and there are many areas where we’ve only just scratched the surface. The female market for example has massive potential and is a definite growth area and one to watch in 2006.

Choosing The Agency

Many agencies specialise in mobile marketing, providing the tools and techniques to “roll out a really successful campaign.” Some focus on one technology, such as barcodes, and others offer complete mobile data services (since a campaign often involves many elements)

There are agencies that are restricted to UK reach while others have the experience to go Pan-European. Many agencies specialise in providing “content” such as mobile TV and some provide the tools and technology for a DIY campaign – where marketing departments can use the agency’s platform to set everything up and check results during a campaign. This is an extremely popular option for many of Incentivated’s clients.

So, with all this choice and all this expertise, which do you choose and how do you begin your campaign? What are the golden rules?

This is a question I have been asked many times, and my answer is always the same.

A Mobile Marketing agency should be prepared to make speculative pitches, in other words the company should supply the materials for an advertising agency to present to their client as part of a marketing campaign. Including live demos of the concept or similar. Choose an agency that has read and digested the Privacy & Electronic Communications Regulations (2003) as well as the Data Protection Act.

The soft opt-in needs to be understood carefully and opt-outs handled right. The agency should also confirm that consumer data does not leave the EU (for DPA reasons) and that messaging is direct to UK networks (if a UK campaign) for practical reasons (delivery receipts, instantaneous messaging and guaranteed delivery).

I worked with a client that ran a ‘fastest finger’ campaign only to have it blow up in their face as they used an ‘economy’ product; messages were delayed and lost, leading to complaints and a cancelled campaign.

Use an agency that has all the mobile data services under one roof (SMS, PSMS, short-codes, WAP Push, Mobile Internet sites, Location Based Services) or has a proven track record in project managing suppliers if bringing in other patented technologies/hardware such as 2D barcodes and bluetooth broadcasting.

If you are using existing customer lists your agency should be able to clean the database before the campaign. It should be able to recognises the type of mobile a consumer is using and serve content that will work on the handset/network combination. A good agency should know when to charge and when not (including how much) and be prepared to estimate response rates for the campaign and corresponding return on investment (ROI).

Campaign Roll-out

So, now you’ve selected your agency and you’re ready to communicate with your market, what do you do next? Follow this advice and you can’t go far wrong:

Keep your text messages simple and use plain English

Include a call to action in the message by way of a telephone number, website or WAP site link

Avoid over zealous use of exclamation marks and capitalisation

Do not put spaces in telephones numbers but include them as a single number so they can be dialled easily from within the message

Always reply instantaneously when someone sends your organisation a text

Mine your data to ensure messages are relevant and thereby avoid excessive messaging

Plan your communications in advance and keep a record of what you have offered to whom

Offer a mobile option alongside other response methods advertised in traditional media – let the consumer choose

Promote the mobile option on all marketing communications to reinforce the option

Consider an incentive for choosing the mobile channel, especially if your operational (acquisition/service) costs are reduced through this medium

Allow opt-outs via text, web and through your ‘front desk’ and highlight these clearly

Train all customer-facing staff in your permission/privacy policy including how to manually record opt-outs

Clean your database after three broadcasts (using delivery receipts) or if a large campaign then in advance (using our network look-up product)

If you want a better response rate buy opt-in lists of mobile numbers from the professional data companies not ringtone vendors

So, don’t be put off by the minefield of mobile marketing agencies. Remember, mobile marketing is highly effective, direct and immediate – and offers superb ROI. Follow the rules before engaging in any campaign and reap the rewards.

Jonathan Bass is the managing Director of Incentivated, the mobile marketing agency that provides software for simple integrated marketing activities and campaign management services. Incentivated’s solutions are used by leading brands to improve the effectiveness of communication between organisations and consumers and to increase ROI through the mobile medium. www.incentivated.com

IMRG investigates dual pricing

Following yesterday's IMRG Senate meeting, the IMRG has issued the following statement on ‘dual pricing’, a mechanism recently introduced by electrical consumer goods manufacturers whereby their dealers pay more for goods if sold online.

“IMRG recognises that dual pricing is an important issue for its membership to consider. The IMRG membership is comprised of multi-channel retailers, pure play online merchants, and facilitators, whose common interest is efficient e-retailing.

“IMRG recognises the complexity of the arguments for and against dual pricing practices, but IMRG, on behalf of its membership intends to ensure that any such practices, should they persist, are lawful and not unduly prejudicial to smaller reputable online retailers.

“IMRG will, in cooperation with the Office of Fair Trading and European Commission, establish a process whereby the implications of dual pricing can be fully assessed, with a view to establishing principles and trading guidelines, in order to optimise e-retailing's sustainable commercial development. All relevant parties, including manufacturers, will be invited to participate in and contribute to the IMRG input to this process.” See also.

IMRG to investigate dual pricing

Following yesterday's IMRG Senate meeting, the IMRG has issued the following

statement on ‘dual pricing’, a mechanism recently introduced by electrical

consumer goods manufacturers whereby their dealers pay more for goods if

sold online.

“IMRG recognises that dual pricing is an important issue for its membership

to consider.  The IMRG membership is comprised of multi-channel retailers,

pure play online merchants, and facilitators, whose common interest is

efficient e-retailing.

“IMRG recognises the complexity of the arguments for and against dual

pricing practices, but IMRG, on behalf of its membership intends to ensure

that any such practices, should they persist, are lawful and not unduly

prejudicial to smaller reputable online retailers.

“IMRG will, in cooperation with the Office of Fair Trading and European

Commission, establish a process whereby the implications of dual pricing

can be fully assessed, with a view to establishing principles and trading

guidelines, in order to optimise e-retailing's sustainable commercial

development.  All relevant parties, including manufacturers, will be

invited to participate in and contribute to the IMRG input to this process.”

See also.

 

 

Buddy, Can You Spare a Click (continued ...)

One small request: Assuming the content here does have value to you, could you click on an ad every now and then? After all, it is these very same ads which sit at the heart of the online marketing revolution - doing away with sales teams, transforming every man and his blog into publishing powerhouses, and catapulting Google into the top tier of global businesses in the process.

(Phew! I knew I could transform a begging bowl story into a valuable piece of content if I tried hard enough!)

Thanks! Now back to the real content ...

PS: Yes, I'm aware that in theory you're supposed to want to click on the ads! If most clicks are being driven by websites begging their readers to do so, we're heading for one almighty collapse of this brave new market!

Six Degrees of Separation

A reader of the blog on which it is written emailed me to say he'd read a recommendation of my blog on it - which in fact was an endorsement of the recommendation mentioned below -and wanted to let me know that, having subsequently read my blog, he liked it!

Got that?!

But the serious point here is that this is exactly why blogs are such a force of nature, creating instant connections between people and making the six-degrees-of-separation parlour game into an everyday reality. Many thanks to Johnnie Moore, owner of the other blog - which I'll now keep an eye on - and to Marc E. Babej for alerting me to it.

PS - Just to hammer home the six degrees point, I have now discovered yet another fascinating marketing-for-thinkers blog, referred to in the article that began this entry. But I'll let you find it for yourself - after all, too much spoon-feeding takes the fun out of life. Online marketers, take note!

What the Fax! Ryanair's Reckless Approach to Brand Reputation

The airline is currently running one of its regular “free flights” offers to a host of cities across Europe. I took the bait and booked a couple of trips. But I then noticed that I had been charged the “credit card supplement” of £7, even though I paid with a debit card! Of course, the payment part of the website design is carefully constructed to catch out the unwary consumer – setting this scandalous credit card “processing” fee as the default option.

It was with weary expectation, therefore, that I called Ryanair’s 25 pence-per-minute customer service “helpline”, only to be told that the payment was irreversible and that it had been entirely my responsibility to change the option to “debit card”. The fact that I had actually paid with a debit card meant nothing.

How convenient.

Even more convenient for Ryanair is that should I wish to dispute this further, there will be a “management fee” for the pleasure, and the only way I can contact head office is by sending a … fax! Of course it is. This Internet-only company can only accept faxes when dealing with customer complaints. Sure. Makes perfect sense.

Yes, it’s back to the future: using the latest technology – the Internet – to deliver Neanderthal customer service. Caveat Emptor. But Ryanair had better beware too. Because one day this company will suffer an almighty backlash. It’s all very well to say you get what you pay for, but equally, a company which treats its customers with this much contempt will eventually get its comeuppance. There’ll be no second chances, no love lost.

UPDATE: I have just spent more time and 25p's calling those helpful folk at Ryanair, asking for a contact number for the press office (since of course there isn't one anywhere to be found on the website). The first woman gave me a number that turned out to be for MBNA Bank; the second woman gave me a number, 01279-666-214, which was supposed to be for the UK Sales & Marketing department. I rang it twice, each time there was ringing and no answer and finally an automatic cut off. Very professional Ryanair, I'm becoming more impressed by the minute!

UPDATE 2: OK, this time I got through and spoke to a Russian woman in marketing. She gave me her email address and I've sent a link to this blog asking Ryanair if it cares to respond. The time of emailing was 14.07, November 8. Start the clock!

UPDATE 3: Just checked that my Russian friend had received my email but she said she couldn't access my blog because it was blocked by her company Internet. My reputation obviously precedes me. She also said that if it was "just a blog" then they wouldn't respond to my comment. Wonderful stuff!

I tried to give her a lightning education in blogging and why these strange new outlets might, just might, be worth responding to. But sorry to say I had to fall back on my status as a print journalist before she would agree to ask the IT people to try to unblock my blog "when they next come round".

However, she did give me the press office number, 00-353-1812-1228. I called it and spoke to an Irish woman who claimed "99.9%" of people booking don't make the mistake I did. Isn't it funny how that 99.9% figure comes up so often in situations like this. It's never 99.8% or 97.834%. The clear implication is that I'm an idiot, the class dunce.

The PR woman also said there is an administration fee for rectifying this error. I'm aware that Ryanair makes its money - and it's just posted yet more mega-profits - by cutting costs to the bone. But puh-lease! Have a bit more respect for your customers. Look beyond the end of your nose and you just might see why this makes good business sense, as well as being - whisper it! - the right thing to do.

UPDATE 4: Gillian Hynes (hynesg@ryanair.com), whom I spoke to just now (see above), has just emailed the following statement:

"In response to your query:
'Our booking process clearly states the different methods of payment available to our passengers and the charges which apply to these different methods of payment (please see attachment). In this case, the visa payment option was chosen - and not the visa debit option - and thus the visa credit card fee applied. Clearly this was the passengers decision and not a mistake by Ryanair. Furthermore once the visa credit card selection was made, the passenger then approved the final amount for which a full breakdown is provided.'"

Like I said, welcome to Ryanair's distinctive brand of marketing. Motto: The Customer is Clown!

UPDATE 5: These blog SiteMeters are amazing things! You get to see who's looking at your blog - well, their country, at least. With a modicum of detective work you can get a pretty good idea of who your (very welcome!) visitor might be. So it was with a frisson of excitement that I noted, after two viewings from Dublin - Hi Gillian! - something unprecedented in this blog's short life (or indeed in the life of any other blog I've ever had): a reader from somewhere called "? Satellite Provider"!

Now, being an overexcitable journalistic type, my mind immediately alighted on the image of Ryanair's Mr Big, Scourge of All Troublesome Customers, none other than Michael O’Leary himself - faxing and blinding as he perused this meddling little blog from aboard his luxurious, Mediterranean-moored private yacht!

So, top o' the mornin' to ya Michael! I just hope that if you paid for your floating gin palace with a debit card, you made sure to let them know first so they didn't whack on the extra £7 processing fee.

UPDATE 6: Acting on Ian’s advice (see comments), I called my bank - Nationwide - and told them about the problem. They thought it was very wrong of Ryanair to charge me £7 for no good reason, but said they were unable to get involved. They suggested I call my local trading standards office. They, in turn, gave me a number for the new Consumer Direct organisation (0845-404-0506).

The person I spoke to there was unequivocal in stating I had the right to claim the money back from Ryanair. She said this is a clear breach of contract since I have proof that the card used was a debit rather than a credit card. I had paid for a service I had not received, which constitutes a breach of contract under Common Law. This breach of contract overrides any contract that Ryanair claim I signed with them.

Furthermore, my Consumer Direct contact said she would be notifying the Trading Standards Office in Ryanair’s home town to see if they wish to investigate further and examine if this is a widespread problem among Ryanair’s customers.

I have sent a copy of this posting to Gillian Hynes at Ryanair’s press office, requesting details of whom I should contact at Ryanair.

UPDATE 6: I have now faxed a letter requesting reimbursement of the £7 plus another £50 for my time and expenses to Ryanair's Customer Standards Department (sent at 12.35pm).

Tesco Club-Me-Over-The-Head-Card!

Just tried to sign up for a Tesco Clubcard. Not the most challenging of tasks, you might think. Wrong!

It turns out I cannot do so online, nor can I even do so over the phone. The functionary at the other end of the line told me I needed to go to a Tesco store and get a “temporary card” with a temporary number, which I can then read out to her to begin the joining process. How quaint.

I tried, in vain, to communicate my valuable feedback on why this was a little Stone-Age in the Internet era. She did not seem to hear my valuable feedback but simply kept repeating the unbending bureaucratic procedure. I suggested that a manager might be interested to hear my feedback. She said she was a manager. I gave up.

Perhaps someone from Tesco would like to come on here and tell me why the UK’s biggest loyalty card scheme has such a problem with technology (not to mention consumer feedback!)

UPDATE: Further inquiries to Tesco inform me that you can sign up for a Clubcard online, but only if you register with the Tesco.com website. OK, that's more like it. But why couldn't the first person I spoke to have told me that? Once again, as all too often, we see very poor initiative from front line staff. After years of reading from a computer screen, too many of them have lost the ability to think for themselves - let alone "out of the box"!

Website Goals From Top to Bottom

By Jim Sterne

Measuring the success of anything is impossible without a clear goal. A simple enough dictum. But measuring the success of a website - and using a web analytics system to do it - is impossible without a rather well considered series of goals. Not quite so simple.

Identifying the “Big Goal” is the easy part. The Big Goal is based on the area of the website under consideration at the moment. The portion of our website that sells low cost items and takes credit cards measures its success in income. The area on the site dedicated to considered purchases measures qualified sales leads. The customer service area is after cost avoidance and increased customer satisfaction. The human resources bit hopes to attract more experienced potential employees. These are fairly straightforward objectives to quantify. Optimizing these site areas requires a little digging.

I’ve been asked to address these issues at the Knexus Community round table in London on 16^th November. See http://www.knexusgroup.com/. Senior executives from the UK’s major corporations, are getting wise to the business of optimizing areas of their site and want to know how it can help their business.

A web analytics tool becomes much more effective when each Big Goal is parsed into its various components. Given the goal of bringing in more and better sales leads, we slice the process into discrete milestones:

- Attract Attention

- Build Desire

- Engender Contact

- Evaluate Quality

A web analytics tool can help determine which method of getting the word out is bringing in the most potential customers. But merely investing more in the technique that generates the most traffic will be harmful to the bottom line unless that traffic is properly evaluated.

The end goal is qualified sales leads. Offering a chance to win a Jaguar XJ will certainly bring more traffic to our website. But we must be sure that somebody who desires a "truly sensuous driving experience" is also a likely buyer of what we have on offer. Our first milestone must be matched with the last to determine the value of the first.

A web analytics system will help identify which promotions bring in which prospects. Once the sales team identifies the best prospects, it's time for the web analytics tool to do the work it does best: the bits in between. Having identified which campaign brought in the most qualified prospects - the ones we want our sales people to spend the most time with - the ones who are most likely to buy - the focus can shift to the persuasion process.

From a given banner ad or link, how well are we moving prospects from click to consideration? How well do we move them from curious to interested to desirous? A web analytics system can monitor a series of tests to optimize the words, the layout, the calls to action, etc., which lead the best qualified to our sales representatives' desks.

One test-landing page might focus on the low cost of our offerings, another on the high quality, while a third one describes the successes other customers have enjoyed. Which of these encourages the best-qualified visitor to click deeper, learn more and, eventually, fill out the form asking to speak to a representative?

Is it better to publish a large number of benefits and let the prospect ask the sales team for clarification? Or is it better to publish detailed information online and answer those questions in advance of the call? Which produces the most sales calls with the most qualified prospects?

Web analytics shines a light on the sales cycle and allows us to quantify the steps. The ability to run multiple, continuous, side-by-side tests gives us the chance to try a multitude of messages highlighting different features and benefits, different offers, and different interest generating approaches. Imagine the time and cost of doing that across multiple trade shows or magazine advertisements.

And yes, there are technologies that can automate the whole procedure. Firms such as Touch Clarity take it a step further, matching offers to website behaviour. Rather than simply measuring which landing page layouts and features encourage the most qualified prospects to contact the sales team, this system builds a profile of each visitor in real-time and learns which offer will spark the greatest interest from that visitor.

The World Wide Web is starting to get more interesting.

About Jim Sterne

Jim Sterne will be hosting the first round table on web analytics for the

Knexus community, Europe's leading corporate business club and network. http://www.knexusgroup.com/.

London 16 November 2005.

Jim Sterne is an internationally known speaker on electronic marketing and customer interaction. A strategy consultant to multinational companies and online companies, Sterne focuses his twenty years in sales and marketing on measuring the value of a web site as a medium for creating and strengthening customer relationships. Jim is the Founder and Director of Target Marketing http://www.targeting.com/