Messaging News - October 2008 - (Page 14)

TECHNOLOGY-WISE CUSTOMER up to us as an industry to make sure that we stay on top of that. From a deliverability standpoint ReturnPath is already advising clients what the risks are when you start to turn out a bunch of new mail from a social feature on your site, and what it means to the deliverability of all your mail. We have been working with clients for over a year on connecting points between email and some of these strategies.” Keeping Up With the Tech-Wise Customer Businesses need to embrace the “technology-wise customer”, which means understanding what is meant by that. “I look at what is being discussed today in the email marketing space and online marketing and which the line between consumer and producer becomes blurred and customers freely contribute value. Customers will, however, expect something in return, most importantly a better product or service.“ While it is generally acknowledged that multi-channel is a requirement to reach the customer of today, and certainly by 2013, there are not many examples of organizations there yet. “There are a handful of marketers that are testing these waters, but I think there is a swell behind that wave,” states Miller. “That swell is the many, many marketers that are talking, researching, and trying to figure out how to re-configure their businesses. By the late part of 2009 we will see a lot more effort in this way.” at a compound annual growth rate of 27 percent to $61 billion (USD) over the next five years.” Did The Economist report find that companies will be able to accommodate this higher level of customer integration into their business in 2013? The authors note, “Several firms cited in this report have begun to experiment with new platforms for customer interaction. Few, however, have yet to review their processes, organizational structures and workforce skills with the technology-savvy customer of 2013 in mind. In certain respects it may be early, as some opportunities and risks will only come into focus as the level of interaction grows. But one thing is clear: enterprise processes and technologies, as well as the em- “What I find interesting is that consumer behavior is well in advance of how enterprises are responding to it. If you look at most enterprises they are still thinking in terms of email blasts.” —Dave Lewis, Message Systems generally we are still talking about relevancy, in terms of just the message,” says Lewis. “While that is extraordinarily important—that you get the message right and that you pay attention to what the customer wants to see and hear—time and place are equally important. And any marketer knows that. But it is going to become extraordinarily important as we move forward.” Lewis goes onto explain that time is about presence—where are you right now? Are you on your mobile device? Or are you in front of your PC? (Time) What is your preference for receiving this type of message? Do you want it at your email account? (Place). According to The Economist report, the notion of the empowered customer, means that customers will have a greater impact on businesses than ever before, “Customer-driven innovation will become mainstream. Companies today tend to rely mainly on in-house R&D and other internal sources for their innovative ideas. In 2013 customers, empowered by technology, will represent the leading source of new product and service ideas, according to survey respondents. This will help make a reality of “prosuming”, a concept in 14 MESSAGING NEWS OCTOBER 2008 Miller notes that many people she has spoken with recently have this very topic on the mind, “Everyone is saying: I do not know what my social strategy should be and I am afraid of customer reviews because I do not control that content. The blogosphere – how many retail blogs are there? How many B2C blogs are there from companies? I can only think of four. All of those things are challenges that marketers are trying to get their arms around today, so that is what leads me to think we are getting closer to some testing.” Forrester Research offers in its June report Interactive Marketing by Shar VanBoskirk that “marketers of all levels of sophistication in all industries are spending more on interactive marketing as they try to better distribute their investments into the media their customers actually use. In fact, more than 60 percent of marketers expect interactive tools— like interactive display ads, email, search, or mobile marketing—to increase in effectiveness over the next three years. This means that to stay ahead of competitors and be relevant to end consumers, marketers can’t afford not to use interactive media—a market expected to grow ployees that use them, will need to be far more flexible and responsive to change than they are today.” Customer Service and Marketing As online marketing continues to evolve, a tighter integration between customer service and emarketers is anticipated. Miller believes the two will be more closely aligned than ever before. “Customer service using email, using online channels for customer service, this has become inextricable from marketing,” states Miller. “You are doing a little marketing and a lot of servicing in your marketing. I think there is a merging of those two things because the technology allows that and frankly that is how consumers and business professionals are buying.” Lewis thinks for good marketers, it has always been so. “You have always known that the best marketing or the most successful marketing is in response to a specific event. Now it is paramount that you consider it very carefully so that is why. if you are talking about confirming a transaction, whether that is done through email or done through another way of communicating with your customer, you need to be recognizing

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Messaging News - October 2008

Messaging News - October 2008 Contents Editor’s Note Short Takes Targeting the Technology-Wise Customer The Insider Threat: The New Era of Disaster Recovery Making Collaboration Tools Pro-Knowledge Sharing Botnets Go Marching On Dissecting Email Forensics Next in Messaging News “On Message” with Ben Gross The World is Not the Center of the Universe, and Filters Don’t Stop Email Spam Making the Case Learn More

Messaging News - October 2008

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