A Measured Approach

Now that the big game is over (congrats Saints), I have to inquire as to whether or not the all powerful game day ads convinced you to act?

Did you:

* Switch soda pop loyalties because Coke advertised and Pepsi did not?

* Want to run out and buy a Snicker’s bar?

* Do you now want a Hyundai more than ever?

* Did you text a question to KGB?

* Did you switch to Career Builder from Monster or vice-versa?

Okay, you have not had much time, but do you even PLAN on doing any of the above based on the commercials you saw? If you have not seen them, here they all are.

Inquiring minds want to know…!

Last week my wife and I were talking and she came to give me a hug ( she thinks I’m lovable) and all of a sudden I hear a series of pops and ask what the noise is. She pulls back and says “Darn, my bracelet broke.” We go about picking up all the beads and put them in a plastic bag.

This was a Silpada bracelet; one of her favorites. Both her friends who sold their products stopped, so she did an internet search and contacted the company.

Within two days she received an exact replacement, along with a reply envelope to return the broken piece back to them in, postage-paid.

They made her a raving fan and she asked me to post about their great customer service. Done. Now maybe I’ll get another hug.

What’s the key to almost all successful direct marketing?

THE Data.

Isn’t it ironic then, that this week, at the office of my firm, Johnson Direct, we received three (3) ship-shape ECHO award call for entry pieces and two of the three were addressed to individuals who have never worked for Johnson Direct?

They included the company name and their titles, CEO and President with the wrong names. My piece was correct. Note: No other associate here received a piece, but two never-beens did.

Effective direct marketing is about credibility. more

In a PR event to demonstrate that it really wants drivers to be safe, UK-based insurer, confused.com, bubble-wrapped an entire, accident prone street yesterday.

Here’s the link to the story.

Kinda hard to squeeze a ROMI out of a stunt like this, don’t you think?

I have been preaching about this for years. Still, in this day and age, I am appalled at the amount of pathetic customer service that goes on. Google, a company I am a huge fan of, is demonstrating their ineptitude with the recent launch of their NexusOne phone (http://bit.ly/8F3YhN).

Here’s two additional, personal examples: Prior to the Christmas holiday my wife ordered from a cataloger we’ve purchased from for years, wwwspikevolleyball.com. She ordered spandex shorts for my youngest daughter. We were told they would arrive December 24th. They did not. A package arrived December 26th and it contained a spots bra, not the spandex. She has called or emailed them four times, always getting an answering machine with instructions to leave a message, which she did several times, no callbacks. No response to the emails she sent, either.

She coaches volleyball and has, every year for the past 7 years or more, ordered 12 to 20 pairs of socks for her teams and has also bought for our kids as well. From Spike Volleyball.

Last week she finally did reach someone and their response was “We have one person handling returns and customer calls. She will get back to you as soon as she can.”

What!?!?!?

As of this writing, no resolution or call back. Do you think we’ll buy from them again?

Then there’s CapitalOne. more

Here they are, the commercials designed to get all Americans to complete the Census 2010 questionnaire.

The census effort is one of the biggest market-research project’s this decade. They will spend North of $15 billion to count the U.S. population as of April 1, 2010, and gather tons of data on U.S. consumers, which will help all marketers.

Your thoughts on its value to spend ratio?