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Editor’s Note: This is the second of a three-part series on becoming more adept and adapting to the multichannel world. Part one appeared in our February issue, and part three will appear in our September issue. The world of direct marketing is changing quickly. Whole new analytical tools, benchmarks and ratios have become commonplace in measuring success. You must think cross-channel if you’re to be customer-centered. And above all else, if you’re a stand-alone cataloger or retail store operator, the corporate atmosphere is forcing you to rethink your internal culture. The opposite of a multichannel approach is a channel-centric one, where one channel dominates

The 34th annual Direct Media Client Conference and Co-op held last week in White Plains, N.Y., offered attendees some timely perspective on how catalogers are approaching, and trying to survive, an uncertain economy. Ed Mallin, president of infoUSA’s Services Group, seemed to sum up the theme of the conference best when he said the shift to the digital world is “the most dramatic shift … and it’s not going away.” Mailers need to acknowledge and understand how the Web is changing their businesses, and adapt to the new realities of the Web world. Below are the most noteworthy takeaway pointers from the

As per my headline, for this issue of Catalog Success: The Corner View, I hand my pen — um, keyboard — over to Catalog Success E-Commerce Insights columnist Alan Rimm-Kaufman. Alan heads the Rimm-Kaufman Group, an online agency providing large-scale paid search bid management and Web site testing services, and was formerly a marketing executive with the Crutchfield catalog of consumer electronics. I leave the stage to Alan, who starts with a potential scenario followed by nine predictions for the future of the catalog/multichannel business as it affects you. Scene: A bar at a conference hotel during a marketing trade show. Bill:

In its recent whitepaper, Mailing With Permission, e-mail software and service provider Lyris Technologies breaks down the various aspects of permission-based marketing, from subscription processes to the expectations you should establish for your customers to privacy regulations. Here are six of the whitepaper’s do’s and don’ts for creating a successful permission-based marketing campaign. 1. Require double opt-in. As the most ethical subscription standard, double opt-in requires prospective members to confirm their memberships before receiving your next mailing, protecting them from receiving mail they didn’t sign up for. And it’s beneficial to marketers as well. Consumers who confirm their subscriptions are most likely to

As e-mail continues to grow as a viable channel for multichannel marketers, its impact on the overall customer experience must continuously be addressed. Just like any other touchpoint the customer has with a company, e-mail creates an experience, says Scott Olrich, chief marketing officer at Responsys. In a recent whitepaper from this on-demand marketing solutions provider entitled “Email Marketing’s New Rules of Engagement: The customer experience moves front and center,” Responsys offers several tips on how to optimize e-mail marketing campaigns, creating a positive experience for customers. Here are some of the whitepaper’s most notable pointers. 1. Have e-mails automated to customer life events.

With the sophistication of Web 2.0 generation e-commerce systems, I’m seeing more and more creative uses of e-mail. I’m thinking about individual, tailored e-mails generated by your e-commerce or order-management system rather than the bulk e-mails sent out as part of marketing campaigns. They’re sometimes called “operational e-mails.”
You never have a better time to cement your relationship with a customer, and generate an additional sale, than when you have a relevant e-mail (or phone call) that results from a customer action. Here are some examples … and some ideas.
* Order confirmation e-mails. Recognize first-time buyers and returning customers, and try a “15-minute

When I attend industry conferences, I do quite a lot of cherry-picking. After all, there’s quite a lot of information spread around, but not a lot of it’s relevant to catalogers and multichannel marketers. So for this week’s edition of The Corner View, I took it upon myself to attend many sessions from the eTail Conference, held Feb. 11-14 in Palm Desert, Calif., and whittle down these experiences into the top 10 ideas, tips, points and company activities I took in during the event. I only attended sessions with panels that included catalog/multichannel marketers. The most noteworthy subjects they discussed included exploring

Many catalogers are missing important data that would allow them to make better use of both direct mail and e-mail to market effectively. Specifically, they don’t have the following: 1. E-mail addresses from many of their customers; consequently, they can’t use multichannel marketing to reach their best targets. They can certainly mail their catalogs, but they’re missing the one-two punch of using direct mail with e-mail. 2. Their e-mail lists often don’t contain name and address information. Therefore they don’t know the portions of their lists that are current or past customers. As a result, they can’t launch special campaigns to their best

Looking to solidify its online channel to complement its 23-year-old catalog and new storefront, modern home furnishings marketer Chiasso targeted e-mail as the answer. “We’re [primarily] a catalog company, so we need to provide a great book to look through,” says Chiasso E-Commerce Manager Brian Mehler. “But you can’t just send a catalog and hope it does everything. You have to provide customers with different portals. So our e-mail and Web site are our portals.” The Chicago-based company wasn’t seeing the results it had hoped for, however. Open rates stood at 15 percent and the clickthrough rate was 5 percent. Conversion rates were

Editor’s Note: This is the first article of a three-part series on becoming more proficient and adapting to the multichannel world. Parts two and three will appear in our June and September issues. Can you imagine a catalog/multichannel company not striving to become more efficient and effective in each selling channel in which it operates? Certainly not. This article focuses on the key issues and trends impacting multichannel selling today. It examines how you can improve your bottom line in each channel, cuts to the chase and identifies seven issues that smart direct sellers need to focus on this year. (You can also