Mr. Morse

Sales & Marketing

Choreographing Your Customer Communications

By Steve Morse, General Manager, Travel & Hospitality, ClickSquared

It's no secret that today's consumers are more demanding and selective than ever. Not only does yesterday's approach of one-off direct mail pieces and random emails no longer work, it can be enough to turn off your customer or prospect for good. With today's economic climate showing limited signs of improvement, it is critical that travel organizations and destinations leverage "intelligent," triggered communications approaches to engage, motivate and sustain customer interaction in all market environments.

The dance of communications choreography is the incorporation of timing, sequence, frequency and pacing considerations into the customer outreach process. Even for a customer base that numbers in the millions, engaging the individual customer in a highly relevant, personal and timely dialogue is an accomplishable task using new technology that automates the process. In fact, it is an essential competitive strategy because customers are bombarded with thousands of mass marketing messages every day.

So how do you utilize choreography to break through that clutter? Marketers are increasingly turning to solutions that take four key elements into account enabling them to deliver automated, highly-customized marketing campaigns that respond to customers in a way that increases the bottom line.

Four Choreography Components

Communication choreography requires that companies consider four distinct but related elements that can contribute to increased sales lift and response. These elements are: Timing, sequence, frequency, and pacing.

1. Timing is a big opportunity that many companies haven't even begun to explore because most are focused on producing the right message for the right customer so the element of 'timing' is often neglected. Awareness of timing enables a company to capture changes and events at different points in the customer lifecycle. A travel agency should take notice of the time elapsed between a customer's trip booking and its marketing program to cross-sell her to add excursions for that trip. But most organizations miss these opportunities because their marketing is program-driven and not customer-driven. In other words, marketing messages or even operational messages, get delivered to customers based on internal timelines (such as quarterly revenue targets) instead of customer-based actions. This is rarely in sync with the customer lifecycle. Companies may think they're targeting the customer when in fact they are executing static programs, driven by corporate timelines, to particular customer segments.

2. Sequencing automates and prioritizes the products or services that should be offered to certain customer groups adding order. For example, a company may have over a million customers and 75 travel packages to offer them. But how does it know which packages to offer when? If the sequencing of messages and/or offers to a customer is not delivered in a way that shows the customer an organization knows who they're talking to- the relationship with the customer could be in jeopardy. None of this can be accomplished without the thorough knowledge of behaviors and preferences.

3. Frequency, as with sequencing, can't be a random process either. The right delivery of messages allows organizations to treat the customer who has indicated his preference to be contacted quarterly with newsletters only, differently from the customer that has asked to be contacted weekly with special offers and promotions. If a customer's stated preferences are not followed-up on and executed against, the travel organization risks becoming irrelevant at best, and alienating that customer at worst.

4. Pacing is a sum total of timing, sequencing and frequency and is one of the most underrated elements of successful communications choreography. The pace at which customers receive communications from an organization needs to reflect that you know exactly where they are in the lifecycle and how receptive they are at any given time. For example, a customer who just bought a travel package but didn't purchase any trip insurance is likely to be receptive to even multiple messages shortly after his purchase if it is obvious that the pacing of the messages has the customer's best interest at stake. However, to remain relevant in each message, acknowledge your prior communications and watch for appropriate behavioral cues so you know when to either stop, or change the message.

Marketing programs that utilize these elements will help companies to identify customer actions that present an opportunity to communicate - these actions are also known as 'behavioral triggers'. For example, a travel profile that remains unchanged over a period of time might trigger a change in the frequency of offers, the type of offer, or it might affect the pacing of communications. Different customer actions will trigger different messages. A company's ability to respond to these triggers, especially fast-breaking events driven by behavior and timing, can drive significant increased results.

Triggers affect every aspect of a company's communications from the tone, text, images, and offer communicated via direct marketing messages including the subject, signature and copy of an email. Keep in mind that for this to happen, and be accurate, customer preferences must be captured.

Along with analyzing historical data and past behavior, smart companies are using event-based triggers to drive customers to web pages, micro sites, etc. where customers further specify when, where, and how often they would like to be contacted. In fact, there is even a deeper level of knowledge companies can harvest. Triggers, and the company's response to them, create their own wealth of rich data from predictive models, demographic and psychographic information as well market information that can be leveraged for effective marketing.

Choreography in Action

Case in point is a major family resort that had historically generated leads by advertising via direct mail and email to opt-in lists. It drove prospects to its Web site through email and direct mail for additional information on planning a vacation at its facilities. The Web site collected demographics, geographic location of the family, potential month of vacation, and whether they were new or repeat visitors. Once a family signed up for vacation planning details, it was sent the initial information requested but there was no follow-up after this communication.

This disconnect was costing the resort sales opportunities. By developing a new lead generation process that took into account timing, frequency, sequencing and pacing, the resort was able to create more relevant marketing. It now implements and executes an extremely complex set of business rules to drive nearly 200 distinct blocks of dynamic content creating hundreds of thousands of personalized communications. It tests content and optimizes hundreds of marketing message versions and uses the real-time data generated from their response rates to identify the best leads for sales people to follow. The automated campaign continually processes new data so the program is self-propelled, getting smarter with each iteration. The messaging now also adds to the customer experience for potential customers and returning customers. It reflects a sense of the experience the prospects would have if they booked a stay at the resort. Each prospect receives customized email or direct mail communications that makes them feel as if a vacation was planned just for them. For example, if a family is especially interested in water sports, appropriate visuals and messaging will be included in the marketing materials.

The resort's new approach produced open rates 20% above industry average and click through rates 10% above industry standards.

In Closing

As you can see, choreography works in a number of different ways. By implementing communication and messaging strategies that consider the four key elements of timing, sequencing, frequency, and pacing, companies can find a new level of personalization. By automating this process, they can take full advantage of leveraging choreography for maximum results. These four elements make for an impactful customer strategy for any travel and hospitality organization.

In today's environment, where every customer is more critical than ever, and quantifiable ROI is a necessity, the dance of a well executed communications choreography strategy can help travel and hospitality organizations drive increased value from their marketing programs.

Steve Morse is the General Manager of the Travel and Hospitality vertical at ClickSquared. With more than twelve years of experience in entrepreneurial environments, Steve has a proven track record of helping companies position and grow their solutions increasing retention while decreasing overall costs. In this role, Morse counsels clients on the strategic direction, design and implementation of marketing and communication programs to build long-term relationships with customers. He works closely with ClickSquared’s travel and hospitality clients throughout North America and Europe. Mr. Morse can be contacted at 781-487-7569 or smorse@clicksquared.com Extended Bio...

HotelExecutive.com retains the copyright to the articles published in the Hotel Business Review. Articles cannot be republished without prior written consent by HotelExecutive.com.