What do operations people know about marketing? Well, to begin, they are probably the only group that sees the actual unembellished order volumes resulting from the marketing gurus' best ideas.
No, marketing professionals need not worry about their long term job security. However, they should pay attention to the empirical data streaming in from daily operations.
Marketing and advertising professionals go to great lengths, as they well should, in trying to quantify who and what generate new revenue.
However, what does the resulting customer interaction after the sale say about the relative success of a marketing campaign? Here are a few quick tips for building useful data streams in your back end operations that can assist current and future marketing efforts.
Direct Sales
In addition to any ongoing channel sales through distributors and retailers, selling your product direct online may not only boost your profits, but may also tell you a great deal about whom your customers are and what they are interested in buying. As you would expect, the ability to test multiple messages and view the resulting orders can help focus your efforts in successfully selling products through a variety of other channels.
Example:
An actual Rush Order client recently recognized, when it began selling direct, that response rates were higher when advertisement content that included a basic product image and features was replaced with the same image alongside detailed technical specifications. Customers were likely not responsive to the feature centric messaging because the product category was still in an early phase in the adoption curve.
As a result, the client removed its in-store displays that show off basic features in favor of displays that elaborate on the product's technical specifications. As you would likely guess, the client saw a steady climb in the product's sell-through in retail outlets. |
Retail Returns Analyses
When selling products through distribution and retail channels, it is nearly impossible to obtain useful feedback in terms of why customers are returning your product to the store for credit. Even so, basic data about your retail returns can help steer future marketing initiatives.
Example:
In reporting the disposition of returns received from small and major retailers, Rush Order was able to help its client in the high end consumer electronics market determine that most returned units were arriving with the packaging open and several cables missing.
As a result, we speculated that customers may be unsuccessfully attempting to plug in and setup the product for its intended use. The client reviewed its installation guide and realized that it likely needed to be simplified. In addition, this guide was placed underneath a foam insert and, therefore, was not very easy to find when first opening the box. The client immediately added a simple "quick start" guide on the outside of the box.
In addition to a decrease in retail returns as this newly designed packaging landed on the shelves, new sales concurrently increased! |
Direct Sales Returns Analyses
While no one appreciates the prospect of receiving and managing returns, ignoring the corresponding data is a mistake. The opportunity for data capture when processing direct sales returns is immense. Use this data to properly adjust your marketing efforts.
First, a returns processing system should be able to generate a return merchandise authorization (RMA) or similar reference number. This will not only help your fulfillment operation track the returned package as it is processed, but will also help in recording valuable marketing data.
Make sure that, when a customer service representative issues an RMA, they are required to select one of many detailed reason for return descriptions. Tracking the reasons why customers are returning your product is an indispensable data stream for any successful marketing department.
When you setup or append your system with new reason for return descriptions, only choose descriptions that will provide useful feedback later. When creating a new return description, ask yourself whether or not frequent reporting of this particular description by customers will provide you with enough information to remedy the root cause and avoid future returns? Return reason reports should be the basis for an action item, not just anecdotal pieces of information.
Specificity is the best approach when setting up return descriptions. Instead of using "Does not work" as a return description, use "Product will not connect to the network". If such reasons are recorded frequently, the former tells you nothing about what needs to be remedied while the latter gives you an action item that you can now research and hopefully solve in order to reduce the volume of returns.
In addition, do not let your customer service reps slouch in their effort to pick the best possible reason for each and every return. This is generally a training issue that can be addressed via periodic training sessions and performance reviews.
Assuming you have the necessary reporting mechanisms in place, data points will stream in and trends will develop. You should be able to spot common specific reasons why customers are returning the product.
For example, you may discover that while factory defects are another potential issue worth planning for, it may be that customers are opening and trying to use the product, only to find that it is not exactly what they thought they were purchasing.
In this case, your marketing message may not be a perfect fit for the product. Use this data to help evaluate potential new messages that would retain or increase sales while simultaneously reducing returns.
Or, in some instances, you may find it is easier to develop a new product given that you now know what customers are actually expecting when they open the box for the first time. Why not give them what they were hoping for? Plenty of monumentally successful products have been stumbled upon in this way.
Source Code Tracking
Whenever possible, utilize source codes as a method to quantify what marketing promotions are working and which are not. Online, a simple link can be created to cookie the customer's system and capture the marketing initiative he/she responded to. With offline marketing, place an easily recognizable promo code, discount code, preference code, etc. in the corresponding piece.
Not only does source code tracking tell you what messages and mediums attract the most sales, it also tells you which are attracting the largest volume of returns. While initial revenue figures for a particular promotion may be high, you may discover down the line that the corresponding messaging in this promotion misled customers and resulted in a large return rate. Once again, the ability to tie together RMAs, return descriptions, and order sources can be a powerful marketing tool.
Customer Feedback
The same principles of specificity are applicable for sales and customer service teams as well. As customers increasingly reach for email and live webchat customer support in place of traditional telephone support, the ability to capture and quantify the gestalt of your customers' feedback is now more feasible than ever.
While countless methodologies for capturing and reporting this data exist, using specific call tracking methods can help you identify why customers are calling. While this obviously facilities increased operational efficiencies, the resulting feedback is essential for ongoing product development and marketing as well.
Example:
In handling inbound customer service responsibilities for a particular consumer electronics product manufacturer, Rush Order provided a series of reports to the manufacturer detailing actual customer inquiries received via email.
The data strongly suggested that potential customers' apprehension, when considering whether or not to purchase, was directly tied to the product's required ongoing connection to the company's online service. Essentially, we discovered that customers were nervous about making a long term commitment.
Given that the product was not a standalone item, it was overwhelmingly evident that customers were concerned with the company's reputation and prospects for longevity. Time and time again, we could see that customers were asking questions like:
- "Can I still use the product if you go out of business?"
- "If your company fails, will I still be able to connect my product to someone else's service?"
| For obvious reasons, these are legitimate concerns that any consumer should have when purchasing a product that requires an ongoing relationship with the manufacturer.
As a direct result of this feedback, the company was able to adjust its marketing efforts by including messaging about the "bulletproof" network they offered. The company also began featuring testimonials from highly regarded industry experts about the product's ongoing success. As a result, sales skyrocketed.
In addition to changes in messaging, examination of specific inquiry data for inside sales calls revealed that comparison shoppers almost never seemed to worry about our client's longevity. As a result, sales rose dramatically when the client ran several advertisements directly adjacent to those of its largest competitor. Running the ads next to the competitor actually solidified the validity of this emerging product category in the minds of potential customers. When the ads ran side by side, we found that customers were more inclined to buy in to a long term commitment.
Additional Examples
This list of examples does not exhaust all of the possibilities in which back end operations can assist your marketing efforts. In fact, the list could continue indefinitely. As a result, we will be adding to this page from time to time. Please check this page frequently for additional examples. The upcoming additions to this page will include examples discussing retail sales forecasting methods and price testing.
Please feel free to contact Rush Order directly if you would like additional assistance in building these types of data streams into your back end operations. We provide consultations at no charge. Our only hope is that you will keep Rush Order in mind as a resource and potential order processing and fulfillment solution for future needs.
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