Maxys Max Media and Entertainment

The importance of online customer engagement

Over the last two weeks I have attended the Australian Online Retailing conference - about 2,500 delegates; an International Sports Marketing Conference - about 250 delegates and last Thursday, a breakfast with Internet Chef and Electrolux Ambassador Bridget Davis (the relevance of this explained later). The retailing conference was, as you can guess, about Online Retailing but interestingly there was equally as much conversation about pure plays (just online) as multichannel (both online and offline).

The sports conference was about Fan Engagement and Digital Strategy.Leading international speakers from Real Madrid Football Club; the US and the UK

Changing Media Models

In both conference cases Australia was 3-5 years behind the US and Europe where there has been a massive shift from the old mass media one way push to a multi-channel integrated bi-directional "push-pull" customer (fan) conversation. The result, advertising dollars moving to online (mostly at the expense of print) with a focus in those channels where their customers are – Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn etc

You can’t ignore - we're already connected.

In ALL cases a seismic shift in corporate culture towards customer centric business engagement or FACE (Focus Attention on Customer Experience).

The facts are it's now not tomorrow - nearly all of us are ALREADY connected (just a different degrees). Today via the Internet and Social Media there is a 1:1 connection between creator and consumer – inefficient or non productive layers between are being disintermediated – old hierarchical business models are being challenged across all industries.

There are over 500m people on Facebook alone.

Flamers, Sneezers, Stranger and Fans

Online there are Flamers (put down your brand) and Sneezers (spread the good news) - there are also Strangers to Top Fans.
At the Online Retailing conference, Russell Harte, Head of Business Development and Delivery, Boots.com in the UK – (2,500 stores) talked about the organisations "zero complaints policy!"

In Boots case, the end result, they have a "zero complaints policy!". Now anyone who has ever been in business of any type knows that's 100% customer satisfaction is near impossible to achieve BUT you can respond and explain your position AND attempt to resolve the complaint (to their satisfaction).

People are already talking about your products and service.

You can’t control the communication but you can influence it.

Any business, saying "I didn't know" is not an excuse.

Examples: Wendell and Virgin Blue; Amazon GLBT hack; The Gap

The bonus is - if you get it right, then those digitally connected customer will rave.

Which leads me back to Bridget.

A breakfast degustación in Tetsuya's Masterclass kitchen at Electrolux HQ with Internet Chef and Electrolux brand ambassador Bridget Davis www.theinternetchef.biz and Twitter royalty Mahei (Iconic88) twitter.com/iconic88

I have to say one of the most pleasurable experiences I've ever had - love the entire concept. From a business marketing perspective we talk about customer engagement and creating unique experiences that WOW - events that resonate with your audience and compell to share.

LOVE IT!

As Mahei says - it is no longer WIIFM (What's In It For Me?) that matters BUT WRWM - (What Resonates With Me..my friends, family, community...).

July 13-14, Star City Casino, Sydney

Recent research from the Australian Centre for Retail Studies (ACRS) reveals that across a range of product categories, 50 per cent of shoppers research online before heading to the store to complete their purchase.

Website Visitor: Enquiry/ Sales Ratio

As we all know websites today are more than just static online brochures - as superficial as it sounds many of your new potential customers will make an immediate decision of your company based on your website and never call you.

Logic suggests if your website is hard to use then there's a good chance the shopping experience and customer service is also going to be poor OR equally the opposite, the better the website the greater the service  - Tweeter Wendell, his busted club and Virgin.

Personally on any new product websites I'll first look for a video (hopefully short, high production quality and fast streaming) that will give me the information I need.

Repeat web visitors and customers

As many experienced business owners know it is fundamentally more effecient to sell to a satisfied existing customer than only trying to get new ones.

So, does your website differentiate returning visitors and customers?

The easy solution is "welcome back" CLIVEvideos - it's a bit like walking back into your local pub or coffee shop?

Repeat or sequenced videos can be triggered based on your websites customer loyalty (how many repeat visitors per day/ month) and it's all just one line of code on your website.

Examples:

• Shelley Taylor Smith ; (page refresh)
• RidgeFilms (15 min delay then next video);
• St George Dragons (2 clips max every three days);
• Corporate Cofee (next day)

As the online customer tools and business understanding get's better, so will the online user experience.

For the latest, the Online Retailer Event is on July 6-9 at the Sydney Convention Centre.

WHO IS FRED? - CLIVE's SPORTY MATE

Fan Retention. Engagement and Development (FRED) is a joint venture between Max Media (Scott Maxworthy) and the Orbital Marketing Group (Michael McDonald and Monique Baumann). FRED utilises the knowledge and experience of the joint venture partners to work closely with its clients to create "living" campaigns and programs that engage directly with consumers across a mix of online and offline initiatives

No matter what industry "competition" your business plays in every company and brand seeks to be recognised at the top of their respective competition table, leading in innovation, customer service and building it's fan-base by engaging more deeply with its customers.  FRED works with its clients to keep them ahead of their competitors by utilising best practice in technology implementation and developing multi faceted marketing programs that provide a range of online and offline touch-points and areas of engagement with your fans and customers.

Following on, an outline the key areas where FRED proposes it would work closely with you on the development and implementation of their Digital Media Strategy moving forward.

WHY ARE LEADING BRANDS IMPLEMENTING A DIGITAL MEDIA STRATEGY

The facts are clear, more and more Australians are utilising digital media assets to source information, connect with others and directly influence their purchasing decisions. Leading brands are implementing digital media strategies to communicate effectively and more immediately with their customers, creating brand advocates and driving a measurable commercial return.

Are your customers already 'consuming' Digital Media?

Australia and Social Media – what are the opportunities?

• 85% of Australian Households are Internet enabled - this will increase with the roll out of the NBN (National Broadband Network)
• 91% of Australians own a mobile phone - one in four of these have access to Internet and this is growing rapidly
• 70% of Australians visited a social network site in June 2009 - a figure that has continued to increase over the last twelve months

• 8.2m Facebook users in Australia - more than 400 million active users worldwide
• 50% of active users log on to Facebook in any given day
• There are now over 1 million Twitter followers in Australia

• 1 million  LinkedIn users (B2B)
• Australians are the world's most prolific users of social media on average per capita