flexistuff

In my last post, “Does Personalization Really Work?, I provided insights from a webinar on the subject that was presented by What They Think - a site that provides printing industry news, commentary, analysis and research. The webinar was sponsored by MindFireInc a company providing on-demand software that lets marketers create PURLs and landing pages with ease.

A report published by MindFire titled The Response Rates of Personalized Cross-Media Marketing Campaigns, further enhances the view that personalized marketing campaigns have been posting strong and meaningful results compared with traditional, static campaigns.

Citing research from the Print on Demand Initiative (PODi), and Calson, the average response rates by campaign objective as depicted in the chart shows that whether it be for the purpose of direct sales, lead generation or nurturing leads, the response rates for personalized marketing initiatives outperformed static campaigns.

When executives were asked to rate the overall effectiveness and ROI of their personalized communication efforts, here’s how they responded:

That was the subject of a recent webinar hosted by What They Think, a site that provides printing industry news, commentary, analysis and research – a favourite site of mine. The short answer is YES.

Two case studies were presented in addition to research that demonstrated the impact of personalization used in one-to-one marketing campaigns. Direct mail was one of the elements, combined with PURLs (personalized URLs) and images.

According to a Jupiter research cited in the webinar 87% of marketers intend to use digital solutions such as PURLs to link direct mail to other marketing channels, but in my experience, I haven’t really seen much of it, especially here in Canada. Futhermore, the research shows that multi-channel integration, analytics, and data gathering capabilities ultimately drive more targeted, cost-efficient marketing programs.

What were the key takeaways?

In business, my passion is writing about mass customization, personalization and one-to-one marketing. On the personal side, I love chocolate. So what could be better than combining my two passions to get customized chocolate!

I’ve written before about customizable packaging for chocolate, such as Dove and Hershey’s, but I have never before found a place that allows chocolate-lovers to create their own unique chocolate bar!

Founded in 2008 in Germany, and launched in the U.S. earlier this month, Chocri, lets customers create their own chocolate bar by choosing a base, adding toppings and then naming it, which will then be printed on the package. Whether you have conservative or curious tastes, there are over 100 toppings on the site so you can find the right flavour combination that’s just right for you! In addition, Chocri chocolates are all organic and fair trade, with 1% of sales donated to a charitable organization that cares for the needs of the children on the Ivory Coast (where cacao is produced).

The starting price for a bar is $7.90 US with toppings ranging from $0.10 for sea salt to $2.10 for real gold flakes, with a 3 bar minimum – either all the same or different. International shipping costs $6 with deliveries being made from Germany, where your personalized chocolate bar is produced. Orders are shipped within 2 weeks.

Curious, I decided to test drive the site…

I’ve written extensively about personalized direct mail, or the lack of it that I’ve received in the three years I have been writing on this topic. To that end, I can literally count on one hand the truly creative personalized print pieces I’ve received and wondered why marketers don’t do more of it especially since relevant , personalized and targeted marketing initiatives yield higher response rates, return on investment, and ultimately customer profitability.

According to a recent research study, titled Customer Analytics: Leveraging Customer Data to Fulfill the One-to-One Marketing Imperative, published by Aberdeen Group, the path to personalization is one that is littered with challenges. The top three challenges with customer data include: an inability to segment and target customers through customer data (50%) and a lack of trust in customer data (34%), and the inability to execute personalized marketing campaigns.

What are marketers’ priorities for 2010?

I was recently at the Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto (my alma mater) to hear the Dean, Roger Martin speak about his latest book “The Design of Business: Why Design Thinking is the next competitive advantage.”

The main theme of his book is that innovation is about seeing the world not as it is, but as it could be. It’s about exploring really “wicked problems” whose solutions can’t be found in past experience or proven by data. Martin maintains that the problem with business is that most companies obsess over reliance and predictability, which stifles innovation. Instead, he offers a more intuitive approach, adopting the discipline of “design thinking” a process that accelerates the process from mystery (an unexplainable process) to algorithm (a replicable success formula).

This got me thinking about the innovations, or lack thereof, coming from large companies in the mass customization space. Most of the personalized, products, services and innovations that I have written about extensively come not from the major companies, but start-ups, which back-up Martin’s point.

Here is at least one exception from which the larger companies can learn…

With a new year, and also a new decade upon us it’s time to look into my crystal ball to see what the future may hold for personalization for the upcoming year:

1. Marketers will get fired for NOT doing one-to-one marketing

It was back in 2008 that the following statement was made by the president of a California based printing company at a Xerox Graphic Premier Partners program webinar: “No one’s losing their job yet for not doing one-to-one marketing – but they soon will.” Two years later, with custom multi-channel communications being the norm, his statement is truer than ever. Any objections that marketers give one-to-one marketing that include coast barriers, lack of quality data, and execution and campaign management difficulties don’t hold up now. If that’s the message you’re getting from your marketing team, or agency replace them! So what are you waiting for marketers? I definitely want to see more personalized marketing hit my mailbox.

2. More mass customization initiatives launched by major brands

As I had written about back in December, the one class of retailers that thrived despite the recession was those that offered customized and personalized products – growing about 10 times as fast as online retail in general. While such start-up sites such as Zazzle, CafePress, Scrapblog, Spreadshirt and Blurb were examples mentioned, I’ve also seen examples of personalization initiatives from Adidas, Prescriptives, M&Ms, and Hallmark. I predict that we’ll be seeing more mass customization initiatives from the major brands, as they realize they have explore other areas for innovation and growth. They should be thinking of mass customization as a brand extension, just as they do other lines. Yes, there is some risk in being too far ahead of the curve, as I’ve written about both previous mass customization initiatives from Barbie and Proctor & Gamble. I can only hope we’ll be seeing true creativity from the big players who will be forced to become more nimble.

Three more trends...

It comes as no surprise to any of us that one of the top New Years’ resolutions is losing weight. Yet, it’s one of the more difficult goals to achieve. But why wait to see yourself in the after photo. Keep yourself motivated right from the start by actually seeing a slimmed down version of yourself. How? You can visualize yourself thin, at least digitally that is.

At the US based website ThinnerView, you can upload a photo of yourself and you are slimmed down through digital photo manipulation. Each ThinnerView image is hand-altered by a digital artist using specialized software. Your image is custom-made and personalized based on your requirements, bone structure and body shape to render the most realistic results possible. The company does not use simple, generic slimming software that squeezes the image resulting in unrealistic (and non-effective) results. To generate the most realistic results, they suggest that your weight loss goal be between 5 and 105 pounds. Take a look at the sample photos in the ThinnerView gallery – which is quite impressive.

Will visualization help you to lose weight?

In Part I of my post, I provided you with my picks for the best use of personalization in marketing campaigns in the following categories: best use of customer data, best use of technology, best use of social media, best personalized video, and “ahead of the curve”

For Part II of my story, I've listed my choices for the best customized products of the year. This is indeed a difficult task. Over two years ago when I first started writing on the topic, I had to search and scramble to find examples of mass customized products to cover. Now, two years later, I can barely keep up. If there was one category that was dominant for mass customization this past year, it was in home decor followed by fashion and footwear. The customization of food is also a strong category that is an up and coming sector.

Footwear and Fashion: Personalization from Payless. Sometimes you can find examples of personalization in the most unlikely places. On my annual excursion to the southern US, my first stop always includes a visit the mall where I hunt for interesting retail concepts. I was not only delightfully surprised, but downright amazed to find out that Payless Shoes offers custom dyed designer shoes! This footwear line is created by New York-based fashion designer Lela Rose.

You first start off by visiting a Payless store, where you are met with a 4 foot linear display, devoted totally to the Unforgettable Moments shoe collection. There are 13 or so shoe styles displayed, in every size that you can try on to make sure that they fit. Next, you choose from one of 64 colours that are represented by the satin swatch colour selection book. Colours range from the pale – such as taupe shimmer, or apricot - to the downright bold – rich mocha or deep emerald.

The customer’s order is placed and the hand-dyed shoes arrive within 10 business days at the store where you ordered it, or at home, if you ordered online. Here’s the best part - dyeing and shipping are included in the price. And, at $49.99 US or less – it’s well worth it for a custom product, made to your specifications. Apparently Payless is the only nationwide retailer to offer affordable special occasion satin designer shoes that are dyeable.

See my picks for other categories: gifts, home décor, food, and personal care…

Personalized Marketing Campaigns

Being a marketer, I thought I’d start off with this category. In this past year, I’ve seen marketers shift their advertising from mass communication to niche marketing as they realize that it’s more important to reach the right customer, rather than just any customer. Yes, database marketing is more time consuming, requires specialized skills and is more expensive, but the results speak for themselves. According to an article in eMarketer, 41% of US Internet users surveyed said they paid more attention to advertising that was personalized. But personalization in marketing is not just limited to print, as you will see.

Best Use of Customer Data: Without a doubt the most creative personalized initiative I’ve seen is the Maybelline New York launch of My MNY, the first fully personalized beauty guide with content and exclusive offers customized just for you. When you subscribe at their website, you are asked a number of questions about yourself, your skin, make-up and your preferences. Then, you will wait to receive your own personalized 20-page beauty guide packed with information and coupon that are just for you. But don’t take my word for it. This initiative won Best of the Best at NAMMU Awards (National Association of Major Mail Users) in Toronto. It also won a Silver prize at the CMA (Canadian Marketing Awards) in November.

Other Categories: best use of technology, best use of social media, best personalized videos and ahead of the curve…

This year has been tough for retail. Last year, retailers posted a sales decline of 2% and when results are tallied for 2009, both Nielsen and Deloitte expect no change in holiday sales this year. In the online world things were a little better, with Comscore reporting that e-commerce spending for the first 48 days of the November - December 2009 holiday season was up 4%.

There is one class of retailers however that have experienced a surge in sales - those that provide personalized and mass customized products online! According to yesterday’s article in the New York Times:

• Zazzle, CafePress and Scrapblog (a site for digital scrapbooking), all have reported a whopping 80% increase in sales this holiday season compared with last year.
• Orders at Spreadshirt where people can customize shirts, bags, umbrellas and even underwear, have doubled.
• At Blurb, where people create their own photo or art books, sales are up 43 percent.
• Custom orders are up 20% this year on Blue Nile where customers can design their own jewellery pieces.

Why the increase in sales?

With the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics being just 51 days away, we Canadians are feeling particularly proud. Olympic fever is catching on, especially here in Toronto where the Olympic Torch Relay has been making its way across the city these past few days.

South of the border, our American neighbours are also doing their best to promote the cause. Ralph Lauren is not only the official outfitter of the U.S. Olympic team, but so that you feel part of the action, lets you personalize your own garment by putting your name on the back and front of the Official Polo Shirt of the 2010 Olympic Winter Games. Or, you can support your team in style by choosing from dozens of flag choices for the classic polo or a fleece hoodie.

Here’s how the online process works. You first choose your garment: USA track jacket, skinny-fit flag polo, classic-fit polo, and even an oxford shirt, with prices ranging from $89.50 to $165 US. For the flag garment, you select your flag, size, and colour combination. You then get to see your own creation on a beautiful (or handsome) model.

Other personalized products are also offered:

Christmas is a week away, but you still have time to send out cards. Impossible you say? Read on. I have the perfect solution for sending out personalized Christmas and holiday cards. Or better still, send out a New Years’ card to be totally original!

Visit One of a Kind Greeting Cards.com where you can upload your addresses, pick a card, and personalize it with your own message. Then, a physical card will be printed and sent out with a real stamp and mailed to its destination. It’s that easy! Or, if you want to automate the whole process, input your list, choose a card, and then let the campaign manager do the rest.

There are literally thousands of cards from which to choose, for any purpose or occasion: Birthday, Thinking of You, Motivational, Sympathy, Welcome, Apology, Congratulations and lots more.

You can also get fancy with other advanced options:

Sympatico has teamed up with Unicef Canada to bring Santa closer to you. Using the PNP (Portable North Pole) console, “a technological breakthrough that makes real-time communication with the North Pole possible” you can send a personalized video message from Santa Claus himself to someone special, whether it be for children or grown-ups.

To start the process, you first identify the person you want to send the personalized message to: toddler, child, adult/teen who has been nice, or adult/teen who has been naughty (and of course won’t be on Santa’s list, as a result). You are then asked a number of general questions to make the video as relevant as possible: name, age, gender, and relationship to the recipient, and province in which the recipient lives. The more “personal” questions ask such things as what the recipient should have spent less time on (the internet, twittering, smoking, shopping, procrastinating, cursing, pigging out on fast food) and more time on (going to the gym, cleaning the house). As the final step, you are asked to provide hair and eye colour of the recipient and upload photo of him or her.

The online interface was simple, straightforward, and really easy to navigate. And while it take about 5 minutes to go through all of the options, it’s well worth the trouble because the end result is a wonderfully executed personalized video that really does make it seems as if Santa is speaking directly to you.

Because this is so well done, anyone receiving this video will be immediately compelled to send a personalized Santa to some they know, making it a great viral campaign. This is the second year in a row that this application has been available online and according to Martin Ceré, Senior Director, Content at Sympatico.ca, more than 1.5 million videos were produced last year generating over 5.7 million views, but that pales in comparison to the hilarious Elf Yourself application from Office Depot that generated over 57 million views in the first 3 weeks of the campaign last year.

I’ve been seeing more and more examples of personalized videos used for marketing purposes. Here are a number of creative examples I’ve written about before:

As soon as you visit Mini Canada’s holiday page, you know you’re on a micro site unlike any other. With cheesy holiday music playing in the background, a sarcastic and smarmy male voice greets you with the following message:

“Hello, it’s that time of year again. Time to brace yourself for constant carolling, Santas with real red noses, parking lots with all the room in the world and being grateful for the small things in life. It’s a time for family and for keeping it together when Aunt Gladys’s teeth fall into her eighth glass of eggnog. It’s also time to embrace the tradition of the ugly holiday sweater.”

At Mini Canada, you can personalize your own mini holiday portrait e-Card by choosing a tacky sweater, festive background and then uploading your own photo into the scene. From there, you send some “ugly sweater love” online to friends and family alike.

The online process is pretty simple:

In my last post I described the mass customized Barbie doll and wondered what happened to this initiative. Now I’ll provide my view as to why it didn’t perform as well as it should have, and reveal a similar project that was launched 10 years later by Mattel.

In business school we’re taught companies must innovate to stay ahead of their competitors and maintain their market share. It’s this strategy that has kept Barbie in the number one position in the industry. While market leaders innovate and attract customers who will part with their money in exchange for shiny new products, there is such a thing as being too far ahead of the curve.

Being so far ahead of the pack is risky and positions companies on the “bleeding edge”—and that can hurt. Hurt in the sense that a company loses credibility and money because customers just don’t “get it.”

The personalized Barbie was on the bleeding edge in 1997: eCommerce was in its infancy, and customers were not comfortable transacting online due to security issues. With a dial-up connection—not broadband, which is standard today—the user experience was not optimal. Just as crucial perhaps, the concept of mass customized products was a little too foreign for consumers at the time.

Seems that Mattel has come to the same conclusion...