| Experts Corner |  Having spent the money to identify our online customers, how can we maximize that investment by knowing the best time to reach them?
David King, Fulcrum Analytics
Read more... |
|
| Highlights |
 Q&A with Vivek Thomas, President, Maximizer Software
Vivek
Thomas joined Maximizer in
2002 and began serving as the CRM software provider's president on June
first of this year. He graciously agreed to an email interview with CRM2Day
about the current state of the CRM market and Maximizer's plans for the
future.
by
Read more... | |
|
|
|
|
 |
| Author: By Richard Barrington |
|
Doc Type: White Paper
|
|
Format: HTML |
|
| |
| Abstract: The 2008/2009 recession has had an extraordinary impact on corporate budgets.
Even IT spending has been projected to slow, and this is likely to impact plans
for CRM systems. However, with CRM software having become an integral part of
any sales and service operation, how does a company balance budget concerns with
the need to run a sustainable business?
This white paper looks at six possible responses to that dilemma. It explains
how CRM plans have to account for the extraordinary economic environment, and
offers solutions for managing CRM budgets and/or using CRM systems to positively
impact the overall corporate budget. |
| Industry:
Finance | Telco | Utilities | Government | Healthcare |
| CRM Function:
CRM ROI | Customer Loyalty | Customer Profitability | Customer Retention |
| CRM Methology:
CRM Strategy | CRM Implementation | CRM Overviews | CRM Definition |
| | |
|
|
|
|
|
| |
| Abstract: Our affiliates have begun bidding on our brand words; does this mean that we
will end up paying them for searches that should have led to our website to begin
with?
The relationship with affiliates is one of the most difficult for a business
to handle: on the one hand they are providing leads and sales for your company,
but on the other they are independent entities which require retribution for
their services and have their own interests, as well as your own, at heart.
This is, however, the case with any provider of service or materials and it
is important to establish a relationship of trust and confidence on both parts.
One of the most common sticking points for businesses comes when a decision
has to be made as to whether to allow affiliates – providers of voucher
and coupon services or cash back sites – to bid on your trademark terms.
If they are allowed to do so, consumers entering “M&S” in the
search engine, for example, will not only find the link to www.marksandspencer.com
on the search page displayed but links to websites offering discounts and vouchers
for the purchase of Marks and Spencer’s products.
If they are more popular than the company’s own ecommerce site, these
results may even feature higher in the page rankings than the company’s
own ecommerce site. As a result, customers searching specifically for your
brand may end up purchasing the product via a website other than your own.
This lead will then have to be paid for by your company even though the consumer
would have clicked on your site and not the affiliate’s had the rankings
been more favourable.
In this case the question is- are the high ranking affiliates cannibalising
sales or is your ecommerce site simply not optimised properly? Improving your
paid for search results as well as your natural results should be the pressing
issue for a business whose affiliates are attracting more traffic than the
main site. If the consumer typed in a specific brand term, they almost certainly
have been influenced to some extent by the brand’s own marketing and
advertising; failing to optimise search lets these efforts down in the last
lap. Understandably, however, businesses feel that affiliates should not charge
for leads generated on the back of promotional activity that is not their own.
Marketers tend to see the acquisitions made through affiliates as bringers
of ballooning costs. Firstly there is a cost per acquisition (CPA) charge for
affiliates, then the brand’s own marketing effort is to be added as it
drives the search, and finally the extra bidding cost of trying to keep the
brand at the top of the search results page, which is regarded as the last
straw.
There is, however, another important aspect to consider before letting fears
of cannibalisation and plummeting return on investment (ROI) sever the relationship
with affiliates. In May 2008, Google relaxed its UK regulations against bidding
on competitor trademark names meaning that, for example, when M&S bid on
the term Interflora, M&S appeared on the same search page as the brand.
As Google currently has no regulations against competitor trademark term bidding,
allowing affiliates to bid on key brand terms helps keep competitors out of
that all important first search page. While affiliate bidding may add a fractional
cost to the process of acquisitions, competitors really are driving business
away with their aggressive bidding.
If relationships with affiliates are managed more openly, concerns over the
cannibalisation of traffic can be quelled. Last-minute solutions such as lowering
commission budgets and suspending programmes are simply unacceptable and feed
into the climate of “every man for himself” on which mistrust is
based. Some businesses have even gone as far as making up excuses so as to
legitimise suspension of affiliate programmes over Christmas, a time of the
year that affiliates have been gearing up to as much as your own business.
One solution that avoids stigmatising affiliate programmes is to suggest different
rates of commission depending on the different type of lead or customer acquired.
This way, for example, if the consumer provided by the affiliate turns out
to be a returning customer who has previously bought through the ecommerce
site, the payment can be set at a lower rate than if the consumer is an entirely
new lead or a person whose custom is only available through affiliates. |
| Topics:
Business Intelligence | | | Industry:
Finance | Telco | Retail | Utilities | Government | Healthcare |
| CRM Function:
CRM ROI | Customer Loyalty | Customer Profitability | Customer Retention |
| CRM Methology:
CRM Strategy | CRM Implementation | CRM Overviews | CRM Definition |
| | |
|
|
|
|
| Author: By Richard Barrington |
|
Doc Type: White Paper
|
|
Format: PDF |
Size: 319 kb |
| |
| | |
|
|
|
|
| Author: By Richard Barrington |
|
Doc Type: White Paper
|
|
Format: PDF |
Size: 394 kb |
| |
| | |
|
|
|
|
|
|
by Document Type
