It’s the Experience...“Right-Touching” in 2011

By Barb Pellow, InfoTrends

Prospects and customers are increasingly using multiple channels when selecting products and services, and they are switching between digital and traditional media. This means that marketers must understand not just the right message, but also the right media preferences. Additionally, they must facilitate the shift from print to online and vice versa. This has given rise to what I believe will become a buzz term for 2011… “right-touching.”

Right-touching can be defined as a cross-media communications strategy that is customized for individual prospects and customers forming segments across a customer-defined lifecycle. The objective is to deliver the right message featuring the right value proposition with the right tone at the right time with the right frequency using the right media to achieve the right balance of value between both parties.

The classic interruption-disruption model of communications is over. In the world of right-touching, marketers will need to deliver magnetic content and an experience for their customers. The key questions that they will need to ask include:

---Is the content unique and personalized to the individual?
---Is the content useful?
---Is the content well-executed?
---Is the content fun (e.g., does it engage the customer)?
---Does the content make good use of the channel in which it appears (e.g., social, mobile, video)?
---Signs of Right-Sourcing During the Holidays

Sears/Kmart
During the 2010 holiday shopping season, Sears Holdings Corp. used multiple mobile channels to right- touch customers and enhance the overall shopping experience. The company’s holiday campaign included printed inserts, commerce-enabled mobile Websites, applications, and QR codes. The focus was improving the shopping experience with engaging content that ultimately increased sales. Sunday circulars that the retail chain issued on November 28 featured QR codes that consumers could scan to view all of the deals available for Cyber Monday.


Figure 1: QR Codes in Sears Sales Circulars

Sears and Kmart also included QR codes in their most recent catalogs. Consumers that scanned these codes received access extended product descriptions and other information on their mobile devices. Sears and Kmart effectively used mobile to bridge print-to-online and in-store-to-online, and all of those features were available on Sears2Go and Kmart2Go. Sears’ location-based services helped users obtain store hours, find the nearest store location, and access maps to get there as easily as possible.

The Sears and Kmart mobile sites and applications had another notable feature—buy online and pickup in-store. On-the-go customers who wanted to avoid shipping fees were invited to enjoy the convenience of using their mobile devices to purchase an item and pick it up in-store a short time later. Sears offered a five-minute guarantee and promised a gift card to customers who had to wait longer to pick up their merchandise.

Sears had the right idea for attracting mobile consumers. The retailer offered deals through mobile devices, location-based services to find a store, QR codes, and the option to buy online and pick up on the same day. It is all about convenience and immediacy.

Constellation Brands
Constellation Wines U.S. partnered with Augme Technologies, Inc. to launch a holiday mobile campaign designed to provide consumers with a more interactive right- touching experience via SMS keywords and QR codes.

In mid-November, Constellation launched free-standing inserts in newspapers, as well as in-store displays at retail establishments featuring SMS keywords and 2D codes readable by smartphones that directed consumers online. The mobile site featured a party planning calculator, food and wine pairings, promotions, and social networking integration. The campaign was meant to drive purchases by prompting consumers to make a decision right at the moment of interest—the point of purchase.


Figure 2: Wine Hang-Tag from Constellation Brands

The holiday season provided the perfect backdrop for Constellation Wines' campaign. The interactive direct response elements afforded by the mobile platform are key to getting customers to opt-in. These elements communicate effectively with consumers using a product rich in information. This enabled consumers to engage with the “brand” while also giving the “brand” the opportunity to engage consumers.

2011…Right-Touching and Integrating Channels
Prospects and customers are increasingly using multiple channels when selecting products and services, switching between digital media and traditional media. The content of tomorrow will be individualized, rich, engaging, and interactive. It will be essential for print and marketing service providers to understand right-touching and provide tools and techniques that facilitate switching from print to online and vice versa. If this year’s holiday season is any indicator, service providers that understand right-touching and integrated contact strategies will be the winners in 2011 and beyond.

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