Daniel Burstein says, “The results are in. Last month, we asked you, the readers of the MarketingExperiments blog, to write the most effective copy for a Consumer Reports email in a way that could also test which value factors were most appealing to Consumer Reports donors. To expand the amount of test ideas, we also asked the readers of the Convince & Convert blog. We’ll get to the results, and the big winner of the MarketingSherpa Summit package, in just a moment. But first, a little more background and a few lessons. A little background Every year, prior to MarketingSherpa Summit,... [...]

Ken Bowen says, “On February 22, we brought you a live blog post from MarketingSherpa Summit 2016, the signature event of our sister site. In the post, we looked at a presentation from Summit’s Digital & Data track by Mike Loveridge, Head of Digital Test and Learn, Humana. In his presentation, Mike discussed how he and the Humana team harnessed strategic, incremental testing to drive healthcare enrollment. While at Summit, Mike took the time to sit down with Courtney Eckerle, Managing Editor, MarketingSherpa, to discuss this iterative approach that the Humana team leveraged, including... [...]

Peter O’Neill says, “There has been quite a response to my comment in the last blog on planning a technology-focused track at our October B2B Marketing Forum. Thanks for your inputs. I am glad you are looking forward to it. I have the luxury of being able to invite many different experts to the Forum, not just the B2B Marketing analysts; so that track in Miami will focus on how to deal with the current marketing-technology offerings as an enterprise: how to architect, compare and procure, and manage the business case –through the full life cycle. I’ve recently enjoyed Ajay Agarwal’s... [...]

Denyse Drummond-Dunn says, “With so much information flowing into organizations these days, we are all feeling a little overwhelmed. What’s worse, however, is that customer insights haven’t increased at the same rate as data availability. Customer insights are essential to growth and continued success, yet they remain the elusive holy grail of business. Let me start by explaining what I understand by an insight. An insight is a statement that summarizes an accurate and deep understanding of a market or consumer. Moreover, an actionable insight is about people’s needs—and... [...]

Arie Shpanya says, “The process of acquiring a consumer and turning them into a customer consists of three main parts: grabbing their attention, selling your product and experience to them, and getting them to return to your store. Each of these parts have different requirements for success, but retaining the customer might be the most complex. It’s tricky because there are so many other options customers have when shopping online, but the results are worth the effort. According to Bain & Co, increasing customer retention rates by just 5% can increase profitability anywhere between... [...]

Barry Levine says, “There aren’t many people who have seen the arc of modern marketing from as many vantage points as John Sculley. The ex-CEO/Chairman of Apple and President/CEO of Pepsi — currently an investor or board member in several marketing tech companies — sees two big movements affecting marketing. One has already happened, while the other is still in progress. The first movement, he told me in a phone interview, is the “power shift” that has been caused by such technologies as cloud computing, mobility and data analytics, not to mention the internet itself. As a result,... [...]

Regina Love says, “When creating a product for your customer, where do you begin? A key element in creating a product is to focus highly on the customer experience. Start by asking how you want your customer to feel, think and what action do you want them to take after viewing your product. The next question to ask yourself should be, how do we begin to organize and execute a valuable customer experience? As we are currently in the process of preparing for MarketingSherpa Summit 2016, I want to apply to these questions what we have learned from creating a real-world experience for the marketers... [...]

Ron Rogowski says, “One of the most enjoyable and fulfilling things about helping Forrester clients become customer-obsessed is leading an experience co-creation workshop. Forrester defines co-creation as the active participation of employees, customers, and stakeholders working together to design new experiences. It’s a technique that helps companies define the right experience for their customers and provides critical information that supports human-centered design. A typical co-creation session puts Forrester consultants, our clients, and our clients’ customers in a room for a whole... [...]

Jeremy Gin says, “Negative feedback from customers can be a hard pill to swallow. It often feels unjust, unhelpful and inaccurate. Even the most professional business owners can be defensive and emotional in the face of criticism. And while business owners may intellectually know negative customer feedback is critical to improving their business — a 10-percent increase in Net Promoter Score (NPS) can correlate with a six to seven-percent increase in revenue — the hard bit is constructively incorporating it. The following are seven things every business, small or large, can do... [...]

Leslie Ye says, “According to HubSpot’s 2015-2016 State of Inbound Sales report, 76% of sales teams use a CRM system. This shouldn’t be a surprise. A CRM system makes it easier for sales leaders to assess team performance, and easier for reps to record information about their prospects. Manipulated correctly, the data stored in a CRM system provides insight into a multitude of operational and performance challenges. So why do only 33% of salespeople make quota? Shouldn’t sales leaders have all the information they need to turn things around? Sales technology is only useful if its... [...]