Impact of advertising on customer loyality assignment

Alan Curnow, communications manager of Grass Roots, explains: “ The distinction between clients and prospects is (more one of) tone than substance; we may need to refresh prospects’ memories of who we are, whereas clients ??? even if they haven’t bought from us for some time ??? know us. ” Jan-Pieter Lips, head of business-to-business at Loyalty Management UK, which operates Nectar for Business, adds: “ Experience shows that there is a direct correlation between winning back a lapsed customer and the time that has passed since the last transaction. Simon Ward, director of rewards scheme Seed, considers that the frequency of customer orders is like a pulse. “ Businesses should monitor customertransactions and identify when they change. They can then contact thecustomer and find out why. ” David Lebond, executive director of P&MM, agrees: “ Doing something wrong is the best opportunity for getting a customer for life; if you handle a complaint well, put things right and demonstrate that you have the customers’ interests at heart then not only will customers be retained, they’ll also talk about you in glowing terms. Newsletters Newsletters and customers magazines are one of the most obvious communications methods, which can be used to maintain customerrelationships and loyalty. Richard Bush, managing director of Base One, says, “ The trend for customermagazines ??? which we saw in the mid 90s ??? has diminished as many businesses found they were expensive and their success difficult to measure, although the need for what they provided still remains. ” Electronic newsletters have taken over as less expensive, more measurable and interactive replacements.

To include relevant material, you need to consider things like: life cycle of products/services and how they relate to customers and information held about customers which helps target mailings. Allow readers to choose ??? for example: offer the flexibility to pick areas of interest, frequency of mailing, etc. but make sure that they can change their selections with each mailing. Denise Cox, newsletter specialist at Newsweaver, says, “ Stay away from complicated password-protected access to subscription profiles; this is a real turn-off and readers may just start deleting your emails instead of trying to change their preferences. Newsletters need a simple lay-out, clear navigation and no fancy graphics such as Flash that could cause them to be filtered. They require a table of contents on each page to provide clear choice and encourage further reading; around five main articles per newsletter of 300-700 words and a 100-word synopsis of each article on the front page with a link. “ It is also extremely important that you have a strong call-to-action in your articles,” says Cox of Newsweaver. “ It’s astonishing how many companies don’t. Yet it’s your key opportunity to incite sales, feedback and make requests for more information. Readers typically decide within eight seconds whether to read on, set the information aside ??? which probably means they’ll never read it ??? or delete it. The ‘ from’ and ‘ subject’ of the email need to tempt recipients to open it. ‘ From’ should be your brand, helping to build recognition; ‘ subject’ should be interesting and relevant. Content could include: articles stimulating thought and discussion, pertinent information relating to technological innovations, legislation affecting the industry, links to relevant news, client wins and case studies, industry reports and website links.