&THEN delivers marketing experience via different tracks. In my first update I covered the applied learning when talking about the Voice of Customer. Day 2 was all about inspiration with the keynote speakers. This last update combines both an impact session on loyalty and best practices in email marketing.

Building a loyalty strategy in the age of the customer constituted an impact session based on research of DMA. I was pleasantly surprised that their survey confirmed the results of the Yearly Marketing Survey 2013 of The House of Marketing (http://bit.ly/1PhmyGQ).

• Loyalty matters more in the age of the customer. Empowered customers are in control, are always on and have more choices to shop.
• Collecting and analyzing customer data is the foundation of success.
• Many companies think they’ve handled loyalty by implementing a program. But programs only cover a part of the lifecycle: incentivize engagement, give rewards when purchasing,… Loyalty already starts in the consideration phase.
• Loyalty with discounts is dead. Elevated loyalty strategies transform customer experiences, enrich marketing, secure customer relationships and create engagement.

Tips and tricks are always welcome, certainly when it comes to sending out emails. Here are some of the best practices I noted down which are driving direct marketing results using email:

• Pre-headers (space below your subject line) are often forgotten. If a HTML code is shown, your email has a 38% lower opening rate. If an offer is shown, your email has a 21% higher opening rate. I will definitely need to follow-up this advice myself …
• Multi-touch email campaigns are needed. Within B2B, an email that has been sent twice compared to a single send has a 31% higher overall response rate.
• Create a sense of urgency.
• Free is the top performing word in subject lines.
• And many more …

I finish with some career advice of 5 top CMOs. These rockstar executives were, of course, women. They attribute success to: seeking out the unfamiliar, resilience, embracing the new and never following the status quo.

I will go home with tons of marketing energy and a “JUST do it” attitude. I learned that Nike deliberately added JUST in their baseline, because there is always that moment of hesitation when you are willing to try something new …

I have so much more to tell you. Please get back to me so I can discuss with you all my other insights or if you want to have more information about loyalty strategies. Just drop me an email (karolien.vanhelden@thom.eu) and let some marketing magic happen!