Arandell Corporation

Gary Sierzchulski, VP, Arandell Data Services

This past week I was in New York.  It was a beautiful, sunny afternoon and I was sitting on a bench at Noon eating a hotdog and watching everyone rush by on 6^th Avenue.  What I noticed more than ever is that most people were not enjoying the great weather or for that matter, the people walking around them; they were too busy with their heads down looking at their phones.  I did a quick test.  For one minute I counted the number of individuals who were not using their phone either to (believe it or not) talk or to look at their emails, websites and yes, mobile apps.  There were only 33 people who fell into that category…33 people out of hundreds that rushed by!  That is incredible but not unusual.  We have become obsessed with our phones and their ability to do just about everything for us.  Here is an interesting fact; people sleep more nights with their phones than with a human person.  These phones must be something special.

Today there are over 285 million mobile phones in use in the U.S. and of those, 160 million have the ability to text.  Get this, even though there are “only” less than 50 million iPhones and Blackberrys in use, the Apple store has downloaded over 2 billion apps so far. You do the math.

So you have two choices; embrace this new technology or think it’s a passing fad that will be gone as soon as the next major communications invention arrives.  Let’s take the side of embracing it.

When we look at the different marketing channels we think of the basics; brick and mortar, direct mail and the youngest member, the Internet.  Now there’s a new kid in town - mobile, and he’s growing bigger each month, more than the other three combined.

So how do you get on the mobile wagon?  There are a few steps to take to see if it’s right for you now.  Keep in mind it’s not a question of IF its right, but rather a question of WHEN it’s right for you.  Sooner or later you will be riding the Mobile Wagon.

1. Look at your customer base.  How much of your sales are generated through the Internet? (Don’t be confused with “through the Internet” as opposed to by the Internet.)  Most likely you see that number growing, meaning your customers are savvy, technological capable, and want to control the buying decision when they want to.  If you answer, “yes” to this - you are ready for mobile.
2. In analyzing your web results, what percentage of hits is from mobile phones?  If you see any at all - you are ready for mobile.
3. Do you want the ability to “talk” to your customers at any time or any place they are, maybe even as they just walk into your store?  If yes - you are ready for mobile.
4. Do you want to give your customers the option to experience a rich, visual, and inviting view of your store that is always open for business?  If you say yes to this - say mobile.
5. Can your customers walk and talk at the same time?  Are they over the age of six?  If yes - you are ready for mobile.

Keep in mind, mobile will not, repeat, NOT replace any of your existing marketing channels.  What it will do is give your customers another alternative to see your products, understand your company and most importantly buy from you in a very different environment.  Used strategically with your other channels, mobile is a great new addition to your weaponry. 

There are several ways to break into the mobile market.  The beauty of this technology is that you can take it very slowly and build over time or go hog wild from the get go.  Either way, you will be adding a whole new dimension for your customers and prospects to interact with you.  And since this technology is relatively new, most marketers have only begun to unleash the ability of this channel so you can get very creative and give your customers a highly unique experience before others copy your great idea.

So do not fear, mobile is here and is not going away.  But it is a great marketing partner for you and its possibilities are only limited by your creative abilities.  Give me a call to learn how Arandell is embracing this technology and how we’re working with our customers to incorporate mobile with the Mother of all marketing channels - The Catalog.

Jim Treis, EVP, Sales & Marketing

Menomonee Falls, WI, Austin, Texas, April 15, 2010 - Arandell Corp., North America’s premier and most robust offset printing company, today announced a partnership with Digby, the leading provider of mobile commerce solutions for retailers, to power Arandell Mobile Solutions, providing retailers with mobile optimized extensions for their print catalogs. Additionally, Arandell and Digby have entered into an ongoing Strategic Marketing Agreement to develop innovative and cutting edge cross-channel marketing practices that fully leverage the complementary strengths of catalog, mobile and in-store channels.

 “Through our internal response analysis we conduct for our clients, catalogers who integrate a mobile solution into their overall marketing mix see a significantly higher customer response to their marketing messages, produce a higher customer average order and achieve higher customer retention” said Jim Treis, EVP Sales and Marketing at Arandell. “We chose to partner with Digby because of their expertise and experience in our market, coupled with the fact that their solution works seamlessly across multiple phone platforms. This combination makes Digby unique in the market. They were the natural choice to power for Arandell’s Mobile Solutions offering.”

Consumers are increasingly looking to their mobile devices to research products they are interested in. Making it easy and efficient for mobile users to find product specifications, access social content such as product ratings & reviews, share products with friends through integration with Facebook, and even access product availability in retailer’s stores, all of which are components of a comprehensive multi-channel strategy. Arandell and Digby have developed best practices and standards for catalog retailers that enable consumers to use their mobile device as part of the shopping experience. Mobile integration points include mobile friendly urls and bar codes that provide consumers with real time access to  relevant information for their purchase decision.

“Forward thinking retailers are treating mobility as a strategic opportunity and delivering an immersive mobile experience.” said Dave Sikora, CEO of Digby. “Our relationship with Arandell will allow us to deliver a compelling mobile experience that complements their direct mail and catalog initiatives.”

According to a recent survey by Ruder Finn¹, an independent public relations agency, 34% of mobile users use their devices to find background information on products or read product reviews. 

¹ Ruder Finn Mobile Intent Index (http://intentindex.com/mobile)

 For additional information, contact:

Katy McDermott
Marketing/Sales Analyst
Arandell Corporation
KMMcDermott@Arandell.com
www.Arandell.com

Stephen Slezak
Marketing Director
Digby
sslezak@digby.com
www.digby.com

Gary Sierzchulski, VP, Arandell Data Services

A funny thing happened on the way to proclaiming the print catalog is dead……..IT’S STILL ALIVE!

If you have spent the early days of 2010 analyzing the results of your Fall and Holiday campaigns, you may have noticed something a little strange; emails, God love’em, were blasted out in record numbers in 2009. That was good news for me because I sold a lot of email appends.  As a result of all that clutter in peoples’ inboxes, not to be confused with mailboxes, the results were not all that impressive. In my humble opinion, direct marketers looking to cut costs as much as possible, yet still justify their existence, took the route of emails over direct mail to get the message to their customers, or in some cases to prospects. In many peoples’ analyses they noticed that the average transactional value in most cases significantly decreased. Marketers took the approach that more is better. Now many are discovering that more is not always effective. That’s the bad news for me - now they want answers as to why this approach did not always work. While marketers are trying to get a handle on this, we have seen the number of emails significantly decrease over the first two months of 2010, almost by the same amount they increased last year. Oh yeah…I forgot to mention that many are turning back to the direct side in the meantime.

Do not be confused; email campaigns are still highly critical to one’s overall marketing and branding efforts. What seems to have been lost is the fact that many of these email campaigns fail to “show me the money.” Just because they are cheap, it does not mean they are the best way to engage your customers. In order for an email campaign to be successful, the same tried and true direct marketing rules need to be applied. In fact, because emails are inexpensive there is no reason for the campaign NOT to be relevant, personal and recognizing the customers’ recent history with you. 

Here is a thought you may want to consider…if you have customers that have not purchased from you in the past six to nine months, conduct a test (isn’t that the beauty of direct marketing?). Take half of those customers and send them an email offer enticing them back to you. Then take the other half and send them a direct mail piece (catalog or similar) with the same message. I’ll bet you two things will happen: (1) your average transaction will be higher from the mailpiece as opposed to the email and (2) overall sales from the campaign will be higher. If you really want to get nuts, segment this group into thirds and the third group gets both the email and direct mail piece. 

However you want to do this, the important factor here is that you talk to these people as individuals. I was just at the Black Eyed Peas concert the other night along with 14,000 others. We were all there to see the great performance so we had that in common (like the customers who buy from you), but as I looked around, I realized I had very little else in common with those around me. So to “target” a message to this general audience about an after-concert party at a night club offering three-for-one shots of some kind of vodka until 3:00 a.m. on a work night would not interest me (actually it does but for this article the official word is that it does not). But a message telling me of a valet service that would also allow me a quicker exit from the place after the concert would be of great interest. The point is that your customers are very different from one another. You have the data to prove that. You do, right? If not call me ASAP. Now use it like there’s no tomorrow (because one never knows).

Me? I want to be media agnostic - use the best channel or channels for the specific campaign. But all channels should work together so your company will not only survive but thrive. 

Remember - your catalog is still the most important merchandising tool you have. Treat it as such.

Gary Sierzchulski, VP, Arandell Data Services

One of the most critical factors that is often overlooked in regards to Address Quality is the ability to better understand and view your customers.  Here’s is what I mean.

Suppose you have customers John Smith at 125 Ferret Street and J Smith at 125 Ferret Avenue Apt 2.

The John Smith at Ferret Street has purchased 9 products from you over the years, but none in the past 12 months.  However since he’s been a customer of yours, he has purchased $1400 worth of your products.

The J Smith at Ferret Avenue Apt 2 has purchased a $65 item from you 5 months ago but nothing before or since then.

Based on their past buying history, you would treat these two customers (or should) very differently.  In fact, if you were doing a mailing to only customers who purchased over $100 from you within the past 6 months or who has spent over $1500 life to date neither one of them would receive your mailing and you and they would miss out on a great opportunity to connect.

However through the proper use of address integrity products and duplicate identification processes we have cleaned up their information and these two customers now become one. 

Bad news is you just lost a customer. 

Great news is that you identified one of your best customers. Now you can communicate with him in a whole different way and acknowledge the fact that he indeed is one of your best customers.

Read more…

Gary Sierzchulski, VP, Arandell Data Services

The USPS’s recent announcement to assess charges for mailings that do not comply with the Move Update requirements starting in January should be a non-issue for mailers.  The sad truth however is that it still causes many of you confusion, anxiety, and worry.

Very simply put - In today’s environment, there is no reason not to run NCOA on each and every mailing you do regardless of how small they are.  To do anything else even though it complies with the USPS’s requirements really defeats the overall purpose and does not provide an efficient / effective mailing campaign.  All of the other options approved by the USPS are either done during or after the actual mailing.  So why waste dollars when you have the ability to make the changes before the mailing goes out?

 To recap - Here is what NCOA provides you with:

• Change of Address
• Address Standardization
• Carrier Route Coding
• Zip Code Correction
• Zip+4 Coding
• DPV Coding
• CASS Certification
• Identification of non-deliverables

What other product can deliver all of this at an extremely low price with almost immediate turnarounds?  AND before the mailing goes out?

For additional information on the increase for non-compliant mail piece click here.

I am always available as well via email at GASierzchulski@Arandell.com at 414-248-9151.

Gary Sierzchulski, VP, Arandell Data Services

What if you could predict something that was about to happen and act on it as opposed to reacting to an event that already happened? Wouldn’t that give you an edge on your competition?

Typically we analyze past events of our customers to predict future events. Modeling, overlays, Lifetime Value, etc. are all based on historical events, which very often are good predictors of future events or occurrences. Thanks to new data being available, however, we can get a head start on some life-changing events of our customers before they actually occur.

Read more…

Gary Sierzchulski, VP, Arandell Data Services

In 2009 there is an unbelievably large amount of ways a CMO can spend his/her budget. Aside from the traditional direct mail pieces, tradeshows, T.V. and radio ads… we now have e-commerce websites, blogs, forums, Facebook, Twitter, etc. At the end of the day, just like we had to do when I started in this business,  CMOs are required to investigate their ROI in each effort. Listen to the podcast below or continue reading to learn the latest trends in database marketing and how you can apply new techniques to your marketing program.

Click on the link below to listen to the podcast.

The 411 on Database Marketing Practices (245)

Q: In the past, we have always stressed to our customers that the database is the most critical marketing component for direct mailers. Is this still the case?

A: Absolutely. In the last six to 12 months, our customers have been looking to their database for solutions about how to reach their customers more effectively. What we are seeing is that the current make-up of their databases is not working for them as they try to move forward. Our role is to work with the customers to try to develop their database to a point that makes it more relevant and more efficient to perform cross-channel marketing.

Read more…