360° Touchpoint Management How to control marketing investment: improving performance using the optimal market development mix for sales and marketing What is a Touchpoint? Which Touchpoints are important and relevant? Brand- or customer touchpoints are all those interaction or contact points of a company or brand with clients, non-clients and other stakeholders before, during and after a sale. Put another way: which investments in market development activities are truly worthwhile at a time of tight budgets and fragmented media marketing channels and target groups – and which are a waste of money or even contra-productive? These different touchpoints – whether conventional or unconventional, off- or online, personal or via mass media – each have a different significance. The greater a company’s success in meeting the expectations and needs of its target group through finding the «optimal market development mix» and building a brand-typical client experience, the greater will be its success at winning new clients and increasing client satisfaction. Examination of the many different contact opportunities and instruments places sales touchpoints at the centre of attention. Overview Each of these touchpoints has a different impact on the client experience. The more this succeeds in meeting client expectations and needs, the higher its success, as measured by new-client acquisition, client satisfaction and client loyalty. Touchpoint management should be understood as a multi-disciplinary strategic approach, which results in optimised performance in all marketoriented management areas Integrated Marketing and brand management thus becomes transparent and controllable. Zurich consultancy and research firm Accelerom has shown that poor investments in sales and marketing can be prevented, and performance improved, using its proprietary Touchpoint Management system. The measurement process used has been validated in a joint research project with Zurich University. Over the past few years, well-known companies have used this to optimise their marketing and brand management investment budgets, sink costs, and demonstrably increase the efficiency of their market development mix. See for yourself how professional Touchpoint Management has improved sales and marketing performance in practice: Exceptional know-how for export success Osec is Switzerland’s official export promotion body, with a mandate from the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs SECO. Serving numerous SMEs in a variety of industries, with different requirements and export markets, Osec provides valuable export know-how, advice and information. Osec used 360° Touchpoint Management to find innovative new communication channels for its information services to meet the diverse needs of its clients. «How can I make the most of my budget? The comprehensive inclusion of the client perspective allows us to direct our communication and information services more precisely to satisfy the varied needs of exporters. With our new knowledge, we are now in a position to further develop the contact points with our clients using innovative methods in an efficient and effective way.» Martin Rahf Head of Marketing, Member of Senior Management www.osec.ch Even more client-oriented German medical insurer SBK has been serving clients successfully for 100 years. SBK focuses on customer proximity, service and individual advice for its 720,000 insureds, and has won the title of «Germany’s most client-oriented service provider» three times in a row (www.bestedienstleister. de). Accelerom evaluated the key marketing and brand management contact points for each target group in the competitive healthcare market, helping SBK to enhance client proximity, optimise budgets, and implement innovative opportunities. «Achieving top performance calls for constant adjustments. 360° Touchpoint Management gives us the transparency and certainty we need that we are building future-oriented client contact points with the right focus and levers. We can use our resources and budgets more efficiently and effectively.» Heike Heinz Head of Client- and Marketing Management, Controlling www.sbk.org Using the global growth potential of the product range more efficiently and effectively Since the sale of its first knife 125 years ago, Victorinox has conquered every continent and continuously developed its product range. From pocket knives to watches, luggage, perfume and apparel, Victorinox stands for top-quality functional products. According to the University of St Gallen’s Center for Innovation, Victorinox is one of the ten «Most Innovative Companies in Switzerland 2009». How to continue this success? Accelerom showed the potential for an efficient and effective brand strategy to achieve additional sales and innovation worldwide. «The clarity we have gained gives us the security we seek in making decisions involving the right priorities and investments to develop our unique brand. The new decision model from Accelerom has let us adjust our brand strategy and action areas in a careful and effective way for the global market.» Carl Elsener Jr. CEO Victorinox www.victorinox.com Closer to bank clients – even without branches DAB bank is Germany’s first online broker, with a consistent long-term strategy for its services as an asset manager handling securities. As a direct bank without branches, DAB bank has to rely on effective and efficient direct client contact. Using 360° Touchpoint Analysis, they were able to identify the marketing activities with the greatest potential for business development in their fastmoving competitive environment, and optimally design these. «With the increase in possible options, the risk also increases of choosing the wrong focus points. In this environment, the demands placed on management systems are enormously increased. Touchpoint Management enables targeted and continuous optimisation of the marketing mix, and thus maximises our return on investment.» Thomas Hamele Head of Customer Relationship Management & Analytics www.dab-bank.de Checklist for an «optimal market development mix» Strategy and activity evaluation list What are the 30 most relevant Touchpoints for your brand from the client point of view? What will be the 10 most innovative Touchpoints in your industry over the next two years? Which activities should be re-examined based on insufficient breadth and depth of impact? What Touchpoints positively differentiate your company from the competition? Which key Touchpoints require targeted optimization? What investments in what activities promise an optimal return on investment? Which integrated combination of activities is most promising for comprehensive marketing- and brand management? What Touchpoints can be used to approach and win new clients? Which Touchpoints are particularly suitable for creating client loyalty to the brand? What Touchpoints strengthen the brand-typical client experience? Using opportunities «The optimal market development mix» For companies and investors in economically challenging times, sound risk- and opportunity assessments of strategies and activities are more crucial than ever. Because of the importance of these decisions, Accelerom developed 360° Touchpoint Analysis to optimize marketing and brand management. The «optimal market development mix» lets firms reach (potential) clients in a prompt, appropriate and inexpensive manner. To achieve performance-oriented marketing and brand management, the 360° Touchpoint concept identifies all the company’s or brand’s contact points from the market perspective, then evaluates and maps them by relevance. The results reveal the decisive touchpoints for (potential) clients, and how these can be best used in the marketing mix, thus helping companies to implement new, more successful, and less expensive strategies. The advantage is that the right path to achieve the goal can now be identified within the labyrinth of possible pathways. Just like a navigation system, Touchpoint Management helps to steer sales-oriented processes and thus minimises decision- and investment risks in our dynamic marketing and communication environment. Perfect orchestration, the right dose of the various market development instruments, and excellent creativity enhance impact and success. From the clients’ rather than the company’s perspective It is only by measuring from the client perspective that the relevant off- and online contact points and channels can be identified from the many available, then evaluated, and compared. In summary, 360° Touchpoint Management is a solid basis for successful long-term market development and brand management, which provides: A diagnosis of the current situation presents the most comprehensive picture possible of interactions with (potential) clients, with a market forecast adjusted for the company. · Increased effectiveness and efficiency through the «optimal market development mix» · Impact-oriented control of investments and resource allocation in sales, marketing, service and brand communication The result of the investigation is an «optimal market development mix», through which substantial efficiency reserves can be rapidly released and return on investment (ROI) maximised. · Comprehensive management of the brandtypical client experience · Increased process efficiency and reduced operational complexity · Innovation management for marketing and brand communication through consistent client orientation 360° Touchpoint Analysis The touchpoints with the most impact are filtered out of the multiplicity of different touchpoints and arranged into four interaction categories: sales, one-to-one, mass communication, and indirect communication. Using key indicators on reach and depth of impact, the touchpoints can be compared for each target group. The Touchpoint Matrix Touchpoints can be localised in the Accelerom Touchpoint Matrix, as these are collected for each company and their impact measured. It is this Reach measurement and comparison that enables systematic optimisation of the market development mix. strong Covering Touchpoints increase brand presence Question Mark Touchpoints offer potential savings weak Core Touchpoints strengthen customer satisfaction and client loyality Potential Touchpoints innovate and differentiate the client experience and offer potential savings strong Touchpoint Value Measurement and comparison enable optimisation The deceptive security of «reach» The complexity involved in choosing suitable sales and marketing instruments is enormous. Exactly which contact points and strategic focal points are truly decisive now and in future? Discussions during a sale, customer magazines, exhibitions, newsletters, adverts, seminars, hotlines, blogs, POS promotions, posters, sponsoring, web sites, search machine optimisation, or community forums? Traditional indicators, such as requests received, pure circulation numbers, or contact opportunities in different media provide insufficient information on relevance, effectiveness, or even how much potential has been exploited. In the final analysis, they deliver a deceptive sense of security. Touchpoint Management measures contact points with clients, and uncovers which are really relevant. Company-specific surveys reveal the extent and quality of contacts in a transparent and comparable way, helping to simplify control of market development activities, and reduce complexity and risk. Very often, the effective reach (contact quantity) and especially the depth of impact (contact quality) of the individual instruments can only be guessed at. This is why a consistent view from the client perspective is necessary. Experience shows that there are often astonishing differences between what a company perceives and what the market sees. Cost savings without loss of impact Setting the right priorities for the future The choice of inappropriate instruments, unrealistic assumptions about performance, or far too little investment in key contact points, can make achieving goals in marketing and brand management extremely difficult or even impossible. Market success is decisively affected by the quality of the underlying information. Depending on the company and the industry, the «optimal market development mix» varies greatly. Contact points with existing and potential clients are very different in their effectiveness. The 50% of advertising investment which is thrown away, according to Henry Ford’s well-known saying, can be quickly, simply and precisely localised in the company. Under- and over-investments can be revealed, and the resources freed-up either saved or invested in more effective touchpoints, which may previously have been under- or incorrectly weighted due to not having the necessary key data. Using 360° Touchpoint Management, a system is created that provides comprehensive and internally consistent key data, which delivers transparency in several areas: the market, the company, the competition, and customer categories. This allows a multilayered market development mix to be efficiently and effectively designed, while reducing marketing expenses but without shrinking results. Alongside proven or useless touchpoints, innovative and promising new touchpoints can be identified and put into a future-oriented market development mix. In this way, Touchpoint Management helps promote ongoing company development and secure strategic competitive advantages. The five stages of Touchpoint Management 1. TouchpointAudit (internal perspective) 2. 3. 360º Touchpoint Set optimiAnalysis (external sation goals perspective) 4. Implement the optimisation goals 5. Tracking 1. Touchpoint Audit The relevant off- and online touchpoints for the company and the industry are listed first. These different touchpoints range from sales (point-ofsale or point-of-interaction), to classical mass media, to indirect communication (public relations, word of mouth, etc,) and on to personal one-to-one communication. 2. 360° Touchpoint Analysis The precondition for optimising the entire process is ensuring uniform measurement of the various different sales and communication methods. To evaluate the impact of the possible touchpoints from the customer’s point of view, there is a second step to collect and statistically evaluate or calculate the range and touchpoint value using market research. 3. Set optimisation goals Based on the strategy and positioning, the requirements for qualitative and quantitative adjustments can be established and potential savings quantified. Activity Based Costing allows resources to be optimally directed to the different touchpoints or activities. It is even easy to extract recommendations for suitable mass media from the touchpoint analysis. 4. Implement the optimisation goals The central aim during implementation is to achieve optimal Touchpoint design. This is complemented by optimisation of the downstream processes and mutli-channel mix for sales, marketing, communication and service. 5. Tracking Tracking is used to evaluate and manage the performance of the strategy and activities. Accelerom provides consulting and research for comprehensive, impact-oriented brand and marketing management. Accelerom identifies growth potentials and provides advice on the development of integrated, interdisciplinary multichannel-strategies, which are designed to: Accelerom AG Technoparkstrasse 1 CH-8005 Zürich www.accelerom.com · strengthen brands · increase the efficiency and impact of sales and marketing communications, and · raise customer retention levels. Contact: Christoph Spengler, founder and Managing Director Telefon +41 44 445 29 15 The approach extends from concept to implementation at both local and international levels. Design by: Hello AG, Member of GfM Agentur für Kommunikation, München Schweizerische Gesellschaft www.hello-muenchen.de für Marketing © 2009 Accelerom
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