Live From DM Days 2009: A Little More Conversation

At the risk of alienating legions of fans, as far as marketers are concerned Elvis Presley had it wrong. A little more conversation – before, during and after the order process – is yielding benefits for a variety of brands.

“Direct response is becoming more of a conversation,” said Ben Quigley, VP of marketing at Songbird Hearing Inc. This is doubly true for his company, which offers mid-price range hearing aids. His competitive market is dominated by “pretty crappy” products which sell for $19.99 and top-line hearing aids designed by audiologists which can cost upward of $3000 per ear.

“Our products are digital, high-quality – but there’s a lot of skepticism,” he said. “How can something for $80 be any good?” Unaddressed, a concern like that can be a barrier to sales.

There’s also the matter of how leads are generated. A television spot can bring folks to the company’s Web site, but most of these prospects will have additional questions. “And it’s not done there,” Quigley added. “They may buy, they may not. We have ‘chase’ programs where we are chasing after them through brochures and e-mails. During this tough economy, people don’t want to spend money until they are sure what they are buying has tremendous value. [Songbird anticipates] further conversation with customers and prospects even before they become customers.”

Quigley didn’t mention the length of the sales cycle, and therefore the anticipated length of dialog, but it probably can’t hold a candle to the five- to seven-year period anticipated by hair replacement firm Bosley.

“Maybe [prospects’] hair hasn’t receded enough,” with the first contact, hypothesized George Fettig, the company’s VP of marketing. Or maybe a procedure with an $8,000 price tag – on average – requires a bit more handholding at the beginning. A qualified prospect might get a phone call from a counselor, with a soft, emotion-based message regarding how the procedure will change the prospect’s life.

“We capitalize on the compassion, knowledge and trust Dr. Bosley portrayed, as much as we do research and satisfaction,” Fettig said.

Every contact Bosley has with a prospect, as well as its customers, is evaluated based on satisfaction surveys. Did the doctor perform an “artistic” hair restoration? Were the counselors and frontline salespeople knowledgeable, friendly and helpful? Which channels were most effective at generating the 30,000 phone calls Bosley receives each month (a calculation the company makes by employing more than 800 individual toll-free numbers, which it rotates among its efforts).

In some cases, companies realize the value of engagement even when it’s not measurable. “We have an internal debate regarding where social media should live,” said Carey Grange, executive VP of direct to consumer operations for health and beauty firm Murad. “It’s important that it be totally integrated. But it’s not a public relations tool. [If anything], it’s a natural component to search marketing.

“We use Google alerts, and from there we have our customer care team openly post replies – ‘I’m so-and-so from Murad,’” Grange continued. “We’re going to invest in staffing out that department more.”

Grange admits that her firm’s efforts to be wherever its anti-aging, acne or other products are being discussed presents a challenge. “We haven’t perfected this yet – it’s kind of a moving target,” she said.

There’s even room for dialog with a faltering customer. “If customers are calling you to cancel, talk to them,” said Karen Burns, senior VP of marketing at Allstate Roadside Services. “Understand the root cause. We have a strong save program. It’s about discounting, but it’s also about downgrading [economically strapped] customers to a lower product level. It’s all about talking and listening to the customer.”

Like Bosley, Allstate has placed a great deal of stock in its satisfaction metrics, and by imposing quality control over its customer communications has boosted its likelihood to renew and likelihood to refer rates, Burns said.

The four marketers were part of a panel on engaging customers beyond the initial sale. The discussion was held earlier this week at The DM Days New York Conference and Expo.