For as long as there has been commerce, sellers have tried to predict what people, and their customers in particular, wanted to buy. That’s what made the early direct mailers of
the 19th century so revolutionary. Sales people had always kept track of individual customer preferences. But now here was the ability to track and identify customer preferences on a mass scale. Then came the database and CRM revolutions. Database marketing and predictive modeling have made it possible to make the right offer to the right customer.

This book is about the next revolution. Event-Driven Marketing (EDM) adds the important dimension of the right time. Marketers now have the ability to make that right offer to that right customer at the right time—at exactly the moment that customer develops a need for your product or service. The result is the same as each of the preceding revolutions: increased response and conversion rates and improved profitability of marketing investments.

Follow That Customer! is the first complete handbook of EDM. It covers everything from theory to process management to profitability calculations, database analyses, and legislation. In addition it has seven real world cases that bring EDM concepts to life. Follow That Customer! is a must-read for any manager, marketer, or entrepreneur who wants to be more relevant, productive, and successful.

Acknowledgments

Preface

Introduction

Chapter 1: A New Day Marketing

The Roots of Event-Driven Marketing
EDM and Direct Marketing: Important Distinctions
EDM Prospecting
Other EDM-related Concepts
Segmentation: Old and New
Taking the Event-Driven Approach
Case 1 Birthday Clubs

Chapter 2: Customer-Related Terminology and Marketing Myopia

Market Segmentation: From Old Economy to New?
Put Down That Scatter Gun
Viewing from the Customer’s Point of View
“Stuff” and Self-Image
Sales Funnel
Regulars, Buyers, and Tryers

Chapter 3: THE EDM QUADRANT

From Internal Planning to Customer-Oriented Supply
Event-Driven Marketing: Choosing the Right Moment
Key Roles in the Marketing Process
The EDM Quadrant
Time versus Predictability
EDM in Mobile Telephony
Events in Mobile Telephony

Chapter 4: Process Management and the Implementation of 
Event-Driven Marketing

The Customer Comes First
Marketing and IT Merge
The FBC Formula: Faster, Better, Cheaper
Keep IT Simple . . .
The Customer: In the Driver’s Seat
Campaign Management and the Event-Driven Marketing Cycle
EDM Execution
The Impact of EDM Execution
Case 2: Folksam’s Moving Birds
Case 3: Product-Phase Event-Driven Contact Strategies

Chapter 5: Loyalty Versus Retention

The Goal of Marketing
The Focus of Marketing
Loyal People Don’t Exist, So Neither Do Loyal Customers
Loyalty and Switching Costs
What Is Churn, and What Is Its Significance?
Loyalty Versus Retention
Don’t Give the Customer a Reason to Leave
Loyalty and Branding
Organizing a Customer Retention Strategy
Survival of the Fittest

Chapter 6: Customer Value and Profitability

The Elements of Customer Value: Acquisition, Development, and Retention
Five Methods for Calculating Profitability
Technical Terms
Method 1: Understanding Break-Even
Method 2: Understanding Profitability by Campaign
Method 3: Understanding Profitability of Multistep Campaigns
Method 4: Understanding Lifetime Value Discussion
Method 5: Understanding Payback Period
Case 4: EDM in Fast-Moving Consumer Goods and Baby Care
Case 5: Event-Driven Marketing for Premium Pet Food

Chapter 7: CRM, Databases, and Marketing Information

Data Warehouses
Logic, Matching, and Understanding
Harmonizing Supply and Demand
Information Versus Data
Useless Information
Database Marketing and Data Mining
Analyzing Data
Analysis: From Theory to Practice
Database Analysis Techniques
Formulating Analytical Objectives
Case 6: Developing an Event-Driven Marketing Program

Chapter 8: EDM and Legislation in the European Union

Introduction: Local Regulations
Universal Principles: Transparency and Confidence
European Directive Unification
EDM and Awareness
Legal Information Requirements under the Data Protection Directive
Absolute Right to Object
Transborder Flow of Personal Data within the European Union
Establishment of the Controller
Transfer of Personal Data to Countries Outside the European Union
Legal Information Requirements under the E-communications & Privacy Directive
Use of Electronic Messages for Commercial Communication
Channel Management: A Legal Necessity
Channel Management Matrix
Legal Information Requirements under the Distance Selling Directive
EDM-related Directive: the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive
Development: Event-Forbidden Marketing
Transborder Event-Driven Marketing: Good Taste and Decency
Conclusion
Forthcoming Event: Revisions and Discussions
The History of Legislation for Direct Marketing

Chapter 9: EDM and Legislation in the United States

Introduction
US and European Law Briefly Compared
Industry and Media-Specific Legislation
Consumer Credit Information
Information Notices by Financial Institutions
Protected Health Information
Media Channels
Telephone, Mobile, SMS, Fax
Email
Direct Mail
Enforcement and Conclusion

Appendix 1 Tips and Checklists

Appendix 2 ROI Case Studies

Appendix 3 Lists of Exhibits

Index

About the Authors

To me Event Driven Marketing (EDM) is the ultimate marketing machine. Target the right message on exactly the right moment at the one customer fitting that message. For sales, services, information or win-back . . . Hey, I love EDM!

A. J. Nyhuis
Program and Change Manager
ING Bank

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van Bel, Sander and Weber provide the next step in the evolution of direct marketing. Event-driven Marketing takes the critical elements of consumer’s behaviors and helps turn them into actionable programs. Wonderfully readable, yet concise and focused. Great information for direct marketers wanting to move to the next level.

Don E. Schultz
President
Agora
Emeritus, The Medill School, Northwestern University

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The authors have discovered the central flaw in most direct marketing: That it is based on past behavior. Event-driven marketing is about future behavior—the kind triggered by events. And we’re not just talking about birthdays. This compelling new book is filled with both B2C and B2B case histories. You’ll learn how well-timed event marketing can move customers into the sales funnel. You’ll learn how to leverage EDM through mobile devices. And you’ll find out about the changes you need to make to exploit this marketing phenomenon.

Ray Schultz
Former editor of DM News and Direct
President, TellAllmarketing

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EDM takes direct marketing beyond the world of traditional campaigning and into the more complex—and more effective—world of managing ongoing customer relationships, in a way that is both welcomed by customers and more profitable for marketers. I particularly appreciate the authors’ inclusion of several useful methods for measuring the ROI on multi-touch programs—a vexing challenge in much of B-to-B marketing. Also, their introduction of the notion of scoring and scorecards to predict the likelihood of an event, to identify target audiences appropriate for EDM treatment, will be a boon to marketers everywhere.

Ruth P. Stevens
President
eMarketing Strategy
Adjunct professor, Columbia University School of Business

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Follow That Customer! Is an excellent contribution to the literature on marketing and not to be missed! It puts the customer centre stage, which is exactly where he/she should be in any marketing strategy.”

Alastair Tempest
Director General
FEDMA

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CRM (customer-focused entrepreneurship) is about balancing the value of the customer and the value for the customer. Even Driven Marketing is about the right timing of customer contact and therefore bridges traditional marketing and CRM. This book is a unique travel guide to follow your customer’s journeys.

Wil Wurtz
Director
CRM Association, Netherlands

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Alan Weber is a master database strategist and this book adds another chapter to his rich teaching and writing history. This book demonstrates that event-driven marketing influenced by life-stage changes is at the center of the next generation of marketing.

Jack Schmid
President
J. Schmid & Assoc. Inc.