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Here Come the Mainsleazers! September 2004.

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    Required Reading: The Next Step in Opt-in Marketing
    Don't be bullied by CAN-SPAM and Do-Not-Call legislation, says Opt-In Marketing: Increase Sales Exponentially with Consensual Marketing (McGraw-Hill). According to authors Ernan Roman and Scott Hornstein, it's time for marketers to stop being pushed around and start taking action. Introducing the Consensual Marketing Opt-in Process (CMO) methodology, this book details the seven steps that can save marketers from missing opportunities to make that essential customer connection. CRM magazine spoke with coauthor Hornstein to find out more.
    Scott Hornstein: I really think that things in marketing are in a sorry state of affairs when consumers feel they need federal legislation to protect them from predatory marketers. According to Yankelovich research, 61 percent of consumers feel that the amount of advertising is out of control, and 65 percent feel bombarded by marketing messages. I think that this is a very clear message: We have to admit that our current marketing practices are not working. Marketers can go down the same road and learn to cope with these ever-tightening barriers, or we can change to an opt-in model. With the current process...the burden is on the consumer to say, "Stop. I've had enough." With the [opt-in] process, the burden is on the marketer to engage customers in meaningful, interactive dialogue that provides value over time and nourishes the relationship.
    Hornstein: We need to embrace these restrictions and figure out how we can do more with less. Customers are telling us they find marketing to be intrusive and irritating, so the best advice is to take the marketing paradigm and move to a higher road. Instead of flogging customers until they buy or opt out, let's reexamine how we value the customer, and embrace and invest in the relationship with our best customers. [Opt-in] stimulates customers to participate in a dialogue where they define their unique needs, requirements, and preferences. The results are remarkable--Hewlett Packard, for example, has seen marketing waste cut by 50 percent or more, and their program results have improved by three times or more.
    Hornstein: I think that we're upside down. Marketing funds are scarce, and we're on a short-term treadmill. Therefore, our investment is primarily in prospecting, which is yielding a low ROI. We've got to turn out more numbers until we make quota. I'm going to suggest we devote the bulk of market investment to our best customers and start to leverage customer satisfaction, retention, and lifetime value. An article in a recent issue of the Harvard Business Review said that a 5 percent increase in customer loyalty can boost profits by 25 to 85 percent--that's a remarkable number. If we create an opt-in consensual relationship, we are investing in a value-added ongoing stream of communications. IBM, for example, tested the opt-in concept and achieved, in its pilot, an 80 percent increase in sales and a 75 percent reduction in marketing waste.
         Destination CRM. September 1, 2004.
    [Ed. Note: I include this article here because, well, marketers don't always mean what they think they are saying. What does Hornstein mean by 'opt-in'. Is he truly going to support the idea that marketers ASK FIRST? I will believe it when I see, based on evidence to date.