Endoh’s Dungeon

I thought it would have been the last that I see from Courts regarding this particular appreciation campaign. It must have been either yesterday or the day before that a new placard was sent to me. Strangely, I didn’t see it until this morning. Anyway, the title screamed that the offer has since been extended to 31st July.

I should have guessed…

I am a little puzzled by Courts marketing team, frankly speaking. Firstly, the initial marketing collateral was sent to me (and I assumed many others too) more than a month late. If that was lousy time-planning on their part, figure this. An extension notice that arrived in my mailbox two weeks after the GST is officially raised. I see nothing but just sheer lateness in everything. Is this a deliberate move?

All of us see all kinds of promotions getting extended here and there, I would have thought we have grown immune to it. Retailers are trying their best to present the generousity of their business, but hey… business is about profits, not charity. While a retailer may try hard enough to put up an impressive front, certain things will contradict their motives. What does a retailer expect a customer to feel or forsee to gain in promotions that are either overdue, or late?

Just to get straight to the point, this is what I will do.

Given this second mail, I cannot be sure if this is pure delay tactics or simply lacking in time management of their campaign. However, it does give the impression that everything was done last-minute and hastily rushed out to take advantage of the situation. I cannot be sure, this is only my guess because even if I were to ask myself realistically, I don’t see any major gains with a deliberate delayed campaign. Assuming the promotion is made known earlier, shoppers are given more time to shop and the discounts would have served their purpose. So what if I received this placard just a few days ago? Two weeks have passed since GST has been raised, the whole key in catching that marketing loophole is - extended from when? Do you consider a period of unknown time to have satisfy the “informing of customers”? Or an extension of a promotion is only profitable when customers get to know about it?

Something marketers should always take note, a promotion is not a promotion UNLESS your target audiences know about it. This is what we meant by delivering the message to our target audiences. Just think about the 4P in the marketing mix; Product, Price, Place, Promotion. Or think Advertising, the clarity of the intended message must be carefully targeted to impact your target customers. If your customers do not know about the promotion or even know about it late, half your marketing efforts have already gone down the drain. In fact, many marketers tend to confuse marketing and sales. Maybe I will find some time to talk about the differences between marketing and sales. They are essentially two different stages in a campaign.

Is it deliberate? Is it just case of bad timing? Or is this a spark of the minute idea that Courts’ marketers hastily put something up? I don’t know, and I don’t think that is important anymore. The timing of their first wave and second waves are just way out…

And Courts is talking about Customers APPRECIATION?

How many of you have received a Courts Guest Club card? Mysteriously, I received it today even though I haven’t been shopping in Courts for a very long time. Not in the last five years at least, so I do not know if they really keep information of customers for that long even without a single purchase.

I have this habit of scrutinizing going through the details and fine prints whenever I receive such marketing collaterals. There are always mistakes things that others commit and I can remind myself that I should not make these same mistakes. It is also something that I remind myself that I should always check, recheck & ensure whenever I assist clients in running marketing and branding activities.

Customer loyalty is a very good way of bringing back customers. It make customers feel appreciated and the likelihood of returning to shop at your premises are higher. Of course, this has to go hand-in-hand with acceptable standards of services and products. Everything works in a chain that brings about the effects of returning or referral customers. Mistakes are always there, but there are mistakes that should never have been overlooked. These mistakes can kill your entire campaign. Here’s why… with the entire package in front of me now.

The letter was dated 31st May 2007. The date today is 14th July 2007. I can’t seem to find a logical explanation to the delay of more than a month in sending out a letter. The last that I remembered, sending a letter locally requires at most 2 days - depending on the time you slot your envelope into the mailbox. A more acceptable delay to me personally, would be between one week to two weeks maximum. This is extremely critical because Courts is running this campaign within a specific time-frame! Timing is the factor… but still how does this kill a reasonable part of the campaign?

For those who received the same, there are three sets of promotion listed within. Here are the three promo;

1. Valid from 1st to 30th June 2007, $10 Welcome Voucher on the page where the Guest Card is affixed.

2. Valid from 13th to 30th June 2007, Double Your GST Supplement promotion which urges customers to grab the savings when they buy on Courts Easy Access Credit.

3. Valid from 16th to 29th June 2007, three separate coupons with either percentile discounts or free gift when they have a minimum purchase in three separate departments.

Before anything else, assuming I am a customer whom have been considering of buying something before GST is raised, I would have gone sighzzzzzzz! Why!? By the time I received this letter from them, all the coupons or vouchers have since expired. How can this happen? Well, I see it as a severe mistake on the part of whoever came up with this loyalty programme. To embark on such mass mailing gimmick, you have to make sure all these arrive on time to the affected customers. In the position of a customer, how do you think I will feel? Let’s just say… ALREADY OVER! SEND TO ME WASTE MY TIME FOR WHAT??? A delay which stretches more than a month for such a simple thing, it is simply not acceptable.

A tragic delay also place a black mark over their royalty programme. When a company sets out to send expired coupons, it reflects very badly on the company. Are they truly appreciative and sincere about their customers? What the receiver is left with, is to utilize the Guest Card. If the Guest Card is their primary motive, it is still better to just send out these cards without further promotions - worse of all, expired promotions. Is this an appreciative approach? Or is this just another marketing gimmick?

I said once before, in any typical appreciation programme, clients or customers don’t really care how much you spend on them. The point is, the efforts have been made and they feel appreciated as valued customers. For a period of 3 months, I sent out Coffeebean vouchers to clients irregardless of their project’s nett earnings. In return, I received numerous calls from clients with “Thanks so much, I used it for a meeting and redeemed coffee for my staffs” or “Thanks, now I can bring my wife for coffee.” One marketing girl even called up to say her subordinates don’t really drink coffee, which I cheekily replied she can always date me out for coffee with that. We eventually had our coffee… one month later. *blush* The wonders of simple customer appreciation…

Courts has made a very critical mistake in time management and distribution of this particular campaign. However, customers will feel the comfort that they will still be able to utilize the Guest Card, but without the rest of the vouchers. This is a very simple (all the more why it is silly) mistake for any marketer to commit.

Another lesson learnt, I’m not letting this happen in my work.