During the month of May, 2008 Survey Advantage conducted a pilot with four Sir Speedy franchise owners as part of a corporate pilot program with franchisor Franchise Services. After this successful pilot, Survey Advantage’s three print buyer feedback and benchmark programs have been adopted by Franchise Services and will be rolled out at the upcoming national convention to be held in Fort Lauderdale, Florida July 10th and 11th, 2008. Programs will be demonstrated during the exposition.

By Mike Casey
Quick question:  How many of you are continuously, deliberately mass e-mailing to your customers?  Many printers feel that either e-blasts are an annoyance to customers or it cuts the grain with what they do best, printing on paper.  Well, a recent survey showed that 58% of print buyers prefer e-blasts from their print suppliers “IF” they are informative.  If you have a seasonal plant vacation or other planned event coming up before the holidays, have just released a new capability, or have an educational message of any kind to help you serve customers better, why not send it?    You must have seen some value in this e-blast because you are reading it!  Why?  Because of the content!   In another study a printer asked their customers directly if they wanted to continue to get the e-blasts.  Over 85% said yes and the funny thing is that the print buyers who said no did not opt out.   In many cases they shared what they would like to see in future e-communications.  Keep content relevant, know your customer’s interests, and e-blast at their desired frequency.

Keep an open mind when thinking about how to reduce costs of marketing and also when thinking of how your customers want to be treated!