Fulfillment Plan Great fulfillment is crucial for any marketing campaign. You’ve invested a lot of money in your prospects – if you don’t follow up and deliver what they expect, you risk losing the investment spent to get them interested. Your fulfillment processes directly affects your close rate, so make sure you outline your requirements. For example, if you’re running a campaign where prospects request a software demo and it doesn’t arrive for a week, your prospects may lose interest. Use this exercise to build your plan for fulfilling responses.
Summary EXERCISE SUMMARY
When to Address
Who Should Participate Where to Use the Results
When you’re planning a specific campaign. Marketing and sales leaders Marketing coordinators and administrative assistants Train your team member that will handle the fulfillment activities that you outline here.
Poor fulfillment can hurt your campaign ROI. The sales team expects good fulfillment so they can do their job effectively. What Builds Upon it 30 minutes to 2 hours, depending on your campaign Timeframe to Completion Potential Business Medium. Good fulfillment is expected in your ROI calculations. Impact Why it’s Important
Marketing Campaigns Fulfillment Plan
page 1 of 16
Deliverable
Next Steps
You’ll determine your fulfillment plan. It’s time to launch your campaign! Reference the exercises from your specific campaign subject during execution. When you’re done, use 537 to measure your actual results, and 534 – Improve Your Campaigns if you missed your targets.
Target Completion Date
PARTICIPANTS TASKS
PERSON RESPONSIBLE
DUE DATE
Notes
Marketing Campaigns Fulfillment Plan
page 2 of 16
Fulfillment Plan
What to Complete
1. DETERMINE HOW PROSPECTS WILL RESPOND TO YOUR OFFER 2. CREATE FULFILLMENT PLAN STEPS
Where it Fits in Marketing Campaigns Estimate Response Rate Project Sales Process Set Customer Goals Calculate Goal Metrics Determine Business Goals Select Campaign Media Identify Target Step in Buying Process Select Messages and Activities [Jump to Campaign Subject to Plan Details] Determine # of Impressions, Leads and Customers Create Revenue and Profit Projections Create Budget and ROI Analysis Outline Media Plan Metrics Determine How Prospects Will Respond to Your Offer Create Fulfillment Plan Steps Measure Campaign Results Create an Improvement Plan
1. DETERMINE HOW PROSPECTS WILL RESPOND TO YOUR OFFER Check off the ways your prospects respond to your offer and how you’ll fulfill it – the tips will help you develop your fulfillment plan in the next section.
Marketing Campaigns Fulfillment Plan
page 3 of 16
How does a respondent take advantage of your offer? Inbound phone call
Visits our website (a special page or the main site) Sends us an email Fills out and mails a reply card (BRC)
Other And how do you fulfill the offer? Process an order
Mail fulfillment
Email fulfillment
Other
Additional fulfillment processes you may need Transition account to salesperson
Transition account to marketing
Follow up with non-‐responders
Other
Refer to this fulfillment section Handle inbound phone calls Convert website visits
Respond to emails Handle BRCs Refer to this fulfillment section Process orders Send mail fulfillment Respond to emails Refer to this fulfillment section Transition to sales Transition to marketing Follow up with non-‐responders
2. CREATE FULFILLMENT PLAN STEPS
Now, jump to the section that covers the details for your chosen fulfillment method.
2.1. HANDLE INBOUND CALLS QUESTIONS
YOUR RESPONSES
What phone number will they call? Is the number unique for this campaign?
Y N -‐ you won’t be able to measure response based on incoming calls for the number. Consider using
Marketing Campaigns Fulfillment Plan
page 4 of 16
QUESTIONS
Do we have the ability to track the number of inbound calls on this number? How will we track the phone number in the prospect’s information? (If you don’t capture the caller’s information and store the incoming phone number in that record, you won’t be able to link that prospect to the source.) Do we have enough lines to handle the anticipated volume? [Telemarketing can help] How do we know who to give the calls to?
YOUR RESPONSES a unique toll-‐free number. N Y – explain how it works:
Y
N – explain how you will handle the volume:
All calls given to same person Need to be categorized and given to the correct person – explain: How will the calls physically be routed? Live operator will answer and route calls Automated system. Explain how the branching will work (keep it as simple as possible or risk losing valuable calls!): Do we need a script for all or part of the call? N Y -‐ explain: Do we need to conduct any training? N Y -‐ explain: What customer information do we need to capture in order to track the results of the campaign? Where is the customer information stored? (i.e. CRM system) What happens after the call? Check all that Mail fulfillment – later in this exercise apply. Ownership transitioned to salesperson for follow up (see Transition to salesperson later in this exercise) Account owned by marketing for follow up campaigns Plan details Marketing Campaigns Fulfillment Plan
page 5 of 16
NEXT STEPS
PERSON RESPONSIBLE
DUE DATE
2.2. CONVERT WEBSITE VISITS QUESTIONS
YOUR RESPONSES
Are you creating a special landing page for this particular offer
Y N – Your landing page should be very focused on converting visitors for this particular offer. If you send them to your home page or a generic landing page that doesn’t speak specifically to the offer, you’ll lose a higher percentage of visitors. Your landing page should sell. Y N -‐ you won’t be able to measure response based on URL traffic. Consider using a unique URL – for example, Offername.yournormalurl.com The landing page IS the success page It’s one click away It’s two or more clicks away: You’ll lose visitors with every click. Do everything you can to focus your message and convert them with as few clicks as possible. No
What’s the URL for your landing page? Is the URL unique for this campaign?
How many pages do prospects have to visit before getting to the “success” page (the page where they order, request information, take advantage of your offer)
Are the rest of your site links available on the landing page? Marketing Campaigns Fulfillment Plan
page 6 of 16
QUESTIONS
Is your site currently set up so that you can record the original URL the visitor entered through in that visitor’s record on the success page?
YOUR RESPONSES Yes, it’s our normal site – consider customizing those pages so that only very important links are available. Try to focus prospects on your offer without the normal distractions from your site – if they wander off course, you may lose them. Yes, we use cookies or another method to tie that data back to the original source We will use a unique URL for ALL of the pages the visitor sees through this campaign, so we’ll be able to track our conversion No, we don’t have tracking available – you won’t be able to measure your conversion rates and true ROI on the campaign
What happens after your “success” page on your site? Do you have to fulfill the request or an order? Make sure you have that process defined and review those tips as well. Plan details NEXT STEPS PERSON RESPONSIBLE DUE DATE
2.3. RESPOND TO EMAILS
QUESTIONS What’s the email address for responding to the
YOUR RESPONSES
Marketing Campaigns Fulfillment Plan
page 7 of 16
offer? Is it possible that people will use a different email (i.e. an individual salesperson) to respond to the offer? Who will respond to the emails? How quickly must you respond to emails? Most businesspeople expect an email to be returned within 30-‐60 minutes. How is the offer fulfilled? Explain.
Do you need any special programming to fulfill the offer? What happens after the email is fulfilled?
N
Y – explain how you’ll track those responses:*
Automated
Live person:
Ownership transitioned to salesperson (see Transition to salesperson) Account owned by marketing for follow up campaigns (see “ Transition to marketing”) Mail fulfillment (see “Mail fulfillment”) Other:
Will you need any other programming or technology to respond to emails in an efficient and timely manner? *As an alternative, you could create a special landing page where prospects fill out a SHORT form to take advantage of the offer. The form data is captured in a table as well as an email that is sent to the address you designate. In this scenario, you will learn exactly how many responses came in for the offer.
2.4. FULFILL BRC RESPONSES
QUESTIONS Who will respond to the BRC (business reply card)?
YOUR RESPONSES Ownership transitioned to salesperson (see “Transition to salesperson”) Account owned by marketing for follow up campaigns
Marketing Campaigns Fulfillment Plan
page 8 of 16
How will they respond?
Do you need to notify the mailroom or company administrative assistant of incoming BRCs and where to direct them?
Plan details NEXT STEPS
(see “ Transition to marketing”) Mail fulfillment (see “Mail fulfillment”) Other: Add response to a special mailing list Send out information/sales package Follow-‐up phone call Other: N Y – Explain how you will effectively communicate this process.
PERSON RESPONSIBLE
DUE DATE
2.5. PROCESS ORDERS QUESTIONS Who will be responsible for processing the order?
YOUR RESPONSES Ownership transitioned to salesperson (see “Transition to salesperson”) Other:
Marketing Campaigns Fulfillment Plan
page 9 of 16
Will they handle the entire process or just a portion of the process? If only a portion, where will the order be transitioned to? How will you insure the order is processed? Will you follow up the order request? If so, how?
E-‐mail confirming response/order Automated
Live person:
Follow-‐up phone call Mail fulfillment (see “Mail fulfillment”) Other: Plan details NEXT STEPS
PERSON RESPONSIBLE
DUE DATE
2.6. SEND MAILPIECES QUESTIONS What’s in the package we send? Are there any new items we’ll need for the package? Who is responsible for putting the package together?
YOUR RESPONSES
Marketing Campaigns Fulfillment Plan
page 10 of 16
What can we do to make the fulfillment process as efficient as possible? Plan details NEXT STEPS PERSON RESPONSIBLE
DUE DATE
2.7. TRANSITION TO SALESPERSON QUESTIONS How is the account transitioned to the salesperson?
YOUR RESPONSES
How is the transition recorded and reported in the system? How will you know what happens with the account afterward (you’ll need to know so that you can accurately report the results of your campaign)?* *Make sure you’re not asking salespeople to do cumbersome paperwork. Salespeople need to spend their time selling, and an hour a week of busywork is lost productivity that impacts your revenue numbers. Make it as easy as possible for them to report results and take ownership of as much of that process as possible. Plan details Marketing Campaigns Fulfillment Plan
page 11 of 16
NEXT STEPS
PERSON RESPONSIBLE
DUE DATE
2.8 TRANSITION TO MARKETING QUESTIONS YOUR RESPONSES How is the account transitioned to the marketing database? How is the transition recorded and reported in the system? How will you know what happens with the account afterward (you’ll need to know so that you can accurately report the results of your campaign)?* Plan details NEXT STEPS PERSON RESPONSIBLE
DUE DATE
Marketing Campaigns Fulfillment Plan
page 12 of 16
2.9. FOLLOW UP WITH NON-‐RESPONDERS QUESTIONS Do you want to learn why they didn’t respond or didn’t buy? Is this mailing part of a larger series or campaign, or is it a standalone mailing?
Are the recipients qualified enough to have your sales team follow up with calls?
What do you need to do to help the sales team follow up on these prospects?
Plan details NEXT STEPS
YOUR RESPONSES N Y – explain how you will capture this information (see tip 1): Standalone: It’s extremely difficult to achieve any success with a single touch. Repetition is critical in any marketing campaign. Keep touching your market on a regular basis. Ongoing/multifaceted campaign: Keep going and measure your response at the end of the campaign. No, there are probably a lot of unqualified leads. The recipients are fairly well targeted, but we can prioritize so that the sales team can follow up with the prospects who are most likely to buy Yes, the campaign strategy is to follow up with all respondents Check all that apply: Provide data in an easy-‐to-‐use format Prioritize accounts Provide training Provide messaging Provide materials Create simple reporting process Other:
PERSON RESPONSIBLE
DUE DATE
Marketing Campaigns Fulfillment Plan
page 13 of 16
Marketing Campaigns Fulfillment Plan
page 14 of 16
Fulfillment Plan
Report
1. DETERMINE HOW PROSPECTS WILL RESPOND TO YOUR OFFER 2. CREATE FULFILLMENT PLAN STEPS This report summarizes our results from completing Exercise 535 – Marketing Campaigns: Fulfillment Plan.
1. PROSPECTS WILL RESPOND TO OUR OFFER VIA Marketing campaign
Media type
Run dates
Fulfillment method
Marketing Campaigns Fulfillment Plan
page 15 of 16
2. OUR FULFILLMENT PLAN STEPS STEP NAME
PERSON RESPONSIBLE
NOTES
Marketing Campaigns Fulfillment Plan
page 16 of 16