Using Hallmark’s Retail Customized Marketing (RCM) solution, independent and corporate owned Hallmark Gold Crown stores are able to better target their individual customers and thereby boost returns on marketing programs. Since its inception, RCM has generated sales lift ranging from 25% to 250%, depending on the promotional vehicle, such as greeting cards, postcards, emails or “coupons” printed directly on the sales receipt.
Via its web portal, RCM provides more than 2,600 Hallmark Gold Crown store locations access to Hallmark’s Teradata database of their store’s Crown Rewards loyalty program consumer data. RCM adds a local marketing component to Hallmark’s usage of the Aprimo Relationship Manager (ARM) software. With RCM, store owners can use complex targeting criteria to build custom, Hallmark-branded content with timely engagement; postcards arrive within 7 days of ordering and emails arrive in less than 2 days.
Although RCM is an optional tool for the store owners, in 2011 98% of all Hallmark Gold Crown store owners used RCM in some way, even for one bag stuffer or coupon, noted Carlos Corredor, Retailer Customized Marketing Manager for Hallmark.
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Additionally, in 2011 the RCM program generated 45 million consumer contacts through postcards, emails, greeting cards and offers on receipts, Corredor noted, a 14% increase over 2010. “With that, we are able to give the retailers a lot of rich insights,” he told Retail TouchPoints.
Customer Service Department Addresses Owners’ Questions
To help store owners manage the RCM program more effectively, Hallmark implemented a Customer Service Department, which has proven to be a vital component to the program’s success, to the initial surprise of Corredor. “When I requested the call center, I did not believe it would have the influence and good will it has today,” he said.
Customer Service Department representatives help store owners with a variety of questions and concerns, explained Corredor, from “I can’t find this image.” to “What strategy should I use to engage my consumers for a certain holiday?”
The Customer Service Department model has been so successful Hallmark receives feedback from retailers. Corredor added that recently he received an email from a store owner that read: “I just wanted to take a minute to drop you a line regarding the RCM staff. You know, everyone is so quick to tell us how poorly people perform. It’s rare that we ever hear how good an employee or worker is. It has been such a pleasure to deal with these folks and they have consistently made my job (and our staff’s job) so much easier.”
Integration With ARM
The combination of Aprimo Relationship Manager and RCM is enabling Hallmark to reach its goal of acquiring a 360-degree view of customers, while providing results reporting and analysis. “By feeding the RCM consumer contacts, along with all other 1-to-1 contacts (mail, email, phone) into our Market Media Mix analysis, Hallmark is able to measure the revenue and ROI generated by these retail-funded consumer touch points,” according to DeAnna Blair, Marketing Project Leader for Hallmark.
The data from RCM is facilitating a more effective view of customer loyalty. Store owners can now assess shoppers by a number of attributes, including dollars spent, card and ornament units purchased, number of transactions and average spend per transaction. Additionally, owners can target new members of the Crown Rewards loyalty program, as well as members whose favorite store may have recently closed.
