Right And Wrong Ways Of Using Case Studies

All business development teams understand the importance of case studies in B2B technology sales. But, when it comes to producing and using them, we’ve come across two diametrically opposite approaches followed in many IT companies: Kool-Aid: Use case studies for everything Phobia: Shun case studies altogether  Case Study Kool-Aid Vendors in the first category launch into … Read more

Five Ways To Win Lost SaaS Customers Back

Many of us have signed up for free software trials and not upgraded to the paid version when the trial period ended. Some of us might have bought a subscription for the paid version, used it for a few months, and then bailed out. In all these cases, we become the SaaS vendor’s “lost customers”. … Read more

Difference Between Data Mining & Predictive Analytics

I’ve been asked several times about the difference between Data Mining and Predictive Analytics. Well, that’s not strictly true. I’ve been asked only once and that too in the following tweet from @IBMAnalytics visible to me among 15.7K of its followers: https://twitter.com/IBMAnalytics/status/459004965298528256 Replies ranged from the ubiquitous “depends” – will some people begin all their … Read more

How To Fulfill Targeted Offers To Hear More Ka-Chings!

All of us receive spammy offers from banks, consumer brands, ecommerce websites, retailers and many other businesses. If you’re like me, you probably delete these SMS / email messages without even opening them. Once in a while, we get a discount coupon on our birthday or wedding anniversary. They are more targeted but we still … Read more

Walking The Tightrope Between Driving Repeat Purchase And Rewarding Loyalty

I recently received an offer for INR 100 discount on my next trip on Meru Cabs, India’s leading cab dispatch company. To redeem this offer, I’d need to enter a certain code when I used the company’s mobile app to book my next ride. My first reaction to this offer was, “How the heck am … Read more

Mast Kalandar Shows How Not To Run A Loyalty Program

Mast Kalandar is a North Indian quick service restaurant chain that has branches in Bangalore, Pune and a few other Indian cities. I happened to visit one of its outlets recently. After placing my order at the cashier and making the payment, I received the receipt for my purchase. By chance, I noticed a mention … Read more

Frictionless Loyalty Programs – FAASO’s Case Study

The quick service restaurant chain FAASO’s recently launched MOBILE wrAPP, an ordering, payment cum loyalty app. Available on Android, iOS and Windows, the app lets users locate stores, browse the menu, place delivery or takeaway orders, and make online or cash on delivery payments. To incent repeat purchase, the company credits INR 400 (~US$ 6.67) … Read more

Does Cloud Increase Vendor Lockin Risk?

For all the marketingspeak from technology providers about open systems blah blah blah, seasoned CIOs know that every software purchase is accompanied by a certain level of risk of getting locked in to that particular vendor. The risk is caused by user comfort, proprietary programming language and opaque database structures, among other factors. Cue to … Read more

Marketable Items Let You Have Your Content And Eat It Too

In his blog post titled Wasted Words – Why Marketing Content Longer than 3 to 5 Items Does Not Work, Gartner Research Director Hank Barnes makes a strong case to technology vendors for simplifying their story and emphasizing only two or three things that matter most in their marketing collateral. He goes on to explain how … Read more

Frictionless Loyalty Programs – MakeUseOf Case Study

The leading British technology and Internet apps blog Make Use Of recently launched a loyalty-cum-rewards program where readers earn points for sharing its articles on social networks. In the past, I’ve come across rewards for filling forms, completing surveys and taking other actions but this is the first time I’m seeing a website rewarding social sharing … Read more