Official Blog of GTM360 Marketing Solutions
Today’s Times of India has two op-eds on petrol pricing. The one by Swaminathan S Anklesaria Aiyer (@swaminomics) advises the government to hold taxes at their present levels and leave petrol prices as they are. The other by Chetan Bhagat (@chetan_bhagat) advocates exactly the opposite approach. In the past, I’d leaned towards the former point of view. That changed … Read more
Nine years after I wrote Changing Face of DIY Markets, it’s still not so easy to get carpenters, electricians and plumbers for doing small household repair and home improvement jobs in India. At the time, the matching of demand from consumers with supply of of handymen was quite inefficient, with most online portals offering only listing services. … Read more
Over the years I’ve bought a wide range of products and services from banks, insurers, etailers, colleges, publishers, brick-and-mortar stores, hardware and software companies, TELCOs, airlines and travel agencies. My experience as a customer ranges from delight (Ecommerce and Travel) through to exasperation (Higher Education, Media, and Retail) and indifference (BFSI, Technology and Telecom). Poor … Read more
Many people complain that cashiers decline Apple Pay even though their stores have advertised support for Apple’s payment service. I’ve come across the same experience with HDFC Bank’s PayZapp mobile wallet. The cashier at a restaurant in my neighborhood told me they hadn’t started accepting PayZapp although there was a “PayZapp Accepted” sticker on his … Read more
Targeted offers have become famous. That’s not to say they’ve become popular – brand managers report low conversion rates of offers made to offers redeemed. There are many reasons for this problem such as the ones I covered in Walking The Tightrope Between Driving Repeat Purchase And Rewarding Loyalty and How To Fulfill Targeted Offers To … Read more
Loyalty programs give reward points to consumers for making purchases and let consumers redeem their reward points for gifts. By their very nature, reward points look like an alternative currency and quack like an alternative currency. Blockchain lets them pass the Duck Test and become a alternative currency aka alt-coin. I’ve heard of platforms that help … Read more
On job sites like Fiverr and Upwork, you’ll find many job listings for writing fake reviews. Interestingly, on the same platforms, you’ll also find many job listings for removing fake reviews, like the following one: From personal experience and anecdotal evidence, many online reviews are fake. Regular readers of this blog know that I don’t … Read more
A banker quit his job and started a new company. He applied for a debit card for his company. Ram, as we’ll call the ex-banker, completed the required forms, submitted his company’s board resolution for the debit card and handed over copies of his company’s incorporation certificate, articles of association, and all the other documents … Read more
I recently read the following question on Quora: Is there any app that helps to store all your loyalty cards digitally? I am looking for an app which is India based or atleast caters to the Indian market. Someone once said that, on Quora, you answer the question that’s asked, the question that’s not asked, … Read more
I’m happy to announce that I’ve published a book! Entitled FROM DISLOYALTY TO OMNICHANNEL CUSTOMER ENGAGEMENT, my book is available in Kindle and EPUB formats. In this eBook, I trace the arc of loyalty programs run by brands during the last 5-7 years and predict the trajectory of their customer engagement management strategies over the remaining … Read more