April 9, 2011

Your Customer's Birthday - The Perfect Time For Marketing

What happens once a year and it has something to do with you personally. That's right, your birthday. We all know that birthdays are fun, we are the center of attention and above all we get presents.

It was my birthday this week and of course that I've received a lot of messages. Among the senders there were also these messages from the top 3 recruiting sites in Romania: eJobs.ro, MyJob.ro and Bestjobs.ro . Now, I don't know how much do you know about these 3 companies but a study made 2 years ago showed that eJobs had back then a market share of 46 %, BestJobs 25 % and MyJob 10 %, the rest being other recruiting sites.

Since they all sent me email messages wishing me all the best, I thought to share them with you as well. You'll see why being the number 1 in the business isn't always something good. I'd like to start in the same order as I mentioned them since it reflects perfectly the podium (backwards).


Number 3:



This is a print screen of the birthday message eJobs.ro sent.

The good part: - they remembered my birthday

The bad part(s):
  1. Well, for a company that claims to be the No. 1 recruiting website in Romania this is a message that should never be sent. It's way to short and above all doesn't make me feel special in any way.
I mean it's my birthday, if you really want me to appreciate you sending a message don't be lazy, get creative, give me a reason to recommend your service to others.

In any language you may translate this you'll find out that it says something like this: "Good morning Christian, We know it's your birthday so we would like to wish you Happy Birthday, lots of health and happiness and......good luck in your career !" If I had a talking dog, I believe he would do a better job than this.

2. The title is "Happy Birthday" which is way to general. This is something that need to improve if they want to become No. 1. I repeat it's a MUST to change that title and you'll soon see why.

3. I've received this message in my inbox twice. Big no no ! If there was a third message like that I would start thinking that they might want to spam me.


Number 2:
This came from BestJobs.ro. I cannot show you in this picture, but the title of the message was "Azi e ziua in care ne faci cinste, nu? Pai... La Multi Ani :)".

This would be translated in something like this: "Today is the day you buy us drinks, right ? In that case...Happy Birthday :)"

It may not seem much, but when I opened my email this was one of the first messages I saw and read.

The good part(s):

1. The message is a lot more personal and it has humor in it. Wish no. 1: "Get a raise ! Go into your bosses office, slam the door, smash your fist into his desk and ask for a raise. Or learn how to do it in a more elegant way here (link to their website)"

Wish no. 2: "May you be praised by your colleagues ! Buy them drinks today, they'll love you all. After that ask them to write you a recommendation. They couldn't refuse you now"

Wish no. 3: "May you have a great day, every day all year round! You always told yourself you need to make a change in your life, right ? Take a look at our latest job offers. One of them may be yours, as a present from us !"

2. The way the message was created it's both original and personalized.

The bad part(s): - I didn't see one, of course there is always room for improvement.


Number 1:
Now my favorite one ! The message for Myjob.ro

The good part(s):

1. The title: "La multi ani, Cristian: ti-am pregatit un cadou!". That's right, I bet you can translate it yourselves "Happy Birthday Christian: we got you a present!" . Really? A present ...for me? Now this should be interesting.

2. The message format. That virtual gift bow wrapped around my message - if that's not original I don't know what is !

3. Of course they have more or less the same message as the previous one I showed you, but here starts the cool part. After that they have a text that says something like this: "I order for you to do the first steps into fulfilling your wishes, we made you a present: Especially for you (link to their ebook)". It was an ebook guide about tips to get hired faster.

I wasn't looking for a new job and most of the information in the ebook was something I already used, but reading that last sentence triggered in my mind this: "Wow, a free ebook...just for me, I better get it fast and see what's in it !". It wasn't about the information, it was about the fact that I get stuff for free on my birthday.

After seeing this 3 ways of reaching out to me (their customer) I guess you can tell what service I will recommend to others from now on and also what to avoid. Customers want attention, they want to receive value for their spent time or money using a service.

The point:

This live example can be used in any industry out there when it comes to reach out to your customers. Although eJobs may be the no. 1 by the market share they hold, they are losing big in the battle with BestJobs and MyJob, because they don't pay attention to details that make the difference for every individual.

Using customer's birthdays as a good moment to reach out and build up loyalty towards your brand/company could make the difference between winning and losing. At this moment in time I believe that companies, regardless of their size, should realize that every customer counts and focus their efforts. If you do a job, at least do it right !

What do you think about all of these?

author

About The Author:

My name is Cristian Anechitei but you’ll inevitably just call me Chris.

I work as a Senior Marketing Specialist for a B2B marketing consultancy company called NNC Services where I get to do what I like the most: help businesses grow, meet new people that are working on some interesting new projects and learn lots of stuff every day. I enjoy playing video games, watching good movies and creating new business ideas. I like to think of myself as being a problem solver, solution finder and overall positive attitude individual.

If you have an idea that you'd like to share or just want to say 'hello', feel free to connect with me via LinkedIn, Facebook or Twitter.

Chris

2 comments:

  1. Very good article, hope you don't mind that I'm gonna use its principle for my business...

    ReplyDelete
  2. Of course not, on the contrary. Let us know how it worked out.

    ReplyDelete

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