SPAD and Datamining

I am very glad to introduce you to a new exciting forum : SPAD and Datamining on LinkedIn.

This forum is about latest datamining techniques and applications.

Datamining has really cool business applications you may be interested in.

If you have questions regarding this topic or if you are just curious and impatient to know more, don't hesitate; join us in this forum now.

Here is the URL : SPAD and Datamining

Waiting to be in touch with you shortly on this forum.

Kind Regards
Didier

E-mailing: should an Email marketer choose a software or a full service agency?

Don't hesitate to read the last article of my Email marketing dedicated blog:

E-mailing: should an Email marketer choose a software or a full service agency (or ESP)? 

Didier Gaultier: Why this blog

"Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower", Steve Jobs

For the introduction, my name is Didier Gaultier. Back in 2005,  I brought a bit of innovation in the CRM land by introducing the "Quantitative Factor Customer Record Methodology" (QFCRM) during the completion of my international MBA at the IFAM Business School. The concept consisted in using advanced statistics to help marketers generate a higher business intelligence by better quantifying their CRM data. Right after obtaining my MBA degree, I joined Double Click Email Solutions as the sales and account management director. A year later, the company was acquired and merged with Epsilon / Alliance Data Consortium, which brought me to where I am today, the Country Director of Epsilon International France.

I didn't just pop up in the highest levels of management without previous experience. Before enrolling in a MBA, I handled various positions as a sales engineer or sales manager in top-notch  CRM-focused companies: Oracle, Harte-Hanks, ATOS Origin... I commercialized database infrastructures, call center services, direct marketing solutions, throughout the world and to a variety of Fortune 500 companies. During the 90s, with the Internet turning mainstream, my interests as a salesman shifted to a dazzling new tool, the email inbox. Emails can be blasted in bulk, instantly, and targeting one specific person. The email brought new horizons to the CRM industry, which motivated my choice to enroll in a MBA where I could scholarly apply my CRM expertise to this new communication tool.

As the Country Director of Epsilon International France, my duties include evangelizing Epsilon to CRM marketers as the most comprehensive solution when it comes to understanding customers, building a forecast system, crafting a reliable strategic planning, and driving successful integrated marketing campaigns. A common misconception is that email marketing is a simple media to use. Going for the cheap ramp off the email marketing highway can actually cost a lot to any marketer that has not thought his emailing strategy the whole way through. I am delighted to work at Epsilon because I play the advocate of a product that truly adds priceless value to the work of thousands of marketers.

Epsilon operates worldwide. Thus, cultural psychology is intrinsically connected to our approach of email marketing. Did you know that an email subject line announcing a product with your name on it will get a profitable amount of clicks only in Asia? Epsilon's world-class engines shed a light on thousands of cultural facts like this one. Every year, Epsilon blasts 40 billion opt-in emails worldwide, so you can imagine the mathematical depth Epsilon's data-miners get into. This massive amount of data is processed and used to develop a deeper personal relation with the rich diversity of Epsilon's address book, and I find it fascinating.

Why this blog? Email marketing and database infrastructures constantly evolve, and innovation is the key factor that feeds growth. A while ago, I wrote a piece on innovation: "The freedom for thinking and creating are the drivers of innovation, and innovation usually happens when people expect it the least". I believe that a blog is a great tool to freely express thoughts, opinions, theories, or whatever it is that runs through one's mind. By sharing my thoughts publicly, I wish to sensitize marketers to the problematics around advanced CRM infrastructures. Beyond a pure knowledge-sharing process, I hope that our discussions will push us into exploring new ways to approach CRM at large. Eventually, when we expect it the least, innovative ideas might spark out of the content generated on this blog.

Thank you for visiting, and don't forget to grab the RSS feed to receive alerts when new content is posted on the blog.

Best,

Didier Gaultier

Interview de Didier Gaultier sur le salone-Commerce Paris 2009

Interview de Didier Gaultier, Directeur Général France Epsilon International

E-mailing : faut-il choisir un logiciel ou une agence full service ?

Voici un article intéressant du journal du Net: 


E-mailing : faut-il choisir un logiciel ou une agence full service ?

Soirée événement client Epsilon International

Hier s'est déroulé à paris la première soirée client Epsilon France. Croisière sur la seine à bord du Clipper Paris (yacht réaménagé) musique et dîner dans une ambiance décontractée et amicale. Un grand succès pour cet événement premier du genre pour Epsilon en France.

Des photos seront disponibles sur notre site d'ici quelques jours. (lien ici)

Interview TV Pro

vous trouverez ci-joint le Player de TV Pro

Epsilon International France a relooké son site Web.

Epsilon International France a relooké son site Web.

vous pouvez vous connecter sur notre nouveau site ici

Nous serons aussi présent sur le premier Devcom Paris demain 19 novembre.

Venez nous voir nombreux

Didier Gaultier

Directeur Général France

Epsilon International France

Interview de Didier Gaultier sur la Convention E-commerce 2009

Interview de Didier Gaultier sur la Convention E-commerce 2009

Comment réussir une campagne e-mailing ?

Comment réussir une campagne e-mail ?

Réussissez votre campagne d'e-mailing à l'international

Réussissez votre campagne d'e-mailing à l'international

Interview vidéo de Didier Gaultier sur la Convention eCommerce 2009 Paris

Interview Video de Didier Gaultier

l'Email génère aussi des ventes en boutique

Executive Summary de l'interview sur l'emailing

L'e-mailing en B2B, fondements et points de vigilance

Notre interview s'est penchée plus particulièrement sur l'apport de trafic par l'e-mailing sur les sites Web dans le domaine de l'entreprise. Si tous les moyens sont bons pour amener du trafic sur un site Web, certains sont cependant « plus efficaces que d'autres » selon Didier Gaultier.

Tout d'abord, on citera le référencement naturel et le référencement payant (SEO et SEM en Anglais) qui représentent à peu près 50 % du vecteur d'apport de trafic sur un site selon Didier Gaultier. En deuxième vient naturellement l'e-mailing, qui est tout aussi important que le référencement s'il est bien utilisé précise le patron d'Epsilon. L'e-mailing est un médium qui s'applique à tous les types d'entreprises, les grandes comme les PME, même si ces dernières en sont moins familières. Toutefois, comme on expliquera Didier un peu plus tard dans l'interview, l'e-mailing est un mode de communication faussement simple, dont il s'agit de comprendre les tenants et aboutissants avant de se lancer à l'aveuglette.

Tout d'abord, il y a deux types d'e-mailing

1. L'e-mailing de fidélisation, pour lequel on va travailler sur une base d'e-mails existants (des clients ou des inscrits volontaires à votre lettre d'information par exemple);
2. L'e-mailing d'acquisition, où on va tenter de collecter des adresses via d'autres médias.

Toute entreprise, précise Didier Gaultier, se doit d'utiliser l'e-mail. Et plus la base est important, plus c'est facile de lancer un bon programme d'e-mailing, de valoriser sa base de données et de décupler son efficacité.

Mais lorsque la base n'existe pas, « le coût d'un programme d'acquisition doit être étudié avec beaucoup de soin » ajoute le patron d'Epsilon en France, car « un programme d'acquisition d'e-mails efficaces peut coûter très cher ».

Mais quelles sont les modes de fonctionnement de l'e-mail ?

Principalement, on distingue deux :
1. Celui qu'on appelle Opt-in : c'est-à-dire qu'une personne s'est abonnée volontairement. Elle vous autorise à ce que vous lui envoyiez d'information (ce que Seth Godin appelle le permission marketing);
2. Et l'Opt-out : c'est quand on envoie le message sans consentement initial mais avec la possibilité pour le récipiendaire de se désinscrire dès que possible s'il le désire. (Rappelons que l'omission du lien de désinscription est une pratique illégale).

Mais il existe une spécificité française : légalement, en B2C on fonctionne obligatoirement en opt-in, alors qu'en B2B l'opt-out est toléré par la loi.

C'est donc bien la loi qui veut ça, mais Epsilon recommande néanmoins l'Opt-in systématiquement, même en B2B, parce que l'une des raisons pour lesquelles l'e-mail dans le grand public marche mieux que dans l'entreprise c'est justement parce que le permission marketing y est utilisée. Les résultats obtenus lorsque l'utilisateur est demandeur d'informations sont nettement supérieurs (NDLR : les taux de clic passeront aisément de 1 à 10,voire 1 à 100).
Quelle est la valorisation de chaque adresse e-mail ?

Chaque adresse e-mail selon Didier Gaultier coûte en moyenne 35 €. Il s'agit d'une statistique, d'un chiffre moyen. Une adresse e-mail bien utilisée durant en effet quatre à six ans, elle peut générer beaucoup de chiffre d'affaire. Les paniers moyens en e-mails n'ont en outre pas cessé de croître depuis 2005. Ceci implique une augmentation du manque à gagner en cas de perte de chacune de ces adresses e-mail.

Selon Didier Gaultier il ne faut donc pas seulement compter que le coût d'acquisition de l'adresse, mais bien aussi ce qu'elle va vous rapporter en moyenne. Ces 35 € de chiffre d'affaire peuvent aller beaucoup plus loin selon certains secteurs. Chaque fois qu'on perd donc une adresse e-mail, on perd « en moyenne 35 € de capital intangible ».

Et Didier Gaultier de conclure, « l'e-mail est un média faussement simple, et où le bon marché peut coûter très très cher ! »

Interview vidéo de Didier Gaultier sur l'emailing

Interview Didier Gaultier

Interview Didier Gaultier sur le Forum eMarketing 2009 par TiviPro.

Lien vers la Vidéo

Email Beats Search, Display Advertising

Email Beats Search, Display Advertising.

Email ROI will hit $45.65 for every dollar spent in 2008, more than twice the ROI of other mediums including search and display, said Datran Media, citing data from the Direct Marketing Association."

Have a look here: http://www.marketingcharts.com/television/online-marketers-email-beats-search-display-advertising-3149/

Interview with Bruno Florence (In French)

Interview D Gaultier d'Epsilon International.

D Gaultier est directeur France de la société Epsilon International qui est un des leader de l'email marketing dans le monde. Epsilon la particularité d'être présent à travers le monde entier avec de nombreux représentations nationales. En France, Epsilon annonce plus de 50 clients et gère principalement des campagnes de fidélisation et souvent dans le monde de la VPC plutôt BtoC. Ses clients en France sont notamment Quelle, Le groupe Red Cats (hormis La Redoute), Yves Rocher, Photoways, Dell, Spector (Extrafilm), Vnu ...

Epsilon a racheté il y a deux ans, l'activité emailing de DoubleClick (avec le produit Dartmail) et s'est depuis considérablement développé, pour rentrer dans le top 5 des prestataires ASP Français. Récemment l'étude semestrielle de Forrester (The Forrester Wave™: Email Marketing Service Providers, Q4 2007), a classé Epsilon dans les 4 plus grands acteurs de l'emailing au côté de Responsys (le leader), E-dialog et Yesmail (ces 3 derniers sont commercialement absents de la France). Voir le communiqué de presse d'Epsilon en France à ce sujet.

En ce début d'année, j'ai pu interviewer D Gaultier et je vous livre le résultat de cet entretien fort intéressant

Quels sont les faits marquants pour cette année 2007 pour le marché de l'E-mailing en France ?

"C'est le démarrage de l'Email certifié en France avec Goodmail et SenderScore certified de ReturnPath.

L'étude comportementale SNCD sur le comportement des Internautes face à l'Email (appelé EMA)."

et pour votre societé ?

"C'est la croissance d'Epsilon en France de l'ordre d'un facteur 2.5 sur 2007 sur les grands indicateurs, y compris volume d'Email Opt-in broadcasté par Epsilon International en France.
La croissance très forte des services professionnels d'Epsilon autour de l'Email en 2007 est ce qui a fait la différence au delà de l’accroissement du volume."

En 2008, quelles seront les grandes orientations de votre activité ?(technique, prix , service, innovation ...)

"C'est le démarrage des services de Marketing Prédictif liés à l'Email en France, que nous appelons services stratégiques,
L'augmentation prévue très importante des Services de professionnels liés à l'Email (développement d’ETLs, synchronisation des bases de données, mises en place d’Email Datamarts)."

Quelles seront les tendances le l'email marketing en 2008 en France ?

"Professionnalisation et prépondérance croissante des services à forte valeur ajoutée liés à l'Email par rapport au déploiement en self service seul.
Du fait c'est la disparition du métier de routage pur, et l'apparition de ce que l'on nommera « fournisseurs de services Email (en anglais ESP, Email Service Provider). C’est d’ailleurs la tendance que nous observons au niveau mondial."

En France le coût de routage est très bas, un des plus bas d'Europe. Pourquoi ? Qu'en pensez vous ? Une évolution prévue en 2008 ?

"Ceci est du au fait que l'E-mail a été perçu initialement en France comme une commodité technologique sans valeur ajoutée et non un canal marketing à part entière.
C’est un canal qui n'a pris ses lettres de noblesse en marketing que depuis quelques années et que le marketing s’approprie peu à peu.
Les prix des déploiements purs vont probablement se stabiliser, et ce qui va compter de plus en plus sont les services à forte valeur ajoutée qui vont être délivrés autour de l’Email, ainsi que la part croissante du revenu généré par ces services par rapport au routage."

La croissance du CA des acteurs de services et outils d'E-mailing est très forte depuis 2 ans. Pensez vous que cela va continuer ? Pourquoi ?

"L’Email Marketing a besoin pour croitre de bases de données et la croissance de ce secteur est lié à la croissance de la qualité et du volume des bases. Il n’y a aucune raison pour que la croissance en 2008 soit plus faible qu’en 2007, sachant que ce processus de croissance des bases (essentiellement en fidélisation) est un processus long et progressif qui en est seulement à ses débuts pour certains annonceurs. D’autres annonceurs vont au contraire s’orienter de plus en plus vers du marketing prédictif et se donner comme objectif la croissance de la profondeur d’information ainsi que la connaissance de leurs bases."

L'emailing va-t-il garder son efficacité en terme de coût au contact ?

"L’Email Marketing est un canal Marketing à part entière et par conséquent nécessite comme tout canal de communication un investissement initial non négligeable. Au delà de cet investissement, L’Email Marketing restera le canal à plus fort retour sur investissement en 2008. Maintenant il ne faut pas confondre retour sur investissement et bas prix, construire un base, mettre en place un plan de communication efficace, réaliser des créations qui vont marcher, tout cela est un métier qui ne s’improvise pas. Je dirai pour conclure que l’Email bon marché peut couter très cher"

Merci Didier.L'interview de D Gaultier sur TiViPro et son profil sur Linkedin

Lien Original de l'interview: http://pignonsurmail.typepad.fr/pignonsurmail/2008/01/interviewd-d-ga.html

Email Marketing Links

Here is some interesting links on E-mail Marketing:

Florence Consultant URL: http://www.florenceconsultant.com/

Epsilon International URl : http://www.epsilon.com/international/

Email Marketing Works

Email Marketing Works

read more | digg story

Click Through and delivrability

Click Through and delivrability

read more | digg story

The Story

The Story of QF-CRM. How it has been discovered.

Companies Executives always try to make the best possible strategic decisions for maximizing their results. Many factors transform this goal in a really challenging exercise, and when it is related to sales and growth strategy, we touch at the most sensitive point. In our marketing background, we had the opportunity to wonder about questions like:

• What are the best markets to target now?
• How much should I invest and when?
• What will be the return on investment?
• Which prospects should I address first to optimize the results?

These simple questions are very often very difficult to answer even for the best skilled executive. Our customer’s VP Europe was faced to this situation. We wondered about the fact that if we ware able to use past records of our customer, and some advance statistics and strategy tools, we should be able to help him efficiently.

Our past experience with integrated marketing and scoring methods where largely unsatisfactory in term of targeting, but we were thinking more about a quantitative based approach rather than a pure strategic and traditional portfolio analysis approach.

We then embarked into this adventure of acting as a strategic advisor for our customer.

Of course, our first approach consisted to use the traditional strategic tools that we generally use, i.e. Portfolio analysis, Micro and Macro environment analysis, etc ….

Using this approach was a good start, but the results where not as accurate as we wanted. Furthermore, we discovered that a traditional portfolio analysis based on very few dimensions and variables was somehow a too simplified approach.

We then decided to use some advanced statistics techniques to go further. We used the same mind frame than a portfolio analysis, but with much more dimensions taken into account, much more variables than growth, market penetration and performance. It is worthy of note that some of the variables used where metric, and some where non metric. We end up with about 20 variables compiled from a very broad scope of data:

• Past CRM records
• Market records
• Financial records

During the process of doing it, we made a breakthrough discovery that led to discover a methodology (that we will call the QF-CRM methodology for Quantitative Factor Customer Record Methodology).

We hope that this (short) story make it easier for you to understand the background of the QF-CRM methodology, the very reason of this blog.

Linking CRM analysis to performance

• 
  
  
  Can you really get more benefits from your CRM system?
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  “Linking CRM analysis to performance”
  
  
  Perhaps you have recently invested, or your company plan to invest in a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system?
  
  Do you know the real return on investment of this project? In Financial words, are you able to compute the Net Present Value (NPV) of this investment?
  
  Would you like to significantly increase this return on investment?
  
  Another question would be: do you experience one of the following symptoms, though your CRM system is up and running since more than one year:
  
  
  • Difficulties to quantify market segments value
  • Difficulties to achieve sales forecasts with a reasonable accuracy
  • Difficulties to understand what makes your customers buy
  • Difficulties to take strategic sales and marketing decisions
  • Difficulties to allocate sales resources on new and existing market segments
  
  This list is of course not exhaustive.
  
  If your answer is yes, the long term consequences for your company will be:
  
  
  1. Lack of growth and profitability
     
  2. Impossibility to get the full benefits of your CRM system
  
  From our business experience, we were wondering about the usefulness of a methodology that can use very basic information from your CRM system in order to allow:
  
  
  • Quantification of each target segment and each target market
  • Better knowledge on current customers and what make them buy
  • Better capacity to forecast
  • Strategic planning simplified
  • Better handling of sales effort
  • Driving successful integrated marketing campaigns
  
  We in fact developed such a methodology, We found it incidentally in the scope of our MBA project (a strategy assessment of a firm). The methodology is so powerful that the results obtained even surprised us. This is why we decided to publish this blog.
  
  From the breakthrough mentioned above, we crafted a method that we called the QF-CRM methodology. QF-CRM methodology stands for “Quantitative Factor Customer Record Methodology”. The methodology can help any company in any industry that want to achieve at least one of the following objective:
  
  
  • Quantification of any target segment and any target market
  • Better knowledge on current customers and what make them buy
  • Build a better forecast system
  • Craft a reliable Strategic planning
  • Want a Better handling of sales effort
  • Drive successful integrated marketing campaigns
  
  If you are interested by any one of the aspects motioned above, this blog is for you. We will try to answer your questions as long as the blog will be enriched. Don’t hesitate to contact us; a link to our e-mail address is supplied at the end of each article.

References

Our Customers said about our methodology:

"Didier and Edi conducted a broad assessment of our business in Europe. The insights and recommended actions presented were outstanding. They added clarity to future decision making. The QF-CRM methodology Didier and Edi introduced to our business case was unique"

Jack Zimmerman Senior Vice President and General Manager Europe of Current Analysis (July 9, 2005)

How to contact us

Should you have any question, we will be more than happy to help:

Didier Gaultier: +33 (0)6 80 96 68 90 didier_gaultier@yahoo.fr

Edi Perisic: +33 (0)6 64 97 27 44 perisicedi@yahoo.fr

You can contact us in English or French as you prefer.

Presentation of this Blog

Hello, my name is Didier Gaultier. Welcome on this blog about CRM and statistics.

I am going to present myself first. I am a Sales and Marketing professional, with 15 years of experience in the IT and Telecom industry.

I just finished an international MBA at IFAM business school. In the scope of any MBA, we have a thesis project to complete within usually three months. The subject chosen was “A New CRM Leverage methodology using advanced Statistics”.

IFAM decided that two students should be assigned to this project because of the quantity of work and the difficulty. My MBA Colleague Edi Perisic, accepted to join, and we created a Team project. During the project, we have made some breakthroughs that conducted us to register the methodology found and publish some part of it on this blog.

Very often Statistics are considered as a boring subject, our challenge is to make it live and interesting. If you are in any way involved in Marketing, Sales, or Finance, this blog may interest you and make you earn a lot of money. Good reading and thank you for being connected with us.

Didier Gaultier on the Web: Didier Gaultier - Twitter - Dailymotion - Digg - Wordpress - Google

MBA project awards and acknowledgements

My Colleague EDI Perisic and I are very proud to be part of the project that received the award of:

"Best MBA project 2005"

We would like to acknowledge in return our customer’s Senior VP & General Manager Europe who actively supported this project by helping us to collect the necessary data, invested some personal time, and encouraged us throughout this project.

We would like also to acknowledge Mrs. M.F. Joseph (IFAM’s Dean) who was our advisor for this thesis and for the very helpful and pertinent advises that she delivered to us throughout our research work and Mrs. Alexandra Joseph for her help on some strategy questions.

A special thank also to all our IFAM professors and for their help during this research, in Particular:

• Mr. Bernard Fevry (Finance),
• Mrs. Marie-France Derhy (Statistics),
• Mr. Christophoros Lambridis (Organizational Behavior and Human Resources),
• Mr. Philip Bloom (Global Business Policy).

Thank you also for all people that supported our work directly or indirectly, our classmates and our families.

About IFAM Business School

IFAM's Mission

IFAM’s mission is to make world business leaders of their students, by delivering the highest quality management education to a diverse and talented group of graduate and undergraduate students.

What make IFAM sure that they can fulfill their mission? Let's say that several attributes distinguish IFAM from many otherwise similar institutions. These include:

Its location in the heart of Paris, Europe's cultural, economic, and communications center.

• An academic tradition that combines scholarly excellence with continuing interaction with business leaders and current management issues.
• A culture that is based on merit and that is congenial to people of widely varying ethnicities, and national backgrounds.
• A tradition and commitment to the importance of a global perspective and ethical behavior in the conduct of business.

In order to fulfill this mission IFAM adopted several rules: excellence, coherence, focus, innovation, and communication. Those are the issues that win the race in the world that evolves from day to day.

MBA Programs

MBA programs of IFAM were one of the first to be developed in France.

IFAM seeks to prepare its graduate students for higher responsibilities in business and particularly for management decisions adapted to the international business world.

IFAM has created two MBA fulltime programs, entirely taught in English, to answer actual need of its undergraduate students as of those from other universities who want to get an international perspective to their education.

For more information please visit: http://www.ifam.edu/