“Smartphonatic.” I know what you’re thinking – another cutesy catchphrase. Yes – I’m deathly sick of those, too.

But listen to this – according to business, technology and regulatory research firm Aite Group and ACI Worldwide – 80 percent of Smartphonatics have used their device for banking purposes and about 70 percent have completed mobile payments on said device. Still not wow’ed? Among “non-Smartphonatics,” less than one-quarter have made a mobile payment with their mobile phone; only one-third have completed a mobile banking transaction.

By definition, the phenomena described in “The Global Rise of Smartphonatics: Driving Mobile Payment and Banking Adoption in the Americas, EMEA, and Asia-Pacific,” a research report released today that surveyed 4,200 people in 14 countries, defines the consumer segment as anyone who alters their shopping, financial and payment behaviors as a result of owning a smart phone.  

But being a Smartphonatic goes way beyond ownership, said Ron Shevlin, a senior analyst at Aite Group, during a media lunch in midtown Manhattan. A non-smartphonatic may browse the Web with their device, but never shop, complete financial transactions, check financial accounts or make payments with it. So what does this mean for businesses, namely financial institutions that are among the most regulated of regulated bodies in existence?

Expect to see a convergence of “banking, shopping and payments” coming down the pike that coincides with the evolving “consumer experience,” and an inherent move away from a cash-and-checks economy where the purchase and the payment were more “disjointed.” Mobile-savvy consumers, especially Generation Y, “check their (bank) accounts before, during, and after transactions,” according to Ralph Dangelmaier, president of global markets and services at ACI Worldwide, and merchants, payment solutions companies, and banks will have more cross-sell opportunities and avenues to embed loyalty rewards than ever before. When it came to loyalty, more than twice as many Smartphonatics “always try to choose retailers whose loyalty programs they belong to,” the report indicated.

In the survey, generational differences in smartphone usage were stark. About 36 percent of GenYers (ages 20-31) can be classified as “Smartphonatic.” Nearly a third of GenXers (ages 32-46) are, too. But when it comes to Baby Boomers (ages 47 to 65) – the number drops to 18 percent, with only six percent of seniors (66-plus) classified as Smartphonatic. Geography played a part, too. India had the highest concentration of “Smartphonatics,” at 60 percent. The U.S. did not lag far behind, at 20 percent, and France and Canada were on the low end of the scale – barely 10 percent of consumers in those countries were classified as being Smartphonatics.

Smartphonatics, naturally, have more affinity for the digital wallet and “express a very strong interest in replacing the cards in their wallet with a mobile device.” Google Wallet and Isis came up in the conversation, and of course, Apple, which was credited as “being able to almost create their own demand” in this area when and if the company follows through with developing an Apple iWallet powered through iTunes. According to Shevlin, a “huge Achilles heel” for the company, in this regard, will be about the data and analytics. “Google is good with data,” he reinforces, adding that a huge deterrent for any mobile payments development, Apple aside, will be regulatory in nature.

But, it appears that Apple – which, as of late, is building out its own “internal take” on Google Maps – is well-positioned for that challenge.

This year Mom’s going to get cheated. There’s just no way around it. I’m scheduled to attend SAP’s SAPphire user conference in Orlando, Fla., next week, and since the Monday keynote starts at 8:30 a.m., I’ll be flying down Sunday night (Mother’s Day).

Thanks Mom! Here’s your flowers! Now can you drive me to the airport?

I’m exaggerating, of course, but only slightly.

Nonetheless, I will not be spending as much time with Mom as I should, but the one consolation is that I’ll be hanging with David Lee Roth and the rest of Van Halen when the conference ends Wednesday night. Not to put any pressure on the boys from VH, but Salesforce.com last year had Metallica at its conference in San Francisco, and they rocked.

This time of year there’s no shortage of marketing hype around Mother’s Day. Marketing gurus of all type and ilk are all over the place making suggestions, telling us what our mothers really want this year: what to cook for them, which restaurants to take them to, which spa to book for them, how much candy is too much, and whether the pink roses or the white ones will get you in good standing with the woman who suffered through 20 hours of labor to bring you into the world.

This time of year is actually a marketer’s dream. Between Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, graduations, First Holy Communions, weddings, birthdays, and a slew of other family events, marketers are certainly busy telling us what to buy, and analyzing sales patterns to help us pick out the perfect gifts.

Mom, here’s a picture of David Lee Roth. Sorry it’s a few days late.

 

Mother’s Day—the most popular day to send flowers, greeting cards, and make long-distance telephone calls to moms— is only a few days away. Even if you don’t expect to shell out more than a few dollars on a phone call and/or a card, retailers are more than ready to help consumers make their mothers feel special.

Instead of just displaying gift options, brands are increasingly asking customers to interact with them by sharing photos, stories, and videos about their mothers.

In their “Make Moms Proud” photo contest on Facebook, 1-800-Flowers.com is asking users to submit and vote for photos of consumers with their moms to win prizes.  This is the second year the company is running the contest. In addition to getting users to spend more time on the brand’s site, 1-800-Flowers.com also gets more material for their ads.  1-800-Flowers.com president Chris McCann told Ad Week that the company later refurbishes some of the photos as “Sponsored Story” ads on Facebook.

This is also the first year that numerous users and brands are using Pinterest to share photos and videos in honor of Mother’s Day. Zales is encouraging Pinterest users to pin gift ideas on Zales’ board and comment on them, in exchange for Zales adding the user’s images to its own board and giving those users added exposure.

Zales also launched a “Celebrate Your SuperMom” campaign on Pinterest, Twitter, Facebook, and TV commercials, inviting users to share why their mom is a SuperMom for the opportunity to win a $2,500 Zales shopping spree.

Other companies have decided to throw in some humor with their advertisements. Verizon tried to put a creative spin on the idea that mothers and daughters are each other’s confidants and having a phone equipped with Skype and GPS features will help them stay closer than ever.

Unfortunately it’s difficult to understand what the mother and daughter are saying since both are sniffling throughout  the commercial.

Mother’s Day is celebrated a month earlier across the pond and Tesco, a British supermarket chain, seems to think toilet cleaning products make great gifts for mothers. At least that’s how it seems in a Twitpic photo from @chelseagirl2 that has been circulating online.

Regardless of how creative (or ill-conceived) these marketing campaigns are, hopefully they remind you not to forget Mother’s Day.

If Salesforce.com were an emerging company today, it would be a good example of a disruptive innovation. In CRM Idol, we’re looking for the next Salesforce.com, but we don’t expect that the two companies will have much in common aside from their disruptive nature. Why?

Disruptions happen all the time but, like lightning, they don’t strike the same place twice. So don’t expect to see a “new CRM company.” CRM is a full market niche, in which companies are being bought and merged. New companies have to offer something else, like social capabilities or gamification.

Markets love disrupters because they inject something that has never been seen into the space and, presto! everyone seems to need it. Salesforce.com was like that. Salesforce was part of a small class of companies dipping their toes into the surf.  Most had very similar technology at the time but failed in large part because they lacked the cash or marketing savvy to “take it to the house.”

So what makes for an interesting emerging company?  Take a look at last year’s finalists for starters.

Assistly (which was bought by Salesforce,com in the middle of the competition) offered a service desk for very small companies that leveraged social media. They also had a funky business model in which they offered elastic tariffing, with the first user being free.

Crowd Factory is a marketing automation company that employed gamification in a powerful new business process. It was recently acquired by Marketo.

Stone Cobra is a system of engagement that sits on top of other customer service applications, bringing data together for the convenience of the agent.

Get Satisfaction is a social media–leveraging customer service company now branching into marketing. Get Satisfaction won the contest.

And in Europe and Latin America, the pattern repeated itself with companies that were bringing out solutions that were new and ideally suited to their markets. None of these companies offer something that could be seen as out of the box for a more established CRM company. That’s important, because it gives them credibility as disruptors and new category makers.

But technology will only get you so far in the Idol competition. This competition is tough because we are looking for the whole package. Companies that go far in Idol have their marketing and sales functions revved up too. They might be cash poor or they might be living on VC money, but they know what they are about, and when they get an opportunity, they know how to promote what makes them special. Just look at the videos that each of the finalists produced last year and you’ll see what we mean.

As a matter of fact, the videos are a great promotion vehicle well beyond the competition. According to Phil Fernandez, CEO of Marketo, which recently bought Crowd Factory, the video was an important part of the acquisition process. Reviewing the process Fernandez said recently, “I had known Sanjay [Sanjay Dholakia, CEO of Crowd Factory] and Crowd Factory before the CRM Idol competition, but the video they did as part of the program really spoke to me.  It was very focused and compelling, and opened my imagination to what Marketo plus Crowd Factory could do together. So CRM Idol was very valuable in the process.”

Companies that are weeded out early have similar tendencies too. They have competent products, but they don’t do anything special or different from the well-established companies they expect to beat. They also tend to be insular. They are run by founders and don’t have outside investors or a board of directors prodding them to be better. As a result, they sometimes stagnate.

The Idol process assigns a mentor to every participant to give that extra external perspective that some may be missing, adding to the richness of the experience for the participants. The mentors are typically industry veterans with significant experience, and their advice is highly valued.

It’s hard to generalize these points because each company has its unique attributes. But CRM Idol is a competition focused on uncovering real gems, the companies that will, like Google, Facebook, or Salesforce.com, (or Get Satisfaction, Crown Factory, Assistly, and Stone Cobra, for that matter) become great hits in niches that they pioneer and in which they develop real staying power. But each will find its own path to greatness, and CRM Idol is simply here to document it.

For more information about CRM Idol, go to our site and grab an application. Don’t wait—the application deadline is May 25 at 6 PM PDT.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Customer centricity used to be a triad of price, service, and convenience, according to David Minster, chief operating officer of American designer jewelry company David Yurman. Now, a new model has emerged that emphasizes the experience, status, and value. And you’d better be darned good at all three.

Minster talked of a “huge erosion of trust” during Aberdeen Group’s Retail and Consumer Markets Summit in New York City last week, as he reminded a theatre full of retail execs that the notion is now “reflected in (consumer) purchasing decisions.

“If I can walk into your store with a smart phone and price you out, you’ll fail,” he added. There must be an experience. It’s “how will I feel about myself after I spend the money on it? Entertainment is critical.”

Listening is even more critical.

“Social is very personal – we cannot lose sight of that,” Minster reiterated. “Try going to your 1,900 friends and asking for $20. You’re in trouble. These people are not your friends. You must be a brand that people can relate to” in order to gain trust, respect, and ultimately – support or sales – whatever your mission.

Beyond the earpiece that social allots, it’s also a benefactor to product development. You have to “integrate empathy into the experience side,” Minster went on.

Take American fashion designer Tory Burch, who used a social network to identify with her consumer. At close to 150,000 followers on Twitter, it’s safe to say she has a sizeable audience keeping tabs on her brand. During her travels, Burch tweeted about how going barefoot through airport security grossed her out and asked her followers whether or not she should start a line of airport-attuned travel socks. And, of course, the answer was a resounding, “Yes!!” So was born a “stylish antidote for when you have to brave those endless security lines.” Burch asked, listened, and took action – the hallmark of integrating empathy into customer experience.

But it’s also important to “drive a sense of value to the consumer,” Minster added. Beyond David Yurman’s signature cable, the brand has got a whole host of original designs fueled by its desire to be a cut above the rest in quality and uniqueness.

But the company widened its available price points in order to create a perception of value; iconic pieces are priced from a couple hundred on up to the $60,000 price range to avail an aesthetically same piece to high-end and value shoppers.

There’s always the built-in risk that you’ll never sell the high-end piece if it’s offered for less, but Minster said “the discriminating buyer will buy it anyway.” What was more important than playing it safe and cutting costs was taking a risk and going for variables in pricing. And David Yurman has seen its online revenue grow ten times in the last five years.

“The customer needs to feel some ownership of what’s going on with your brand,” he concluded. “Merchandising must play an active role in customer engagement.”