There’s a new report out called “Generate More Jingle This Holiday Season with Last-Minute Shoppers” by Acxiom that counters commonly held notions regarding holiday shoppers — from where they shop, to what they are most likely to buy under pressure, to what sales will entice them.

According to Acxiom, two in ten consumers are what can lovingly be referred to as “last-minute shoppers.” This category of  “undervalued” consumers usually doesn’t start shopping until December 1st and can therefore give an incremental boost to businesses.

Acxiom’s findings obliterate the myth of the stereotypical male last-minute shopper scrounging around for a suitable necklace for the little woman. A more thorough investigation into shopping habits reveals that shoppers of both sexes equally fall into three categories: Prepared Shoppers, Power Shoppers, and Panic Shoppers.

The Acxiom report defines these groups as follows:

Prepared Shoppers – Those that plan early for the season by starting their shopping as early as September (or earlier!) through November.

Power Shoppers – Intending to start shopping in early December may be the simple result of “planned procrastination” – e.g. “I don’t need to start” or “I don’t have the money until then” or a preference to avoid shopping in the busy period around Thanksgiving. Regardless of their motivations, Power Shoppers need to actively shop over a shorter period of time, but starting early in the month still allows for somewhat more planning and strategy to their shopping process than our next group.

Panic Shoppers – With a self-reported intention to start shopping in mid to late December, these consumers go into the holiday shopping process knowing full well that they’re up against the clock. Regardless of their motivation for putting themselves in that position, they will work with even fewer options and less time than Power Shoppers.

Acxiom reports a range of socio-economic statuses and ages within Power Shoppers and Panic Shoppers.

However, once shopping habits are broken down by age, Acxiom encountered some interesting tendencies:

• Both male and female Panic Shoppers under 35 are more likely to shop in department stores, particularly male Panic Shoppers
• When the clock gets ticking on shopping time, two to three female last-minute shoppers still consider sales or price discounts when shopping. Less than half of the surveyed male shoppers exhibited the same behavior.
• Male Panic Shoppers under 35 consider electronic stores to be a “strong option.” Female and male panic shoppers over 35 aren’t likely to share this sentiment.
• Female Power Shoppers under 35 feel strongly about purchasing clothing and accessories as gifts vs. female Panic Shoppers in the same age group.

When Infor released Epiphany Email Advisor back in August the company promised to deliver a solution that would answer the following questions:

• What if customers could receive the best email content at the right time?
• What if each email could display the latest content, regardless of when it’s opened?
• What if poor-performing email content could be automatically removed?
• What if expired or already fulfilled content could be instantly replaced?

For CRM magazine’s exclusive coverage of the release, click here.

This all sounded very exciting back then. Recently, however, Infor released a product that, coupled with Email Advisor, could present an even more exciting possibility in leveraging consumer insight and delivering timely and relevant information. The product, Epiphany Data Advisor, the second product under Infor’s Epiphany Advisor Family umbrella will “automate the often complex process of collecting, consolidating and improving opt-in customer data throughout the global enterprise,” according to Infor.

With Data Advisor, Infor claims it users will be able to:

• Automate Data Analysis and Improvement Recommendations;
• Collect and Coordinate Data Across The Enterprise; and
• Consolidate Data and Provide Ongoing Data Optimization.

Once upon a time, companies sent static form emails to thousands (if not millions) of recipients. Each recipient would receive the exact same information at different times, meaning that the information I received might not be relevant to me, or it might have been relevant six weeks ago but not when I actually opened the email.

But today, by combining Email Advisor with Data Advisor, Infor claims it will offer companies the “added ability to send e-mails in high volumes that, when opened, immediately adapt and show content tailored to user preferences, providing the most relevant offers for improved receptiveness and greater results.”

“We’re pleased to deliver the Data Advisor module so soon after announcing E-Mail Advisor,” said Jackie Palmer, senior product manager of CRM at Infor, via press release. “Data Advisor is part of our ongoing vision to help companies capitalize on the richest customer data possible to fortify customer relationships and ultimately drive increased revenue.”

It is still too early to know whether or not Data Advisor can truly deliver this important functionality. I’m definitely interested in hearing from Email Advisor customers. Did the Email Advisor help end the problem of static emails at your company? Were you able to provide the type of timely information Infor suggested back in August? If so, how do you think Data Advisor will affect what you send to your customers? Are you interested in gaining this type of functionality?

Based on conversations I’ve had with analysts regarding Infor’s previous work, they’re obviously a highly respected and highly capable company. I’m eager to see how this latest release changes the email marketing game.

311, New York City’s contact center for non-emergency information and inquiries, has been getting all kinds of buzz lately. My own feature exploring the beginnings of 311 will be running in the coming months but in the mean time, here is my interview with Cary Peskin, the former CIO and Associate Commissioner of New York City’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development  from 1999 through 2007.

What can you say about New York’s 311 initiative? Do you think that the concept of “run[ning] the city like a business” was an innovative one at the time that it was being proposed?

I can’t say that NY was the first, but I will say that the size, breathe, and scope of the initiative certainly qualifies it as one of the largest and most comprehensive 311 systems launched.   In terms of its fundamentals, 311 evolved from a need to work smarter and be more visible to its client community and allow its constituents better access to City information and services.

How would you compare 311 to Baltimore’s 311? How are they different? The same?

The fundamentals of the two 311 systems are quite similar; provide a convenient way for callers to communicate with City government.  Where the two systems differ are essentially a function of the number of callers and the scope of city services available to callers under the two 311 systems.

Both 311 call centers operate 24/7.  Baltimore’s call volume is in the range of about 3,000 calls per day.  New York’s 311 system handles in excess of 65, 000 calls per day with an average wait time of 19 seconds and almost 90% of all calls are answered within 30 seconds.  New York, being the melting pot that it is, addresses caller’s needs in many different languages.  And more than 2% of the calls are language assisted calls.  There are more than 170 documented languages spoken in New York.

Do you think other cities have the capacity to develop a 311?

Other cities can and have the capacity to develop 311 systems, and the technology doesn’t appear to be the greatest challenge.  What I believe is most important are the departmental systems that feed 311.  311 can only be effective when the information it needs to respond to caller inquiries is available, accurate and current.

How did 311 develop and change while you were there? What challenges did you encounter?

The New York City Department of Housing, Preservation and Development was the first department to go live under 311.  In a matter of a few years 311 was supporting more than 30 agencies.   One of the more significant challenges that we encountered was staffing.  There were labor issues to address and hiring and training of staff was essential.

Prior to 311, HPD ran its own call center to address tenant complaints with respect to possible housing violations in their buildings and/or apartment including lack of essential services such as heat , hot water and other quality of life issues.  HPD alone addressed an average of 5,000 calls per day.

The HPD call center, known as the Central Complaint Bureau was staffed by more than 80 call agents and was a 24/7 operation.  That entire operation was uprooted and transferred to 311.  Part of the overall design of 311 was to align agencies whose agents perform similar services such as HPD and the Department of Buildings (DOB).  Both agencies are address and location based and take similar types of calls.  Agencies that had this synergy were clustered together and cross-trained so that the agents from one agency can handle calls for either agency.

What challenges do you think 311 will encounter in the future? What can you envision being a problem?

The single biggest challenge that I envision is building on the success of the 311 system.  Clients have become accustomed to a level of service and 311 sets a very “high bar”.  Improving on that service level and staying within economic boundaries may be challenging.
Why do you think a contact center has proved to be conducive to the problems of New York City?

In part, obtaining answers and services was quite the challenge given the size of NY and its many departments.  Often, callers would be bounced around from department to department, ending in frustration and an angered caller.

The 311 system provides a one-stop-and-shop environment with a well defined “road map” for its agents and specialists.  Additionally there are tracking tools and escalation procedures in place to make certain all inquiries are responded to in a reasonable amount of time.

Facebook Messages has caused quite the stir in the technology industry. Some argue the service will kill email. Others argue users will stay away from it because of Facebook’s sketchy privacy history. In thinking about it from a CRM perspective, I think Messages could change the way businesses interact with customers in a very important way.

(Facebook Messages on a mobile device. Image courtesy of Facebook.)

Here’s a quote from Brad Garlinghouse, president for consumer applications at AOL, in the New York Times (for those of you who don’t yet know about Messages, the article also explains the technology):

“Just like it is not easy for traditional e-mail companies to compete in social, it is not going to be easy for social companies to compete with e-mail,” Garlinghouse said.

The article also quotes him as saying:

“I am not friends on Facebook with my accountant, with my doctor, or with United Airlines.”

Which got me thinking…

161,531 people are fans of United Airlines (UA) on Facebook. This means that UA has access to all of the personal data posted on the 161,531 profiles. This data can then be used to send (in Facebook Messages) real-time, personalized offers, to solve customer service issues, to launch new products and make upgrades…all within Facebook. All of the business intelligence, web analytics, marketing automation, and customer service software that companies use to run their business will now have a comfortable place solely within the Facebook architecture. The company that can provide to Facebook (as well as the companies who utilize Facebook Messages) an all-in-one solution of this kind will reap the benefits of providing software to a centralized communications network of 500 million consumers. Tell me you wouldn’t want that business.

On a personal level, I would have no problem with Facebook killing email…as long as it functions as well or better than my Gmail account. I hate having to open my social networks, my email inboxes, and check my telephone to see if a friend has contacted me. Who wouldn’t want to drive all that communication to one user-friendly location? In my apartment, I keep my landline telephone on the same desk as my computer, which also happens to be where I stack my mail. Facebook could easily become the digital version of my desk. And I’d be fine with that.

What do you all think?

Eric Krapf, the editor of No Jitter, speculates over why ShoreTel purchases Agito for $11.4 million. He writes that ShoreTel announced that they were looking to invest in acquisitions but, as of July 2010, was no interested in buying companies in other markets.

Krapf observes:

The move gives ShoreTel a native mobility play to sell along with its IP telephony/unified communications systems. Such combinations aren’t uncommon in the enterprise communications space: Back in 2004, Siemens Enterprise acquired WLAN provider Chantry Networks, and of course Cisco filled out its portfolio with Linksys for the home and Airespace for the enterprise. And certainly mobility is one of the mega-trends in enterprise communications.

Krapf also speculates that Agito’s Mobility Router will continue to be sold to all users in ShoreTel packaging, of course. He concludes, “ShoreTel will be able to make the vendor-independence of the Mobility Router appealing to companies with multiple vendors in its installed base.”