Riding the Whirlwind

Strategic Interactive Marketing for the Insurance Industry

Key Points:

E-mail is a universal and ubiquitous facility in use by hundreds of millions of people at home and at work.

E-mail is a simple, very low cost and fast service. E-mail communications are informal and concise. Mass mailings are easy and very cost effective.

5.9 Internet E-mail

5.9.1 Electronic mail (E-mail) was the original Internet service and despite the hype over the World Wide Web (see later) probably to-day remains the Internet's most used facility. E-mail is available not only from the millions of PCs but also the many more millions of simple terminals attached to mini and mainframe computers. In its basic text version, E-mail is universal and ubiquitous

5.9.2 E-mail has many benefits:

• low cost: a fraction of a penny to send an A4 text page anywhere in the world. (for larger companies the revenue cost is zero but for individual users there is a minimum charge by BT of 5p).
• speed: e-mails are delivered world-wide in minutes.
• conciseness: it is the norm that e-mails are brief and to the point.

- E-mails are Informal -

• friendliness: the use of an informal style is the norm for e-mails. E.g. using first names and opening with "Hi".
• mass mailings: by setting up pre-defined lists, it is easy to circulate e-mails to many people. (e.g. to investors interested in investing in Japan).
• less invasive: e-mails cause fewer disruptions than telephone calls.

E-mail suffers from poor presentation, over use and even abuse. Important communications may not arrive and the legal validity is not proven.

Universal directory services do not exist.

Sending complex information is difficult.

Security of communications can only be achieved with some complexity and planning.

• sometimes the layout of text is poor, with spurious control characters and broken lines. This is due to the Internet having a restricted character set based on the old telex system - e.g. £ signs cannot be received.
• documents in rich text formats (RTF) are difficult to exchange with other users [RTF allow documents like this report to be sent as e-mail and immediately displayed exactly as created by the author]. International standards are defined but are not universally adopted.
• with the near zero cost, some companies flood the system with many thousands of unsolicited advertising e-mails (spams).
• some users receive 100's of e-mails per day, so important messages may get overlooked.
• other users only access their mail infrequently, say once a week.
• many users expect a reply to an e-mail to be within hours.
• the legal validity of e-mails is not established.
• overt commercial use of the Internet is frowned on in many quarters. This can result in receiving millions of hate e-mails.
• competition between the commercial networks like Microsoft & CompuServe has inhibited the adoption of common standards.
• e-mail addresses vary in formats and as yet there is no universal directory enquiry facility.
• there are currently no standards for error messages which are often very cryptic.
• e-mail acknowledgement and priority requests are not always recognised or correctly invoked.
• there is a risk that hackers will read e-mails. Encrypting and then decrypting e-mail messages is normally an extra task that some users find difficult.. It requires that both sender and recipient have the same encryption system and that they have previously exchanged passwords in a secure form. PGP is a common encryption standard but for higher levels of encryption the US government has imposed restrictions.
• e-mails or their attachments may contain hidden viruses.

Despite these problems, the daily volume of e-mail runs into millions of messages and the mail invariably does get through.

Users are deploying sophisticated e-mail software. Messages are automatically reviewed, sorted, re-routed (e.g. to pagers) and even deleted.

Standard applications software like word processors now have e-mail links for easy and instant transmission.

5.9.4 To address these issues, e-mail software is becoming more sophisticated:

- Automatic Deletion of Junk Mail -

• users may specify rules to sort, file and delete e-mail messages automatically according to sender's name, subject and content.
• message centre software handles all electronic communications: e-mail, fax, voice, video, discussion group messages, etc.. Within a family or department the sorting and handling of messages is performed according to individual criteria (e.g. if I'm in a meeting and it's before 5 pm then send urgent messages from Tim to my mobile otherwise send them to my pager).

CIDMan can block calls, bleep a pager, run a script, etc..

• selected messages can automatically be forwarded to fax machines, PDAs, etc., or pagers bleeped. By converting messages to speech they can even be forward to a voice mail-box or direct to a real person. Companies use these facilities to route messages to the appropriate department or advisor.

• by analysing messages a response can be automatically formulated and sent. For example, a subject line of "Send PEP brochure" will immediately send the brochure to the user by e-mail. There is no reason why this will not evolve to "Send PEP brochure by post". These systems are known as infobots and are being increasingly used by companies.

• by linking word processors to e-mail software, documents can easily be sent at the click of the mouse.

• automatically converting documents into a readable form.

• the automatic checking of messages for viruses.

Information services can be provided automatically in the same way as fax back services.

E-mail is likely to become widely available through public kiosks, Smartphones, PDAs, etc..

E-mail now contains cross-reference links to Internet sites for "one click" access.

Voice mail, accessible from telephones and other non PC devices could reach a wide audience.

• e-mail is becoming available on the devices previously discussed: Pagers, PDAs, Kiosks, Smartphones, I-TV and Web-TV. Already it is possible to deliver e-mail to Fax machines (sometimes for free) as well as printed & posted near the destination.

.... Scottish Widows provides free e-mail facility to all UK PC owners ....

• the availability of a universal RTF allows businesses to send brochures and other complex documents.
• messages are beginning to incorporate direct cross-reference links to Web sites, video and voice annotations, mini-applications (like a mortgage payment calculator), and standard EDI formats (such as a Purchase Order).

- Many Will Prefer Voice mail -

• voice mail may become the preferred way of composing and sending short messages (users will dictate into their PC and then e-mail the recording. Recipients will play back the message through speakers or headphones.)
• as the prime use for many PC systems will be communications the message centre software will become the main user-interface.
• software agents, which are pre-programmed with users preferences and commands, will filter all communications. They may also incorporate (or exhibit) a degree of artificial intelligence, undertaking the role of an electronic butler. User's agents might be programmed to negotiate with company software agents, much as a consumer negotiates to win a discount).

Telesales units will need to handle e-mail requests.

Interviewees are most concerned with the poor handling of customers' e-mails. Internal processes and staff management have not been altered to handle e-mails.

- Telesales Units to Handle E-mail -

5.9.6 Telesales units will increasingly handle e-mail enquires:

• Matrixx's CyberResponse telesales unit handles e-mail inquiries responding by e-mail or post. Later this could be extended to responding by telephone or fax. Calls will be routed either through the private and public switched network (PSTN) or via the Internet, using the new Internet telephones.

- Companies Not Ready for E-mail -

5.9.7 Interviewees' concerns are with the adjustments to organisational process necessary to handle a small but increasing level of e-mails:

• staff are motivated on what they are measured. In telesales this in on calls per hour, not e-mails per day. Telesales have built-in performance tracking systems but e-mail systems don't.
• company WWW pages and headed note-paper usually have only one e-mail address. Therefore each e-mail has to be read in order to ascertain who should handle it, but not all staff may have e-mail.
• the ad-hoc and informal nature of e-mail may mean the compliance checks are not adhered to. E-mails can get lost, deleted or forgotten. Legally some insurance communications must be on paper.
• e-mails may have to be printed so that they can be processed and then filed in the customer's correspondence - and that may mean scanning them back into an image system!

To: unknown, info-at-bankone.com From: Fred Smith, freds-at-pipex.com Date: 1 Jan 2000 Subject: PEP Hi, Please end me details of that PEP you advertised on TV. Great advert, I liked the car chase. Cheers, Fred

E-mail from customers are a logistical nightmare for most companies. Note the informality.

Customer's are "unreasonable in their expectations. They expect a clerk to know all previous interactions".

Forums and Chat areas are an opportunity for companies to provide electronic community meeting areas and to run focus groups,

- Customers are Unreasonable -

5.9.8 Many interviewees remarked:

• there is a need to handle and co-ordinate all communications from customers whether post, telephone, fax, e-mail, or WWW. As one interviewee stated Customers can be unreasonable; they expect a clerk to know all previous interactions [- as though they are the only customer].

5.9.9 Two other Internet communications are Forums and Chat. Forums are discussion groups that work off-line using e-mail or the similar UseNet software. Chat is also text based but works in real-time. Users usually congregate in electronic "rooms" devoted to a particular topic. CompuServe has a graphics version where cartoon like characters called avatars, inhabit a virtual world of streets, shops, etc.. Users sitting at a PC control their own personal avatars.

Internet communities exist in virtual worlds. Companies could provide such worlds for their customers.

- A Place for Customers to Chat -

5.9.10 Forums and Chat areas usually have rules banning any form of commercial activity. Nether-the-less they may have some commercial value:

• companies could monitor those that provide general feedback about consumers' attitudes. Where it is permitted, impartial and general advice is given to users or their views solicited.
• companies could provide their own Forum or Chat facilities to run electronic focus groups or to encourage customer self-help.