Case in point – I was sent an email about Starbucks’ new iphone app. (Apparently the old one will break, and you gotta get the new one.) The problem is that I don’t currently use an iphone app. However, I just downloaded a Starbucks Android app a few weeks ago. If Starbucks were truly at the cutting edge of customer relevancy they would have taken the data that I gave them when I downloaded my app and matched the email that I used within the app, which is the same email address as is linked with my rewards account and email opt-in subscription. All of that data should have fed to a database that updated my profile in terms of what channels I’m using to relate to the brand. Android, yes. iPhone, no. It’s a pretty simple distinction, but it’s a data complexity that’s hard for Starbucks, and I think all major consumer brands to get a hold of.

Part of the problem is that usually companies use a stand alone service to send out their marketing emails. That service, while excellent at delivering emails and producing reporting for those emails, fails when it has to integrate data from other systems. It’s not just email, because companies have to deal with data collected from social media efforts, customer website visits, loyalty program interactions, direct mail responses, phone calls and other touches. This is why it’s critical that every company invests in their systems so they communicate with each other. There isn’t yet a holy grail company that will handle this perfectly across channels, but there are quite a few that are coming close and make it a priority to easily integrate with other systems whether it be custom apps for that platform, or more generally, an API that can be used to sync relevant fields.

In the end, it’s really the customer’s experience that matters. When a loyal Starbucks customer like myself gets disappointed by a “miss” experience like this, and I get an advertisement from Pete’s Coffee or a local coffeeshop that impresses me, then I’m one step closer to being an ex-customer. But for now, I’ll forgive Starbucks, because I know how frustrating data silos can be.

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This emarkter article had some great statistics on open and click rates per industry (or audience).

Initially what stood out are the large absolute percentages in the Retail and Travel industries. Retail having around 8% click throughs contrasted with the 2-3% overall, but makes sense that if a customer has opted in to a brand’s email newsletter, they are “die-hard” fans of the brand and want to interact with the brand and/or to take advantage of emailed specials. Similar reasoning with the travel industry, there are likely audience members (like me) who are on travelzoo’s email list to find bargains on vacations and the like. The prospect of traveling is also inherently more exciting than, say, an email message sent by a wholesale-distribution company.

One surprise in the Computer/internet industry was that smaller lists did better overall than larger ones on clicks (7.2% on a

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