Customer Futures is an international members-only network of learning groups consisting of executives from non-competing businesses that meet quarterly to share knowledge in the areas of customer management and customer experience management. There are currently forums based in the UK, Ireland, Hong Kong, Australia, Canada, South Africa and the Netherlands. The company is owned by OgilvyOne.

Naras Eechambadi, Ph.D and CEO of multichannel marketing solutions provider Quaero will be the facilitator of the first US forum, scheduled for September 9. Charter memberships are currently available.

If you trust the fine folks at Continental, it’s official: the airline industry is in a (*ahem*) tailspin. With the announcement that Continental will cut 3,000 jobs and reduce capcity by 11% in the fourth quarter, the company’s chief executive, Larry Kellner, and president, Jeff Smisek, sent out this message to employees:
“The airline industry is in a crisis. Its business model doesn’t work with the current price of fuel and the existing level of capacity in the marketplace. We need to make changes in response.”
Reductions at Continental are just the latest in a steady stream of cutbacks (Continental, Spirit, United), groundings (Silverjet) and shutdowns (Aloha) that is plaguing the industry — and its customers.

Obviously, the economy has played a role here — pulling up fuel prices and making people less keen to travel. But it still seems odd to me that, after so many years of being on the forefront of customer service and loyalty programs (how many of us have some sort of “–miles” credit card?), airlines now cannot seem to get people into the air. What is it going to take, DM-ers? Please, leave some comments on what you think airlines can do to re-gain consumer trust, convince travelers to help pay for rising fuel costs, and just generally bring the industry back on some steady footing.

As the de facto manager of DMNews‘ always burgeoning lists@dmnews.com inbox, I have of course noted the amount of political lists that are available on the market. This year, like every Presidential election year, means that political awareness in the US is spiking and that political appeals will appear in nearly all media so as to capitalize on the amount of people going to the polls — I would imagine that the companies with political lists available are receiving multiple inquiries.

Which is why I found this article that Yahoo picked up from Politico so interesting. I think it does a good job of showing the importance of auditing data, segmentation and thinking outside the box when targeting. Here are some excerpts:

In the past two presidential cycles, the Republican national voter file allowed them to more efficiently locate, communicate with and galvanize voters. Democrats, by comparison, relied on a disjointed compilation of national and state party data files that varied widely in quality.

…[as] George W. Bush sought reelection, consumer data enabled the GOP to locate regular churchgoers who were not Republican, as well as identify a group of Hispanic mothers particularly supportive of the No Child Left Behind law.

Burns voters were also more likely to participate in outdoor activities, gardening, investing, to be religious contributors and to have an interest in golf. Tester voters were more interested in health products and more likely to have a retail credit card.

…is probably through some combination of her stomach and her pocketbook. At least, that’s what it seems Dunkin’ Donuts is banking on. Just a month after its “free donut on tax day” promotion (which I almost blogged angrily about because I didn’t find out about it in time), the coffee and donuts chain is holding its second national Free Iced Coffee Day on May 15.

DD expects to hand out nearly 4 million cups of iced coffee tomorrow, and I’m sure it’s betting on seeing happy customers return for more. I admit to already being a won-over DD coffee fan, but even with the already-loyal, free iced coffee can help boost customer feelings about the brand (aw, they care!), cross-sell opportunities (now I have $1.50 to spend on a muffin!), and word of mouth promotions (our editorial assistant, knowing my coffee habits, sent the announcement to me this morning, and, hey, look, now I’m blogging about it!). For the non-fans, it can do everything listed above and, if it works the way it’s supposed to, win over some new converts.

I think the iced coffee is a particularly clever promotion: with the summer heat (finally) cranking up, the hot coffee for which the chain is better-known may lose some of its allure. Iced coffee also carries with it the sense of being a little more special or exotic than your everyday cup o’ joe, so consumers may feel like they’re getting extra-good treatment — for about the same price to the store as a cheap-o cup of the hot stuff.

If they’re particularly lucky, Dunkin’ may also be able to edge in on the same prospects that Starbucks is currently wooing with its free coffee promotion — happening every Wednesday this month. I’m not entirely sure how valuable the “we’ll go anywhere for free coffee” demographic is, but maybe for those undecided, it’s a good chance to let the taste speak for itself.

Virgin Trains recently made a pretty big mistake, and I want to hear your opinions, DMers.

The company sent out an e-mail offering a “Five star evening at The Grove” (a golf resort in Hertfordshire), worth about $780. Sounds nice, right?

The mistake: they sent it to their entire customer database. The message, it seems, was actually just a test run, intended for three staff members. Eventually, it was supposed to go out to a small group of top-tier customers as a loyalty bonus.

The solution: Virgin Trains sent out a follow-up e-mail retracting the offer. It was polite: “So sorry, we’ve sent you an email by mistake. The email you have just received about a Virgin Trains event at The Grove was a test email and was not supposed to be sent to any of our customers.
“We realise that we might have got you all excited about the prospect of a day at The Grove, and would like to offer you the chance to win one of three places at this event.”

Is this good enough?

I don’t know that there was any clean way for Virgin Trains to get out of this one; it’s one of those mistakes that should just never happen in the first place. The good: The apologetic tone was nice, and the fact that they turned the gaff into something “fun” (a contest! wheee!) was a creative touch. The bad: I feel like an e-mail can come off as too breezy, an after-thought, but where do you get the funds and man-power to contact everyone in a more “personal” way? The ugly: I imagine that, whatever anyone does in this situation, they’re still going to have to deal with a number of irate, disappointed and possibly litigious customers.

So here’s where you, readers, come in:
How would you/ do you prevent something like this from happening in the first place?

And, once the cat’s out of the bag, how do you deal with it? Is the contest a good idea? The retraction e-mail?

Send us your wisdom, please, along with a ticket for a free day at the Grove, if you have one.