Why You Should Not Buy Alyce - #DirectFail

The more we meet with prospects interested in Alyce, the more we learn that Alyce isn't for everyone.

Which makes sense right? Every company has an ideal customer profile, and no matter how hard we wish we were everyone’s cup of tea, we are the perfect fit for some, but not others. 

The teams who get the most out of Alyce take a hard look at the needs of their business and ask themselves the tough questions about making this approach successful in their businesses.  

And with B2B direct mail send volume dropping 7.4% in 2019, companies are shifting their traditional direct mail strategies and finding new ways to create personal experiences for their key contacts. 

Like you’re on your way to doing, companies are starting to invest in Personal Experience (PX) platforms like Alyce.  

?? Welcome! We’re pumped to have you! 

While we have our benefits, making the switch to Alyce isn’t for everyone.  

So here are some reasons why Alyce may not be the right choice for you... 

The 8 Reasons Why You Shouldn’t Buy Alyce 

1. The Volume of Gift Invitations Sent Per Month Isn’t There.

To put it simply, if the volume of gift invitations you send per year is too low, it’ll be harder to see the ROI of using a personal gifting platform. 

Our most successful customers allot 15-20 gift invitations to each business development and sales rep on their teams every month to use to engage with their VIP prospects. They also allocate gift invitations for Field Marketing and Demand Generation to help with event engagement, attendance and lead nurturing. 

If your gifting initiative is a one-time thing or your team is only targeting a few accounts, Alyce may not be the right choice for you right now. 

2. Marketing and Sales Aren’t Aligned On A Target Account Strategy.

According to eMarketer, in 2019 10% of B2B marketers were still in the planning phases of their Account Based Strategy. 

So if you fall into that bucket, know you’re not alone. 

A solution like Alyce requires collaboration between your marketing and sales teams to get attention and drive action from your target accounts the key contacts within those target accounts. 

If you haven’t yet defined who you should be focusing your time on, we suggest you prioritize that first. 

Don't forget these steps when you’re crafting your ABM Motion:

• Defining Your ICP
• Setting Up Contact Tiers
• Lifecycle stages
• Sales/Marketing Handoff
• SLA on lead attack time

?? Need some help on best practices? We’ve got some tips for you here! 

3. Your Sales Team Is Not Ready To Add Another Tool To Their ABM Engagement Stack.

With or without a sales enablement team, making sure your sales reps are using the tools in their toolbox to the fullest extent possible is a full time job. 

If you’ve added a few new tools to your stack recently, it may not be time to introduce one more. 

Sales reps see the most value out of Alyce when they send gifts throughout the pivotal Personal Experience Moments in the customer lifecycle. 

Having a consistent, bought-in executive sponsor overseeing the rollout of any new tool can never hurt either. 

Speaking of executive sponsor… 

4. Your Leadership Team Doesn’t “Get It”.

We get it, you’re a visionary and ahead of your time.

But seriously, rethinking direct mail and changing your perspective on how to drive action from your top accounts can be a tough sell. 

And although Alyce can give your team more control over the campaigns, attribution, and gifts being sent, the personal approach to traditional Direct Mail is still a new concept. 

If your team still wants to use the old way of sending direct mail, here’s a guide to help you drive more conversions from your efforts, with or without Alyce. 

5. You’re ok with not tracking the full ROI of your gifting strategy.

Look, there’s something to be said about marketing efforts that you just “know” are working without the need to create a dashboard to prove it. 

Historically speaking, tracking Direct Mail is a pain. Trying to integrate UPS or FedEx data into your systems so you can keep an updated record of if, when, and where your package arrived. 

But if tracking isn’t as important to your team, or you don’t have an operations team to help you set up dashboards, having all this extra data may not be as valuable to you. 

Just as a PS - with Personal Gifting, you can track every stage of the gifting journey to provide benchmarks your Sales Manager may care about like Gift Sent To Meeting Booked Ratio, Pipeline influenced, or pipeline to spend ratio. 

6. You believe sending swag is the best way to create a relationship.

Fans of your brand will always appreciate swag, and sending them a package with some new goodies is going to make advocates into strong advocates. 

But what about the prospects out there who don’t know about your brand? Do you think they’ll want to rock a sweatshirt with your logo on it? 

Maybe the answer to that question is yes, in which case, keep on sending your magical, crowd-pleasing swag (and send us a few samples while you’re at it!). 

However, on average companies spend over $185k annually on swag inventory alone. And 74% of companies currently spend money on low-value swag items over high-value items. 

7. Your team is only focused on impressions, not actions. 

If you have a small team or are piloting the possibility of direct mail and want to send out gifts to anyone who could be a customer, investing in a tool like Alyce may not be for you. 

With traditional Direct Mail, spray and pray has always been the way. And in the end some of your prospects will take action after receiving your mail. 

Or you may know that focusing on optimizing each of your channels is an impactful way to close more business - as 80% of consumers are more likely to make a purchase when they’re offered a personal experience -but have to get all of your ducks in a row before you can make the leap. 

Once you’re ready to make that commitment, it’ll be time to rethink Alyce!  

8. You’re ok with waste.

That seems blunt but Direct mail is notoriously wasteful, in fact 65% of direct mail ends up in the trash. 

And that doesn’t really fly with us. 

That’s why we use a gift invitation model - So that you don’t fill a warehouse with inventory that’ll just end up in the trash. Instead, Alyce customers send a gift invitation to their prospects, allowing prospects to accept the gift, exchange it for something they’d prefer in our marketplace, or donating the dollar value of the gift to a charity of their choice. 

Why it’s time to rethink the way your company sends direct mail and avoid a #DirectFail

Well, Alyce has the ability to completely transform the way your company wins and retains customers. 

And we’re ready, willing, and prepared to help you make the case for personal gifting in your organization. 

From understanding the difference between direct mail and personal gifting, to understanding how to measure personal gifting, and specific examples of how Alyce differs from your traditional direct mail solution, we’ve got the content to arm you with your business case. 

Afterall, customer-centric vendors have more influence with their buyers and their customers are 4x more likely to say their reps were very effective.

Bringing a personal, customer, and recipient centric mindset to your business, not just your gifting campaigns is the new way companies can build trust and drive more retention across their customer base. 

However, not everyone is going to need Alyce right at this very moment, and we recognize that! 

Hopefully, this breakdown gives you a better idea of how to be successful using Alyce, whenever you’re ready. ??

- Greg.