E-MAIL MARKETING: RELATIONSHIP, NOT PERMISSION.
It was bound to happen: Commercial e-mail has turned into a badly
overcrowded jungle. Marketers who once routinely achieved response rates
of 10%-15% on their e-mail campaigns now feel lucky to . . .
DATA POINTS: PC SOFTWARE P/E RATIOS.
What's a software company worth? Investment bankers sometimes
use price-earnings ratios (the current share price divided by the most
recent year's earnings) as a benchmark for valuing both public . . .
VOLUME LICENSING: "MAKE IT EASY FOR BUYERS".
Over the past seven years, Geoff Surkamer has helped draft dozens
of volume licensing plans for software publishers, and he's still
amazed at how a few little details in a licensing contract can . . .
CHECKLIST: THE ELEVATOR SPEECH.
Ever notice that venture firms almost always operate out of
low-rise office buildings? That's probably no accident: VCs who
ride elevators risk excessive exposure to the notorious . . .
HOW TO MAKE MONEY ON MAINTENANCE.
Software companies usually treat maintenance contracts as little
more than an afterthought, but it's an afterthought that generates
a lot of cash--typically, 15%-20% of total sales dollars. And . . .
SURVEY DEMOGRAPHICS.
Data for the Soft-letter/ASP Technical Support Cost Ratio Survey
was collected from survey questionnaires distributed by mail and e-mail.
By the June 30 deadline, a total of 78 usable . . .
BENCHMARKS: CALL STATISTICS.
As common sense suggests, it's hard to create a cost model for
a 'standard' tech support call. There are at least three
critical variables in the cost equation-- the number of calls generated
by . . .
BENCHMARKS: LABOR COSTS AND PRODUCTIVITY.
In the aggregate, the support organizations in our current survey
database employ 2,923 people, most of whom 2,193 (75%) provide
'direct phone or e-mail support' to customers. In small
support . . .
BENCHMARKS: REVENUE AND EMPLOYMENT RATIOS.
For top management, the most important support cost benchmark is
usually the ratio of support spending to total company revenues. Unlike
call statistics and productivity metrics, the support cost . . .
BENCHMARK SURVEY: TECHNICAL SUPPORT COST RATIOS.
Over the past few years, software companies have struggled to keep
the cost of telephone-based tech support under control. Thousands of
hours of consulting time, conferences, and operations . . .
DATA POINTS: MOST POPULAR ASP APPLICATIONS.
[CHART OMITTED]
Is there really an emerging market for application service
providers? Actual revenues may be modest, but a surprising number of
companies are actively evangelizing the ASP model. . . .
WEB STRATEGIES: "FOCUS MANIACALLY" ON YOUR BEST
CUSTOMERS.
Flush with cash, venture-backed Web stores have become notorious
for traffic-at-all-costs promotions that attract thousands of
tire-kickers who rarely come back for a second look (or a . . .
THE NEW ECONOMICS OF CONSUMER SOFTWARE.
For better or worse (and that's a debate all by itself), Kevin
O'Leary has profoundly changed the consumer software business. As
president of The Learning Company, O'Leary waged . . .
KEY METRICS: THE SALES PIPELINE.
"Sales organizations are usually very good at measuring the
performance of their people," says sales consultant Chuck DeVita.
"But they have a much harder time measuring and analyzing . . .
DATA POINTS: WHY WEB BUYERS WALK AWAY.(Industry Trend or
Event)
The Web may be turning into the world's biggest shopping mall,
but the online buying experience still seems to frustrate a remarkably
high percentage of customers. According to a new Boston . . .
ARE MICROSOFT'S NUMBERS TRUSTWORTHY?(Company Financial
Information)
Wall Street analysts tend to chuckle whenever Microsoft's top
execs issue their routine doom-and-gloom forecasts about future
earnings. But last month's quarterly earnings announcement got . . .
HOW TO AVOID PHONE FURY.(Industry Trend or Event)
No, they don't teach good telephone manners at Harvard or
Stanford. But politeness just might be a competitive weapon that
deserves more attention. Last year, an etiquette consulting firm . . .
THE PASSION PRINCIPLE.(Industry Trend or Event)
Conventional wisdom says that people who start companies are driven
by visions of immense wealth, by spreadsheet numbers and business plans.
That's nonsense, says Randy Komisar, a veteran . . .
MARKETING CASEBOOK #1: A DOZEN HOME-RUN IDEAS.
It's almost a rule of nature: As companies mature, their
marketing tactics begin to fall into well-worn ruts. Careful
implementation of tested formulas becomes more important than
breakthrough . . .
NOTES ON METHODOLOGY.(Editorial)
The Soft-letter 100, published annually since 1984, is defined
formally as "a ranking of the top 100 personal computer software
companies in the U.S., based on calendar year revenues." . . .
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