A01 chaf6542 06 se fm indd

5 

Tone and style preference. In a similar manner to channel preference, customers will 

respond differently to different types of message. Some may like a more rational appeal, 

in which case a detailed email explaining the benefits of the offer may work best. Others 

will prefer an emotional appeal based on images and with warmer, less formal copy. 

Sophisticated companies will test for this in customers or infer it using profile character-

istics and response behaviour and then develop different creative treatments accordingly. 

Companies that use polls can potentially use this to infer style preferences.

To summarise this section, read Mini case study 9.11, which illustrates the combination of 

these different forms of communication.

Figure 9.21

Customer life cycle segmentation

Purchased active: e-responsive