E-commerce Link: Profitable E-mail
Fine-tune your targeting to move your program to the next level
April 2007 By Regina Brady
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Anything you can do to stimulate opens and clickthroughs during this vulnerable time frame will help you counteract any precipitous fall off in response. You might consider a custom welcome series to new registrants that contains your most popular content or offers. If you can resonate with new customers through targeting, you may still see results decline within the first 90 days, but not to the same degree as the averages reported.
Identify Your Inactives
If an e-mail subscriber has not opened or clicked through an e-mail within four to six months, malaise has set in. You need to re-engage these subscribers with either a subtle or an “in your face” approach.
One of my favorite examples of an “in your face approach” is from the auto maker BMW, which asked its inactives if they were bored. The e-mail graphic showed a person asleep at the wheel and the introductory copy read: “Every now and then we like to check in with our MINI Insiders. Are you enjoying the e-mails you receive from us?” The copy went on to say that if they were, that was wonderful. If not, the recipient might want to either check out some new information on its Web site or opt-out of its e-mail program.
Dell took a more subtle approach with its Dell Small Business newsletter. While its regular e-mail program is sent in HTML, it sent a text e-mail to its inactives. This was a smart tactic because, due to current filtering issues, text is much more likely to get delivered. Its subject line really caught my eye: “Dell sends its apologies. There’s still time on $599 desktop savings.” The e-mail then got to the point with an opening sentence that read: “If you no longer wish to receive these communications, please unsubscribe by clicking here.” This was followed by a link to change frequency preferences, a request to add Dell to the address book, a link to its privacy policy, and a promotion for the special offer of the week.
Take Advantage of Profile Data
If you have collected basic demographic information about your e-mail subscribers, find ways to use it. And, if you have not, you may want to think about revising your sign-up registration process to capture this additional information. The more you know about your prospects and customers, the more laser-focused your communications can be.
Brooks Brothers often promotes gender-specific offers. No surprise here, women who received female apparel offers outperformed those who received the men’s suit offer by 30 percent.
B-to-B firm Accenture has a broad consulting practice in five major business categories and 17 sub-vertical markets. Prospects and customers who subscribe to its My Outlook e-mail program are offered the ability to customize the content they receive based on industry, country or world region, topics of interest and more.
I hope some of these ideas resonate with you. The more you deliver relevant, targeted messages to your audience, the better your results will be.
Regina Brady is president of Reggie Brady Marketing Solutions, a direct and e-mail marketing consultancy. She can be reached at (203) 838-8138 or by e-mail at reginabrady@att.net.
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