Email marketing is the most effective way to increase sales, improve service, and keep customers coming back. Getting the most out of email campaigns requires an integrated strategy that crosses channels and motivates people to act. “The Integrated Email” provides realistic solutions and best practices for navigating the land mines of spam filters, short attention spans and increasing competition that marketers face today.
Debra Ellis is a seasoned direct marketer specializing in using integrated strategies to keep customers coming back and buying more. She is the author of several marketing guides and the Multichannel Magic blog. She can be reached via email (below), on Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn and Facebook.
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Black Friday and Cyber Monday are just around the corner. Planning for your email campaign should have started weeks ago. If not, this is the time to jump in and get ready. This holiday season is positioned to be extremely competitive. The election advertising bombarding people today will be replaced with promotions trying to squeeze every dollar out of a tough economy.
The holiday season provides two opportunities for enterprising marketers. The first, and most obvious, is the opportunity to increase sales. Bargain hunters everywhere will be snatching up the best deals across all channels. The company with the lowest prices will win their attention—and possibly their business—until a lower price appears at the next store. This opportunity works best for companies with killer price negotiators and heavy volume.
Creating and solidifying relationships between customer and company is the second opportunity. Connections can begin with deep discounts but there has to be a strategy in place to move customers from discount shoppers to loyal buyers. The process starts with understanding how people become loyal to your company. What path do they follow from first purchase to long time customers?
The answer to that question is most likely, "it depends," because the path is dependent on the customer type and what motivated the first purchase. Discount promotions attract bargain hunters, hit and run shoppers, and active customers. Bargain hunters tend to watch for discounts before buying again while hit and run shoppers buy once and disappear. Active customers stay around during the off-sale season and build lifetime value. Only a small percentage of customers acquired during high promotion periods will become active customers without intervention.
Email is an excellent tool for converting bargain hunters and hit-and-run shoppers into active customers. It is inexpensive and effective when used to strategically move people into the buying cycle. Here are some tips to get you started:
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