E-commerce Link: Make It an Engagement
Polls and Surveys
Get your e-mail recipients to weigh in with their opinions. Here are some quick examples:
• Lake Forest, Ill.-based Brunswick Bowling has an e-newsletter called Brunswick Bonus Zone. It features a simple multiple-choice, quiz-like question, and reports on answers and the correct answer in the next e-mail.
Brunswick Bowling aims to engage subscribers to the Brunswick Bonus Zone e-newsletter with its Coach’s Corner video and a quick poll question.
• Catholic Relief Services has moved to more open-ended questions. In its e-newsletter, CRS Briefing, it recently asked "What is your favorite parable, and why?" Immediately below the poll is a link to last month's questions and responses.
• B-to-B e-newsletter Pro & Content also asks a multiple choice question. The most recent poll was "Do you manage your social media presence yourself, or do you work with a third party?"
Customer Reviews
Product reviews are altering how customers make purchase decisions, and if you have implemented reviews on your website, you will see higher conversions. So be sure to occasionally send e-mails that feature highly rated products and services. And if you have customer reviews on your website, use triggered messaging to encourage purchasers to rate and review products.
Create Community
If you want to know what your e-mail subscribers are pondering—ask them. Create a persona that is an authority for your brand. Allow e-mail recipients to post questions to your website or have them answered in the e-newsletter.
CNET, a provider of tech product reviews and more, has an e-mail program called CNET Community. Each e-mail comes from Lee Koo, who is the community manager. While the substance of each e-mail is to address a user question—such as "What is a simple way to convert old VHS tapes to DVDs?"—from time to time he shares personal experiences, such as the birth of his new daughter. This reminds recipients that there is a real person behind the e-mails.
