How Email Blasts Work
Feb 26, 2009 Advertising, Branding, Consumer Brands, Digital Marketing & Metrics, Marketing & Communication
I am in the need of some new clothes. After two kids, I have gained and lost weight twice, seen my body change size and shape twice, and bought “fat” clothes twice after each birth. Now, 6 months after my final baby my fat clothes are too big but my pre-baby clothes are too small.
I have signed up for a number of e-mail newsletters, most I rarely read, and some I never read. This morning I got one with the following subject header:
One Day Only! 30% Off All Full-Priced Items
And, it was from Banana Republic where I had recently seen a lovely pair of pants but didn’t purchase because $140 on pants when you are on Maternity Leave (and, in this economy) seems a bit extravagant. So, I opened this email.
Guess who is going shopping!!
I got to thinking about email newsletters or email blasts – whatever you want to call them. They aren’t a “silver bullet” – but they can be an incredible direct marketing tool. You have permission to enter a customers Inbox, but just by following e-mail newsletter best practices won’t get you click-through.
If I am not already considering a clothing purchase (Banana Republic) or looking for a new book to read (Amazon) I might not open the email at all. Similar to print and TV advertising – I am not going to pay much attention unless I am looking for that type of information, or have a current interest in the product or service. I have received many deals via email for clothing companies – but when I am not looking for a new pair of pants that email gets deleted – no matter how good the subject of the email is!
Of course, the subject has to be the most important piece of the email newsletter. It can mean the difference between Trash and Click. Amazon does an incredible job of creating great subject headings by offering me customized deals on books that fit my purchase behaviour. While I didn’t purchase on this one, I did click and added the book to my Wish List:
Save 37% at Amazon.ca on “The Mobile Marketing Handbook: A Step-by-Step Guide to Creating Dynamic Mobile Marketing Campaigns” by Kim Dushinski
This was the message that came with this email:
amazon e-mail blast
Note there was nothing extraordinary about the design of the blast. It was simply well-targeted with a descriptive (if long…) subject heading that caught my attention. Obviously the emails can only be well targeted if the company has a decent amount of information on your purchasing behaviour. Let’s say I am not looking for a new pair of pants so I ignore the e-mail offering me 30% off at Banana Republic. If on the other hand Banana Republic knew I loved their Martin Fit pants (they are the perfect fit for my body shape) and they send me an email blast that instead said “Save 30% on Martin Fit Pants” – even if I wasn’t looking for a pair of pants I might open that email because it reminds me how much I like those pants, and perhaps I need a pair of beige pants…and why not! At 30% off – what a deal!
I wonder, if more companies had Amazon’s ability to target email blasts, how that would effect their conversion rate? Of course Amazon has the benefit of being an online retailer – so data on it’s customers is easy to come by. A bricks and mortar shop like Banana Republic would have to request your personal information every time you shop – and most people are less willing to give that away at the front cash. I know I dislike being asked for my phone number at retailers, and anytime someone asks for my mailing address I say no. Oddly, I gave all that information to Banana Republic ONLINE when I signed up for their newsletter. I wonder how they could join my purchase behaviour with my newsletter? They could ask me to fill out a longer online form where I indicate my favourite BR clothes, or when I shop using a emailed coupon they could ask if they could add my shopping preferences to my account. I wouldn’t mind sharing my purchase behaviour with some stores in order to get more targeted email – how about you? Why is it that we are willing to share more online then in person at the shop? Will this change if we become more concerned about privacy online? Or is it just a matter of time before our online profile include a link to our favourite pants?
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Tags: Amazon.com, Banana Republic, Conversion rate, Direct marketing, email marketing, marketing & communication, Online shopping, Retailing
February 26th, 2009 at 7:45 pm
Interesting blog. I agree, I get a lot of emails that I normally trash without looking at, but every once in a while I get one I actually read. Must have had something to do with the heading or title of the email. A couple of times like you it led me to something I was actually thinking of purchasing.
March 20th, 2009 at 3:13 pm
Great post. Funny too. I agree the subject line is everything. And the deal has to be hot enough as well.
People’s relationships with email blasts/newsletters are changing. As is their they way they treat email in general. I read an interesting study the other day about this behavior change. A few words on it here: http://www.heilbrice.com/blog/uncategorized/dont-be-afraid-of-e-mail/
March 20th, 2009 at 3:14 pm
Also good luck with those pants
June 24th, 2009 at 1:03 am
Nice post. Thanks for sharing these tips.