Searching for the Perfect e-Dialog Holiday Party Outfit

e-Dialog conducts research on the customer purchase path because we recognize that marketers need the ability to communicate with their customers through various connection points in multiple channels.  (Read more in The Online Marketing Suite.)

 

Our research found that the typical purchase path has 3.8 touch points.  This means that a customer saw your print/online/broadcast ad and was introduced to your product or service.  Next, they likely did some research either on your website, a review site, or even by posting a status asking for opinions on their Facebook wall.  This second connection likely influenced whether or not they considered buying from you.  If they wanted to purchase, they probably looked for a deal online or in their email archive.  Finally, they purchased either digitally (yes, this includes e-, m-, or f-Commerce) or in-store.  This totals 4 touches - and there are endless other combinations of introducing, influencing, and closing advertising activities involved.

 

Key findings:

    - There are 3.8 touches in the typical purchase path

    - 36-50% of purchase paths involve more than one touch point

    - If the path includes multiple touches, the average order value is likely to increase by 42%

 

I would like to detail the recent purchase path I traveled while shopping for the e-Dialog holiday party (our Facebook page probably has some pictures!).  My path probably starts in August 2011 when I bought a dress for a wedding at White House | Black Market.  Since then, I’ve been receiving catalogs for the store at my home address.  In a recent catalog I saw a patterned silk top I liked. 

 

Next, I visited the website to see additional pictures of the item.  I decided I definitely liked it and that it would be great for the party.  So, I checked my email archive for any recent deals or promo codes.  Finally, I went to the store to try on the top.  I ended up buying it – along with 3 pairs of jeans that I found there! 

 

To recap, after 1) seeing the catalog, 2) viewing the item online, 3) checking recent WHBM emails, I ended up 4) spending almost $200 in store. 

 

While the company did not offer an e-receipt option, or send an immediate thank you, I did receive an email to rate my purchase 1 week later.  This was definitely a multi-channel win:

 

 

Overall, I was extremely happy with all aspects of the experience.  However, for the purpose of continuous improvement, I do have to point out a multi-channel miss: I went back to the site soon after my store visit to look at the swim collection that was announced via a recent email.  The swim line is not available in local stores so I considered ordering online.  I had trouble logging in to receive my loyalty program discount.  I chatted (online) with a customer service representative who quickly realized that while I had an in-store purchase history, I had a very old online profile – from two addresses ago!  (This is a perfect case for why getting the “big data” together to get the 360 view of your customer is so important!)

 

All Hail to the Sale-Presidents' Day is Here!

Wow, my inbox still has a rosy glow from Valentine's Day, but now it's been taken over by red, white and blue! Retailers are not waiting until the actual holiday to get the sale started.

 

Pottery Barn sent this email on Thursday, offering a head start on savings of up to 60% off. 

 

The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston took a more literal approach, offering 25% off gifts inspired by the famous painting, Passage of the Delaware, which depicts George Washington prior to the Battle of Trenton. 

 

 

J. Jill uses animation to draw an Uncle Sam-style hat on top of their sale announcement in this email. Click on the image to see the animated version.

 

Who gets your vote this Presidents' Day?

 

Liz Lynch, senior marketing communications specialist,

e-Dialog, @eDialogLiz

 

Feeling the Love

This year, it seems like Valentine's Day has really become a focus for marketers. My inbox is overflowing with love, in the email sense, anyway. This has taken the form of free gifts, special promotions, and even color themes. 

 

Here's an example from Lands' End which turns the tables a bit, showing how much their customers love them. This email features a comment they received on the Facebook wall detailing all the things Arlene loves about Lands' End. Although the cynic in me thinks this is a little too perfect for a spontaneous Facebook comment.

 

 

J. Jill and Lucy both went with a color theme, promoting red and pink clothing. 

 

 

Clarins offered a free gift with purchase for Valentine's Day, but what I liked more was the follow up email. The subject line was "Did you get what you really wanted for Valentine's Day?" and they extended the free gift offer for one more day.

 

 

What emails did you love this Valentine's Day?

 

Liz Lynch, senior marketing communications associate,

e-Dialog, @eDialogLiz

 

Groundhog Day for Email Marketers

For most people, the month of February brings thoughts of flowers and candy for Valentine's Day. For me, February reminds me of one of my favorite movies, "Groundhog Day," in which Bill Murray relives Groundhog Day over and over until he learns to recognize his faults. I think many email marketers are in the same situation; performing the same action over and over, but expecting different results each time. Some would even say this is the definition of insanity. Marketers wonder why response rates are dropping, but are blind to the fact that they are sending the same non-targeted, irrelevant messages over and over again. Of course subscribers are losing interest; you are conditioning them to expect the same redundant email every time.

One online retailer I know of has sent 13 consecutive weekly emails with the same subject line. Here's a hint: if I wasn't enticed the first time, the 13th time probably won't convince me. This retailer does themselves no favors in a cluttered inbox. We know that consumers often save an email to go back to later when they are ready to shop. Make it easy by using distinctive subject lines for each message. Create distinctive offers as well. Using math to trick your customer into thinking they are getting a deal may initially drive sales, but after a while they'll catch on. No matter how many ways you change the percentage off, or offer free shipping, if the end result is $24.99 every time, customers will eventually stop looking for that "special" offer.

Another way marketers train customers to ignore emails is by sending too often. Seeing that email in the inbox each morning becomes routine. In most instances, people actually may want to receive all of those daily deal emails, but just skim the subject lines each day until they see an offer or brand that they may want, while deleting the rest without opening, and this can influence spam filters. So why not just ask what they want and segment based on that information? A simple preference center can allow your customers to set products, categories, and brands they are interested in. Your customer may have bought that deal for 50 percent off bungee jumping today, but chances are they won't be interested in a buy-one-get-one-free deal on knitting classes tomorrow.

All of this boils down to engagement. ISPs are factoring engagement into the filtering process and marketers will need to test and refine their strategy to remain in the inbox. Regardless of your opinion on the matter, it's here, and it's not going anywhere. If you aren't testing, how can you know what it is that's driving your performance? I understand that developing a testing strategy can be time-consuming and a bit intimidating, but start small and ask for help. Your email service provider can help you develop and test programs that will ultimately give you actionable information. Just like in "Groundhog Day," it might take a while to find the right combination, but it's worth it.

 

Jay Brangiforte, senior deliverability operations manager,

e-Dialog

 

This article originally appeared on ClickZ. 

 

Six More Weeks of Email Marketing

Today was Groundhog Day, a holiday in which everyone waits to see whether or not Punxatawney Phil is ready to come out of hibernation. This year, he wasn't, which means we have at least six more weeks of winter. I saw a fair amount of emails featuring the lovable rodent, and figured I would share some of my favorites with you. 

I loved this email from Petco that features an animated groundhog popping up to to offer 20% for one day only. Click the image to see the animated version. 

 

Solutions.com sent this cute message offering free shipping for the afternoon. The headline reads "Six more weeks of winter? Who can trust a groundhog anyway?" and makes me wonder if they had two version ready in advance, or waited until the morning to finalize.

 

 

Kmart also sent out a Groundhog Day promotion, but for some reason, this creative reminded me more of a prairie dog than a groundhog...

 

 

What do you think of these Groundhog Day promotions? Have you seen any good ones? I would love to see them!

 

Liz Lynch, senior marketing communications associate,

e-Dialog, @eDialogLiz

 

 

Love vs. Football: The Battle for the Inbox

I don't know about you, but for the last week or so, pretty much every marketing email I get is either about Valentine's Day or "The Big Game" as so many like to call it for trademark reasons. Some tie-ins are pretty weak, others are kind of inspired, so I wanted to share some favorites with you. 

This email from Uncommon Goods goes beyond the traditional "romantic" Valentine's Day options, and includes ideas for best friends, teens, pet lovers, music lovers, etc.

 

 

I also liked this email from Fab.com, which encourages personalized Valentine's Day gifts for a cliche-free V-Day. It can be hard to find gifts that aren't super sappy, like stuffed bears holding a heart, so it's nice to showcase modern, unique gifts. 

 

I also liked this email from Tuesday Morning, with the subject line "Love Means Never Having to Say I Spent Too Much Online." I also like that they ask what movie inspired the subject line and direct subscribers to Facebook to post their favorite romantic movie. 

 

For football themes, I liked this message from the Christmas Tree Shops, which features everything you might need to watch the game on Sunday. I like the background that simulates the football field and also the circles and arrows which remind me of the telestrator commentators use when talking about a play. 

 

Crate and Barrel get in on the game day action by also showcasing the items to have on hand if you're hosting a party. They keep it a little more formal, but I like that each item they show in the hero image is then repeated below along with price. 

 

Finally, I have this example from Dancing Deer that incorporates both the big game and Valentine's Day in the same email. I also noticed that they've added Pinterest to their social sharing links in the footer. I think this is the first time I've seen it in an email this way. 

 

I'd love to hear from you who you think is being creative for Valentine's Day or the big game!

 

Liz Lynch, senior marketing communications associate

e-Dialog, @eDialogLiz

2012, the year of...

Big events! There will be some significant occurrences in the upcoming year including the Olympics and the Presidential Election. Make sure you have them marked on your promotional calendar now. Having well thought out promotions built around these special events can help you stand out from the crowd.

First up: Leap Year.  February 29 appears on the calendar once every 4 years. Therefore, Leap Year Babies are often thought of as being neglected. If you have enough customers born on 2/29 to justify a special birthday message, it would be nice to treat them to 4x the typical birthday deal. The majority of your database will likely be born on other days of the year, so celebrate them too by offering a special deal on their birthday if they enter or confirm their information on the 29th. Perhaps 29% off?  This will fill in gaps in your data and give customers something to look forward to. 

“Leap” also implies skipping over or avoiding something – like shipping fees! This holiday season we saw an incredible number of Free Shipping deals starting on Black Friday. Many companies extended the deal to the last minute, offering free upgrades to 2-day shipping and free express delivery. Some companies, like L.L. Bean, offer Free Shipping all the time.  If you are still charging shipping fees, Leap Year Day might be a nice day to temporarily suspend them – or charge a nominal flat rate like $2.29.

Another event occurring every four years is the Summer Olympics.  Starting in July, the Olympics will be the focus of much attention. Many athletes have interesting backstories and the news media will be doing a lot of biographies. Take a cue from this this channel and feature in-depth information on designers or employees that are inspirational or have shown great teamwork. J.Crew published a web video last spring on how a particular pair of shoes was made.  It provided a look into the personalities of the team who designed the shoe, picked the materials, and ultimately produced the product. The video made me much more attracted to both the product and the company. According to e-Dialog research, nearly 20% of consumers subscribe to email because they identify with a brand or the lifestyle it promotes. Let them in on more of that lifestyle by putting faces to your brand. 

An obvious tie-in to the Olympics is to feature a game in your email. Games promote interactivity and engagement. The current email from the Choice Hotels loyalty program advertises a simple matching game where you flip over cards and match each of the brand logos. The game times how fast you make the matches and lets you share it on Facebook.  Not only did it engage me, but it also familiarized me with hotels I didn’t know already. This could be replicated using brands or even products from a new line.

http://choicehotelscreative.com/ecrm/11-767/index.html

 

Election 2012.  An event we can expect to hear about for the majority of the year is the Presidential election. The population will be urged again and again to get out and vote.  Therefore, including a poll or survey in your email will be right in line with what customers are seeing and hearing in their day-to-day lives. This is an especially great way to refresh and/or build out the information in your preference center and to gain actionable data from your subscribers. Multiple choice polls can be built directly into your emails with e-Dialog and results are tied to email addresses.

See the example CVS poll below. Based on the answer chosen, you could direct customers to different landing pages. If they are done wrapping, show them gifts for themselves – they earned it! If they haven’t started, bring on the tape, scissors and gift bags.

 

The 12 Days of Christmas.  If you thought you saw a lot of companies doing a daily-deal and counting down the 12 days of Christmas, you were right. And if you think they won’t do it again – especially when the calendar turns 12/12/12 - you would probably be mistaken. Review your favorite daily-deal emails now to see what competitors did and start brainstorming creative takes on this concept. I like the approach L’Occitane took this summer by displaying outlines of the products they would be discounting but still keeping some mystery around them. 

 

I also liked the video Best Buy did right before Christmas where they summarized their deals-of-the-week in a 2 minute video. The video was a nice change from having to click and scroll through all of the deals. Furthermore, it was engaging and entertaining with a little humor sprinkled in.

 

Others.  While Leap Year, the Summer Olympics, the Presidential Election and 12.12.12 are events special to the new year, there will indubitably be others that pop up along the way.  (I’m not even going to address the end-of-the-world stuff predicted for next December). Be flexible and ready for these “events” too with branded templates. At a minimum, create a postcard-like shell with your branding that can be pulled off the shelf to promote something last minute or to match a competitor’s offer.

Wishing you a happy and health 2012!  (And, Happy Birthday leap year babies!  Go Team USA…)

Are there any events I missed?  Please send them my way!

Animation Adds Interest to Retail Emails

Email volume was way up this holiday season and made it more important than ever to grab a recipient's attention quickly. Increasingly, the way to do this is through animation. I've seen an increase in animation in email by retailers and wanted to share a few examples. 

One of the trends I noticed was animation for the call to action, or to highlight the offer. J. Jill had a 5 days of gifts promotion, and animated the countdown in the series of emails.

 

 

 

Here's the animated section in action:

In this email from Boden, they use animation to reinforce the urgency of the one-day deal. The text changes from Monday to One Day to Today. Click the email to see the animation.

Another trend was animating products, like in this Coldwater Creek example, where the sweaters stack up. Click the image to see the animated version. 

Then there are animated design elements. OpenSky has been experimenting with adding subtle animation to their hero images. This example features host and hostess gifts and uses an image of the ribbons from the gift box blowing in the wind.

In this example from CVS, to emphasize their gift card offer, they add a garland of animated gift cards at the bottom of the section. Click the email to view the animated version. 

 

Do you think we'll continue to see an increase in animated elements in email? I'd love to see any examples that cut through the clutter in your inbox this holiday. 

 

Liz Lynch, senior marketing communications associate,

e-Dialog, @eDialogLiz

 

 

Marketing Wrap-up: Week of December 16, 2011

Only one shopping weekend until Christmas! I know we've all got a lot on our to-do list, so let's breeze through the top marketing moments of this week. 

First, Facebook is finally rolling out access to Timeline to everyone. Of course, there's been some griping about not understanding how to use it and why they changed it. I've had it for a while, so I'm used to it, and as I see it, being able to look back at your status updates and conversations does have value. I've been surprised how much I actually like it. And I love the large custom photo area at the top. I have a lot of ideas about how marketers can adapt and get consumers to use that space to share brand info, but that's a post for another day!

 

In other big news, Zynga has filed a $1 billion IPO. They are one of the most successful social gaming companies, but many have said their fortunes are too closely tied to Facebook, and while their games are played by millions, players complain new features are rolled out without fixing existing issues. Plus, working at Zynga is apparently no picnic. In early trading, the stock price rose, but then fell below the initial offering price. Time will tell if they will be a smart investment in the long term. 

 

In case you didn't know, today is Free Shipping Day, otherwise known as the last day you can use standard shipping to get your packages delivered by Christmas.  You can go to http://www.freeshippingday.com/ to see the list of more than 2,500 retailers participating. My inbox is overflowing with reminders about free shipping. I've also seen a lot of extensions, offering expedited free shipping up until December 22 in many cases. Retailers are also promoting in-store pick up for online orders as an alternative. 

 

And finally, because it's Friday and we can all use a bit of fun, check our our Build-your-own-snowman app! I'd love to see your creations-share them on our Facebook wall.

 

Liz Lynch, senior marketing communications associate,

e-Dialog, @eDialogLiz

Green Monday: How Did You Celebrate?

Well, apparently Black Friday and Cyber Monday are not big enough, because now there's Green Monday, the newest "big" shopping day of the holiday season. You probably celebrated without even knowing it!

 

The term Green Monday supposedly originated because it is the last day before Christmas to purchase a gift that will arrive in time using standard shipping. But with so many free shipping offers this year, does it still ring true that Green Monday will be one of the season's biggest shopping days? Plus, there's Free Shipping Day to think about, coming up this Friday, December 16th. 

 

So far, marketers don't seem to be promoting Green Monday the same way they have Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Kmart and Sears prepared special deals for last minute shoppers and extended their shipping deadlines. They also promoted their "Ready in 5" in-store pickup option for online orders. 

My inbox was not showing a lot of green on Monday, but there were a few examples. The first is from the Food Network Store. It was pretty basic, and actually didn't use any green in the creative, instead sticking with the traditional red. 

Justice, a retailer of girl's apparel, was a little more colorful. They featured Green Monday in the copy and put the shipping deadlines right up front. Interestingly, the Green Monday sale is online only, but they also offer an in-store coupon for the same dates and percentage off the purchase.

 

Finally, Miles Kimball sent a Green Monday-themed message. I like that they give the deadlines for shipping for both personalized and non-personalized items. 

 

Do you think Green Monday will become as familiar to consumers as Black Friday and Cyber Monday? I'd love to hear your take-just leave a comment.

 

Liz Lynch, senior marketing communications associate,
e-Dialog, eDialogLiz 

Marketing Wrap-up: Week of December 9, 2011

One week closer to Christmas and one sentence closer to 10 links that will inspire you digitally. This week we have been gifted with reflections on the past year and predictions for the next. In the next few minutes you will see some valuable stats and interesting findings that you can take with you until next time. As always, enjoy:

 

Top 10 links of the week:

1. Who are you rooting for? The Tech Wars of 2012 Fast Company

2. ClickZ reflect on the innovations in email of 2011

3. In case you hadn’t heard - Facebook buys Gowalla Brand Republic

4. Ever wondered how to use social media for better customer acquisition? Mashable

5. Email marketing: 4 steps to manage your inactive subscribers. Inbox Group

6. Your complete guide to measuring email marketing success HubSpot

7. If you’ve got it… Data should flaunt its geek chic MarketingWeek

8. Maybe a bold statement, what do the creative folk make of this one? The only email design tips you will ever need to succeed EmailBlog.eu

9. Great stats -  Mobile and iPad email use spikes MediaPost

10. Consumer expectations are not being met - Consumers are now less forgiving of a poor mobile experience UTalkMarketing

10.5 One to see you well in to the Christmas season – If Santa was an email marketer…  Email Marketing Reports

 

Have any views on this week's links? What was your favourite article of the week? We would love to hear from you so be sure to drop a comment below.

 

See you next time.

 

Millie Bartlett, Marketing Coordinator, e-Dialog UK, @eDialogEurope

Finding the Holiday Fun in my Inbox

I’m done holiday shopping.  It is a new record for me, and I’m not going to lie – it feels good!  I shopped at the mall Black Friday Weekend and I “celebrated” Cyber Monday.  I scoured my email for coupons, promo codes and free shipping deals to get the best prices.  Now that I’m done, I can focus on the fun in my inbox!

 

The first “fun” I came across was in an email from White House | Black Market:

 

They created a Facebook-based application where customers drag-and-drop items to generate a personalized wishlist.

 

This wishlist is, of course, share-able to your wall:

 

The SC Johnson family also got into the fun on Facebook by allowing customers to create a mood board based on their favorite Glade fragrances.  This really struck a chord with me – since I’m done with shopping – now it’s time to concentrate on decorating!

 

The email directed consumers to Facebook:

 

Once on the site, you select different room scenes and decorate them using furniture, trimmings and Glade products.

A few companies used contests or sweepstakes to draw interest to their product offerings.  The Limited sponsored a “Holiday Wishlist Facebook Giveaway”.  Just “Like” their page to enter for a chance to win a prize a day.

 

Others used Twitter and YouTube to promote their holiday initiatives.  Bed Bath & Beyond asked subscribers to follow them on Twitter using a cute play on decorating your nest:

 

Finally, there was the just plain silly.  Walmart added a banner to their email to encourage views of a holiday “Yodeling Cat”. (While I don't see any real added value here, the link is here in case you just can’t resist!)

 

 

Overall, companies are using email to broadcast their social programs this season.  This makes sense because the overlap between email is social is only around 18%, according to
e-Dialog’s primary research.  Furthermore, email is typically the first medium a customer chooses to interact with.  Seventy-five percent of respondents said they signed up for email before they investigated the company’s social presence. (Source: Deciphering Customer Acquisition: Connecting Acquisition Across Email, Social and Mobile, e-Dialog © 2011) 

 

So, I will continue to kick-back and watch the fun file into my inbox!  What is your favorite interactive holiday activity to date? 

 

Lauren Pizzi, e-Dialog

 

 

From Thanksgiving to Cyber Monday, Email Volume Is Up

According to reports, holiday 2011 is off to a strong start, with good retail sales numbers for the days of Black Friday through Cyber Monday. comScore reported shoppers spent more than a billion dollars on Cyber Monday alone, which is an increase of 22% over 2010 and the heaviest online spending day in history. Email marketing is certainly helping drive a good portion of this ecommerce activity, and at e-Dialog, we are seeing the traditional email volume increases associated with the Christmas shopping season. Let's take a look at some numbers.

 

For Thanksgiving and Black Friday this year, the total amount of email sent globally by e-Dialog increased more than 50% over the same days in 2010. We saw a lot of emails promoting a "Why Wait?" message, encouraging consumers to head into stores that were open on Thanksgiving, or offering Black Friday deals online before Friday. Another strong message was free shipping, which was to be expected, since that is something that helps seal the deal for consumers.

 

For Saturday and Sunday, email volumes were also higher than the same dates last year, but "only" by about 30%. Messages were mostly either extending Black Friday deals, or hyping the upcoming Cyber Monday promotions. Cyber Monday itself was again a high-volume mailing day, with e-Dialog clients sending 30% more email than Cyber Monday 2010. It set a record here at e-Dialog for the most emails we've ever sent in a 24-hour span.

 

Overall, looking at the past five days, we've seen email volume surpass 2010 by an average of 30%. It is hard to tell at this point if shoppers will get overwhelmed with all the mail being delivered to their inboxes. Interestingly, we did see an increase in transactional messages, which by definition are more personalized and relevant, so perhaps there won't be any email fatigue happening.

 

What do you think? Are marketers balancing the increase in frequency with an increase in relevance? Can the current email volume be sustained through the end of the year?

Getting to the Point at Point of Sale

At this time of year, with consumers heading into the mall for some serious shopping, retailers are looking to capitalize on that warm body in-store by promoting their online programs and collecting email addresses at the register. This can be a good idea, if it is well-planned and well-executed. Handled the wrong way, it may not even be worth doing. You must keep in mind upfront costs, backend costs, and the true value of the resulting email address.

Retailers will often give an incentive on the spot to entice customers to provide an email address at checkout, like $5 off their purchase. This makes sense, since the $5 in this example to acquire a valid email address is a good value in the long run. But depending on how you actually collect that email address, you might be throwing $5 out the window. For instance, using a guest book where the shopper scrawls the email in the midst of their rush to complete the purchase and not hold up the line of people behind them is probably not the best approach. It leaves too much room for human error when the customer is filling out the form, or when it is entered into your CRM system at the end of the night - particularly since a lot of people's handwriting is less than legible these days. A better method is when the cashier enters the email directly into your POS system, confirming the address back to the consumer as they enter it.

Even better, think about how and when the incentive is delivered. To increase the chances of getting a valid email address, structure the program so that the incentive is delivered via email, to be used on the next visit. This is also a perfect opportunity to ask for a confirmed opt-in (i.e., "To get your coupon and to receive marketing messages click here"). While confirmed opt-in may sound scary, it validates the email address and interest of your customer to participate in your online marketing. More importantly, it effectively eliminates any possibility of hitting spam traps, which are often part of the backend costs of POS acquisition programs.

Building incentives for your customers is only half of the equation. How you motivate your employees is equally important. Don't build programs based on total number of email addresses collected each shift. Your employees can easily be tempted to make their quota by fabricating addresses, some of which might actually belong to a real person who will flag your email as spam, or have now been made into spam traps by an ISP. Employee incentives should only be based on the number of deliverable and confirmed email addresses collected.

Offering an incentive to customers or employees comes at a cost, which you can estimate up front based on your acquisition goals. But there are other costs to keep in mind. One is data auditing. You'll want to make sure you catch common errors in addresses like misspelled domains or missing dots in dotcom. An easy way to do this with online data collection is to add a real-time validator to your enrollment applications. This is easy to do and usually not very expensive. This will not only make corrections on they fly, but it can also be configured to catch your current customers who are already in your system.

Another hidden cost to consider is the time spent in the checkout process overall. Depending on how time-consuming it is to collect email addresses, it could mean fewer transactions per hour, and some shoppers might even abandon their purchase if the line doesn't move quickly enough. So be sure to train employees well, and perhaps set guidelines to keep the line moving.

Once the email address has been added to your database, the work is not done. Don't add these new addresses to your latest promotional message stream right away. It is important to nurture the new subscribers and keep them engaged past the holiday in order to make the acquisition efforts worthwhile. So make sure the first email you send delivers the incentive you promised, but also sells your email program. Outline that the reward they just received for signing up is only the first of many great things coming their way. If you can do that, hopefully that first point of sale won't be the last.

 

Rick Buck, vice president of Privacy and ISP relations, e-Dialog, @eDialogRick

 

This post was originally published by ClickZ.

 

The Spirit of Giving: Retailers Make It Easy with Gift Guides

Black Friday is coming up fast, and retailers are looking ahead to the holidays, knowing that most shoppers will begin in earnest soon. Personally, I love shopping for friends and family, but for others, figuring out what to get someone is a conundrum. Thankfully, retailers are here to help with handy gift guides!

 

Here's Clarins' "The Beauty of Giving." It offers options for the Jetsetter, the Girl-on-the-Go, and the Hostess. They emphasize the value of the sets, showing that a relatively small investment can still make a big impact. 

 

 

Garnet Hill goes big, featuring 11 gift guides in this email. Obvious choices, like gifts for her, him and the kids, but also interesting ones, like warm & toasty and the gift of a good night's sleep. When you click through, you are taken to an interactive catalog. I think the execution was nice, but where it was lacking for me was in the social sharing. If you clicked on the share to Twitter link, it populated a link. No product detail. Same thing for Facebook.

 

 

 

Philosophy takes a different approach, adding a gift guide footer to their email. They break it down by price, stocking stuffers, holiday exlusives and best sellers. 

 

 

They also provide a gift finder app on their website. Answer three questions, and it comes up with gift ideas for you. It first asks who you are shopping for, either him, her, a friend, a coworker or a hostess, then asks what your price range is, and then asks which holiday scent is the favorite.

 

 

 

Have you seen any great gift guides in your inbox? Share it in the comments!

 

Liz Lynch, senior marketing communications associate

e-Dialog, @eDialogLiz

11/11/11: Marketers' Lucky Day?

The calendar reads 11/11/11 this Friday and for many, it's considered a lucky date. Marketers are certainly hoping it is lucky for them and are creating promotions based on the day. 

 

Here's a delicious email from Fairytale Brownies offering 11% off your purchase of their decadent brownies, cookies and truffles. They encourage recipients to celebrate any occasion this week with some sweets. I like that they include the prices in the email, showing the regular price and the discounted price. Studies have shown shoppers abandon carts when they get to the step that shows the price, so being upfront is a smart move.

 

I also have a great B-to-B example from MarketingProfs. They're hosting a virtual event on Friday, and they use 11/11/11 in their intro copy. 

Many people consider 11:11 a lucky time of day, so we figure 11/11/11 has to be the luckiest day of the year. As such, we're sure our virtual conference on email marketing will be a crowd pleaser. With a stellar lineup of presentations from leading experts, you are sure to leave the conference a smarter, more well-rounded email marketer.

 

Magazines.com has created a series called The Power of 11, and has been offering a deal per day, ending on 11/11/11.  

 

These are all great examples of creating a moment of engagement opportunity. Have you seen any 11/11/11 promotions? I would love to hear about them, just leave a comment!

 

Liz Lynch, senior marketing communications associate,
e-Dialog, @eDialogLiz

PETCO Sees Jump In Revenue with Black Cat Friday Email

In a timely fashion for Halloween and Black Friday, PETCO, a leading specialty retailer of premium pet food, supplies and services created a successful one-day sale campaign called Black Cat Friday.

Compared to PETCO’s standard promotions that are planned six to eight weeks in advance, this fun promotion took their team only three days to brainstorm. With a focus on keeping shopping easy for their customers, the prominent call to action advertised 20% off sitewide and free shipping on $49. There was no use of promo codes making it easy for shoppers to make a purchase. To save time on turnaround they kept the creative simple by using graphics from their website.

Partnering with e-Dialog, they mailed their entire promotional subscriber database. Although they did not see a jump in open rates, they saw a significant jump in revenue: This one-day campaign brought in as much revenue as a three-day sale.

 

Have you been successful brainstorming and executing a campaign in a short timeframe like PETCO? We'd love to hear about it, just leave a comment! 

 

Melissa McClay, marketing communications associate, e-Dialog

Email Marketers Hand Out Treats, Not Tricks

According to the National Retail Federation, Halloween spending is projected to hit 6.86 billion dollars for 2011. The average American will spend more than $72 on costumes, candy and decorations. Marketers have taken note and are promoting Halloween products and events, or just using the holiday to scare up some business. 

 

Uncommon Goods not only has uncommon goods, they also have uncommonly good emails. They don't oversend, and each email has a theme. For Halloween, they offered up an email that was "Wicked Awesome" and included eye candy, in the form of eyeball ornaments. They also featured a range of dark items, all mostly black. The text says "Skip the sweets and satisfy your cravings with something unexpected."

 

Philosophy offers subscribers a treat of their choice with a $65 purchase. They can get a mystery grab bag of products, or chose a product-specific gift. The subject line is "trick-or-treat - pick your treat, philosophy style!‏" I like at the bottom they include a little quote about their philosophy, "life is sweeter when you treat instead of trick."

 

Finally, an email from Jack Link's Jerky. They have a lot of fun with their email, and usually have some really interactive elements. For Halloween, or "Growl-o-ween" as they call it, they have some free downloads for their email list. You can get a pumpkin-carving template, tee shirt transfer and more. You also get a coupon for 25% off so you can give Jack Link's jerky to your trick-or-treaters. 

 

 

What's your inbox look like at Halloween? Leave a comment and let us know!

 

Liz Lynch, senior marketing communications associate, e-Dialog, @eDialogLiz

First couch commerce, then Black Friday

US shoppers aren’t going to wait until Black Friday this year to search for deals and kick off their holiday shopping. Consumers will begin shopping the day before, on Thanksgiving – from their couches on smartphones and tablets, according to PayPal.

PayPal’s Laura Chambers, senior director of PayPal Mobile, calls it “couch commerce.” She said that it would be the first spike in holiday shopping ahead of Black Friday.  

“We’re predicting that after dinner on Thanksgiving Day will be the first mobile shopping spike of the season. Retailers looking to lure these early holiday shoppers should think about extending offers and deals to these mobile buyers,” said Chambers.

The prediction is based on mobile trends that have surfaced in the last few years as well as a consumer survey conducted recently on behalf of PayPal. Here’s some insight from PayPal’s mobile shopping survey:

-Nearly half, 46 percent said they plan to make holiday purchases with a mobile device this year

 
-More than 60 percent of mobile buyers will make mobile purchases at home

 
-Nearly one-quarter of mobile buyers spent more than $100 on their last mobile purchase

 
-35 percent of mobile purchases are spontaneous

-More than half of mobile buyers currently use PayPal as a mobile payment method
 

By the end of the year, eBay expects mobile sales to exceed $4 billion.

As most stores will be closed on Thanksgiving Day, it will be interesting to see how mobile plays a role in kicking off the holiday shopping season. It’s definitely a great opportunity for retailers to reach out to consumers earlier, and/or to promote mobile.

I’m eager to watch how retailers will promote mobile shopping this year and if the increase in mobile shoppers will be as big as expected.

What are your thoughts on “couch commerce?” I would love to hear your opinion and comments.

 

Melissa McClay, marketing communications specialist, e-Dialog

Holiday Preparedness: Four Ways to Be Sure Your Messages Make It to the Inbox

The lazy days of summer are behind us, and before we know it, we will be knee-deep in the holiday season. Hopefully, you've already developed your messaging strategy and schedule for Q4, but don't forget about steps you need to take to ensure those messages actually make it to consumers' inboxes. Just as you clean house for visiting relatives and decorate to get into the holiday spirit, do some housekeeping in your email database.

Your main objective should be to start the holiday season with the cleanest list possible. There are several ways to do this. First, take a look at your inactive subscribers. Target those who were at one time valuable to you and send them a reengagement message. Remember, it's OK to incent them with a little brand love if they confirm their opt-in status. Another segment to consider is the group of people that were active last December, but then went dark. They are likely to be your holiday deal hunters and shoppers. Send a message to them letting them know you are about to start your holiday messaging and ask them to reconfirm whether or not they want to hear from you again this year. Be specific and point out the benefits of your email program, like Black Friday previews or free shipping offers.

Second, be transparent about frequency changes. It's not uncommon for once-a-week mailers to become daily mailers during the holiday season. Consumers (and ISPs) are generally forgiving about increased frequency during the holidays, but if possible, offer subscribers options. Ask them to update their frequency preferences, and offer daily or weekly emails. Also, update your unsubscribe page with options for frequency. Letting recipients choose a decreased frequency rather than unsubscribing all together has been a very successful tactic. Plus, it can keep your spam complaints down. Another creative way to increase frequency while keeping engagement high is to develop a triggered series, based on something like the 12 days of Christmas, or top 10 trendy gifts.

Third, remove or correct erroneous data from your list. This is the right time of the year to put your list through a hygiene service to remove typos and known traps, or to correct syntax errors and other troublesome data on your list. Many retailers, for example, rely on POS to generate new email addresses. There will be an enormous uptick in store traffic and new email addresses over the next few weeks. These names are more susceptible to typos or related errors, which potentially translate to hard bounces, spam traps, or complaints. New names collected manually at the register or electronically online can also be made hygienic in real- or right-time to ensure their legitimacy and deliverability. Programs like these are typically cost effective and easy to do.

Fourth, ask active subscribers to update their shopping preferences. A lot can change in a year. Maybe grandma has moved from Boston to Miami and no longer needs those emails about the best down comforters. A child who wanted nothing but Spiderman gear last Christmas may have switched his loyalty to Superman. Ask your customers if they would prefer a mobile version of your email. This year, smartphones will be a key tool in holiday shopping, and being able to access your deal or coupon via email will make things easier for shoppers.

Rejuvenating lost email addresses, correcting bad addresses, and knowing your customers' preferences can really boost revenue in a major way. It's time to clean the house for the holidays and, throw away the five-year-old fruit cakes while you're at it.

 

Rick Buck, vice president, deliverability and ISP relations, e-Dialog

 

This article was originally published by ClickZ.