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

 

Marketing Wrap-up: Week of February 3, 2012

Welcome to the first week in February! Did you see your shadow yesterday? Let's get into the top stories this week. 

 

Of course, everyone is talking about Facebook filing for their IPO on Wednesday, seeking to raise $5 billion. Speculation is rampant about what this will mean for the company, for Mark Zuckerberg, for social media in general, for Facebook employees, etc. Mashable has thoughtfully pulled it all together for you on one handy page. Definitely worth a read.  

 

In email-related news this week, we saw the announcement of the Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting & Conformance group, or DMARC. DMARC is made up of representatives from email service providers, financial services companies, social media companies, and email security firms, with the purpose of developing standards to reduce the threat of deceptive emails. You can read more at www.DMARC.org.

 

On the social media front, a company that is getting a lot of attention suddely is Pinterest. I've been using it for a little while, and as more brands get on board, it will be very interesting to see how it evolves. The infographic below shows how much traffic Pinterest is already driving for retailers. Some users are already saying allowing commercial entities to be on Pinterest ruins the site for them. We'll see how Pinterest manages the site in the future. 

 

 

Well, that's it for this week. As always, I'd love to hear your feedback on my picks and any stories you think are making waves in digital marketing.

 

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

 

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

Lifecycle Marketing Made Easy with Conversation Manager

Time and again, we have seen that marketing based on either a customer's stage in the buying process or based on specific behaviors will deliver higher response rates and ROI. But for email marketers, setting up these types of lifecycle marketing programs can be complicated, and usually involve several internal teams, including IT, and several vendors, like an ESP and web analytics provider. But there are now tools available, like Conversation Manager from e-Dialog, that puts the power into the marketer's hands and lets them build their own sequences and automated triggered messages. 

Without a doubt, the welcome message is the top must-have trigger for email marketers. I find it very surprising however, that so many retailers lack a single welcome message or even a welcome series. Industry research has shown that welcome emails get four times as many opens and seven times as many clicks. 

I recently signed up for emails from Rent the Runway and I really liked their welcome sequence. I think because their business is unique, they need to explain how the service works, and they use the welcome sequence to do that.

In the first message, they give a clear view of what's in it for me. I can get complete outfits for special occasions, I can get advice from experts, and I can join a community of like-minded fashionistas!

 

 

In the second email, they answer some common questions new members have, like how to get the right size, and how to know the dress will arrive in time for the event.

 

 

In the third touch in the series, they offer more ways to keep up to date and in the know, by highlighting their Facebook page, customer reviews, and company news. 

 

Setting up a welcome sequence like this one is easy with Conversation Manager. It allows for timed sequences, as well as branching based on whether or not an initial email was opened or clicked or not. Conversation Manager is now available to all e-Dialog clients; just contact your account team for access and training. If you'd like to learn more about Conversation Manager, visit www.e-dialog.com/conversationmanager to view a demo.

 

Liz Lynch, senior marketing communications specialist

e-Dialog, @eDialogLiz

Marketing Wrap-up: Week of January 20, 2012

Wow-a big week for online marketers! Let's get right into it.

 

The big (BIG!) story this week is of course SOPA. SOPA is the Stop Online Piracy Act. This act was proposed as a way to protect copyright holders from online piracy, however, as written, it could change the way the Internet functions, by shutting down, and banning companies from doing business with, sites that have been flagged as hosting copyrighted material. This would mean sites which allowed user-generated content, including comments, would need to monitor that content to be sure it was not copyrighted. The fear is this would be overwhelming, and sites would simply stop allowing user-generated content. This week, numerous web sites went dark in protest of SOPA,  and encouraged users to contact their government representatives. It seems to have worked, since the sponsor of the bill has withdrawn support and it looks the bill will be revised to address some of the issues. Check out this article for a good overview. Also, you may want to take a look at Mashable's round up of their coverage. 

 

In Facebook news, they announced this week that sixty apps are now integrated with Timeline, including Pinterest, the new darling everyone is talking about, plus eBay, TripAdvisor, Zynga, and others. These apps use Facebook's OpenGraph for what they call "frictionless sharing" which is similar to the way apps like Spotify share what music you're listening to. Fab.com will apparently reward you for enabling Timeline posting and doing some social shopping. If you enable friends to see when you make a Fab.com purchase, you get a $5 monthly credit. If you also reveal your Fab.com username, another $5 credit, for a possible $10 per month. This looks like it is going to be valid through May 2012, so it looks like you could possibly get $40 total in credits to spend on the site. The email below was sent to customers. It's a little light on details, IMO. 

For retailers, this week was the National Retail Federation's Big Show in NYC. e-Dialog was there along with GSI Commerce, PayPal and Milo. You can take a look at NRF's blog posts from the show here and be sure to check out eBay Ink as well.

 

Well, that's it. Another busy week gone by. Until next time!

 

Liz Lynch, senior marketing communications associate

e-Dialog, @eDialogLiz

Dear Valued Customer...

One-to-one communication is widely recognized as the primary goal of email marketing, but the challenge is in knowing where to begin. One fundamental way to capture your intended audience’s attention and engage them in meaningful interactions is through personalization – another of the key factors that drive e-mail relevance and perhaps one of the easiest to apply.

 

As its most basic level, personalization is sending an email message that contains the recipient’s first and/or last name. When taken further, personalization complements segmentation in that message content is also keyed to a recipient’s location, attributes, status, preferences, or behavior. The nuance here is that through segmentation you are sending emails of greater relevance to a particular group. With personalization you take certain elements of customer data and deliver content targeted to the individual. 

 

Be personable, not recyclable

Consider the impact of adding (or really, not adding) a first and/or last name to the subject line and body of an email.  By addressing an email with “dear valued customer,” you could be buying a fast ticket to the recycle bin because the message may be perceived as mass distribution. The message may also have the opposite effect of what you intended, and make the customer feel as if you don’t really know or value her; how could you, if you don’t even address her personally? 

 

It is probable that you already know your customers’ first and/or last names, especially if they have made a previous purchase. So if you have the data don’t take these risks – use it!  Of course, there may be cases when you simply don’t know a prospect’s or customer’s name, but you may have other data (e.g., birthday, closest store, clothing size, or favorite sports team). If leveraged in your e-mail campaigns, this data will often enable you to make a more personal connection than with just a first name. 

 

This brings us to more sophisticated levels of personalization. While still relatively easy to apply, these personalization tactics move beyond the basics and enable you to achieve greater relevance in your communication. They allow you capitalize on more meaningful interactions with customers.  These tactics are best illustrated by the following three categories of programs.

 

Revenue-generating personalization programs

These types of programs all have one simple thing in common: creating new revenue opportunities. Take for example an abandoned shopping cart program, which is highly personalized and productive. Abandoned carts provide you with an opportunity to send a relevant e-mail that reminds a customer that they have items remaining in their shopping cart from a recent visit to your Web site.  You could further entice a customer to purchase those items by offering a special discount if they act quickly.  The personalization of course lies in the understanding of what your customers have shown an interest in, and using that understanding to promote products for which they already have a soft spot.

 

One major clothing retailer recently conducted an analysis of their abandoned shopping cart program and discovered that by simply reminding customers that they looked at particular items of clothing and considered buying them, the company drove customers to finally pull the trigger and make a purchase.  Interestingly, the retailer found that the difference in revenue generation between reminding people of abandoned items and offering special deals was not very significant.

 

Although a softer sell, loyalty programs can also drive a customer to purchase. By their very nature, loyalty programs generate valuable data about each individual customer. It’s almost unforgivable not to use this information to personalize your e-mail programs. Take for example a music retailer that offers reward points. In order to calculate the points it must track how much that customer spends on each purchase. Likely it is also tracking what kind of music a customer purchases and the frequency with which he makes a purchase. By sending an email that reminds the customer how many points he has accrued, the retailer can prompt him to claim his reward. The retailer could also offer a customer $10 off of their next purchase if they spend $60, or offer them two reward points for every dollar spent on their next purchase. 

 

Other programs that derive great value from personalization are cross-selling and up-selling campaigns.  In this case you can take advantage of the opportunity to promote products complementary to previous purchases a customer has made. For example, if a customer ordered a dozen roses last Mother’s Day, send him a personalized email acknowledging the previous purchase and alert him that Mother’s Day is coming again soon. Would he like to order roses again? You could also offer other floral options for consideration in case he’d like to try something different this year.

 

Relationship-building personalization programs

In contrast, the objective of these programs is to strengthen your relationship with a customer and demonstrate goodwill by providing them with unsolicited, yet helpful information. This approach enhances the customer’s experience with your company, and shows that you care about her as an individual. 

 

An ideal example can be found in the travel industry, where a respected agency runs a highly personalized email program when you book a resort vacation. The first message you receive is a confirmation with pictures of the property. Then, two weeks before your trip, the agency sends another email alerting you to all of the amenities in the surrounding area, such as tourist attractions and activities.  Five days before your trip, the agency follows up with another email directing you to the nearest supermarket and providing the weather forecast for your stay.  By going above and beyond the purchase to provide information of specific relevance to the trip, the agency generates a positive brand experience.

 

Content-targeting personalization programs

Distinct from relationship-building programs, content targeting allows a customer to dictate the information he wants to receive from you (versus presenting the customer with content you feel will be of interest to them) and how he wants receive it. It doesn’t get more personalized than that. 

 

A major sports league accomplishes this elegantly by allowing the fan to select his favorite team as part of the league’s newsletter registration process. The league then pushes the team’s specific news headlines, players’ statistics, rankings, and scores – all information of specific relevance to a particular fan. By consistently delivering this custom content to fans they are serving as a reliable, trusted resource, keeping fans actively engaged in the teams and further strengthening fan support of the league.

 

Don’t try to boil an ocean

It is okay to start small with personalization, and you really should. Take simple steps to become more relevant to your customers. Adding a customer’s name to a subject line or addressing her directly in the body of your message is a great start. First decide what impact you want programs to have, then build back from there. Ultimately you want each customer to feel like you really know and care about her as an individual, and this can be accomplished – more easily than you may think – by personalizing email content based on what’s of interest and greatest relevance to her.

 

Liz Lynch, senior marketing communications specialist,

e-Dialog, @eDialogLiz

 

Are Your Fans as Passionate as Glee's?

A while back, I wrote a post that talked about the FOX show Glee, and the tips email marketers could learn from it. Little did I know that I was tapping into not only an audience of email marketers, but also a passionate Glee fanbase. I wanted to share with you some of the comments we received from Glee fans and also some lessons we can learn. 

 

Lesson #1: Fans want to share ideas with you

One of the reasons we got so many comments on this post is because if you Google email and Glee, one of the top results is our blog post. So obviously, Glee fans are looking for a way to reach out to the show creators to give them feedback. Here are a couple of comments:

Why do you completely ignore the instrumentalists that back up the singers on Glee? Every high school usually has a Band Director, why is there no character playing this role? At one point one of the singers actually referred to the pianist who backs them up, all the time, as "Furniture." How insulting to the fine musicians that make these kids sound great! There are other musical instruments being played besides the guitar and it takes top professional musicians years to learn their craft. As much as I enjoy your show I find this slight of instrumentalists appalling.

 

Glee should do a song from the movie Rent. Seasons of Love. That song would be really cool to see the cast of Glee performing.

 

These people are highly-engaged with the product, and want to share their opinion with you. For email marketers, this means encouraging product reviews, and letting people know how they talk to you and to other fans, such as on Facebook, Twitter, or your own online community.

 

Lesson #2: Fans want to give you their opinion (good and bad)

People who use your product or services have a relationship with your brand. You are part of their lives, and that means there are emotions attached. This can be positive or negative. For example, this strongly-worded comment on the racial make-up of the show and the sexual activity on the show:

I am so mad at Glee this season. First you only have one black person on the show, that makes it unbalanced. So what you have a few in the back ground. You have two Asians, hella Whites and one Black, we make up more than 1% of the nation. And let Rachel and Finn get together. She never had a boyfriend, now you are making her a geek again. Third why is Curt still on the show ? He is at another school, you give him a man but not the girls. These are school girls they are having a lot of sex and this is a high school. You’re making them whores before they get their wisdom teeth. Finally you will lose me if you do not change. You guys are making me sick.

So, as marketers, you need to acknowledge this emotional connection and find ways to promote a positive relationship, as well as responding to a negative experience. In email, this can be done with simple "Thanks for being our customer" emails, or emails that ask customers to take a quick survey to let you know how they think you're doing. Here's a great example from Art.com that thanks customers and talks about ambitions for 2012.

 

Lesson #3: Fans sometimes want to be part of the show

Because Glee is a show with lots of singing and dancing, we did get a few comments in which people said what an awesome dancer they were, and wanted to know how they could submit an audition tape! Here's one comment that made me smile:

Hey Glee cast my name is Simon. (age12) I live in Ontario, Canada. I am a huge fan of your show ;-) I mean who isn't. But I am a competitive dancer and a closet singer. Anyone who has heard me in the shower says that I'm very good for my age. I'm also a decent actor and I was wondering if you could send me an e-mail with a script to an new character so I could give you an audition tape. much love -Simon

I replied to Simon to let him know that unfortunately, this blog was not the way to contact producers and wished him good luck. So how does this connect to email marketing? I think one thing for marketers to keep in mind is that there are probably people who are customers who would also like to be employees. Here's a nice example from Christmas Tree Shops:

 

 

So while Glee is no longer one of my favorite shows, I do still think it has lessons for us a marketers. What do you think? I'd love to hear your comments!

 

Liz Lynch, senior marketing communications specialist,

e-Dialog, @eDialogLiz

Are You Asking the Right Questions for Relevance?

The email tools available to marketers today can provide reams of information on subscriber behavior, including opens, clicks, conversions and shares. This info can be really valuable and provide insights into how effective your newsletters are, what topics you cover, how frequently you should be contacting your audience and more. But there's another way to get this insight; ask subscribers what they want directly.

 

I recently got an email from GE Appliances soliciting my preferences. I had no idea they had a preference center, or even which emails I was getting from them. I probably signed up originally as part of contest for a new stainless steel range or some other promotion. The creative was simple, with one call to action: visit the new preference center and select which emails I want to get from GE Appliances. They show and mention that there are samples of each newsletter, which is great.

 

 

 

Once I clicked through to the landing page, there were seven newsletter options, each with a visual depiction and a link to a sample. It also told me how often the newsletter is sent for five out of the seven. One thing that was confusing to me was that each newsletter had a radio button for subscribe or unsubscribe. Some were already ticked, but some had neither choice selected. So I assumed that for newsletters where the subscribe button was selected, I was not currently subscribed and vice versa. For the newsletter with no option selected I had to assume I was not currently subscribed.  

 

 

 

 

At the bottom of the page they have some options for which topics or products interest you and the link to unsubscribe from all emails. Overall, I think it's a solid program, and one that's important for a company like GE, because a purchase of a new range or dishwasher may only happen every 5-10 years, so keeping up to date with subscriber needs, and offering newsletters the give an added engagement point, like recipes, keeps the relationship going even when the customer is not in the purchase cycle.

 

 

I'd love to hear your thoughts on this campaign, and preference center best practices or missteps you've experienced. Just leave a comment!



Liz Lynch, senior marketing communications specialist

e-Dialog, @eDialogLiz

 

 

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

 

 

Christmas Fun: The Grinch's Inbox

You may have seen Mark Brownlow’s series on famous inboxes, including Darth Vader and Elizabeth Bennet. We were inspired by Mark’s creativity to put our own spin on a holiday version and created what we think the Grinch’s inbox might look like.

 

 
 

Is Facebook Hiding Your Email Messages?

Facebook Messages has been around for about a year now, and there was a lot of talk when it launched about how different types of messages from different recipients were managed and categorized by Facebook into either the Messages folder or the Other folder. We even wrote a pretty detailed piece about it. But suddenly, people seem really surprised that messages they want to see aren't being presented to them because they are showing up in the Other folder.

This story reminded me of some recent research we did, in which we asked consumers if they were aware of the filtering tools offered by their email clients that could help them prioritize email messages. The results were pretty surprising. More than 30% of respondents in the US and UK said no, and more than 40% in APAC said they were not aware.

For me, the key take-away from these two points is that marketers can't assume that consumers know how to use technology in the best way, and that education is needed to help consumers have a beneficial relationship with brands. When Facebook Messages was launched, we recommended that marketers comb through their database and identify Facebook.com addresses and send them an email telling them how to ensure they receive the messages they opted in to. I think it's even more important now. 

 

I'm curious if any of you have looked at how many Facebook.com email addresses are in your database and any strategies you are using to make sure your messages get seen. Let me know in the comments!

 

Liz Lynch, senior marketing communications associate,

e-Dialog, @eDialogLiz

What Facebook's Timeline Cover Photo Means for Brands

With the official launch of Facebook Timeline for all users, there has already been speculation about when brand pages will get the Timeline treatment and what it means. That's not what this post is about. Instead, I want you to think about how brands can leverage the Timelines of individuals, and in particular, the prime real estate of the cover photo.

 

Brands on Facebook today drive engagement primarily via page likes, comments, and photo shares. But the cover photo presents a new opportunity for engagement. Consumers who love your brand can now make your imagery their own, enhancing your reach. VW was early to the party, offering a cover photo back in October. Mountain Dew is already on this, offering several versions of Dew-themed cover photos to their fans. HBO's True Blood is offering their fans images from the show for their cover photos as well. 

 

For email marketers, your images can do double duty. Retailers like The North Face often use a stunning hero image in their emails. Imagine offering that photo as a downloadable cover image. Other uses for the cover photo could be wish lists, product reviews, or purchased items. 

 

Then we get to contests. Contests are huge on Facebook. Certainly a brand could ask fans to create a cover image and those could be voted on and the winning image offered for download. I could also see posting a brand's cover image as a prerequisite for entering a contest, in the same way liking a page is now. 

 

And of course, there will be the "just for fun" options that can be a great way to keep fans engaged and checking in with you for new content. It could also be a way to reward brand advocates and super fans, by giving them an exclusive image for their page.

 

I'd love to hear what you think about these possibilities for the Timeline cover photo and any ideas you are thinking about. Leave me a comment!

 

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 2, 2011

Wow-here it is, December. We made it through Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Congrats all! However, we can't claim success yet. We've still got three more weeks until Christmas. Here are my top stories to keep you going this week.

 

First, the good news: email isn't dead! Of course, we knew it wasn't but here's a handy infographic you can produce whenever someone tries to tell you email will be extinct by 2015.

 

In social media news, this week Facebook reached an agreement with the FTC regarding privacy policy changes and how they are implemented. So now when they change something on Facebook, you'll have to opt-in, rather than scramble to figure out the new settings after they've been applied to your account. I think it's a good thing, since giving people more control will help people feel more comfortable sharing their online info, which benefits all of us. I think this Mashable article says it all with this quote "While that sounds like a chilling message, it’s really just a long-overdue standardizing of the practice of opt-in. The smarter companies already know this: that customers who opt-in are more engaged and ultimately more valuable than customers who simply don’t opt-out. Besides, when given the option, users tend to share whatever information they’re asked to share, so, even putting the ethics aside, there’s little need for deception."

 

On the mobile front, news came this week of an app called CarrierIQ that is installed on many phones, and it was alleged that it has the ability to track not only location, but also activity, including keystrokes. That information could then be shared with carriers without the user's knowledge. It's meant as a diagnostic tool for carriers, but the possibility of misuse creeped a lot of people out. The company has issued statements clarifying that while information is tracked, it is not stored or transmitted, and most of the carriers that use it are only seeing aggregated data. Another example of how not being transparent about privacy and personal information can backfire. 

 

I hope you've enjoyed my picks for this week. As always, I would love your feedback and what you think the top story was this week.

 

Liz Lynch, senior marketing communications associate,

e-Dialog, @eDialogLiz

Do Consumers Value Your Marketing As Much As Your Product?

For digital marketers, the answer to the title question needs to be yes, otherwise you'll never even get a chance to market your product. Selling your marketing is the essential first step if you're using email marketing, SMS, and social media marketing to market your product or services. To find out what drives consumers to take that essential opt-in action, e-Dialog surveyed 3,500 people in the US, UK, China and Japan.

 

Overwhelmingly, consumers said they gave permission to be marketed to because they received something of value in exchange. That includes promotions or discounts, but also exclusive brand information, like product announcements, or lifestyle information, like recipes. The chart below shows that 25% of US consumers opted-in to email based on special offers, and 18% did so because the brand related to their lifestyle or interests. To me, that shows the benefit of a well-rounded email marketing program that features promotions, but also includes editorial content or newsletters. 

 

 

For social, the motivation is similar. Top of the list is special offers or discounts, but the other top reasons include new product updates, valuable news and information, and just to keep up with what the company is doing. So obviously, your social media fans are already pretty engaged with your brand and are looking for more info than can be found in other channels. So don't be afraid of oversharing with this group. Give them a peek behind the curtain and they will thank you for it. 

 

 

For SMS, again, offers and discounts were the primary reason for opting in for US consumers. However, they were also swayed by cold, hard cash! Sweepstakes entries, charitable donations, and a recommendation from a friend were also motivators for SMS opt-in. Overall, consumers were much more selective about how many brands they give their mobile number to, mainly for two reasons. One, most consumers in the US pay for SMS messages, and two, the mobile phone is a much more personal device. 

For a closer look at these charts and access more data on what drives email, social and SMS opt-ins, visit www.e-Dialog.com/DecipheringAcquisition to download the full report, check out our infographic, or view a webinar about the research results and the ten steps marketers can take to increase their customer acquisition. 

 

Liz Lynch, senior marketing communications specialist,

e-Dialog, @eDialogLiz

 

Marketing Wrap-up: Week of November 18, 2011

As we end the last full week of work before Thanksgiving, here are a few newsworthy developments to keep the marketing juices flowing. 

 

From the UK DMA's blog comes an interesting post on the difference between frequency and cadence in email marketing. The two terms are often used to mean the same thing, but they are different. I haven't heard the concepts outlined this way before, so I'd be interested to hear if you think this is the right way to define the terms.

 

Maybe I'm a little biased, but I'm really excited about the new Facebook app PayPal has developed to let friends send money via Facebook. It's simply called Send Money, and that's exactly what you can do with it. You can send an eCard with the money, if it's a friend's birthday, for example, or just send money without an eCard. I think it will be interesting to see how this takes off over time. 

 

Over at ClickZ, Jeanne Jennings says blacklisting and filtering are legitimate marketers' best friends, even though they often complain about being blocked improperly. Symantec reports that 74% of email sent in September and October was spam, so imagine if that mail all got through to the inboxes of your subscribers. Talk about clutter! Are you thankful for the spam cops? 

 

Well, those are my top reads for this week. As always, let me know what you're reading and what you think of my picks. 

 

Liz Lynch, senior marketing communications associate

e-Dialog, @eDialogLiz

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