by Anna Billstrom
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I've sat in the meetings—I'm sure you have, too—where you look at campaigns, and notice that, wow, a few made a lot of money, and a lot didn't. Someone from way up the executive ladder wants you to "do more of those" that made a lot of money.
You cringe, because they don't get it; and generally, you know "doing more" is going to drive unsubscribes, plummet your lifecycle program, and otherwise be a disaster.
Don't despair.
Remind them that if a consumer were to scan her inbox of retail, corporate emails right now, each one would have a subject line that is an offer. Everybody wants the consumer's money, but nobody addresses the consumer's relationship to their company, though they can.
Long-term, lifecycle emails train a customer into becoming a better one, and they enhance the relationship between customer and company.
But when you sit in those revenue meetings, it's hard to sell to the finance group that lifecycle emails work. And now, with trends going toward social networks and word-of-mouth networking, how do lifecycle emails compete?
Here are three techniques I've used effectively to fight the good fight:
First: Look at the long-term revenue, not the immediate email revenue.
Chart it out over a forecast period of time. Lifecycle emails work effortlessly as timed, daily emails, to earn money with low overhead. The setup cost alone will work itself out in a few months, I've usually found. On the other hand, promotional, salesy emails need new creative and new overhead each iteration. And remember to mention unmentionables—like opt-outs.
Make sure that people know, those folks cannot be re-messaged, that they are lost, at least until they enter a service message flow. Make the point that relevance, timeliness, and personalization are the proven elements of higher metrics and effective marketing.
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Comments
by oddpodz Thu Jun 26, 2008
ARGH! We have been in that meeting before. Your points are great advice. We have had to tell the aforementioned executives that we weren't going to send any emails that did not provide some sort of benefit for the recipients. They insisted and we saw a TON of unsubscribes. Their response? "We probably didn't want them anyway."
One thing that did work to convince them that shoving emails at subscribers was not wise was to ask what type of email correspondence they like to receive from stores, vendors, etc. that they have interacted with. That helped our cause a great deal.
by Barbara Phillips Long Thu Jun 26, 2008
Sometimes I wonder if anyone ever looks at buying patterns. When I buy clothing, there are certain colors I prefer. The range is predictable, and sometimes I've gone over it with phone or IM sales reps. I'm sure other people who aren't as fussy about color may be fussy about style or fabric or price.
I don't ever remember receiving an e-mail from a book store, clothing retailer, home decor or kitchen-supply retailer that was tailored to my preferences.
People can get RSS feeds to keep up with the blogs they want to monitor. Online marketers should find a way to allow customers to indicate preferences, then send them RSS feeds when items that are close to the selection terms are available.
Promise the customer a "wild card" offer in each feed. Send the e-mail with some stuff they like, plus one or two wild card offerings that the retailer is pushing. See what happens.
Finish the e-mail with a "one wish." Let the customer describe the item they wish you carried -- description, color, price and all.
I get tired of offers for things I have no interest in. Retailers should handle shoppers with strong preferences differently than they handle people who don't have well-defined preferences.