The Email Wars

Are we setting realistic expecations as an industry on welcome emails when it comes to offline collection at stores, events and more? This is often a point that email marketers bring up and I would love to hear your thoughts on it. I sometimes think that as email marketers we expect more from programs and companies than they are set up to handle? Online and offline don’t always need to have the same rules. A little time between an offline relationship getting started might actually be a healthy buffer. We do live in a society where we drink in the immediacy of actions and reactions, but we also live in a world with systems and challenges that we need to be understanding of and stepping out of our email marketing shoes every once in a while can help you to understand this.

What is acceptable in regards to the time that goes by from an in store register, hand written sign up or kiosk to send a Thank you or Welcome message? Is it immediately, one day, 2 days 3 days or one week? I would go out on a limb here and say all of them are acceptable based on what the companies systems are best suited to handle. I mean as long we are not not talking a 2 plus weeks to a month we should be happy as email marketers, and more importantly consumers at this time frame.

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We often talk about email preference centers, email frequency and optimizing the amount of emails we send in our weekly thoughts and conversations about email marketing. But all of these are really marketer side actions and don’t really focus on the email subscriber as directly as we think they do. So what about a “pause” button that would allow subscribers in either your emails or your preference centers to activate a PAUSE on your email campaigns. Now I am not talking about an unsubscribe or opt out feature, or even a change in frequency (please only email me once a month, week, etc) but actually creating a way for subscribers to pause a relationship.

Now this is not very marketer centric, but in the end it should not be. It should be about the subscriber giving them the instant ability to pause a relationship for 1 week, 1 month, 3 months, etc. Microsoft flirted with this ability back in 2008 with a pause plugin for Outlook that never really went anywhere. It did not actually pause emails, but simply placed a delivery delay on them. Now that is not truly the direction I think benefits anyone. Why? Well the consumer is still going to get emails that might have expired items, codes, deals, or information that is now out of date. That only creates frustration and a bad user experience. What I would like to see the industry explore is really investigating how to pause a relationship placing all communications that the individual has opted into on a time based pause.

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We all know that we love getting emails on our birthdays. I was watching last year to see of all the 100s of emails that I was subscribed to from consumer brands to see how many of them actually used them. I mean why not treat yourself right? But what I found interesting was that of all the lists I am subscribed to that only 5 brands actually sent me an email. Now maybe some of them did not have my date of birth when I opted in, but what a great thing to do right? If you can create a unique email focused to go out to your lists to drive a sale and provide goodwill as well it should be a win. So why don’t we see more retailers using this technique?

Well I assume that most don’t ask or have not thought about it. Would we willing give birth date information if asked? A majority of people would not and might even shy away from it if there is not an explanation of why you are asking. But what if you show and tell them why you want to ask it? I would think that if it was clearly presented from a personal win/benefit perspective that you would find more people opting in to this type of information.

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I found an email from Banana Republic very interesting this AM. I am not sure how many people might have caught it but it was a complete play on something not being right. As a matter of fact the email was “broken”. Now I did not catch it at first myself in my first skim as the size was on par with every other email they send. I thought something was out of whack but had to go back and look at it harder. Now did the typical subscriber notice that something was afoot? Did they notice and take action to find out more?

But what was it? The email itself was exactly the same size as all of their other ones. I had to actually hold them side by side to make sure as the image hat tip to the wide email format – sideways scrolling- makes you think it would continue on. I dove deeper into the image mapping and everything was going to the right places, so I wonder what percentage of the subscriber base actually found that arrow to the right and used it to go to the landing page.

Note that it is a interesting tactic to act as if something might have gone wrong, was cut off, or that more is hiding past the email itself. But I would love to know if people where actually drawn to the arrow.

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So your campaign went out, they opened, they read, and they clicked. Battle one down. Fortunately for you you did a good job of presented the right offers to the right people and voila they were in market and bought. Kudos. Goal two complete. But what happens after that? Do you simply count them as another customer or as a savvy email marketer to do you take the next steps in the lifecycle? What is that you ask, I assume that you knew right?

Well you are only 1/4 of the way there in the right steps. I use Sorel as a good example (even there are some great things they can still add to the process that I will explain) of the steps that come next.

Immediately you should be sending out a Thanks for Your order/Order confirmation. Now as a best practice you really need to give people an immediate email showing them what they just did. Now in this example you can see things that I like, they present a clearly written thanks, they present your information and the order number back to you for easy reference, and (not shown) they display photos of the items you purchased. This last one I am always appreciative of as it give me a fast way to visually scan the order to make sure that I did not add anything wrong as well as shows me that their ecom system got my order right. Win right? Yes it is. But at this same point in time they have me as a captive customer and as this was my first order in the system they could have done one of the following.

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Do you remember back to a time when we all learned to hate the pop up ad? They became both a massive issue with users and the media and at the same time a profit center for so many ad networks and those hocking anti pop up blockers. In the end the pop up lost that round… until the invention of the light box. Yes that cool function so many of us love as it brings functionality right to the top of the screen while not killing the overall site visit is the new pop up. But is seems we like it. And even more importantly it seems to really be working in conjunction with newsletter list growth.

We are not only seeing it with content publishers but more and more we are seeing it across marketing and brand sites. And all use cases I have seen are pointing to it working and not being hated as much as the browser take over ads that make you wait 5 seconds till an ad runs or allowing you to click past it. And why is this? Well this one I found from a recent link (as no matter what you think I am not a reader of AskMen.com) was a good example of why they are working.

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Sure we all know that Twitter is a great way to increase your reach and deliver valuable content in a real time manner to those that are addicted to it like I am (I would wager many of you are as well). But are you using it in the best possible way to grow your email marketing programs? I have seen an uptick in companies using it is pre-promote the release of a newsletter telling people to opt in before the latest edition gets sent. I have seen companies feeding special versions of their newsletter out using it as well. And if they are smart they are also using it to feed individual articles from their newsletters to this channel. But recently I saw Nordstrom using it to engage with people for targeted newsletter growth.

Some time back I saw them use it to promote a men’s newsletter through a simple tweet. Smart idea. Now I am not sure if they have some way to segment based on gender (as this would be great if someone could do this from a communications tool into their follower steam) but it did catch my eye and made me want to look further as an email marketer.

I had assumed that I was going to land on a general newsletter sign up page and need to select the right lists to be on. Well I was pleasantly surprised at the fact that they took me right to a unique landing opt in page JUST for that men’s newsletter. Nice work. Now even if they did not have the ability to gender target using Twitter, they do have more of that data now by the implementation of this gender specific newsletter opt in page. Now they know that these users are male. What would have made this even better would have been if they would have either used the Twitter OAuth system to login via Twitter and capture that Twitter handle as well as an email address. By doing this they could have added this data to their user profiles in order to look for patterns and ways in the future to interact better via Twitter OR the email.

But none the less it was a great promotion and a well thought out use of targeting and landing based on gender. It opens up many ideas in my mind about the types of user data that email marketers that are giddy about social media to think about using. I would even advance the idea of similar campaigns in Facebook and employing Facebook Connect to get the 36 data fields (email is now one as well) when creating an opt in form. I have been toying with this idea for a while now since the recent addition of email as one of the marketer accessible fields in the Facebook Connect API.

Thinking about this idea, do you think that you could push your teams to try something new with implementation of social connection tools? Worth a test I think.

You hear all sorts of stories in the news, in print, online and from friends about people going above and beyond what’s required of them. People espouse the stories of major brands, such as Nordstrom and Les Scwab, as well as those in the service industry, such as bartenders and waiters, that go the extra distance to ensure their customers are delighted. How about you as marketers? You are after all in a customer service position. Are you delivering a level of experience that prompts others to talk, share, forward, post, respond to you or your programs, say thanks, or simply have a better experience than they would have expected?

This is something you must consider. Sure, you may say that you work for a software provider, an online retailer or another company that already provides a great service with happy customers, and I’m sure you do, but are people really taking notice and telling their stories, as related to your brand, without being prompted? Most likely, no.

So what can your company do to create this level of customer relationships this year? Well, there are a host of things that can drive this forward (and I list some suggestions below), but in the end it is important to remember that it will take your entire team, company or organization to truly make it happen.

Here are some ideas that I believe are worth exploring with your team…
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Yes there is a little tongue in cheek here as I wanted to share with you the opt in process from Swell, an online clothing retailer. I have followed them for a while as they are a very frequent mailer. To me it feels like they send me an email 5 days a week, it may be less but that is my perception. Now is that too much? Not really as every email I get from them is uniquely designed and they present options that are typically relevant. Now I have only purchased from them a few times since opting in so I would not think that they have much merchandising or behavioral data on me besides the fact that I always read and often click. That might be enough for them to do a good job targeting OR it might be that I am in the target demo based on lifestyle and location. Either way they are doing a better job than some of their competitors in this retail space.

But to get back on track I wanted to share their opt in and welcome email as I thought it was well done. The opt in does a good job of presenting 3 variations of the emails I would receive by opting in. I am always thankful when I get to see some examples located around the opt in process. I feel that it is a good way to condition people to what to expect. Almost in a way of setting up the experience of when I see them in the inbox for the first time. Adding the birthdate to the form must be a legal requirement for them or even one that helps them to look at age data in targeting. Heck we will see in about a month if they have a birthday campaign as well.

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With many of you and other brands embracing using social icons in their emails I thought it would be a good time to talk about the ideas and implementation a little. First, there is not ONE way to approach and execute this concept. It is the wild west right now in how and what works best so I would advise you to think about some of the below scenarios and see what might work best for you.

One: Follow/Friend/Fan Me. So really do we need to be friends or fans? An interesting article was written in Fast Company the other day on the topic of “I don’t want to be friends with my butter”. Read it here. I could not agree more with this stance as social media is not for everyone or every brand when it comes to a facebook fan page. What you really need to think about is similar to everything you know about email marketing; is it relevant, what is the frequency and why would I want to opt in. The caveat is that it needs to drive some type of brand value, loyalty or (yes it is an ugly word but it works) rewarding. Some people know that I have a personal issue with the words friend, follow or fan. They are incredibly egotistical and cult like words that really are not what this is all about. It is about connection, impact and value. I know we did not create the words but I think you should think about how you use them in your copy. Look to find other words that are more relevant and meaningful. The good news I have seen is only 30% of major brands have gone the route of a fan page thus far. This tells me that some people are thinking about it.

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As a marketer (inbound or outbound), mobile, advertiser or email marketer there are 5 things that you should be starting to think about if you are not already. I trust that most of you are now realizing we are in the awkward teen years of the mobile decade. It’s not the year of mobile, as I am sure we were hear people champion in posts and articles this year, but the middle stage of starting to really have a mobile network that provides data and connections everywhere (insert ATT/Sprint/Verizon/TMobile jab here…you know you just did subconciously), user base, UI/UE thoughts and design, and a consumer ecomomy that now needs always to be tethered to the latest news, deals, friend updates, and apps. We have been as a society pushing adoption forward of new medias and repurposing old medias in ways and to devices that we are all scurrying to grasp. Don’t feel alone as you read this as we are all part of this testing and learning process.

So what are you doing, planning or thinking about as to how you are going to respond in regards to your marketing? Have you laid out some tests? Thought of some ideas? Reviewed your own data to help you make educated guesses? You have to start somewhere and looking at your own reporting is a place to start in order to find the seeds to plant and grow your ideation.

I am fortunate to work with a team and some clients that are actively embracing, testing, learning, and understanding how to approach this next phase in the evolution of marketing. And even though I often write about email here, it is not all about email. Not a shock to some of you I hope.

The 5 Things that I think are worth your attention and thought are the following:

place, device, location, action and intent

With a clear understanding of what these 5 things not only mean to you but to your audience you are placing yourself in the right stating point to shape a plan of action.

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It was great not only to see one of our clients doing a whiz-bang job on their welcome messages but also on the feedback that the subscriber sent in. When was the last time that you were delighting people with your welcome messaging in a way that made them take the time to write a response? I think you should make this a goal to achieve this year.

Over and over I tell people about the importance of Welcome and Thank You messages when people opt in to a newsletter, make an information request, sign up for a webinar or any other first touch point. It really does set the tone, make an impact and build a path for your email marketing. Take a moment to review your own emails and see if there are things you can do to uplevel your programs. And if you are still missing a Welcome or Thank You email I would work hard to get one in place. First impressions are hard to make twice.

Example of this email after the jump

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I know I have said it a million times in speeches, articles and in person but telling someone thanks is one of the best things that you can ever do for your email campaigns. Now I don’t mean just at the sign up, like “Thanks for signing up for OUR email newsletter” but really saying thank you and giving them something use, do or enjoy.

I wanted to point out a few recent favorite examples to give you a better idea of a retailer that is excelling at not only saying thank you but showing it as well.

Urban Outfitters not only gives you a straight forward and dead simple way to opt in, but they also make sure to ask more information about you after the opt in. Smart. Less road blocks more happy subscribers and list growth. Also while you are thanking them for signing up you are also more likely to get the next bits of info from them that are relevant while they are engaged. Knowing that mobile and TEXT is very important to their marketing mix as well as what their target demo uses frequently and is open too, asking for a mobile is a great idea here. Other great features they include is asking about your social network affiliation (who knows what’s next here) as well as your online Vs offline shopping.

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Well to start out I expected more than 100 plus emails to hit my inbox over the long holiday weekend. Now I was not disapointed that the final tally was only 68 emails. What did surprise me was some of the brands that got into the Thanksgiving/Black Friday holiday rush that I would not have expected. Typically I would expect to see etailers hitting me up hard. But getting emails from Oracle, Southwest Airlines, MINI, Dominos and the Bellagio were surprises.

Now they were all clever and were on point about the holiday shopping weekend, but not ones that I would have thought would be fighting for my dollars and time during this packed holiday email weekend.

But was it bad? Absolutely not. I actually think that they were all on target and had something valuable to offer. Now if the emails/offers were miles removed from this theme it might have struck me as a truly odd placement. Being there with relevant messages made me actually want to give each of them props for the thought and effort as many of their comp we absent during this time.

I know you might think Dominos, but think about this… everyone just got done cooking the big holiday feast and the last thing many people want to do is to cook again. And from the crush of delivery vehicles I saw on the streets of my neighborhood it seemed that everyone had the same thoughts. Timing is everything here and they know their customers.

The crazy thing is our family took this weekend not to shop online or offline. Instead we took this time to be together, get things done, and prepare for the start of our shopping this week. If anything these emails we got we shared between one another for list making and gift planning. So even though we were not taking advantage of the sales (trust me there will be more as the next few weeks whiz by us) were were paying attention to the brands in our inboxes so that we were ready.

Hope that today treats you well with the crush of “cyber Monday” that is hitting us today.

I have a confession to make. I have let something I used to care about die. Yes my attention to the new new thing, the shiny thing, the next thing made me forget and neglect one of my longest life partners on this mad ride we call the internet. Now it was not something I was doing on purpose, we just grew apart over time. I found corporate accounts, gmail and social tools to pull my attention in more often and in less locations. Hell I had changed my preferences so many times I just had to simplify. I needed more but needed to check less places.

It was love at first site. Email, an inbox, communications, connections, wild mind blowing stuff…. well even today email still intrigues me. So many others jump from tech to tech, thing to thing, but one thing stays a constant not matter what you throw at it.

You (MSN/Hotmail) were my first and I am not sure why I keep you around as we have grown so apart and our friends all know where to find us at other places. Maybe it was just convenience and old habits. Maybe it was just time and attention.

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