Posts Tagged ‘spam’
Whoever says email is dead doesn’t pay attention to statistics. (And thank you Chris Penn and DJ Waldow over at Blue Sky Factory for continuing to share those great statistics with us) Email is absolutely, positively not dead. Spam mail, however, is ten feet under. May those messages rest in the four-letter-place where they came from.
Today’s good email campaigns are proving to be one of the most cost-effective forms of modern day marketing. By good we mean a clean mailing list, the right message, the right timing, opt-in, desired by the recipient, etc., etc., etc. But there are already enough blog posts and articles about this. We want to focus on something that may be a little less obvious – how email can make or break brand perception.
Here are a few questions consumers have the opportunity to process through as they receive an email message from a brand…
1. Is the brand polite, or pushy? Did I ask for this communication? Is this just one too many emails more than I expected? Are they overstepping their “guest” position in my in-box?
2. Is the brand in touch with my needs and wants? Does the message make me feel like the sender knows who I am and what I want? Does every email I get from them try to sell me something, or are they trying to be more than that for me?
3. Does the look and feel of the message support the brand image? Does the design, the tone, the timeliness and the offer jive with what I like/know about the brand? Do I recognize it almost immediately as an extension of the brand promise?
4. Do I feel good enough about this email message that I may want to share it with my friends, co-workers and/or family? Am I proud or pleased to receive this email message because I like being associated with the brand?
5. Even if I don’t have time or the current desire to open this particular message, does the timeliness and relevance of the subject line reinforce why I like the brand?
I have a personal example that comes to mind. Talbots. I’m certainly their target audience. I tend to like classic clothing, and Talbots usually delivers. They target 40-60 year old women, most often business professionals. Their clothes are not expected to always be on sale, nor are they inexpensive. But they last, in style and quality. Not a brand for everyone, but certainly one that I like. Or liked.
One day I decided to buy a dress from Talbots online. It was the first time as I usually shopped in-store. While I was at their online store, I gladly signed up to receive emails about “occasional promotions and helpful bits of fashion advice” – that’s the way they described their emails. I assumed I would get quarterly emails regarding seasonal events, and occasional communications about how to update the classic style of Talbots. What I got instead was the beginning of a series of daily (yes – daily) emails offering me “20% discounts on a huge selection of items”. After clicking through a few times to see just how great their offers were, I found a very limited number of outdated styles that were usually only left in one color and one size. The 20% savings was a joke because the price was still ridiculous for something nobody apparently wanted. Oh, and the emails with fashion tips? Never got one.
It was disappointing to unsubscribe from a clothing line I felt connected to. But their email campaigning did not match up to the impression I had of who they were and how they take care of their customers, and their brand. My guess is someone without much brand expertise was put in charge of their email program. They ruined the brand for me. The Talbots brand I had in my mind no longer exists for me. What a shame.
On the other hand, there are numerous wonderful success stories about email campaigns enhancing brand images. Think Apple and Patagonia and even small companies like PS Audio. They’re doing it right. Primarily because they include email marketing as an important opportunity to market their brand, not just a retail message. (ah, there we go – brandtailing again!)
So, the next time you get an email from a company or brand you like, give it a deeper look. Dissect it for its brand message. Does it deliver? I hope so. If not, you may want to let them know.
Is snail mail dead for marketers? Does it make sense to spend an average of 65 cents per piece when email is virtually free? Maybe not, but before you replace mailbox marketing with inbox marketing, put your consumer hat on for a moment and consider this scenario…
You get to work in the morning and your email in-box awaits you with several dozen messages. Since time is your most precious commodity, you glance through the list quickly to find those you must read and respond to. The rest, especially the ones you didn’t ask for, or the ones you subscribed to so long ago that you forgot you ever signed up for them, are a nuisance. If you had the time you would unsubscribe, but that’s never as easy as it sounds.
When you get home from work you open your regular old mailbox. It, too, is filled with messages you didn’t ask for from marketers you don’t know. They may or may not get your attention, but the fact that they are in your mailbox does not feel like the invasion of your privacy that you felt when you found this stuff in your email in-box, right?
You expect to receive advertising messages in your regular mailbox. You’ve gotten them for years. You might not read the marketing piece, but when you see the brand’s name on the mailer you don’t think ill of it because it went into your mailbox. But you did with the ones in your email, didn’t you?
If we marketers continue to focus on building trust with the consumer, we have to think about this piece of the puzzle. Don’t intrude where you’re not welcomed. Don’t make a marketing decision just because it’s inexpensive. It could end up being much more costly to your brand than you ever imagined.
