Oct 14 2008
Tough Financial Times Call for ‘Relevant’ Measures
Every few weeks, we saddle up with our team of email marketing experts to check the pulse of the industry. This week, we are joined by Yvette Mitchell, who oversees a number of high profile email marketing accounts in the retail, financial/credit, and consumer packaged goods industries.
The financial fallout caused by the sub-prime mortgage market is on everybody’s mind these days. With high gas and energy prices adding more hardship to consumers this holiday season, what tactics have you seen retailers implementing to meet their holiday numbers?
Yvette: Well, many retailers were smart in the months leading up to their holiday planning — they saw a clear path to cutting costs by reducing wasteful print dollars. With printing costs on the rise, a number of retailers got ahead of the game by sending fewer print catalogs in the spring and summer months. Other retailers reduced their catalog mailing list size by incorporating ‘catalog preference’ options in their online preference centers so that only interested customers would receive them.
In addition to cost-cutting measures, what have you seen marketers do to increase the relevance and revenue of their messages?
Yvette: In preparation for the holiday season, retailers are sending email messages with short, embedded surveys about their holiday purchase needs and/or links to preference centers requesting that subscribers update their content interests. This allows marketers to send more dynamic, personalized content that aligns more precisely with user interests.
As a suggestion, I’d point out that the holidays are an ideal time to use integrated web analytics campaigns to send “category browse” emails (ReMarketing). If an opt-in subscriber is on your site looking at a particular product category, they will be more inclined to purchase based on their implied interest in that category. ReMarketing is a great tool for encouraging purchases when used in moderation.
Are you seeing anything unexpected this holiday season that is showing promise?
Yvette: Some companies are actually using the holiday season as an acquisition period, leveraging social networking sites by setting up Facebook pages that include holiday contests/sweepstakes/trends, etc. to acquire new subscribers. It’s a pretty clever concept that stands to yield some solid results.
