Aug 17 2009
Multi-Brand Families Stay Close-Knit
We’ve all heard the expression “a family that prays together stays together,” but perhaps email marketers could revise the expression to be “a family of brands that sticks together gets clicks together.” Recently I’ve received a few emails that do a nice job of visually explaining who they and their sister brands are in simple terms. I like each of these examples because they help educate the user about other brands that they may be interested in but unaware of, or provide value throughout an extended product line.
Our first example comes from Wolferman’s, a sister brand of Harry & David. I really appreciated this email because the footer not only explained that Wolferman’s was part of the Harry & David family of brands, but also explained in clear terms that I was receiving the email because I had recently shopped at Harry & David. I would imagine that this helps Harry & David with cross-sell opportunities while also decreasing abuse complaints.
This second example from Hilton adds value to the message by indicating that HHonors loyalty rewards are valid across all of the listed Hilton business lines.
Our last example, from Gap, Inc., clearly shows who the family of brands is while also providing a call-to-action, stating “Visit our Gap, Inc. Brands.” This is particularly useful since Gap has added two new brands relatively recently.
As a consumer, I appreciate it when companies keep me informed of their latest plans without inundating my inbox. As a marketer, I am quite intrigued by up-sell and cross-sell possibilities involving my best customers. Keeping both of these points-of-view in mind, I really appreciate it when a multi-brand companies are upfront about their various divisions and sister companies and provide easy links between sites.
