Consider the process of checking your email inbox first thing in the morning – you scroll right by email after email, neglecting the very messages that you’ve specifically requested from your favorite businesses.

But is it really neglect? To the marketer focused solely on open rates and clickthroughs, sure it is. No clicks, no love, right? Think again. There’s a lot to be said for those emails – some opened, many not, a few previewed and then passed by – that sit stoically in our inboxes, relatively untouched. After all, these messages are accomplishing the one fundamental task that every marketer requires from their communications: reminding the customer that they’re there.

And therein lies an unsung power of email: the potential to supercharge the rest of your marketing channels through a simple reminder that stares customers in the face.

Take me, for example. I am a loyal customer of Saks Fifth Avenue with a history of purchases both in-store and online. I am happy to be a Saks email subscriber, and I receive their emails frequently. Do I open them all the time? Not really. Shocking, I know, but there’s a reason for that!

First of all, their emails look great in the preview pane – I don’t even need to open the message to get the gist of it. Secondly, like many other retail shoppers, I prefer to visit my local Saks retail location in-person to check the merchandise out before I decide to buy something.

For customers like me, that email from Saks first and foremost functions as a “reminder vehicle,” not as a direct sales channel.

So, while my value to Saks definitely increases with the number of emails I get, my direct performance in the email channel would probably be characterized as relatively poor. Nevertheless, the biggest mistake Saks’ email marketing team could make is to stop sending me emails (which they’ve proven to be smart enough not to). By measuring email campaign data in the context of the entire marketing mix, multi-channel marketers like Saks often learn that many of those “neglected” emails are anything but.

It’s this level of understanding of the cross-channel effects of email that often separates the savvy multichannel marketer from those who have yet to make the leap. But let’s face it, it’s difficult for any marketer to get their head around exactly how to understand, much less measure, how the channel on the left might affect the one on the right and vice-versa.

This challenge is obviously nothing new to email marketers, yet remains as daunting as ever. To that end, I’ll be contributing my ideas to an upcoming DMA webinar exploring strategies around the effects of email (and other digital media) on one’s entire marketing strategy. I welcome you to join the conversation with me both on the webinar and here on the blog.

To tune in to Tamara’s webinar with the DMA Catalog & Multichannel Marketing Council, you can follow the link below. We look forward to seeing and interacting with you online!

“Integrating Digital Media Into Your Customer Marketing Strategies”
March 18, 2009 – 1pm-2pm EST

http://www.the-dma.org/councilevents/cctexpmar09/

A survey is an offer of value that should be consistent with your brand and provide a positive customer experience.  Online surveys are great directional indicators, particularly in these tough times.  But don’t over-interpret results, and remember that respondents represent a particular type of customer and are not likely to be a random group. In other words, use results with caution.

Let’s take a look at some of these survey programs in more detail:

Simon Pearce
Simon Pearce, a Vermont purveyor hand blown glass and handmade pottery, is offering its customers via e-mail (and on their website) a chance to enter its “Feel the Heat Giveaway,” a weekend in Vermont complete with a glass blowing demonstration. The consumer has two ways to enter—make a purchase of a particular product or complete a questionnaire. The questionnaire is focused on uncovering its customers’ attitudes and planned behaviors as a result of the economic downturn—critical information for any retailer, but especially important to those with an affluent customer base. (Recent studies by Experian Simmons are showing that the upper end of the market is particularly wary of spending right now)

By adding the purchase option, Simon Pearce created a revenue opportunity out of their survey—very smart marketing! (I admit, I may have made a purchase as a result of their efforts)

Talbots
Talbots is surveying recent purchasers on their perception of the company’s corporate re-branding efforts—and offering a chance for $150 gift card. This is a different approach than Simon Pearce but still nicely tied to the Talbots brand.

Key Bank
Key Bank is fielding what they describe as customer satisfaction surveys. However, their survey only asks for household demographic, income, and asset information. By adding more accurate descriptions of their survey and offering incentives, Key Bank could provide more value to the customer and build brand loyalty.

If you are actively promoting your Facebook page, the application allows you to quickly measure campaign results. For example, if you email a newsletter to clients promoting a Facebook link, you can instantly see if the communication yielded results by monitoring visitor spikes using the graph as a comparison tool to days when no communication took place. If your company advertises on Facebook and targets specific consumers, this insight can help you determine overall response rates, as well as exactly which demographic groups have been most receptive to your messages.

It looks like Facebook is making constant adjustments to the corporate portion of the site and is starting to understand the importance of measuring marketing results. There are still many kinks to be worked out, but the social network is certainly making strides in attracting advertisers by offering these new tools.