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 John Malangone, who oversees a number of high profile email marketing accounts in the retail, travel, and catalogue industries.

With the biggest revenue season of the year upon us, how can marketers set themselves apart from competitors and finish the year as strong as possible?

John: It is more important than ever to listen to your customers’ needs and deliver accordingly. Take the next couple weeks as an opportunity to survey customers, track click behavior, and analyze your site analytics. If you can pay attention, and get a good sense of what your customers are doing on your site and with your brand, you can optimize your messaging in creative ways. Pay attention to search terms, driving online traffic to both your and your competitors’ sites, to create new and relevant subject line tests. Take a look at internet traffic data detailing where your customers are coming from before and where they are going after visiting your site to see if you should be promoting yourself elsewhere.

Customers are looking for an easy and economical experience, so make sure you’re sending the right message at the right time, based on all industry, trend, and test data you can find. If you are a retailer, remember that these are hard times for your shoppers, and if you’re not outlining your shipping and return policies, deadlines, and other store policies, you may lose shoppers in the end.  Use email to create awareness around these important details!

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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. 

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