Three Practical Ideas to Enhance Your Email Marketing Program

If you have a direct marketing relationship with your prospects and customers, try to use this these three ideas with them to get them to sign up for your digital marketing campaigns.

Early Bird
Offer your customers the ability to get ahead in line by emailing their appointment request to a store or branch representative. This early bird email allows them to bypass the line, simply printing out their appointment card and walking up, a significant advantage of being part of the email program.

So “oops” doesn’t become “ouch”
If you accidentally slip into the red, we’ll give you a chance to slide out of it. This was the title of a nice marketing message giving customers an opportunity to sign up for overdraft services from a financial services institution. Three things stood out here, first the financial institution got you to share your email id, second they got you to pay attention to their email messages, and third, they were able to up-sell you. Once again, this was an interesting way to elevate the importance of the email campaign.

This promotion underscores the importance of this channel to their financial institution; it also gives them an opportunity to track the people taking advantage of the service and perhaps offer them other services.

Hold on
Another good idea is to alter your hold message; if callers are waiting to speak to you (and you absolutely have to speak to them) why not ask them to go a specific website, provide their email id and contact information. Tell them you will do one of three things:

• Have a rep call them back (so they don’t have to stay on hold);

• Have their call assigned to the appropriate department (by asking them more about their question/ issue); and

• Try to answer their question on the internet – give them access to frequently asked questions.

Notice the self-service option is positioned at the end of the list, by doing this the caller will not feel as if they just entered a second loop. Be sure to audit your loops regularly and send an email back to the customer to make sure that their problem was solved satisfactorily.

(The image above is from a dish (Sev Puri) I ate at Guglee - a modern Indian restaurant in London, UK. Their food is phenomenal, and their Sev Puri is absolutely decadent. If you do visit them, tell them I sent you.)

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Campaign Ideas for Father's Day (Retailers, Banks, and More)

With Father's Day coming up next month, think about how you can leverage the day to engage with your consumer. Here are some ideas that have worked very well in the past and can be leveraged to generate excitement, instill confidence, and ultimately help seal the deal.

Stand-Out Campaigns
A mid-western retailer sent a series of campaigns listing the top 10 gifts for Dad, the first campaign had two gifts listed and the subsequent four campaigns all listed two gifts each. The final campaign recapped all 10 but with an added twist – the landing page included testimonials from recipients of the gifts from the last year.

A bank sent a campaign encouraging recipients to a landing page that carried the tag line: “Put $100 in the bank, take Dad to lunch and tell him what you did!” The messaging went on to tell how happy Dad will be; the campaign was sent to young professionals and included different subject lines depending on the segment targeted.

In the days leading up to fathers day, an insurance company in India asked people to write about the best thing their Dad had done for them as they were growing up. Some submissions were run as a series of TV ads; others were listed on YouTube and in plain text. Engaging the recipients did a lot to build their brand.

Good luck this Fathers Day and best wishes.

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Subject Lines that Represent Awesome Deals and Opportunities

1) Ends Friday: Save 21% on your $75 purchase – We’re including this one for a few reasons, for starters the percentage off was unusual for the sending company, they usually offer a 15% discount. The cataloger also pushed up the minimum purchase from $50 to $75, also a twist for them.

2) Gift Ideas for Any Occasion – This subject line is a powerful way to show variety and subtlety communicate your willingness to help. Recipients are coaxed to browse the site rather a specific item/ price point. This subject line would be even greater if it was from a bank or a company selling memberships, because they’re offering gift alternatives.

3) Lock in Your Summer Savings – I received this email from a cataloger, intrigued I opened to learn that I could lock in my savings coupon for the next 30 days. There was a sense of mystery in this email because I had to go to a landing page to find the percentage savings and the amount of time I had to redeem.

4) Your Account Aggregation Service – I received this from my bank regarding a service I had subscribed to through my banking profile; I opened the email to read about the changes to the service. The same principles apply to any other sender, if the recipient has elected to receive information on a specialty product/ service then talk to them about it through a special email – this simple approach is very focused and effective.

5) It’s time to Refill – This was a reminder email and a good use of a recurring campaigns reminding the recipient that they need to order more. It is also a good way to extend the life of a product/ service.

6) Looking forward to meeting you… – Last week we included the “Don’t Miss Out” subject line and follow up. This is an alternate take, sending a reminder with a personal invitation may earn additional attention. Build excitement by leveraging personalized invitations from the recipient’s individual sales reps – this could be to a seminar or webinar with a promise for a personal follow-up; the odds of grabbing attention increases if this is done in conjunction with the general invitations.

7) Start Saving With this Exclusive Coupon – This subject line is geared toward the recipient that opens, clicks through to your site and browses around but has yet to make their first purchase. To help push them into the buyer category, send a special coupon for their first purchase, run tests to determine their threshold and get them started.

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Subject Lines that Intrigue and Inspire (Email, Mobile, Social)

1) Weekend in Tuscany – This was from a cataloger selling gift baskets; they used one of the gift basket names. This was a slightly different subject line to spark inspiration and get people to pay attention in a sea of general messages.

2) Double Takes – This was from an apparel retailer and highlighted mix and match items to help recipients realize their closet’s potential. It was also a slightly better offer than their traditional, making recipients look twice.

3) How much will you Save? – This online retailer offered tiered discounts and used the message to stand out from the multiple discounts they had been offering the previous few weeks. Many of their recipients also received personalized discounts based on previous purchases.

4) Click to discover your Mystery Savings – This company increased clicks by asking recipients to click and discover their savings, mystery saving coupons were attached to each product and recipients found their discount after adding items to their shopping cart. They added another twist (same subject line) by offering recipients the chance to see the mystery coupon before they began shopping.

5) Five Winners Everyday – A normally serious retailer offered this as a means to inspire people to buy, declaring five winners each day. The promotion first started as a fun contest but soon inspired the non-winners to return and see who won; the campaign also increased the importance of their emails.

6) More than meets the Eye – I’ve seen a number of uses for this subject line, retailers and financial institutions have used it to highlight coupons, offers and scavenger hunts in hopes of engaging recipients.

7) Gifts with a Twist – Highlight some of your more unique selections to get your recipient’s attention. If you don't have anything that is extraordinary, insert special offers like free shipping, gift wrapping or a special coupon.

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Winning Subject Lines for Transactional Messaging (Email and Social)

Here are some headlines that have driven real good results on campaigns across channel - email, mobile, and social media.

The idea is to leverage a transaction and extend the experience to make a connection – the recipient is expecting the message and you have the opportunity to not only respond but add a little value, for example:

1) Thank You, Here’s $10 – This is a simple and effective way to show gratitude and value exchange. Just don't forget to put an expiration date on the offer.

2) Please Leave a Review on Your Recent Purchase – Send a thank you message from your head guy (customer service, merchandising etc.) soliciting feedback on the product/ service just purchased.

3) Sorry we missed you, let us make it up… – Callers drop off the phone, your site could have gone down or your customer/ recipient missed the big event. Here’s your chance to try and make up.

4) We’re more than just 'Widgets' – An excellent way to show your array of products, thank the customer for their recent widget purchase and offer them a peek of what else is available.

5) Your membership expires in x-days – Place value in reminding people about their membership to your exclusive club, don't forget to start this process of emails early.

6) Get a head start… – Send your exclusive club an advance invitation to your upcoming contest, tell them to look in the mail for postcard invitation. The card drives them to a website collecting their online entry… this is a great way to engage people across multiple channels.

7) Your recipe is included – Provide the recipe that the customer requested and offer two more partial recipes, available in full on the landing page.

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How to Know More About Your Consumers

Surveys are supposed to provide organizations with information about the needs of their customers and prospects, the hope is that this information can be leveraged into actionable information and make the recipient’s experience more meaningful.

Yet so many surveys are full of flaws and as a result the responses are less valuable than expected. One of the biggest mistakes made is the military-style opening – the request for name, rank and serial number right out of the gate.

I’ve seen many surveys that start off by asking the user to identify themselves, the survey then progresses to a series of multiple choice questions and ends with the text box for opinions.

Think about the last time you responded to a survey, did your answers skew from the start to the end? Typically, we lose interest and start half-reading the questions and answers. Most respondents start off the survey by giving aspirational answers but as time progresses they tune out and may contradict previous answers or completely abandon your survey.

In either case, the end results aren’t helpful and can be a waste of time for all parties. A better way to engage the user is to ask them to share their opinion through a text box, keep questions interesting, engaging and try to solicit true views – do this by offering creative response options or by keeping the question types variable.

These strategies will help you hold the respondent’s attention and will ultimately yield more truthful responses. Collect your demographic information at then end when the respondent is on auto-pilot and more comfortable with providing the information.

Finally, try and leverage the responses in future communications – email, social media, & print. Acknowledge that the update/ change is a result of survey respondent, you’ll bank extra points with all recipients.

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How to Create a Marketing Playbook

The summer months are an excellent time for you to regroup and plan. Use the time to create a plan for the remainder of the year, research marketing efforts of companies you admire, your competitors and evaluate your past efforts.

Compile this information into a Marketing Playbook – gather your team to help research and review, odds are you don’t need to reinvent… just recycle and adapt.

Here are a few simple guidelines to get you started:

1) Define a clear purpose for your upcoming Campaigns – For example - a) Increasing sales; b) Improving engagement and 3) Growing your list.

2) Plot a Clear Strategy/ Tactics (for each of your goals) – For example, to increase sales (cross-sells) we will feature products alongside consumer search results. To improve engagement we will solicit feedback through leading questions and seek customer content. To grow the list we will simplify the sign-up process and make it available on all pages, we will also encourage sign-ups through social media sites.

3) Create Super Campaigns – Create a campaign with a hero offer (something that has done well in the past.) Prominently feature the offer and call to action, list related sub offers and customize the landing page. Use this opportunity to test subject lines, be creative, engaging and apply each appropriately to the selected segments. Try to predict the outcome of these tests and remember to measure carefully.

4) Set Metrics to Measure Success – Define goals for upcoming campaigns – email opens, clicks, conversions… even bounces and unsubscribes. Strive to get your list within these parameters so that you’re constantly monitoring and measuring.

5) Listen and Learn – Keep your consumers engaged on social media, via surveys, and focus groups if possible. Keep in touch with them to understand the pulse and plan around what they desire. Think about doing this across channels.

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Catching Fraudulent Orders

Fraud cuts into margin for many retailers, it can wreck havoc on your reputation or worse… A few tell tale signs of possible fraud include a new account making a big purchase, multiple sizes ordered and/ or the bill to address not matching the ship to address. On the flip side you could have landed a new customer making a big purchase or sending a gift to someone else.

I once had the opportunity to listen in on a call to a customer who ordered 17 shirts from an online retailer, they were of different sizes and each had a different monogramming request. The order was flagged as fraud but turns out that the buyer was the concierge for a sports franchise placing an order for the team members. We thanked the customer and followed up with two email invitations offering more options to browse the available selection.

I also learned that your professional crook usually designates standard shipping and places a call to change to overnight shipping; they also make the request to change the shipping address. This way, the order usually is processed without being flagged and if the rep can be fooled – oh well.

Conversation is the best litmus test, nine times out of ten it’s not fraud but it gives you the opportunity to make an impression on the customer. Use the opportunity to create a bond, let them know you’re calling to verify, thank them and if appropriate talk a little about the product they are buying.

Promote the importance of your email program throughout the conversation, your boss and your customer will appreciate the work.

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How to Build Social Capital

You measure the value of your programs by setting up different benchmarks that help you gauge success. How valuable your social program is will depend on how much social capital you build up. Just having a large number of followers or just being present on social media isn’t going to cut it.

Use these seven steps to help plan your strategy and build up social capital so your consumers (or fans) flock to you.

1 – Think about branding your program with a name – don’t just call it your social media program. Instead give your program a name and then invite your consumers to come join that program.

2 – Offer your consumers some relevant reasons to sign up for your ‘Named’ social media program. Your reasons should reflect your brand and are ideal if they match what your consumers expect.

3 – Leverage the reasons to get your consumers to be part of your social sphere of influence. Begin the solicitation process by advertising the reasons across multiple channels.

4 – Think about the first few messages after sign up. Once your consumer joins your program, think about putting together a welcome stream of messages for that consumer.

5 – Pay attention to what the consumer is saying and try to learn from the dialogue that is taking place in the social sphere. The easiest way to get input is to ask for it – so offer a link to a survey.

6 – Respond to consumers by answering their questions. Converse with them and keep the dialogue going, don’t be the only one starting conversations – join other conversations.

7 – Find your brand champions or brand advocates and endorse them. You can do this in a few ways. First, if someone is leading the dialogue (appropriately), thank them. Second, if this person continues doing good things – list them as a brand ambassador. Third, if they continue to talk about your brand, think about offering them ‘samples’ or ‘service experiences’ to evaluate and write about for the rest of your fan base.

The goal here is to continue to build up social capital by doing things that are relevant to the consumer and help you build relationships with that consumer. All of this adds up to help you stay engaged, and continue to serve your consumer.

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Why people bank online?

As email marketers we need to engage our recipients in a dialogue, there are some financial institutions that do a phenomenal job with their email marketing programs but others forget that they are in the business of effective communications – you cannot simply create a program to take over your paper communiqués (even though that is one of the reasons you could start.)

Introspection about the program is a good way to begin, an important step is to stop and consider why people bank online; those reasons can also be applied to your email program. For instance, people bank online to:

Access services at Anytime – Consumers are always able to serve themselves quickly, their statements are always available, searchable and easily accessed. No waiting for statements or sorting through papers.

Avoid waiting in line – When banking online, the customer is always first, they can go from “counter to counter” to get the right answers quickly.

Easy Bill Pay – It’s easy to pay bills with a few clicks, no writing checks, no addresses, envelopes or stamps. More importantly, transactions are immediate and can be tracked from start to finish. The same principles apply to fund transfers.

Security – Online banking is actually more secure than regular banking; financial institutions continue to invest in improving authentication to make things even more secure. Exceptions are handled through call centers.

Save Money – Many institutions offer an incentive to sign-up for electronic statements, plus there is the out of pocket expense avoided by not driving to the bank etc.

Online banking is very convenient and financial institutions spend a bundle trying to market the virtues of the service. Just remember, that your email program is your conduit to the online banking channel, remind your people – front line and management – about this factor and don't forget to educate your customer about the same.

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Leverage your people channel to drive consumer engagement

The more your team can lead in collecting digital assets the more successful you will be. The key is to get them on your side by showing the benefits of digital engagement, by making things easy for them to capture information, and by giving them something valuable to share with their customers.

Here are things your frontline can do -

1) Spend a little more time engaging the customer in relevant dialogue; talk to them about the product they’ve purchased, solicit their input and point out your digital assets – sell them on visiting these portions of your site and sharing information.

2) As you sell them on these digital assets and associated benefits, be crisp and precise – make sure you have this scripted so there is no confusion by the reps. A consistent branded message across channels goes a long way in keeping things clear.

3) Take a little extra time to get their email ID, get them to notice your Facebook page, let them follow you on Twitter. Don't just ask for their email first, describe the benefits of your program and only then ask… this increases your chances of collecting the information.

This intelligent conversation gives your brand credibility, makes your reps look real and helps to engage your customers.

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Ideas to drive engagement within your company...

Once you capture your consumers digital connections, including their email id - you have to make sure that they are now paying attention to your campaigns. We all know that an email capture is not just about getting their ID; it’s about ensuring that your recipient is interested in what you’re sending.

Start by getting your team to be proficient users of your email program, your goal should be 100% opens and clicks by your own people. If your team is paying attention to your program – they’ll be in a better position to describe the emails to your customers/ prospects.

Don't forget to have signs in your store/ branch and posted on your other channels listing the benefits of your email program – really crisp messages to 1) entice the user to sign up; and 2) stress to the recipient that you have a program worth their attention.

Try to keep your solicitation messaging consistent across channels, run internal contests to reward your own people – on email collection and email capture effectiveness. Define email capture effectiveness as a scoring system for a customer to both open and click your campaigns. It is not just about collecting names, it’s about getting people to pay attention.

Share your ideas with us and look for future posts on effective ideas to get your customers engaged.

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Some ideas on getting more digital contacts...

A friend of mine runs marketing for a retail store chain and does a great job collecting customer information; at check out, the store reps ask customers for additional information with the following offers:

1) If we add you to our database, you’ll be able to look at your purchase history online

2) You’ll be able to return/ exchange items without a receipt

3) You’ll get advanced notice of sales and special events – before the public

Her capture rate is high, both in-store and across channels – web and catalog – with the majority of customers including their email addresses (regardless of channel.)

Apply her model to your marketing program – tie your customer contact info with purchase history, you’ll be able to segment and target with 1:1 personalized offers. You can also do follow up on returns/ exchanges with targeted messages that can inquire about the reasoning, experience and/ or prescribe an alternate.

The pre-sale events are always good, this could be in the form of additional days notice or through a special event after (before) store hours and could be the pre-cursor to a first responders club.

Try extending your data storage so that you can capture additional data fields on your customer base and their purchases. Your site, email and their transaction could be used as a contactless loyalty program system.

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