Home Solutions Technology Info Center News & Events Privacy Get A Demonstration
Give your customers what they want: Leverage existing customer intelligence to create effective email marketing campaigns
NEW YORK - August 4, 2008 - Email marketing is a little bit like singing in the shower. Everyone does it, but few do it well. According to Proclivity Systems, the developer of the premier platform that provides predictive insight into consumer behavior, if retailers are not sending the appropriate merchandise offerings to their customers, they are essentially leaving dollars on the table. Not taking advantage of information that is readily available is the true opportunity cost.
Retailers have an opportunity to send out high-performance email campaigns at a lower frequency and higher relevancy. In this case, both the consumer and retailer win. To create high-performance email campaigns, retailers only have to properly utilize information that is already available, such as online and offline behavior.
Sheldon Gilbert, founder and CEO of Proclivity Systems, suggests several basic measures every company can implement immediately that will increase online revenue and conversion rates while reducing costly customer turnover. Here are his seven simple and effective suggestions for retailers to intelligently use existing customer information to create more successful email campaigns:
Remind Customers about What They Already Want: Send consumers a monthly email featuring all of their "abandoned products" as assortments and introduce cross-sell items. People tend to use shopping carts as a default wish list. Customers will place a few items in a cart and pick and choose which products they will buy later on. They will look around and seek comparisons before selecting what they really want to buy. By using this information, retailers can create highly successful targeted email marketing campaigns.
Spread the Love: When a customer has shared merchandise information with someone via email, thank them for spreading the word with a "your friend has received your email" note. Not only will this personalize the experience for the customer, but it also presents retailers with an opportunity to introduce a new offer within the conversation.
Mix and Match with Precision: Use the "thank you for your order" confirmation email as a cross-selling vehicle. This can be done by including advertisements for items that fit with a particular purchase to maximize online sales. For instance, if a retailer knows that 60 percent of people who have bought X sweater have also purchased Y scarf, they know to send an advertisement for the scarf to everyone who has bought the sweater.
Build Your Brand: Leverage the "under the fold" portion of the email for merchandising and branding opportunities. This is not wasted space and can be the perfect opportunity to spread brand awareness or describe merchandise in greater detail. Educate customers about products by including a "style guide," or descriptions on how to use or accessorize products in an email marketing campaign. These descriptions are a great way to further personalize emails and connect with customers.
Know Who Your High-Rollers Are: Identify segments that exhibit disproportionate buying power and start marketing to those groups immediately. If retailers know that 20 percent of their customers are accountable for 70 percent of their profit margin, then it is of the utmost importance for them to appropriately and intelligently market to this highly profitable customer segment. This can be accomplished through targeted email marketing.
Never Say Never: Retailers should have their "null search results" feature new and top-selling products, instead of just an empty page. Retailers should not let this opportunity go to waste. Just because a customer can't find a particular item on a company's website doesn't mean they aren't interested in that brand.
People Are Only As Faithful As Their Options: Otherwise known as "opting down," retailers should allow online customers to select a lower frequency of emails instead of completely opting-out, because once they opt-out they are as good as gone. Retailers should avoid giving customers a "do-or-die" option. Instead, they should allow them to have the ability to choose to receive a reduced volume of emails. This will help retain reliable customers while reducing the number of opt-outs, saving the cost of marketing to recoup lost subscribers or acquire new ones.
For more information on how companies can achieve unprecedented increases in online revenue, open rates, click-through rates, and order conversion rates through targeted email marketing campaigns, visit www.proclivitysystems.com.
The Principles of Consumer Valuation Marketing
Proclivity publishes a bi-monthly newsletter containing information on products, whitepapers, events and special offers. Click submit to register.
