Managing Editor, CustomerThink
Member
Posted 11-Jan-2006 09:34 AM
Personal and professional email is merging more, email continues to drive commerce, both online and to brick-and-mortar stores. Those were two findings in a recent study by DoubleClick Email Solutions on how consumers use and respond to email.
The study found that 57 percent of respondents view their work home email at work during the day at least occasionally, and almost as many view work email from home in the evening (55 percent) and on weekends (54 percent). Forty-eight percent of respondents check personal email at least occasionally at work during the day; 21 percent check all the time.
According to DoubleClick, the data shows a constant usage of email and calls into question the notion of a "best" time of day or day of the week for sending out email campaigns.
Based on the study, consumers take email offers seriously. Seventy-eight percent of respondents said they have made a purchase as a result of email; 59 percent have redeemed an email coupon in a store, and almost a third of respondents have clicked on an email and made an immediate purchase. Another third reported clicking on emails for information and returning later to make a purchase.
DoubleClick, working with ROI Research and the Greenfield Online panel of 900,000 U.S. households, polled 1,000 email users via email during May and June of 2005. An executive summary of the findings are available at: http://www.doubleclick.com/us/knowledge
"This year's study shows that email is firmly entrenched as a critical communications tool for the majority of consumers,"said Eric Kirby, General Manager of DoubleClick Email Solutions.
"For marketers, this presents enormous opportunities, while at the same time requiring a significant degree of sophistication to communicate and interact with consumers on their terms in a mutually beneficial manner. If the marketer can balance these factors, the opportunities for effective email marketing are boundless."
The things I wonder with studies like these is if there's still a significant group of consumers not technology-hip and not using email. And, as a consumer, I wonder why more of the businesses I deal with can't be like Amazon, which tailors recommendations to you. I don't mind a coupon from a business, if I already planned to shop there.
But I'd much rather get one email a month showing direct relevance to other purchases I have made than a barrage of emails each week reminding me of a store's existence.
o2tan
Member
Posted 12-Jan-2006 11:40 AM
And that's why so many of the non-hip hit the spam button even for emails that they actively subscribed to.
I was just having this conversation a few minutes ago. Email has been around for a long time and is still the "killer app". It's just not always applied as best it can be.
But, to do the cool tricks you have to have the cool tools. With a relational database ASP or in-house system, it's just a matter of adding some past performance criteria to your distribution filter. You can even set it to "learn" the users frequency and content preferences.
That's the easy part provided that you have log access and understand what they all mean to you business. And if you're using a simple indexed flat-file ASP, then hope that you have good campaign logs, start downloading them, and dust off a DBA.
The hard part is a.) knowing that level of email marketing; b.) are will to pay for that level of email marketing; c.) have the internal will, support, and resources to do it, or; d.) any combination of the above.
Cathy Allington
Member
Posted 17-Jan-2006 04:59 AM
I think we are forgetting one crucial thing here—as Gwynne said—she would rather be emailed about somthing relevant to her than be bombarded by irrelevant offers.
Email is simply a way of communicating with your clients—the other options are by letter or SMS. And clients will get sick of being bombarded by irrelevant offers no matter which medium you use.
The key is making emails both personal and relevant. To do that, you need a CRM system which tracks both contact and purchase information from your existing POS or transactional data system. And then to be able to select the appropriate groups to send emails—or letters—to.
If I have bought "XYZ Product", and there is either an add-on directly relevant to that product, or, if there is a better way I can use that product, or if there has been a great review of that product, then I as a customer want to know about it! If I have provided my email address, then I am happy to be contacted by email to find out about that.
www.gyob.net.au
Gwynne Young
Managing Editor, CustomerThink
Member
Posted 17-Jan-2006 09:15 AM
Right. I think you need the technology, but then you need the right content and need to apply it correctly. I can't tell you how many times I've bought something as a result of an email from Amazon beginning with "Because you bought this book, we thought you might like ..."
I used to shake my head and chuckle at the web sites that sent me offers for baby stuff, but now I'm just tired of it. (And even Amazon has screwed up on this one.) They haven't figured out that babies don't stay babies for very long. I just don't have any need for a bottle warmer now. Now's the time to send me emails about stuff for bigger kids. But they don't.
There has to be some intelligence behind the systems. Look at what the customer has bought and what, based on that purchase, the customer is likely to buy now and two years from now.
If I just registered for the latest PDA, don't send me an offer for a new one. (Oh, yes, I've gotten these.) Send me offers for appropriate software. And plug me in your system to get something on the next-generation PDA a year from now.
o2tan
Member
Posted 18-Jan-2006 06:21 AM
Relevancy should be a given. After all, how much would McDonalds increase their business by advertising Big Macs to Vegans?
It should also be a given that each segment/relative touch point must have content to support it.
The "intelligence behind the systems" is human and goes back to what I said about companies being willing to pay for that knowledge. It's too easy (and cheap) to just do "drive-by" campaigns than to really market. Why pay a 6-digit salary to a seasoned professional when you can learn everything you'll ever need to know about email marketing from Bill Nussey's book?
Expectations need to be realistic. It's easier to make a whole pie and slice it up than to make one slice at a time and try to assemble a pie from the slices. Vendors and industry publications sell the sizzle of all the cool things that can be done, but don't set reasonable expectations on how to get there. Everybody wants to be at the top of the pyramid for the view, but nobody wants to walk up the steps.