Crumbs from the Scone
“One click between email message and e-commerce is so ingrained for all of us—as both buyers and marketers—that it’s almost nostalgic to think of using email solely to promote offline purchases,” writes Stephanie Miller in an article at MarketingProfs.
But that’s exactly how Scotts Miracle-Gro—a company with no direct online sales channel—uses its email-marketing program. During the registration process, subscribers provide their grass type and postal code; then, once each month during their region’s growing season, they receive a Scotts Lawn Care Update newsletter with content tailored to their needs.
According to Kip Edwardson, the senior manager of Interactive Marketing at Scotts, the company’s newsletter has a clear mission: to take the guesswork out of product selection for any lawn in any season in any location.
“We’ve learned that knowledge equals revenue,” Edwardson tells Miller in the article. “We are guiding them through the lawn-care lifecycle, and that education encourages them to not only buy more product but to feel confident and gratified by their purchase. We take very seriously that customers gave us a permission grant, and we want to provide something of value.”
Subscribers can also register for Consumer Information Alerts that offer advice on coping with adverse weather conditions or anything else that might harm their lawns.
“We cull through our call center, retail feedback, and website for spikes in activity—say, a freeze in Florida or heavy moss in the Midwest,” Edwardson explains. “We then proactively alert subscribers and the retail-store managers in those regions with tips on how to address the issue.”
A good email program can grow more than subscriptions. Scotts gives its in-store sales a significant boost by offering real help to customers via its email messaging.
Crumbs from the Scone
In an article at MarketingProfs, Dean Rieck says a direct-mail campaign might be just what you need to drive targeted online traffic to your website. “According to the 2009 Channel Preference Study by ExactTarget,” he notes, “direct mail influences 76% of Internet users to buy a product or service online.”
Here are some of Rieck’s tips for successful integration in your print/online campaign:
- Give direct-mail recipients a good reason to visit your website. Tempt them with an offer for a whitepaper, a free seminar or a coupon. “It must be something they want,” he notes, “not just something you want them to see.”
- Remember that they have to type the URL into a browser. Email subscribers who want to learn more simply click on a link; in a direct-mail campaign, however, they must enter the Web address manually. “The shorter and easier it is to spell, then, the easier it will be for people to visit your page.”
- Provide clear instructions in your call to action. If you’re offering a $100 coupon for participation in a customer survey, tell recipients exactly where they should go to take the survey and claim their coupon. “People are more likely to respond when you specifically tell them what to do,” Rieck says.
- Drive traffic to a landing page created for the direct-mail campaign. When you have a specific call to action, send customers to a page that facilitates that specific action. “By creating a unique landing page and driving people to that page, you can control the message, track response, and collect information for follow-up and future direct marketing efforts.”
Old and new media aren’t necessarily oil and water—when blended properly, they can pack a potent punch.
Source: MarketingProfs.
Crumbs from the Scone
If you live in the United States or Canada, there’s a chance you’ve used Groupon to receive discounts on a variety of products and services. “Since launching in November 2008, the Chicago-based deal-a-day website has sold over 7 million online coupons in 70 cities,” notes Jackie Huba at the Church of the Customer Blog.
Groupon’s success hasn’t gone unnoticed, however, and it has spawned competitors. But the company has a plan for staying in the lead: a fanatical commitment to excellent customer service.
Even if coupons aren’t a central component of your marketing strategy, you’ll find inspiration in Huba’s report from a recent visit to Groupon’s headquarters. Here are some of the things the Groupon folks do well:
Flaunting the fine print. You’ll reduce the chances of customer anger or disappointment by clearly outlining what they should (or should not) expect. “Groupon features terms and conditions in large type in a clearly labeled section right beside the deal highlights,” Huba says. “You can’t miss it.”
Offering an ironclad money-back guarantee. Unscrupulous customers might abuse Groupon’s liberal refund policy, but the company believes its generous approach builds trust with the majority of its honest clientele. And it works: Only a small percentage of customers request a refund.
Instituting a two-way rating system. When everyone knows they’re up for a critique, everyone stays on their best behavior. “Customers can give awards to merchants that they like or flag a merchant for a poor experience,” says Huba. “Merchants can also rate loyal customers or good tippers, and can flag unfriendly customers.”
Transparent, pro-customer policies are a great way to differentiate your business from the competition—and keep customers coming back for more.
Source: Church of the Customer Blog.
Crumbs from the Scone
Today’s consumers are “eager to use mobile devices to inform in-store decisions,” says Target’s Kris Roberts in a recent article that quotes experts on the subject at Knowledge@Wharton. Digital innovations, the article argues, are transforming how people shop.
As mobile networks improve, it’s becoming easier for retailers to target customers based on where they live or shop, and to communicate with them in real time. And location-based social networks (think Foursquare), which essentially ask users to share their retail patterns with friends, are offering vital new ways for brands to link to communities, the article notes.
But retailers aren’t adapting so well to the new reality, Roberts warns: “They continue to view online shoppers and customers at retail stores as two separate entities.”
So, to help sellers better meet the demands of today’s wired buyers, the experts quoted in the article offer a few must-do action tips. Among them:
- Update your organizational systems to better integrate in-store operations with Internet retailing. This is a daunting task, Roberts admits, and could require “a generation or two of management changeover.” But it’s vital to achieving the next point.
- Break down your silos, and get your teams working across channels—from stores to online to mobile and social media—to maintain branding and service at each customer touchpoint.
- Get shoppers more involved in decision-making. While the “primal” experience of in-store shopping is unmatched, so is the Internet’s ability to provide shoppers with information, Roberts notes. As consumers move between the two, they are playing a more active role in shaping their own shopping experiences. Find new ways to engage with them.
Integrate your teams—in-house, online and in-store. The 21st-century marketing team works in real time across all channels—and in partnership with wired and savvy consumers.
Source: Knowledge@Wharton.
Crumbs from the Scone
It’s one thing to market to people just like you. But what if you have nothing in common with your target audience? How do you get inside their head? In The Experience Effect, Jim Joseph offers a practical suggestion: “Read a book or go to a movie that depicts the customer—especially a book or movie that the target marketing is embracing,” he says. “You’ll get an incredible glimpse into their lives, their emotions, and their preferences.”
When Joseph—then a single man in his twenties—began marketing Johnson’s Baby Shampoo, he knew nothing about babies. He’d never even held one in his arms.
“So like every other new-mom-to-be,” he says, “I read the classic book What to Expect When You’re Expecting to see for myself what pregnant women are thinking about, worrying about, and purchasing as they go through the cycles of their pregnancy and as they make decisions for their baby’s arrival.”
But that’s not all. When his pregnant friends would go to the doctor for a check-up, Joseph would tag along to observe mothers interacting with their newborns in the waiting room.
He adopted a similar approach when marketing to another demographic he didn’t fit. “I used to watch Dawson’s Creek and Beverly Hills 90210 religiously when I was a brand manager on Clean & Clear teen skin care at Johnson & Johnson so that I could learn about teenage girls and their lives.”
Now the question: What can pop culture teach you about your audience?
“Good marketing comes from turning theory into reality,” writes Joseph, “so let’s make our consumers real people, not just a collection of data.”
Source: The Experience Effect.
Crumbs from the Scone
It’s been a long time coming, writes Dylan Boyd at Email Wars, but with “new systems of marketing automation we are finally gaining ground to creating trigger-based campaigns on actions, behavior and timing.” Boyd provides a thorough rundown on various trigger-based campaigns you might employ.
Here are a few highlights to help spur your creativity:
Time-Based Triggers. “When someone comes to your site and does something, you can actually start a clock that sends out emails based upon a ‘day plus X’ factor,” Boyd notes. The idea is to continue the conversation while giving subscribers some breathing room between messages. There isn’t a magic formula, he cautions, and you’ll need to fine-tune your program to see what works best. But Boyd has found success working with multiples of three: “By using a 3 day spread you can move them back and forth allowing the frequency to have enough room so as to not overwhelm your subscribers with so many emails that they unsubscribe.”
Behavior-Based Triggers. “Let’s say you came into an ecommerce site, looked at a shirt and a hat, compared some features, or read some product reviews,” he explains. “Armed with this knowledge, [a marketer] could send [an email that features] that product.”
Transaction-Based Triggers. Frequently, these strengthen your customer relationship by responding to a purchase they made, Boyd notes. The message might contain a special offer on their next visit, a suggestion that they review a product or service, or a survey requesting feedback.
Don’t let that trigger finger get rusty. “These types of emails need to be continuously monitored, measured and changed up,” says Boyd. “If you get into the rut of just letting it go, eventually the impact will wear off.”
Source: The Email Wars.
“One click between email message and e-commerce is so ingrained for all of us—as both buyers and marketers—that it’s almost nostalgic to think of using email solely to promote offline purchases,” writes Stephanie Miller in an article at MarketingProfs.
