What are some best demonstrated email marketing practices for a brick & mortar company?
Think retailer, food, entertainment without online purchasing. Are there examples of these kinds of companies consistently sending relevant, valuable communication that consumers would not want to miss?
Answers (11)
Loreto C.
Senior Advisor - Business Intelligence at Desjardins
Best Answers in: Advertising (1), Business Development (1), Lead Generation (1)
The obvious answer is timely information on in-store promotions.
Also, an easy tie-in to ensure your email campaign is properly working is to attach a printable coupon to your email.
Mr. Marketology | J.
SEO Manager at Consumer Source, Inc.
Best Answers in: Internet Marketing (2), Search Marketing (2), Business Development (1), Public Relations (1)
The best form of email marketing with no eCommerce in place would be to keep the member base informed of specials only available through the email newsletter. This will allow a form of tracking and also will be more cost effective than direct mailing. BigLots do this as well as several small clubs and restaurants.
I think there are a few ways these types of businesses should/could approach email marketing:
1) Informational/"Be the expert" - send out weekly eblasts/enewsletters and offer advice on a specific topic or share information about their industry or a related topic. Tips/suggestions/ideas are always well-received.
2) Send out an offer. Do this on a certain day or every day/week/month - holidays. "Today only - 15% off XXXX!" This is a great way of getting loyal customers to check their emails from said business on a regular basis. They'll also tell their friends, which should attract more email subscribers. Call/email and mention offer code XYZ or make the customer print out the email and bring it in (if there's a need for the business to drive in-person foot traffic).
3) Special announcements - announce exclusive sales and upcoming product intros to your email subscribers only. This is yet another way of adding value to being an e-subscriber!
Joan Romph
Dir of Marketing Services
Paragon Press
Shreveport, LA
www.ParagonPress.net
Links:
Also, it is a useful channel for high street stores if you have any kind of loyalty scheme in place.
Rodney B.
Business Development Director, Texas Region at BI Worldwide
Best Answers in: Direct Marketing (2)
There are many different ways to address your question, so I will answer in terms of best practices for integrating e-mail marketing into your marketing strategy. Too many companies make it difficult for a website visitor to subscribe to an e-mail. Opt in forms should ideally be located on every single page, or at least in many different places, not just one. Site visitors should not have to look around to find out where to go to sign up, or you risk loosing them. Another critical element is testing the contact forms on your site or landing page to ensure the highest conversion rates. You may find that by asking only for the e-mail address you will get a huge sign up rate, whereas if you show a form with 6 or 8 fields, your sign up rate is far lower. If you ask for only an e-mail address, you can always go back and ask if they want to fill out the rest of their profile or fill in "optional" fields. You can use this data to make the content as relevant as possible for each person on your list.
The best rule of all - "Test, Measure, and Repeat." This goes for EVERY component of your e-mail campaigns.
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There many ways a brick and mortar company can utilize email marketing. For instance, you can send out announcements about:
upcoming sales and later send reminder emails about it
business updates such as new hires, upcoming events
offer advice about topics related to the products and services you offer
introduce new products
advertise coupons for in-store discounts
and more
If you work with the right company you can receive statistics about how many customers clicked on the topics in your newsletter and which topics were the most popular.
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Saw your question, don't have much time to answer, but yes, there are lots of examples of these for sure.
About the people I suggested:
Simms' firm has done email work for Lowes, Chick-fil-a, Ted's Montana Grill & other brick-and-mortar firms.
Chad's done a ton of research on retailers' email practices and can probably point you toward some good examples.
Andrew used to run the email program at Sears and does a lot of reviewing of retailers' email campaigns.
If you sell something renewable -- pet food, haircuts, financial planning -- you can use email to remind people that it's time to buy more/make another appointment. People truly appreciate emails that are relevant and personalized, so use the customer's name in the subject line: e.g., "Sandy, time to review your IRA?"
You may already be keeping a customer information database via a point-of-sale system in your store. An online email management system should be able to incorporate your database and let you send out autoresponders pinned to anniversary dates, renewal dates, etc., so all you need to do is create the original email and the system will merge in the names and send them when triggered.
Another simple email strategy is to send an email a week or so after someone has bought something and ask how they're enjoying it and if they have any questions. This establishes trust, so you'll get better results later with you follow up with promotions/specials etc.
Shiri G.
Owner & Organizational Stylist at ShirfulDesigns
Best Answers in: Conference Planning (1), Conference Venues (1)
Holly,
Email campaigns are the perfect opportunity to build relationships and loyalty with customers outside of their physical interaction with the brand. As CPG marketers fight for shelf real estate, staying connected with customers enhances the experience and keeps the brand top of mind.
A great example –
Kraft food and family email newsletters include weekly recipes and product spotlights. When a subscriber is off grocery shopping, they have more than just ideas for dinner and recipes. They’re equipped with pre-set shopping lists including Kraft items. Loyalty is so high, these email subscribers don’t require discounts and coupons.
http://www.kraftrecipes.com/Registration/emailSignUp.aspx
Think outside the box – how do you keep the brand top of mind when the customer’s away from the physical experience? How can you continue educating them on the value of the brand? What added-value experience can you create virtually? What resource can you provide them to turn them into brand advocates? (in the case of Kraft, imagine how many of those emails are circulated as “check out this great recipe”…)
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We've seen huge successes with our email campaign by anticipating what is next in the life cycle of each customer and targeting our products accordingly. We look at what they've bought from us in the past and use behavioral analysis to anticipate what they will buy next. Then we market that to them. Each customer has an individual marketing path that we are able to execute on a mass scale.
