According to a recent survey published by eMarketer, nearly 54% of consumers surveyed help friends or family members with purchase decisions, and more than 40% share advice based on information they have read online. So how can you encourage your... More

According to a recent survey published by eMarketer, nearly 54% of consumers surveyed help friends or family members with purchase decisions, and more than 40% share advice based on information they have read online. So how can you encourage your email subscribers to join the conversation about your brand? Here are some simple tips to help you harness brand advocates with email and use that information to influence purchase decisions.

Include Forward to a Friend (FTAF) or Share with your Network (SWYN) feature in email messages with strong viral content. Sharing features are most effective for promotional messages with great deals, limited time offers or new product announcements. 

Send a post-purchase product review. The most effective examples I have seen are sent within two weeks following product delivery and include dynamic content reminding the consumer what they purchased.
 
Here are some recent examples from my own inbox:
Macy's
GAP

Crate&Barrel
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Many email marketers overlook simple ways to stay in touch with their subscribers such as Thank You and Birthday campaigns. As we get older, we like to pretend birthdays don't mean as much to us. But your birthday is the one special day each year when you get to celebrate YOU More

Many email marketers overlook simple ways to stay in touch with their subscribers such as Thank You and Birthday campaigns.
 
As we get older, we like to pretend birthdays don't mean as much to us. But your birthday is the one special day each year when you get to celebrate YOU.
 
As I approached my special day this year I received a steady flow of Birthday messages from some of my favorite brands. Take a look at some of these examples for inspiration:

My Coke Rewards
Eye catching emptying glass reveals bday message; Subject Line: Happy Birthday to You, Tanya

Warner Brothers
20% of my next purchase; Subject Line: "A Birthday Gift for You!"

Macy's
Free Shipping: Subject Line: "Happy Birthday! Celebrate with Free Shipping"

Papa Murphy's
Free cookie dough; Subject Line: "Your birthday is fresh on our minds"

Alaska Airlines
10% off my next ticket purchase; Subject Line: "Happy Birthday - Get 10% off Your Next Flight"

Old Navy
$10 off; Subject Line "It's Your Birthday! Take $10 Off"

There were a lot of nice messages here, but in hindsight, what surprised me the most is how many companies I actively purchase from who missed the opportunity to engage with me on my birthday. Don't overlook how good it makes your customers feel to be acknowledged on their special day. By capturing date of birth (or even just birthday month) as part of your opt-in process, you can deepen your relationship with your subscribers and even generate some incremental sales from birthday promotions. If you don't have date of birth on file, consider conducting a simple data append to enrich your targeting possibilities.
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Venus Swimwear has a weekly promotion that puts a nice spin on the classic "weekly newsletter". Each Sunday they promote their "7 Deals of the Week" - 7 items on sale at dramatically reduced prices. Each item is available all... More

Venus Swimwear has a weekly promotion that puts a nice spin on the classic "weekly newsletter". Each Sunday they promote their "7 Deals of the Week" - 7 items on sale at dramatically reduced prices. Each item is available all week, though the call-out of 7 items for each of the 7 days in the week is a nice touch.

The email contains a nice image of each item on sale, while the web landing page offers the same images. The body of the email also has a nice reminder to check back the following Sunday for the next week's items.

The approach, while simple, is compelling in that re-packages the weekly newsletter in a form that many marketers are not using.

An example of their latest email is below:


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Some of the most effective email programs are those that are automated and tied to a subscriber's buying cycle. FAO Schwarz has a nice Repeat Purchase Program where they send subscribers a special offer if they have not purchased within... More

Some of the most effective email programs are those that are automated and tied to a subscriber's buying cycle. FAO Schwarz has a nice Repeat Purchase Program where they send subscribers a special offer if they have not purchased within 60 days of their last purchase. In the email below, they are offering 20% off the next purchase. I particularly like the "We hoped they loved it!" call out, as it directly ties the email to the last purchase made.


In respect to these types of programs, do you, have a:

•       1st Time Buyer Program

•       Repeat Purchase Program

•       Lapsed Purchase Program

•       Abandoned Shopping Cart Program

There are many other variations; however, these four are some of the most important. Less

Another example of a company not doing a good job of tying the subject line to the body content within the message, only this time the example comes from Marketing Sherpa - someone whom you would think would have their... More

Another example of a company not doing a good job of tying the subject line to the body content within the message, only this time the example comes from Marketing Sherpa - someone whom you would think would have their stuff together...

Subject Line

[EmailSherpa] Benefits of Centralized Database Control

Body Content

1.      Check Your Email Reputation to Improve Deliverability with Easy, No-Cost Tools

2.      Exclusive Sherpa Research: Social Media Marketing and PR Benchmarks, Best Practices, Tactics

3.      Social Media Marketing: What Works and What Doesn't

Perhaps this was just an error in the subject line; however, if so, it reinforces another recent callout of the importance of Quality Assurance.

It is these types of errors that lead consumers to have a lower opinion of the brand in question.

Take a look at the email:


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Love the fact that John McCain chose to announce his intent to seek re-election to the U.S. Senate via email (see below):Hate the fact that upon clicking through to the John McCain website the graphics on the page are off... More

Love the fact that John McCain chose to announce his intent to seek re-election to the U.S. Senate via email (see below):

Hate the fact that upon clicking through to the John McCain website the graphics on the page are off (see below) - what happened to the "donate today" button?!?:
 


Suffice it to say this reinforces the need for all email programs to have a good solid approach to Quality Assurance. How many times have you fully tested the content of your email campaign only to forget to fully test the destination URL's? It happens to the best of us.

If you haven't in awhile, it is a good time to review your QA practices.
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The election may be over, but don't anyone tell Barack Obama. He continues to utilize email to drive his message home. In the process, he is creating new "brands" that never existed. When was the first time you heard of... More

The election may be over, but don't anyone tell Barack Obama. He continues to utilize email to drive his message home. In the process, he is creating new "brands" that never existed. When was the first time you heard of "Organizing for America".

Another theme of his messages is an increased use of video to drive his message. Over the past three days two campaigns have been sent featuring video as the primary call to action:

Saturday, February 7: "Urgent Message from President Obama"

Monday, February 9: "Your economic crisis story"

Are you using video in your marketing efforts? If so, let me know how effective it has been.

On an unrelated side note, it continues to irk me that the Obama campaign continues to forget to have a link at the top of the message referencing a hosted version of the message... it is so easy!


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I really like the way Lucy has integrated their "Find us on Facebook" in the Bottom Navigation of their emails.The Lucy Fan Page is also fairly built out.As a marketer, have you built out a Fan page on Facebook? More... More

I really like the way Lucy has integrated their "Find us on Facebook" in the Bottom Navigation of their emails.

The Lucy Fan Page is also fairly built out.

As a marketer, have you built out a Fan page on Facebook? More importantly do you have an active strategy regarding how you are using that Fan page and cultivating customer relationships on it?

We can help.

See below:



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Kudos to Express for doing a really nice job of integrating with Facebook.Beyond having a nice call to action in their normal emails; they have used Facebook in the following ways:• Utilized Facebook Events to publicize upcoming sale promotions (e.g.... More

Kudos to Express for doing a really nice job of integrating with Facebook.

Beyond having a nice call to action in their normal emails; they have used Facebook in the following ways:
• Utilized Facebook Events to publicize upcoming sale promotions (e.g. This Saturday and Sunday Friends and Family Sale)
• 5 published videos
• 8 posted albums featuring new fashion and over 375 fan photos wearing Express merchandise
• Usage of the Fan page discussion boards

And they have over 20,000 Facebook fans.

Take a look at their Facebook call-out:


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The Retail Email Blog recently cited a creative design we did for HP Shopping in December as the "Most Eye-Catching Design".Check it out:http://www.retailemailblog.com/2009/01/design-hall-of-fame-2008-inductees.html Also nice to see that our friends at Norm Thompson were cited as an Honorable Mention in... More

The Retail Email Blog recently cited a creative design we did for HP Shopping in December as the "Most Eye-Catching Design".

Check it out:

http://www.retailemailblog.com/2009/01/design-hall-of-fame-2008-inductees.html

Also nice to see that our friends at Norm Thompson were cited as an Honorable Mention in this category... Less