October 2009 – Feature: E-mail Plus

Integrating your e-mail campaigns with other marketing tools and platforms can drive results greater than the sum of their parts.

By Joel Book

When it comes to competing for new and repeat customers in today’s highly competitive digital marketplace, an old adage applies: “One cherry does not a pie make.”

Let’s face it. The business of getting and keeping customers is hard work. And it requires more than one channel or tactic to do it well. Why? Because we’re all different. We buy products for different reasons. And we are influenced by different channels and sources of information–brand advertising, product reviews on websites, word of mouth, case studies, research studies, third-party customer surveys–the list goes on.

For online marketers, this requires a Swiss-army-knife-like ability to use technology to attract, engage and serve today’s digitally savvy customers, regardless of channel preference.

The Convergence of Media and Technology
Today, the line between advertising and direct marketing has blurred, with new forms of communication combining the one-to-one messaging power of direct marketing with the brand-building power of traditional advertising. And the message is only one input to a conversation that consumers conduct 24/7 via social networks, in digital forums, on blogs, through mobile phones and elsewhere.

The convergence of media and technology–combined with the ability to personalize messages and offers to the unique profile and interests of the consumer–provides tremendous opportunities for marketers. Now, marketers can engage in real-time interaction with customers and deliver relevant information that invites trial and ignites conversation. Moreover, marketers can now identify “brand fans” who–if satisfied with their brand experience–are only too happy to share their thoughts, opinions and recommendations with friends, family members and work colleagues. By leveraging this network of influencers and brand advocates, marketers can make enormous gains in building and expanding their customer communities.

The Backbone of Modern Direct Marketing
Regardless of whether you are a small, privately held company or a large, multinational corporation, a B2B, B2C, or a non-profit organization, e-mail has emerged as the backbone of successful direct-marketing strategies for attracting and retaining customers.

Successful online marketers know that marketing is not about selling stuff, but about giving people a reason to buy. And that’s why e-mail works so well. E-mail has emerged as the single most effective tool for aiding the decision-making process of the customer by providing information that guides the prospect through the consideration and evaluation stages and all the way to purchase. That’s why a June 2009 survey of 203 U.S. marketing directors by Forrester Research ranks e-mail as the number-one tactic for interactive marketing.

The bottom line? E-mail is no longer an option for marketers. It has become the foundation of one-to-one marketing and is the universally adopted, accepted and most-used standard for online marketing.

To Maximize Results, Think “E-mail Plus”
As effective as e-mail is for driving response and aiding the buying process, it is not enough. High-performance e-mail marketing in the modern era is about “coupling” e-mail with other tactics and technologies.

The solution for marketers is to mix tried and true with bold and new. To create something greater than the sum of its parts. To make it easy for consumers to interact directly with the brand and convey their needs, interests and preferences. And to enable marketers to act on this insight by providing information and offers that are personal, relevant and timely.

What we now know about e-mail is that it can make other communication efforts that much more powerful. E-mail plus represents the current evolution of e-mail marketing, and several companies are leading the charge to use it to optimize online marketing ROI.

E-mail Plus Analytics

Johnston & Murphy
When you hear the name Johnston & Murphy, you may think of an old company with products, strategies and tactics to match. And you would be very, very wrong. With close to 200 stores, a catalog and an e-commerce site, Johnston & Murphy is taking full advantage of marketing tools and technology–anchored by e-mail marketing and web analytics–to convert shoppers into buyers and create relationships that keep customers connected to the J&M brand.

While many retailers are struggling in today’s economy, J&M is proving that you can attract and retain your best customers if you know how to leverage digital marketing. Coupling their e-mail marketing software with their analytics technology, J&M executes automated e-mail campaigns that deliver personalized offers based on expressed interest or purchase behavior. Over 24 months, sales generated from e-mail are up 33 percent; new customers are up 29 percent.

Pet Place
Petplace.com launched its e-commerce effort in 2008 to offer its more-than one million monthly visitors a single website for recommended pet products ranging from health care items to toys, all in addition to the company’s core offering of more than 10,000 veterinarian-approved pet health articles.

Petplace.com uses e-mail plus analytics to deliver highly targeted messages and offers based on customer preferences and activities. The Florida-based company has grown its top-line revenue by 50 percent and launched a new e-commerce business that’s gone from zero to $1 million in less than 12 months.

Petplace.com sends more than 10 million e-mails every month to subscribers, featuring veterinarian commentary, product offerings, pet videos and interactive surveys. Using data from its web analytics provider–Google Analytics–coupled with our e-mail marketing software, Petplace selects the best content and product offers to send to customers based on the type of pet owned, their activity on the site, recent clicks in e-mails and identified interests.

In addition to its recurring veterinarian and product e-mails, the company sends a series of welcome e-mails featuring exclusive content and offers during the first 30 days after a customer has subscribed to their newsletters.

Cable Shopping Network
Cable Shopping Network (CSN) is an online retailer of coins and other limited-edition collectables. The Scottsdale, Ariz.-based company relies on e-mail and analytics to power its direct-marketing operation. In 2008, CSN’s e-mail marketing strategy accounted for 17 percent of total online revenue, which was up from 8 percent for 2007.

One of the keys to success for this $50-million marketer of collectables is their automated system for re-marketing e-mails. The automated system sends customized e-mails to online shoppers who have placed an item in their shopping cart, but have not completed the purchase. The e-mails ask the shopper if they encountered difficulties in the checkout process and offer a discount for completing the purchase.

According to Steve Harris, CSN’s vice president of marketing, the e-mail re-marketing strategy accounts for more than $250,000 in “re-captured” sales annually.

E-mail Plus Social Media

Carmex
I’ve been a long-time user of Carmex, but it wasn’t until a “Carmex Kiss” arrived in my inbox from my niece that I realized how this 71-year-old maker of lip balm has become an innovator in the way it uses technology–e-mail plus social media–to attract new customers and build its e-mail subscriber base.

If you’ve sent a Carmex Kiss to a friend, you know what I’m talking about. Carmex’s site (www.mycarmex.com) enables visitors to upload a photo of their face, choose the type of kiss they want to send and deliver it to one friend–using e-mail or SMS–or to a group of friends via a social network like Facebook. Each time someone sends a kiss, Carmex invites that person to become an e-mail subscriber so they can receive special offers and information about new Carmex products.

Carmex is a great example of how a small business–with a small marketing budget–can attract new customers and add e-mail subscribers. And Carmex is using e-mail to introduce these subscribers to new Carmex products, like Carmex Moisture Plus. Since it launched its Carmex Kiss campaign in November 2008, thousands of Carmex Kisses have been sent. More important, Carmex has grown its e-mail subscriber base from 3,000 to more than 50,000!

Powell’s Books
Powell’s Books is the county’s number-one independent retailer of books. The company operates six retail stores and has an e-commerce site. Powell’s uses an integrated multichannel marketing strategy anchored by e-mail and social media. Targeted e-mail newsletters, recommending books on subjects that customers have told Powell’s they enjoy, produce a 70-percent open rate.

The Portland, Oregon-based company allows consumers to choose from 10 e-newsletters on various topics, such as romance or literature, and then sends the applicable newsletter via e-mail. “The subject-specific newsletters are proof positive that the more focused the content, the more likely customers are to interact,” says Sam Whitmore, online marketing developer. Including newsletters, special promotions and alerts, Powell’s sends more than 27 million e-mails each year to its list of more than 500,000 subscribers.

The company, which has a presence on Facebook, Twitter and MySpace, is using these social sites to drive e-mail subscriptions. Recently, it added more than 400 new subscribers during a six-day promotion on Facebook. For the promotion, Powell’s posted a note on its Facebook page with an offer of $5 off the next online purchase for new subscribers who signed up for its Specials newsletter, which features discounts, rebates and other deals. The Powell’s Facebook page now has more than 22,700 fans, says Whitmore.

Dreamfields Pasta
Dreamfields Pasta is a marketer of 100-percent organic pasta products. The company is a textbook example of a consumer packaged-goods marketer that has moved away from a traditional marketing strategy in which they relied on print advertising to reach customers, to a multichannel digital-marketing strategy that relies on e-mail and social media to drive retail sales and create brand fans.

Dreamfields uses SEO, SEM and word of mouth to attract consumers to www.trydreamfields.com. Once on the site, consumers are invited to register for Dreamfields’ e-mail newsletter and receive a $1 coupon as a thank you. In less than two years, Dreamfields has built an opt-in database of more than 290,000 e-mail subscribers.

Dreamfields uses e-mail to deliver offers, recipes and coupons to subscribers, and invites them to visit the Dreamfields page on Facebook where they can exchange their recipes and experiences with other consumers.

Recently, Dreamfields has begun using our Social Forward capability to invite subscribers to forward their Dreamfields e-mail to friends in their social networks. This tactic has had an enormous impact on e-mail subscriber database growth and product sales.

In addition to its consumer strategy, Dreamfields has also embarked on a related e-mail marketing strategy to develop relationships with healthcare professionals who endorse and recommend Dreamfields Pasta products to their patients. More than 1,500 professionals are now brand advocates. As of August 20, 2009, Dreamfields sales are up 13 percent, year to date.

I could list dozens of other examples to illustrate the power of e-mail plus. It’s a powerful, nimble and adaptable strategy that will allow you to create dynamic multichannel campaigns that appeal to customers of all demographics, and help you give them that all-important reason to purchase.

Joel Book is director of e-marketing education for ExactTarget, the world’s leading provider of on-demand software for permission-based e-mail, SMS and voice marketing. When he’s not speaking or teaching, Joel shares his thoughts on “the brave new world of one-to-one marketing” in his blog: “E-mail Marketing by the Book.” He can be reached at jbook@exacttarget.com.