EMAIL SIGN UP - Week 2 Bealls Dec 22
So as I started to interact with my three test sites, I realized when I signed up for the email newsletter with Bealls, like with Pulte, that I hadn't really created an account. So, I went in and did so for both my personas. At this point, they did include the email opt-in with an "opt-out" option in case I don't want them talking to me.
Now is where things will get interesting. In the account creation, Bealls is starting to learn more about me. In addition to asking for my address and phone number, they are asking my birthday, gender, if I am a full time resident and how I like to shop with them - online versus in store or both. I'm going to alter this a bit between the personas to see what happens:
Gmail - Dec 19x7, female, seasonal and online
Yahoo - Feb 19x4, male, full time and both
Having fun now!
Since signing up with Bealls, I have also been looking at different content under my two personas and based on what I originally input. For my gmail persona, I have visited deals and pajamas as well as capris. In Yahoo, I'm looking at men's Columbia gear and shorts. I even added some camo size 34 shorts to my cart. One thing that happened on my initial click is they prompted me to enter a ZIP code and attach my account to a store which I did. They then presented me with circular deals for that store including holiday items.
All my home screens are exactly the same regardless if I am signed in or not at this point, so it appears Bealls is not using any web personalization to change my experience based on what they know about me and my browsing behavior.
I have also been receiving emails from them since I signed up last week. In my Yahoo account, after that initial sign in, I've received 13 emails (since 12/13), about 1-2 a day. I know it is the holiday season, but as I've said in previous posts, how much is too much and what impact will that have on unsubscribes?
Sadly, in my gmail account, all the emails from Bealls are landing in my spam folder - I had to go look for them. I also have received only 3 emails in this account since the sign in. So my question here is did Bealls purposefully send me fewer to that persona or is there some problem with deliverability. Given that the three I did find landing in my spam folder, I suspect there is a deliverability issue.
Good news is some the emails are recognizing my browsing behavior and presenting me with relevant content when I open the email after I have browsed particular content on the website. I went in and opened my special offer email that I received the day after I created each account and under the offer, each email presented me different product content based on what I looked at: capris for Google and men's shorts for Yahoo! NOT SOUR email - good job Bealls.
Another good thing Bealls is trying to do is to get to know me more, so a week after that initial email, they offer an email thanking me for being a part of their "list" - could be better wording, how about "the Bealls shopping family" instead? They also offer me a discount on my next order for answering.
Bad news and a really simple fix - neither subject lines or body copy are using my first name or recognizing me personally in some way.
So here we go - my answers for both personas below:
Yahoo:
Departments of interest: mens, deals (remember they already know I am a guy - should they have pre-checked that?)
Subjects of interest: new arrivals and offers
More complete contact information - I'm using my Orlando area information, but not providing my phone number which they want for text messages. Now I'm wondering if they asked this because I didn't provide it on my initial sign up, but given they also ask below about my residence status, which I know I did provide, I'm wondering why they are asking the same thing again.
They also asked for my residence status, a piece of information I already provided -SOUR - doesn't look like they have systems fully integrated. They should only ask for additional new information unless they want to re-verify it in which case, they should pre-populate this field.
Gmail:
Departments of interest: women's, markdowns and shoes
Subjects of interest: style, comfort and offers
More complete contact information - I'm using my Tampa area information, but not providing my phone number which they want for text messages.
Now I'm also making things a little interesting and seeing if I can confuse them, so I am looking at shoes under my Yahoo account (even though my preferences don't ask for that and I have told them I am a guy). I will at least look at guys shoes to see where that goes.
Next week we will look at the other emailers I am watching, but some lessons so far:
- Use the information you have and don't be repetitive
- Extend your presonalization to the web experience
- Deliver-ability is a big issue that needs to be watched and addressed and is clearly a missed opportunity if you aren't careful. Bealls needs to go talk to Google and see why their emails are getting lost as well as tell their customers what to do to make sure the emails come through
- Use browsing history to impact what is in emails. Good practice here from Bealls, although some of the sale emails don't appear to be using this
- Create an ongoing dialogue with your prospects and customers and use that to offer even more personalization as you get to know them better
- Use members first name in subject line and body - a simple best practice that way too many emailers fail to do with regularity.
Overall so far, we will give Bealls a "C" for their email programs, mainly for the deliverability issue with Google. While they are doing some good things, there is definitely opportunity for improvement and when the email doesn't even reach the inbox, all those good things have no impact.
Thursday, December 22, 2016
Tuesday, December 13, 2016
EMAIL SIGN UP - Anatomy of an Email Inbox Dec 13
EMAIL SIGN UP - Anatomy of an Email Inbox Dec 13
I have talked in this blog about email strategy and why businesses send emails and how they make them timely and relevant. There's plenty of evidence about the value of email marketing and the ROI. I often wonder however, if we did it really well, how much better could it be. eMarketer's 2016 survey found that on average email delivers 122% ROI - in the top 5 revenue driving channels. That's good and well above the others in the study. I think we can do lots better.
So today, I'm picking three companies I am currently not subscribed to and signing up for their emails using two different email addresses. The goal will be to see how well they get to know me and what they use to build the relationship with the two different mes. This will be a series of blog posts over the coming weeks and months so that we can watch what transpires and what we can learn.
I am purposely picking marketers who I think will be a mix of more or less sophisticated in this area to show the contrasts and oppoortunities.
Pulte Homes - Tampa - I am establishing my winter home in the Tampa area, so will be looking at what area I want to live in and what the properties are that might meet my needs.
WFLA - Tampa - Our local NBC TV affiliate. I will want to know more about what is going in my local comunity and things I can do for the winter, so these emails from WFLA to these personas will help me stay in tuned with my new community. I am hoping that they will be watching my behaviors as I visit the site and consume content and use this to send me relevant emails.
Bealls Department Store - New location and home mean I need more stuff.
Today we will begin with just the initial sign up.
Pulte
I started with a search for "new homes Tampa." Didn't find them in paid listings on the first page, but they did make it to the last organic listing on page one. So I clicked on their listing. This led me to the home page which had a nice lifestyle photo, description of what they deliver and map of where their communities are. Other than a small "envelope" icon for "contact us," there was no call to action for signing up or getting information, so I clicked the envelope. That did lead me to a page with options for signing up: financing, information, homeowner questions and repairs. I'm clicking on "information." This led me to a form that is clearly a national form. I'm going to sign up with two slightly different addresses and emails in Tampa area. I left a brief message of the price range of homes I am looking for and that I only want emails at this point. So after I hit enter, which I thought meant I was signing up, I now went to a second screen that told me to create an account and why I should:
- save design ideas and inspiration to your favorite
- create a design board with favorite items
- save home models you love
- follow Pulte communities and get notified about opening
Upon creating my account, there was another page of benefits. My initial impression is that this all sounds good, so why are you hiding it behind a tiny icon at the top of the page and taking several steps to tell me why I should engage with you. And, by the way, the benefits were redundant between the pages. Did you think I didn't get it the first time? SOUR?
My second sign up (Gmail) used a more specific search for Pulte specifically and a different first and last name and email address (so I can distinguish future personalizations). I'm also asking for slightly higher priced homes (in the $300's).
Slightly better presence with a paid and organic listing when I searched for "Pulte homes Tampa."
WFLA
Searching on Tampa TV station, I quickly found the local NBC affiliate - WFLA. The organic listing took me to a very busy home page. This is typical of most media sites, but I guess they think they have to serve everyone, so lots to consume.
There were a few engagement calls to action within the content including a sign up for weather newsletter and a free download to stay connected on the go. I presume that was for their app. The contact us link in the footer was more for a specific department or question.
I signed up for the weather newsletter with my two personas. This was a double opt-in, so I have to go verify my sign up in my email address. Good news, my gmail verification showed up quickly. Still waiting to see something in my yahoo mail account and it isn't in the spam folder either. SOUR when you lose someone before you even have them! Once I confirmed my email through my gmail account, there was a second step to "confirm humanity" and insure I wasn't a robot. Now there are two funnel steps to stop me from getting subscribed. While I get that companies want valid email addresses and real people, can we find a better way? At least combine the steps to reduce friction.
Another interesting thing happened with WFLA. Under the sign up was a "manage subscriptions" option, so I clicked on that. This led me to a page to tell them more about me and sign up for a whole host of other emails (8 in total), none of which they had yet to merchandise or tell me about (at least from the home page). They also asked me to pick my delivery method (html or txt). I'm going to sign up for breaking news from this account and 8 pm news update from the other (that is if my email validation ever shows up - no sign of it yet). Interesting too is they have a "breaking weather" and "daily weather" list - who thought of that? Could these be combined? They will definitely be keeping their content team busy!
Bealls
Started here with my standard generic search and did find Bealls in the organic listings mid-page. The listing took me to a Tampa store locator page given I searched in a particular area, so that was anticipating I was looking for a specific location.
They did have an email sign up about mid-way down the page with a quick sentence telling me why I should sign up and minimizing the initial ask to just my email address. I'm signing up with both emails. Upon sign up, they told me what to expect and how to add them to my safe senders list so I don't miss out on the deals. Generally pretty good. The question will be how will they try to get to know me better and communicate differently. Again, I will visit their site under the different personas to see how well they get to know me and build that relationship.
None of the three email marketers in our experiment specifically included opt-in permissions in compliance with standard CAN-SPAM email opt-in requirements. WFLA did offer a privacy link which seems not to work as it doesn't go anywhere when I click on it - so definitely SOUR.
More news next week when we see what kind of communications I am receiving and how specific these are as I begin to interact with the sites in different ways.
Still no WFLA validation in my Yahoo account now either, so I guess I'm just not going to see any news from them. Wonder if anyone at WFLA even realizes this is happening! SOUR!
I have talked in this blog about email strategy and why businesses send emails and how they make them timely and relevant. There's plenty of evidence about the value of email marketing and the ROI. I often wonder however, if we did it really well, how much better could it be. eMarketer's 2016 survey found that on average email delivers 122% ROI - in the top 5 revenue driving channels. That's good and well above the others in the study. I think we can do lots better.
So today, I'm picking three companies I am currently not subscribed to and signing up for their emails using two different email addresses. The goal will be to see how well they get to know me and what they use to build the relationship with the two different mes. This will be a series of blog posts over the coming weeks and months so that we can watch what transpires and what we can learn.
I am purposely picking marketers who I think will be a mix of more or less sophisticated in this area to show the contrasts and oppoortunities.
Pulte Homes - Tampa - I am establishing my winter home in the Tampa area, so will be looking at what area I want to live in and what the properties are that might meet my needs.
WFLA - Tampa - Our local NBC TV affiliate. I will want to know more about what is going in my local comunity and things I can do for the winter, so these emails from WFLA to these personas will help me stay in tuned with my new community. I am hoping that they will be watching my behaviors as I visit the site and consume content and use this to send me relevant emails.
Bealls Department Store - New location and home mean I need more stuff.
Today we will begin with just the initial sign up.
Pulte
I started with a search for "new homes Tampa." Didn't find them in paid listings on the first page, but they did make it to the last organic listing on page one. So I clicked on their listing. This led me to the home page which had a nice lifestyle photo, description of what they deliver and map of where their communities are. Other than a small "envelope" icon for "contact us," there was no call to action for signing up or getting information, so I clicked the envelope. That did lead me to a page with options for signing up: financing, information, homeowner questions and repairs. I'm clicking on "information." This led me to a form that is clearly a national form. I'm going to sign up with two slightly different addresses and emails in Tampa area. I left a brief message of the price range of homes I am looking for and that I only want emails at this point. So after I hit enter, which I thought meant I was signing up, I now went to a second screen that told me to create an account and why I should:
- save design ideas and inspiration to your favorite
- create a design board with favorite items
- save home models you love
- follow Pulte communities and get notified about opening
Upon creating my account, there was another page of benefits. My initial impression is that this all sounds good, so why are you hiding it behind a tiny icon at the top of the page and taking several steps to tell me why I should engage with you. And, by the way, the benefits were redundant between the pages. Did you think I didn't get it the first time? SOUR?
My second sign up (Gmail) used a more specific search for Pulte specifically and a different first and last name and email address (so I can distinguish future personalizations). I'm also asking for slightly higher priced homes (in the $300's).
Slightly better presence with a paid and organic listing when I searched for "Pulte homes Tampa."
WFLA
Searching on Tampa TV station, I quickly found the local NBC affiliate - WFLA. The organic listing took me to a very busy home page. This is typical of most media sites, but I guess they think they have to serve everyone, so lots to consume.
There were a few engagement calls to action within the content including a sign up for weather newsletter and a free download to stay connected on the go. I presume that was for their app. The contact us link in the footer was more for a specific department or question.
I signed up for the weather newsletter with my two personas. This was a double opt-in, so I have to go verify my sign up in my email address. Good news, my gmail verification showed up quickly. Still waiting to see something in my yahoo mail account and it isn't in the spam folder either. SOUR when you lose someone before you even have them! Once I confirmed my email through my gmail account, there was a second step to "confirm humanity" and insure I wasn't a robot. Now there are two funnel steps to stop me from getting subscribed. While I get that companies want valid email addresses and real people, can we find a better way? At least combine the steps to reduce friction.
Another interesting thing happened with WFLA. Under the sign up was a "manage subscriptions" option, so I clicked on that. This led me to a page to tell them more about me and sign up for a whole host of other emails (8 in total), none of which they had yet to merchandise or tell me about (at least from the home page). They also asked me to pick my delivery method (html or txt). I'm going to sign up for breaking news from this account and 8 pm news update from the other (that is if my email validation ever shows up - no sign of it yet). Interesting too is they have a "breaking weather" and "daily weather" list - who thought of that? Could these be combined? They will definitely be keeping their content team busy!
Bealls
Started here with my standard generic search and did find Bealls in the organic listings mid-page. The listing took me to a Tampa store locator page given I searched in a particular area, so that was anticipating I was looking for a specific location.
They did have an email sign up about mid-way down the page with a quick sentence telling me why I should sign up and minimizing the initial ask to just my email address. I'm signing up with both emails. Upon sign up, they told me what to expect and how to add them to my safe senders list so I don't miss out on the deals. Generally pretty good. The question will be how will they try to get to know me better and communicate differently. Again, I will visit their site under the different personas to see how well they get to know me and build that relationship.
None of the three email marketers in our experiment specifically included opt-in permissions in compliance with standard CAN-SPAM email opt-in requirements. WFLA did offer a privacy link which seems not to work as it doesn't go anywhere when I click on it - so definitely SOUR.
More news next week when we see what kind of communications I am receiving and how specific these are as I begin to interact with the sites in different ways.
Still no WFLA validation in my Yahoo account now either, so I guess I'm just not going to see any news from them. Wonder if anyone at WFLA even realizes this is happening! SOUR!
Monday, December 5, 2016
PERSONALIZATION - Anatomy of an Email Inbox - Dec 5, 2016
Today is my birthday. Birthdays are personalizations that are the easiest things to know about someone and use to delight your email members. As part of my topic today, I thought I would do an inventory of my inbox to see who is not being SOUR and using this information about me to catch my attention.
Now granted, it is only a little after noon as I am starting this, so some companies may still reach out to me, but the sad truth is that I haven't seen too many messages recognizing my birthday. Compare this to my Facebook friends who have been pinging me all day; 75+ and counting. If companies want to have a relationship with me, shouldn't they act more like friends?
So who did treat me like a friend?
Overstock.com - said happy birthday and offered me 10% savings. They even used my name in the subject line and in the body copy and thanked me for the relationship.
Southwest Airlines - also used my name in the subject and I liked the engagement - subject line was intriguing: "we brought the party to your inbox." It made me want to know what they meant, so I opened it, then it had a birthday theme and invited me to "take a swing at the pinata for some birthday fun." Again, highly engaging and made me want to click (which I did) to see what I would get. So I actually got a pinata which I could swing at with my cursor. I did and broke it open after several hits for a happy birthday song (in audio - the swinging and hitting of the pinata had audio effects too). I could do it again for more birthday wishes. Only did it twice, but looked like I could go on for a while if I wanted lots more birthday wishes. GREAT JOB delighting me Southwest on my birthday. Now that is a true friend!
UPDATE: A few late arrivals came from Macy's and Best Buy - thanks for thinking of me!
Not so good:
Hilton Honors - offered me a "gift" so made me think it might be about me, but was really just a regular seasonal email related to the holidays.
Starbucks offered me 1/2 off a Frappucino but it had nothing to do with me, my birthday or if I ever bought a Frap from them. I haven't recently, so clearly they aren't using much personalization to talk to me.
And that's it. Everyone else was into their normal "spray and pray" routine - thinking about holidays and how to drive business in this most important retail season. Given that my inbox contained over 100 emails, the fact that only 2 companies took the time to recognize this simple fact about me is just plain SOUR.
What gets me most is that the tools we have available allow us to delight daily with simple and sophisticated marketing communications that show we know and care about our prospects and customers, but as email marketers we fail to do so in a big way. So many of us are so far from being great email marketers, it just makes me sad and SOUR. We can do so much better.
Start today, ask yourself:
- Am I using the persons first name in every correspondence?
- What little things can I do to know my prospects and customers better and use this to show I care? Like Southwests birthday Pinata game or just by simply recognizing what you know about your members?
- How can you use behaviors and engagement to send more relevant emails?
- How can you build and leverage your systems to empower your email marketing and customer relationship management systems to help you have a real relationship founded on familiarity and connections.
Let's be better!
Today is my birthday. Birthdays are personalizations that are the easiest things to know about someone and use to delight your email members. As part of my topic today, I thought I would do an inventory of my inbox to see who is not being SOUR and using this information about me to catch my attention.
Now granted, it is only a little after noon as I am starting this, so some companies may still reach out to me, but the sad truth is that I haven't seen too many messages recognizing my birthday. Compare this to my Facebook friends who have been pinging me all day; 75+ and counting. If companies want to have a relationship with me, shouldn't they act more like friends?
So who did treat me like a friend?
Overstock.com - said happy birthday and offered me 10% savings. They even used my name in the subject line and in the body copy and thanked me for the relationship.
Southwest Airlines - also used my name in the subject and I liked the engagement - subject line was intriguing: "we brought the party to your inbox." It made me want to know what they meant, so I opened it, then it had a birthday theme and invited me to "take a swing at the pinata for some birthday fun." Again, highly engaging and made me want to click (which I did) to see what I would get. So I actually got a pinata which I could swing at with my cursor. I did and broke it open after several hits for a happy birthday song (in audio - the swinging and hitting of the pinata had audio effects too). I could do it again for more birthday wishes. Only did it twice, but looked like I could go on for a while if I wanted lots more birthday wishes. GREAT JOB delighting me Southwest on my birthday. Now that is a true friend!
UPDATE: A few late arrivals came from Macy's and Best Buy - thanks for thinking of me!
Not so good:
Hilton Honors - offered me a "gift" so made me think it might be about me, but was really just a regular seasonal email related to the holidays.
Starbucks offered me 1/2 off a Frappucino but it had nothing to do with me, my birthday or if I ever bought a Frap from them. I haven't recently, so clearly they aren't using much personalization to talk to me.
And that's it. Everyone else was into their normal "spray and pray" routine - thinking about holidays and how to drive business in this most important retail season. Given that my inbox contained over 100 emails, the fact that only 2 companies took the time to recognize this simple fact about me is just plain SOUR.
What gets me most is that the tools we have available allow us to delight daily with simple and sophisticated marketing communications that show we know and care about our prospects and customers, but as email marketers we fail to do so in a big way. So many of us are so far from being great email marketers, it just makes me sad and SOUR. We can do so much better.
Start today, ask yourself:
- Am I using the persons first name in every correspondence?
- What little things can I do to know my prospects and customers better and use this to show I care? Like Southwests birthday Pinata game or just by simply recognizing what you know about your members?
- How can you use behaviors and engagement to send more relevant emails?
- How can you build and leverage your systems to empower your email marketing and customer relationship management systems to help you have a real relationship founded on familiarity and connections.
Let's be better!
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