EMAIL SIGN UP - Week 2 Bealls Dec 22

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.