No matter how you "slice" it...

The Hunt
Pizza has always been and forever will be considered a food group in my eyes and although I limit my crusty cheesy-pie intake to help keep me fitting into my favorite blue jeans, it's no secret that I'm a diehard pizza fan. With email playing a bigger role in not only the pizza world, I regularly sign up for email programs from local (and not so local) food deliver chains to see how they leverage the email channel.

The Skunk In my early twenties this pizza joint was one of my favorites - I just grew to love it. As I got older, and moved around from city to city, I made sure to check out what the area had to offer when it came to pizza-in-a-pinch but I knew that I could always call this place to get a good deal and a yummy meal. A few months ago, I was doing a little bit of "pie research" on the web and happened upon a location that wasn't in my delivery area but decided to drive the 6 (in-town) miles to pick up one in person - just for old times' sake. Just as good as I remembered. I signed up for their email program and get a weekly message with a special offer and invitation to place my order online. So my little issue with this email-program-that-could is that the call to action is to place my order online. I'm outside of the delivery area (and not just a quick drive for pick-up) so the likelihood of me ever ordering online is pretty much zilch. The emails that are delivered regularly to my inbox are just a tease and a delicious one at that.


The Resolution Before you ask, yes, they know what my address is; I completed my full profile after sign-up. I think the better approach would be to send me an occasional (monthly) email since I'm not in the delivery area. I don't get many chances to visit the area where this store is located so repeated messages that I or others like me can't act upon are most likely a little detrimental to their email program.

DO send me an email if a store opens up that is closer to where I live or within my delivery area. I might not get to travel regularly to where this particular store is located but giving me a few other options would be great if I happen to be around one of their other locations.

At the end of the day, the information that you collect about your recipient should be used to provide the best customer experience possible. Clients often ask me what they can do make their emails better. The answer is simple; look at your email messages as if you were your customer. Good email programs can be made great by adjusting them along the way.

Show Your "Class" Spirit

The Hunt
One of my favorite retail spots to visit on the weekend is this great furniture retailer. They have locations in over 10 states and send a few emails a week - I little too frequently if you ask me but I take a quick read when it lands in my inbox. Today I got an email with an invitation stop by for a quick decorating class this coming weekend. If you are like me, the process of home decorating is an ongoing effort so considering to register for this freebie is right up my alley.

The Skunk
So, these past few months I feel like that I've been doing my part to help stimulate the economy with some decent sized purchases from this retailer and I know that I'm in their "system." As an email marketer, I'm always thinking about how to reduce the barriers between the message call-to-action and the actual physical steps that the customer needs to take to accomplish. It's an electronic world and technology is ripe for the picking to help out with these types of endeavors. My question, why can't I register for this fun little class online? For me to complete the call-to-action, I need to go to the website, find my location and actually call the store directly. Seems like a bunch of steps for me to complete before I can sign up for this little shindig.


The Resolution
There are a few strategies with this message I would have leveraged. Some not so technical, some a little more involved. All could take a little bit of the hassle of signing up for this class.

• If you know what location I shop at, why not list the contact information for the actual store in the email? If this information doesn't live in the database, it should.

• The process for online registration does take time and money to set-up. If the budget was too small to use this type of technology to register folks online, make sure to boldly call out that you'll need to contact the store directly to sign-up. Dumping me at the website to have to pick my state and location seems a little impersonal and confusing.

• What could online registration have done to simplify the process? Well, for one, provided real-time updates on the number of attendees. Consider the staff that will now have to field the calls to facilitate the reservations; they might be better off schmoozing with the customers on the show room floor.

• Take advantage of learning more about your customers by using registration data to append to your database. There is a pretty good chance that if I’m signing up, I'm much more of an engaged customer that those that are not.

• Reminders and remarketing can help close the loop. A quick reminder message the day before and perhaps a thank you once the event is over would be a great touch.

Your best customers need to be treated as such. Email is a great relationship tool but if you are not going to use customer history and data to make your communications better you'll leave them feeling a little unappreciated. Leverage technology to help facilitate a true on-to-one communication flow with them and they will be loyal for life.

Get your FAX straight.

The Hunt
I've been in the market for an easy to use fax-to-mail account to supplement by business fax needs. There are a few well known providers out there and all pretty much have the same features compared to one another. As I was sizing up the different providers that had a relatively economical price-point and easy account set-up, I found a service called myFax that seemed to fulfill all my requirements. Tempted by the complimentary 30-day trial, I clicked on the sign-up form and started inputting my information.

The Skunk
I had already picked an area code for my new fax number and entered in my name and email before I continued to the page that requested my credit card information. Trial or not, credit cards mean commitment and I decided not to pull the trigger just yet and do some more research. Up to this point, there was not a check box (to mark or un-mark) for receipt of future emails from myFax but, since they had my email now, a follow-up from the abandonment process wouldn't be a surprise.

As I thought, a message arrived in my inbox a few hours later as a friendly reminder that it was free to sign-up along with some other points that separate them from the "other guy." The sender was a female persona "Tara" but oddly enough, the image rendered in the communication was male. I wasn't sure if this was the "person" that was sending the sign-up reminder or what. Nonetheless, I can't blame them for trying to close the deal with a follow-up message but this and two other messages from them within 24 hours seemed to be a bit much. I hadn't converted and I'm already getting messages on how to use myFax? Oh, and the subject line read "Colleague, subject line..."


The Resolution
Kudos to myFax following up with an "abandon cart" type of message - striking while the iron is hot is a critical messaging component to win the business when the prospective customer is shopping for this type of "instant service." Here's how I would take a bit of the skunk out of what we received.

• Be upfront about sending a follow-up email, use a check box or inform the registrant that they WILL be getting a future communication if they so choose.

• I don't know the sender "Tara" but since I would surely be familiar with the company name, use it.

• The use of the generic "Colleague" both in the subject line and in the salutation in not personal. If you are not going to use the person's name reconsider the "personalization."

• I perceived the headshot picture to be (should have been) of the person/persona sending the message. There were three unique images used - both male and female - all from Tara.

• Consider the frequency. Even after two messages, as a non--convert, you run a high risk of future communications being reported as SPAM by the recipient. This could pose a deliverability issue for other messages going to your regular customers as well as those you are looking to convert.

Remember, the difference from a skunk to a sweet smelling email program or campaign can be just a matter of tweaking a few critical variables and messaging components. Look at your communications as your recipients would review them.

My pet has no legs.

The Hunt
If I had a nickel for every time I’ve read or heard the word “relevance” when referring to email marketing well, I would have a lot of nickels now wouldn’t I? I’m not staying that this isn’t an issue that doesn’t need to be addressed but it seems to me that this concept of “relevancy” gets more lip service than elbow grease. I get it - times are tough and headcount is down – more with less. We all have to make do with the resources at hand but let’s think through our messaging – you, me, everyone.

The Skunk
Depending on the source and what year you can find a statistic, about 60% of US households own a pet. Dog, cat, spider monkey, I’m not sure about the breakdown of who owns what but that still leaves about 40% of the population that doesn’t own a pet and even more that don’t own one with four legs.

The message below from another one of my favorite retailers missed the “relevancy” mark. I don’t currently own a pet (previous fish owner hence the title of this blog) and I’m pretty sure that this particular retailer doesn’t have any information about me regarding the ownership of pets. Subject line reads – “Shop for your four-legged friends.” Sure, I could potentially be interested in a gift for a friend or family members pooch or puss, but for me this message was quickly disregarded as irrelevant to me.


The Resolution
Pet owners love their pets. Non pet owners, well they probably like your pet but don’t kid yourself. For more impact I would have focused on a few messaging components to really tighten up the relevancy quotient.

• If at all possible, focus on those in your database that have pets (specifically ones with four-legs that can use the products that are available online) either by adding this to data collection during the email acquisition process or surveying your member database.

• “Four-Legged Friends” has a general connotation of being canine or feline. The imagery in the top of the message is focused primarily on man’s best friend. Better to have included imagery for both types of pet owners so that when they are quickly scanning the top of the email they can determine if the message has meaning for them.

If you know your message will be irrelevant or of no interest to some of your recipients, weigh the risks. Opt-outs or SPAM complaints received due to messages that don’t resonate with the recipient are not worth the risk in today’s overcrowded inbox.