What’s More Effective Than Email Marketing?
What’s more effective than email marketing is one-to-one customer outreach. You just have to start with a small group.
Ultimate Email Nurture Campaign Guide
When a visitor lands on your site you have under 3 minutes to convert them. No one can convert in that time. You need this email nurture article.
Simple Newsletter Signup Idea
Some insights are so simple they leave us thinking, “doh, why haven’t I already done this?”
Creative Way to Get More Email Signups
On many sites, shoppers are greeted with popups that offer 10% off their purchase if they provide their email address. But we need to find a more creative way to get more email signups because shoppers are becoming conditioned to these overused popups.
April 1st Email
How can retailers leverage the prank aspect of April 1st? Here is a great example from Solostove.
Personalized Email Content: Million Dollar Email Idea for Zappos
Zappos doesn’t need more money. They already dominate all of online shoe shopping. But, if they were looking for an extra million in online sales I hope they find this post …
Email Conversations: #1 Idea for Email Marketing Results $$$
eCommerce marketers are constantly looking for automated email marketing hacks. This article talks about a very un-automated solution that works.
How to Use Serendipity in Email Marketing
Serendipity is one of the 16 conversion tactics. It has two sub-categories: Luck and Clairvoyance. Luck creates the sense that the user is lucky to have come across something on the page. Clairvoyance creates the sense that the seller predicted something about the user. This email from TicketMaster is a great example of Luck within Serendipity: Video: The email: Why …
We All Make Mistakes
I’m not sharing this to bash the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). I’m sharing it to demonstrate how easy it is to make a mistake. Basically, someone in their IT department needs to configure outgoing email (DKIM and SPF):
Email Signup Trick
Every site shows an email signup popup, and 98% of users click the close button. Why? Because the signup request doesn’t have the right context. The user has just landed on the site, they don’t even know what makes your business unique. Tacklewarehouse.com also needs email sign-ups but they use a clever context tool to present their request. On each …
Reverse Psychology … It Works
The best way to have your audience take action is to casually ask them to keep a secret:
Your Free Sales Army
Having a sales force is expensive, which is why only large businesses have them. But, even little ecommerce sites have access to a sales force; their customers. This dormant force can triple the visibility of your brand, and they don’t even need a sales commission. But, to activate them you need to establish an authentic relationship first. And it’s not …
Please Don’t Unsubscribe (Video Request)
When I unsubscribed from a mailing list I was taken to a page with a funny video that begged me to stay subscribed:
Using Email for Word-of-mouth Marketing
It’s expensive to spend money to acquire a new customer. What if we could use an existing customer to generate word-of-mouth marketing for us? You’ll love this idea.
Is It a Good Idea to Send a Followup Email?
Question: I want to send my mailing list a special discount that will run just 5 days. If I send discount notification email on day 1 and “last day” email on the 5th day what kind of sales lift could I get with “last day” email? Answer: 2.3x
Signup NOW
Within 0.01 seconds of landing on peeledsnacks.com this popup appears: Like, the page hasn’t even fully loaded and the popup is in my face. Is that the best tactic? What do you do when you get startled? I know what I do: I get out of the way (in this case I click the [x]). In a world where we …
Segment or Die
Email marketing is a magical thing. Instead of waiting for a new or past buyer to stumble on your site, with email marketing you can take a product page and literally send it to the subscriber’s inbox. But because marketers exploit email marketing so much its effectiveness goes down with each passing year. Shoppers are getting more emails, and they’re …
This Is How an Email Address Is Captured …
I was on owletcare.com. Then I moved my mouse to exit the site and saw this popup– This is a very clever strategy because while owletcare.com knows I’m not going to buy right now (I’m exiting in under 30 seconds) they want to at least get some demographic info about me. And what’s even more clever is that they’ve shown …
Personalized Recommendations
Based on registered user’s browsing behavior Coach sends a simple prompt email–
Email Signup with a Hint of Urgency
Popup on olejostores.com–
Oops! Please accept our apologies …
Not sure if this is a ‘real’ technical glitch but I bet the email performed really well. Email from Lucky Brand–
1 Time Opportunity
When you want to make it really stand out, make it sound like a 1 time opportunity—
Changing the Minds of Shoppers Thinking of Unsubscribing
I’ve been getting a lot of emails from michaels.com lately. So I clicked the ‘unsubscribe’ link in this email footer. The next page changed my mind—
PSST! Yes You
A very cool tactic to drive up signups. This popup appears when the site visitor has spent a certain amount of time and visited a certain number of pages–
Exclusivity Messaging
Received an email from titanium-jewelry.com. Like most marketing emails this one had a coupon code, but what was different was the way in which the coupon code was presented. Read the underlined section in the screenshot below (underlined in red by me)— This is a very clever line because it creates a sense of exclusivity in the mind of the …
Cleverest Email Signup
I felt I had seen every tactic possible to goose email signups (example, example, and example). Then I saw this clever tactic on basspro.com. Below their main advertisement banner they have a giant SOLD OUT! sign for a $10 catch of the week item— A naive person would think it’s silly to waste so much homepage real-estate promoting an item shoppers can’t …
Gimmicks Can Work
Backcarebasics.com shows this popup when a new visitor lands on site— I entered my email just to see what was behind Discount Code Will Appear Here.
Make Me Feel Special
I was on scrapbook.com and noticed this clever email signup popup— “Shhh..don’t tell anyone.”— makes me feel special.“HINT: We’ve got one running right now.”— creates urgency and makes me want to signup right away.
Clever Way to Capture Email
On horse.com this popup appears on landing pages— Couple observations— 1: Well designed. Design matters. 2: Creates sense of urgency via Limited Time ONLY! banner. Could be more effective if they showed dynamic date. Example— Offer Ends [current date + 4]. 3: They use a non-generic promo code (0EC211Y8IJ). This is an important detail because when shoppers see generic coupon …
Great Email Marketing Subject Line
Add a personal annual calendar reminder for April 1st so you too can send an email like this to your list on April 2nd (assuming sending occasional sales emails is part of your email marketing strategy).
Artistic Email Signup Popup
These days nearly every site has an email signup popup on their lading page. It must be flavor of the month. But most of these email signup popups look alike, which is probably why visitors instinctively close them. If you want your email signup popup to work you’re going to have to make it look different, in a good way. …
Unsubscribe Page
This is how your email opt-out page should look like— 1: Super-large font size.2: Simple, clear messaging. Page leaves no doubt about me being unsubscribed.3: Sense of humor.
Email Signup with Facebook as Social Proof
Moment a visitor lands on harryanddavid.com they’re shown an email signup popup. What Harry and David does differently is that in addition to asking visitors to signup they also let them know how many people like Harry and David on Facebook–
Make It Look Exclusive
Moo.com shows this very interesting popup on their homepage (notice the red box in the screenshot below)– This is a very clever strategy. Moo is making it sound like this invitation (free shipping on next order) is for people who saw Moo ad. What do you think this does? It makes visitors who didn’t see the TV ad want to …
Sometimes, Less is More
Here is a simple and effective email I received from Paypal (great use of white space)–
If It Matters Make It Stand Out
Duluthtrading.com is a pretty conservative looking ecommerce site. However, their email signup popup really draws the visitor’s attention–
Reasons to Register
Keepsakequilting.com is a quilting supplies e-tailer and this is their email signup pitch– What if the copy read … Join our email list!Be the first to know about sales,offers and unlock 20 hidden designs. Could that increase email registration rates? I’m betting it would.
This Is the Best Email I’ve Seen …
… Here’s why– The first thing I love is that the email is hyper focused. The retailer only wants to talk about their 24-7 Pants. No noise, no distraction. What’s also interesting is the specific order in which content has been presented– 1 (this is what the reader sees first): The email gets the reader’s attention by making an offer …
Baby Face
One of the most effective marketing tactics is to give the world a glimpse of the people behind your company. And if you can figure out a way to emotionally connect with your audience AND get them to buy you’re a genius. In this email nuts.com is giving away a free bear-shaped favor as a way to celebrate the birth of Jackson …
Insist A Little More
Most sites want you to sign-up for their newsletter– But when we don’t, they simply accept their fate and move on. This e-tailer uses a different approach. The moment I unchecked, I was reminded of my potential ‘loss’– Email checkbox.
Urgent Reactivation
This email is relevant (to the recipient), well written and adds urgency (coupon code expires in 30 days)–
Hot Outside
For the last 2 weeks the state of Texas has been exceptionally hot. What would happen if you (an e-tailer) pulled the list of your Texas customers and sent them this email (with a nice introduction message like– “We’ve been thinking about our Texas customers.”) … Would email relevance make customers laugh out loud? Would they forward it to family and …
Testimonial Email Marketing
Do you have a high ticket product page (longer purchase cycle) that converts poorly? If so, try this– if a visitor spends more than 2 minutes on the page (clear intent) and then leaves (closes window or presses back button) display a pop-up that says- Every few weeks send an email listing new reviews for Product X. I suggest adding …
EMO (Email Marketing Optimization)
As I start this post I must confess my SEO knowledge is limited so if you see any gaping holes please point them out. Ok. For this example let’s consider a gourmet popcorn e-tailer called kukuruza.com. Here is the situation (all made up)– The key phrase gourmet chocolate popcorn is important for KuKuRuZa. It has a high conversion rate and …
Email Practices Top Retailers Shop.Org
Hat tip to Jason Billingsley for sharing and Loren McDonald for creating. Presentation below… [slideshare id=2056397&doc=email-practices-top-retailers-shop-org-090924015643-phpapp02]
Do People Read Marketing Emails?
Yes, if you make them worth reading…
KuKuRuZa Gourmet Popcorn
Jake is a huge fan of KuKuRuZa gourmet popcorn. He discovered the site 3 years ago and started off by ordering their Variety Pack. He enjoyed Caramel & Cheese Mix so much he bought it five times, thrice gifting it to friends and family. Jake’s lifetime spend on KuKuRuZa.com is a very impressive $197.00 and we know Jake is not a bargain …
Tell Me What I’m Getting Into
Every eCommerce store wants you to join their email list. But customers hate the idea of getting email blasts and this apprehension can be a negative for companies that actually do send out well crafted, thoughtful emails. Madeinnapavalley.com solves this by providing an example of their typical email newsletter: Here is the sample email pop up:
Whiteflowerfarm.com Gave Me A Reason To Evangelize
Most customers don’t care to promote your brand, but when you put it this way it’s hard not to notice:
Making Unsubscribes Worth It
No etailer likes it when a customer unsubscribes from their emails. I am always curious about new email marketing strategies so I subscribe and unsubscribe at a fairly regular rate. After reviewing few email samples I scroll to the bottom of the email and click the unsubscribe link. I am then taken to the retailer’s unsubscribe page. What’s odd is …
Ask Nicely and I’ll Comply
By all measures email marketing is clogging our inboxes. But read this email: Needless to say I renewed my subscription.
It’s Not Really A “Subscriber Exclusive” If Everyone Is Invited, Right?
This morning I got a special email from Wilsons Leather. The email informed me I was getting an exclusive additional 20% off for being a member of their mailing list. I was stoked. But then, at the bottom of the promo I saw a link that let me forward the email to a friend. So I forwarded it to myself …
I Love You, But Please Slow Down
Amiestreet.com is a great music site I discovered through TechCrunch. But they send too many emails. I love them but I need them to slow down and it’s a pity their email only highlights an unsubscribe option when what I really want is an option that lets me reduce emails to once a month. Now I’m sure I could visit …
The Right Message For The Right Audience At The Right Time
I got an email from Amazon this morning promoting the TomTom GPS system. This was not a blast email but a very well calculated strategy. Amazon has probably noticed I’ve looked at several GPS systems over the year but never managed to pull the trigger. They know I am not a compulsive shopper. In the context on what they know …
Email sign-ups — How To’s
Daily Candy sends image heavy emails so they need to make sure customers add them to their address books. And so Daily Candy (unlike other etailers) tells customers how to ‘add to address book’ on the sign-up page. Great great idea. Observe section in blue…… This other example comes from daleandthomaspopcorn.com who, I believe, are the smartest food eTailers in …
Toward Higher Response Rates
Quantity centric attempts to improve email marketing effectiveness is far too scattered a strategy to ever have metric level dependability. However, it is true that people shop (more) when happy and this is an element marketers could consider when developing email marketing programs. And, it turns out, over a relatively large, related, sample size group behavior is astonishingly predictable. For …
