#preference center

Lately, especially with holiday planning in full swing, we've been hearing (and talking) a lot about nurturing your relationship with subscribers now in order to have them engaged with your brand as email volume rises. In going through my files of interesting emails, I found a few - several not from traditional retailers - that I thought were worth sharing. 

Re-engagement campaigns 

Re-engagement campaigns are especially important now to ensure optimum deliverability during the holiday season. But saying the right thing to re-engage someone who may have fallen off the radar, so to speak, can be challenging.  

This one from Chili's has a clever subject line - Oops...we haven't sent you any coupons lately. I thought it was interesting because Chili's was taking the blame for our disconnect, even though I'm pretty sure they've sent me plenty of coupons in the past few months but I simply haven't opened the emails. I also liked the enthusiastic "Let's reconnect!" before they served up my incentive: 

This re-engagement email from Upworthy caught my attention with it's lengthy but intriguing subject line - You Haven't Been Around Here Lately, Which Makes You The Person Perfect Person To Do This: 

Like Chili's they took the blame for the cooling of our relationship by saying, "What can we do better?" and linking to a survey. I liked the tone of the rest of the copy, as well, and the link to the type of post that reminded me why I signed up in the first place: 

This one from Walmart, by the way, paled in comparison. The subject line - We have missed you :-) - confused me. A smiley face? Were they happy about it?

I subscribed to this list when I ordered photo reprints online to pick up in my local store, and haven't made a purchase since. That would probably explain why when I opened the email I was presented with a very random grid of "great new product recommendations." Are they new products? That's the only reason I can imagine they would feature them for me. Still, a bit of a disorganized, uninspiring mess:

Preference Centers 

It's always a good idea to ask your subscribers what they're interested in and what and how often they'd like to hear from you, and especially the latter when you're planning to up your email frequency. Asking for personal information, however, can sometimes be tricky. I thought the following two did a nice job of it. 

The first, from abc carpet & home, is simple and elegant and very much consistent with the brand. The subject line - We want to hear from you. - is pretty straightforward yet sincere, much like the copy inside, which is enhanced by a stunning photo:

Following in the same straightforward pattern was this subject line from Sirius - Take Action - - Complete Your Preferences Now - but it was the image and the tone of the copy inside that I thought was clever. I especially like, "Yeah, we know filling out forms isn't high on your to-do list. But trust us, this is one to put at the top." 

Check out Dennis Dayman's latest blog post over at deliverability.com. Dennis talks about the importance of offering a complete preference center and giving consumers a choice.  While in the process of changing his own email address, Dennis discovers preference centers that don't offer much in the way of options.

Segmentation includes defining your customers needs and wants by placing them in specialized groups that receive different attention and different levels of marketing.   Some of the basic segments include gender, geolocation, income, previous buying and socioeconomic factors.

Once the segments are defined, the goal is to provide offers that are designed with the  characteristics of the group in mind.  If a marketer can identify the needs of their customers by defining segments they will provide more relevant information, and generate a greater response rate.  

This level of segmentation is great, and better than a standard one-message-for-all strategy, but it’s not perfect.  The customer “choices” are still made by the marketer, not the customer.   Also, it doesn’t consider the customers current state of mind or their preferred communication channel. 

Customer Choices

Data is very powerful.  By reviewing past customer behavior, marketers can predict with some degree of certainly the future customer behavior.  However, there are many tools that have been available for a few years that many marketers don’t use: customer preferences and browsing behavior. 

Collecting customer preferences with the use of a preference center is an useful tool to start to let customers self-select various marketing messages.  However, customers often provide answers of what they “want” to be, not what they really are.  For example, a customer may indicate they are interested in high-end luxury brands, but their purchase history shows they purchase bargain items.  Their desire (want) is not aligned with their reality.

Incorporating browsing history not only gives the marketer a more accurate view of what the customer will purchase, but also shows how a customers preferences change day-to-day, and over a longer period of time.

Combining the customer’s stated preferences, with their browsing history, can lead to a more compelling and higher performing marketing message.   Instead of showing a luxurious ad (because we know that is not how the customer will purchase) or showing a sales-driven add, we can show an ad that gives the feeling of luxury and exclusivity, but mentions the item can be purchased for an amazing price.   This type of messaging ties the customers desires with their true purchase history.

State of Mind

I’m a user who likes men’s shoes.  However, I don’t have an interest in men’s shoes every day of the week, and every hour of the day.  As my daily routine changes, so do my interests.

In the morning I wake up and work out.  Then I head to work and read the paper or a book on my iPad.  Once I arrive at work, I’m thinking about marketing plans, procedures, new technology, etc.  After work is over, I head home and have dinner with my wife.  In the evening we chat and possibly watch a show we recorded.

I still like shoes, but you can see that shoes are not on my mind most of the day.  I may be interested shoes during my morning trip to work, or in the evening, but not during the day.  During the day I’d be open to some type of digital or technical ad.  And the type of ad varies depending on what I’m working on at the time. 

If I receive an ad from Nike during the day, I will either ignore it, or most likely seem a bit interested, but put it off until later.  This, of course, is dangerous for any marketer, because a marketing message from a competitor – like DC Shoes – may catch me at the right time and win the sale.

State of mind and timing are key, but so is the channel used to send the message.

Preferred Channel

Any email I receive about shoes during the middle of the day would probably be pointless, and the best opportunity is to reach me during the morning.  But is email the best method to reach me during this time? 

What if I am a customer who doesn't check my personal email for marketing communications during the morning.  I'm interested in a potential shoe offer, but not reachable.  I may check my work email to keep up with business, but not my personal email.  In this instance, I’m more likely to check my phone, so a text would catch my attention. 

As a customer, I should be given the ability to choose my preferred channel of communication, but as a marketer we should look at the data and determine when to use the preferred channel.  Either based on the segment, or more accurately by the individuals engagement date (open, clicks, etc.).

These messages should be specific to each customer.  Instead of sending a text to a segment at 11am because that time has an overall high open rate (versus 3pm), marketers should set the campaign to go live on a certain date and then use your CRM or mobile provider data to determine the time each individual opens the text.  The campaign will be spread throughout the day, and reach customers when they are more likely to engage.  

Now, I will receive a text in the morning around 7am when I am most likely to engage.  Not an email to my personal email account during the early part of my work day when I am most likely in a meeting. By the time I get to my person email, this message is probably buried and possibly out of date.  

:: What it Means for Marketers ::

Sending the right message, crafted with the most appealing message, at the right time of day, using the perfect communication channel is within all marketer’s grasps.  Not only does it produce better results, but it provides a better user experience.  This leads to return customers and increased word-of-mouth and viral marketing.

The experience and results are improved for all parties.