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E-mail Enhancement
Elise M. Diamantini

How the web can help your business.

In a time when traffic is down, and retailers are trying to cut costs, online marketing is becoming increasingly important. The web is a fantastic tool for maintaining and forming new customer relationships. John Fell of E-Mail Logic works with retailers on new ways to stay connected. He’s using innovative techniques such as online basketball pools (for tournaments like March Madness). “It’s a difficult time to get people in the store, so this is a way to keep the retailer’s name on the top of customers’ minds. We can’t force them to buy, but if they’re a part of a pool sponsored by the store, it’s a fun way to interact with your customer.”

Fell says the top two reasons to be online are for acquisitions and retention. “The odds are that someone is Googling your store before they’re driving by it. You have to accurately and positively portray your brand to customers online.”

Using tools like Google Analytics can help you discover common search words. Then you must make sure you’re using those words, so your site comes up in an organic search.

“E-mail is the greatest retention tool because it’s all about permission. Customers want e-mails because they’ve signed up to get them. The key is to develop an on-going dialogue with frequency and send the right message to the right customer.”

John Fell’s E-mail Must-Haves

1. Strong Call to Action

Be specific and have fun with it. You want the e-mail to excite the customer enough to come into the store.

2. The “Wow” Effect

E-mails should reflect the same feeling your store gives when a customer walks through the door.

3. Personal Touch

Illustrate e-mails with photos of storeowners or employees. It’s a great way to differentiate your store from the competition.

E-mail Advantages

*Cheaper than direct mail: Karen Penner of M. Penner in Houston, Texas says (even though they still use some direct mail) they’ve cut about 20 percent of D.M. costs by switching to e-mail.

*Non-Invasive: Customers choose when and where they read the message. The subject line is important; it has to draw the reader in.

*Tracking: E-mail allows you to track all types of behaviors. Julie Lansky of Lansky in Memphis, Tenn. elaborates: “You can find out exactly who opened it and when, what links they clicked on, what sections they read, what brands they’re interested in. You’re able to see whether graphics or text draw people in more. It is as exact as what time and day of the week gets the best response.” At Lansky it’s in the afternoon, towards the end of the week because people are preparing for the weekend. Lansky says people are bogged down with other e-mails early in the morning, so mid-afternoon is a better time to send them.

Social Networking

Before you create a social networking page for your store, you must know your objective. Lee Odden, CEO of Top Rank Marketing, emphasizes this importance, “Too many companies will create a page without thinking about what it is they want to achieve. You must decide its purpose: do you want to increase sales or create brand awareness? It’s important to research and define your online audience and then come up with a strategy.”

Lansky has a successful MySpace page and they’re growing their “fans” on Facebook. “It’s more for our contemporary customers, but it’s a way to reach out to people who aren’t on your e-mail list.” You can post bulletins about new product, sales or events on your page. Lansky says, “It helps with recognition and maintaining relationships. The page keeps our name out there and we’ll have customers come in and tell us they saw something on our MySpace page.”

Will Levy recently set-up a Facebook page for Oak Hall in Memphis, Tenn. and they signed up 100 people in half a day. He says, “It’s another way to communicate with customers. Why use yesterday’s communication today? People say it’s the future, but it’s not, it’s what’s happening right now. I think the fact that we signed up the amount of people we did that fast really says it all.”

Common Mistakes

When marketing via e-mail, Fell says the biggest mistake a retailer can make is if their e-mails and website don’t measure up to the store’s aesthetic. If you have a luxury store, your internet marketing should portray that vibe to the customer. It’s also important not to over e-mail. Will Levy of Oak Hall says, “Our customers appreciate the e-mails we send them because they’re meaningful. You can’t flood your customer’s e-mail with junk. The best way to do it is to look at their buying record and send personal e-mails based on their previous purchases.”

Odden says that social networking doesn’t work the same way as direct marketing where you have an “A, offer to B, audience. It’s an A+B+C approach. The customer sees the message and connects to it in some way, then the retailer must follow up with an advertisement or a direct mail piece, and hopefully that will draw the customer into the store. It’s important to bring awareness through the web, but don’t forget the follow-through.”

Hubert White in Minneapolis, Minn. promoted an event via e-mail and used the tracking system to see who opened and clicked through it. From there, employees followed up with their clients and called them to make sure they would attend the event. Brad Sherman advises, “You have to be careful so it doesn’t look like ‘Big Brother is watching,’ but if you have a good relationship with the client it’s more like a coincidental call.”