Email marketing sounds easy, but throw in some Privacy Laws and a chunk of Spam and you have a disaster waiting to happen. A well known Australian retailer has just found themselves in big trouble for email marketing without proper database management – and it’s a big reminder to everyone using email marketing to really make sure they’re doing things properly.
Explore our historical blog articles for nuggets of wisdom (and random musings) from our crew.
Over the weekend I purchased two things from two different stores, of no more than $30 in value, and on both occasions I was asked if I wanted to sign up to their club card/rewards club/loyalty program or whatever they called it. On both occasions, I refused. I did this without knowing a single thing about these programs. Sitting here today, I’m wondering why their attempts didn’t work on me, and probably hundreds of others.
Information can be the key to your customers’ hearts. This concept is something that we have discussed with several clients lately and has introduced them to a different way of thinking – not marketing, but education. It’s about becoming ‘the authority’ on what it is you do, through the simple task of providing information.
Moving house and changing your address at all the various institutions which have your details is hard work – I have done it recently and it’s not much fun. The process is made all the more frustrating when you have to consider all the various member programs or loyalty cards you’ve ever signed up for that send you a piece of communication once in a blue moon. In trying to save the new tenants of my old address years of annoying incorrectly addressed mail, I endeavoured to make the address change as encompassing as possible. What this whole process highlighted to me was, no-one seems to update their databases any more! I encountered people who still had my address on their records of when I still lived with my parents (which was nearly 10 years ago!)
If you’ve ever spent time working with electronic newsletters (e-newsletters) and time analysing the data reported, you’ll come to realise what a powerful communication tool they can be. Like any communications medium, there are pros and cons, and this technology is no exception. The area in which e-newsletters excels, is the feedback that it offers which is inherent in the technology being used.
One of the most common questions I’ve been asked in regard to email newsletter campaigns is about the differences between hard bounces and soft bounces. The bounce rates of any email campaign is an important number that you’ll want to keep in check to make the most out of your database.