Best Practices for Change of Email Address
June 22, 2010: Birthday Email Messaging
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Improve your customer retention program by instating a birthday email!
From: The Container Store
Subject Line: Happy Birthday! We have a special gift for you!
Date: Tuesday, June 1, 2010
The Container Store's email doesn't say what the gift is, you have to go to the store to claim it. Making your gift exclusively available in-store is a good way to drive traffic to your store, but I would prefer if the email said what the gift was.
From: World Market Explorer (Cost Plus)
Subject Line: Guess what? You've earned a Reward!
Date: Sunday, June 13, 2010
Cost Plus's email doesn't say Happy Birthday anywhere in the email or subject line, only on the landing page (thumbs down). Also note that you have to click in order to see your reward, which doesn't bother me and helps drive traffic to the website.
From: Disney Movie Rewards
Subject Line: Amy, Happy Birthday!
Date: Friday, June 18, 2010
My favorite. I was looking forward to this one after getting it last year. Although the movie selection is exactly the same as last year's. Offering an awesome reward like this can do 3 things: 1) Build customer loyalty. If the gift is worth it, you can bet people will stay subscribed to get the same perk next year. Until then, you have a better chance of reeling them in on other offers. 2) Build your List. If I got a great deal on my birthday, I'd tell my friends to sign up for your emails. 3) Increase your conversion rate. By giving a gift, you may be reminding an inactive customer just how great your products are -- and get them buying again.
From: ING Direct
Subject Line: Happy Birthday from ING DIRECT!
Date: Friday, June 18, 2010
I liked how this email gave 3 product suggestions for using my 15% discount.
From: Nature Made
Subject Line: Happy Birthday From Nature Made
Date: Friday, June 18, 2010
I like how Nature Made included my name in the email. They also used the opportunity to cross-promote a product.
From: Piperlime
Subject Line: Happy Birthday! Here's a treat.
Date: Friday, June 18, 2010
The offer on this one wasn't as great as some of the others ($15 off a purchase of $60).
Comments
When I received the ING Direct birthday email for my own birthday, I hated it.
Since my relationship with them is defined by a savings account, the enticement to go spend money at their online store, even at 15%-off "savings", hit a really bad chord.
An offer that better reflected the nature of my relationship with ING Direct would have been appreciated. Even a simple birthday acknowledgment with no offer at all would have left me with a positive impression of the company, unlike this email.
Posted by: Deborah Krier | June 22, 2010 11:30 AM
I agree with you there. It was actually the same situation for me. Relevancy is sooo important.
However, the idea of what they did could bode well for a retailer where I had made previous purchases. (Showing products that I could use my discount on.)
Posted by: Amy Hamilton
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June 22, 2010 11:37 AM
You know what would be a cool test...is to send a birthday email after your birthday with the message of "didn't get what you wanted" and have the ability to fill out a list and send it to your friends. The other thing would be to give a progressive discount based on age.
Posted by: Andrew Kordek | June 26, 2010 9:53 PM