Archive for E-mail Marketing

Who Do You Trust? You Might Be Surprised…

May 5, 2010 · Filed under E-mail Marketing, Emerging Media, Interactive Advertising, Mobile Marketing, Word of Mouth (WOM) Strategies · Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

My last post on privacy made me realize, that although I and others have concerns about the security of our information, at the same time we are so willing to trust the same media that we attempt to protect ourselves from.

We as consumers sign up for mailing lists, memberships, submit our credit card information over the Internet for purchases and give out our contact information for many different reasons…

…and while emerging media are certainly “emerging” in regard to consumer trust, overwhelmingly, more traditional media and methods still reign supreme –surprising to me, even with the younger “Internet” generation.

According to the results of a Nielsen Online survey, published by eMarketer, word-of-mouth still proves to be the most powerful and trusted method to reach 20-and-under Internet-using consumers, with ninety-two percent (92%) indicating “completely” or “somewhat”.

Not surprising is the impact that the Internet is playing in establishing trust for these young users—consumer opinions posted online (72%), brand Web sites (69%) and e-mails signed up for (67%).

What is surprising to me is the part that traditional media still plays for these younger consumers—newspaper article, ads in newspapers, brand sponsorships, ads in magazines, on TV and on the radio all had a significant response.

The platforms that really need to work on establishing credibility and earning consumer trust are the media we’ve been discussing throughout this course—emerging media. Online video ads, banner ads and mobile text advertising were among the lowest trusted forms of advertising tactics.

It could be that these methods are simply newer, so it will take more time to gain trust and establish a trustworthy reputation.

So the next time you entertain advertising, on whatever medium it rears its head, ask yourself…who do you trust? You might be surprised.

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 The marketing moral of this story—regardless the force of the “new media” movement, do not completely abandon traditional media for advertising your product or brand, instead integrate newer, emerging methods with those proven traditional media to create a well-balanced mix for a comprehensive integrated marketing campaign.

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Re: Unsubscribe

April 12, 2010 · Filed under E-mail Marketing, Word of Mouth (WOM) Strategies · Tagged , , , , ,

Expanding further on my previous discussion on e-mail marketing—

I am a fanatic about e-mail spam, which I am convinced is growing by the day. Primarily, I assume from my information being shared with third-party companies when I make purchases, both on and offline.

There are certain e-mail notifications, however that I do sign up to receive (these probably account for only about 35% of my e-mail). At any rate, a number of months back I had opted in to receive e-mail notifications and updates on an online shopping site called ShopItToMe.com.

Shop It To Me is an effortless way to get the best sales on more than 700 brands. The site checks more than 100 leading retailers, from the leading department stores to chic online boutiques, for sales on women’s, men’s, and children’s clothing, shoes, and accessories—all having been determined  by preference of the site user.

I am a pretty serious online shopper—and I certainly appreciate a good deal, and being notified of discounts, sales and the like. The site effectively uses word-of-mouth strategies to get site users to invite friends to also join the site. When I was suggested to join the site by one of my close friends, it was a no brainer for me.

At one point recently, completely overwhelmed by the amount of e-mail in my inbox, I went on an“unsubscribe” frenzy. Sadly, ShopItToMe.com fell victim to my spree. Like most unwelcome e-mail, I opened them one by one to scroll all the way to the bottom in tiny fine print to find the “unsubscribe” link—hoping to be rid of the messages for good.

It was to my surprise that upon selecting “unsubscribe” from ShopItToMe.com, I was given an unsuspected “We’re sorry to see you go” message that actually offered, not to completely eliminate correspondence with me, but to postpone it—the site allowed me to decide not to hear from them for a designated amount of time. I was impressed, so much so that I did not cancel my subscription but took them up on their offer to only delay communication. This allows the company to maintain valuable database information and to keep its connection with its consumers—all at the consumers’ designation.

As was discussed in the previous post, ShopItToMe.com has upheld two crucial best practices in e-mail marketing:  senders should only send commercial email to individuals who have provided informed consent and for all third-party licensed data, a global unsubscribe mechanism should be implemented utilized methods—while utilizing creative customer relationship management strategies to maintain its connection and relationship with consumers.

Perhaps more e-mail marketers should follow the lead.

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From: XYZ Corp. To: You – E-mail marketing

April 6, 2010 · Filed under E-mail Marketing, Emerging Media · Tagged , , , ,

According to Shar VanBoskirk , Vice President and analyst at research company Forrester Research, in her US Interactive Marketing Forecast, 2009 to 2014 whitepaper, marketing dollars will continue to shift from traditional media to interactive marketing. Boland

One of the ways that marketers make the shift from traditional to interactive isn’t to completely abandon techniques of traditional marketing, but to transform traditional efforts to interactive efforts.

Our course lesson this week seeks to analyze the evolution of media—from traditional to interactive—and the variety of methods used in advertising, utilizing such emerging media methods.  

There are many ways that companies include emerging, interactive media into their IMC strategies to advertise on the Internet, such as: banner ads, widgets, corporate Web sites and e-mail.  

E-mail marketing is of particular focus in the lesson this week—as a progression of traditional direct mail marketing, e-mail marketing has become an increasingly attractive method for advertisers—specifically for four reasons: cost, customization, response and control. WVU

As with any other method of direct marketing, however, companies have a tendency to abuse the open lines of communication that are made possible by gateways of emerging media—of which major factors include security, privacy and delivery permission.

For this reason, e-mail marketing professionals from the IAB’s Email Committee have developed Best Practices to help in removing friction from the e-mail marketing channel by simplifying the core elements of security, deliver-ability permission and privacy.

These best practices were developed by thoroughly examining several of the most critical issues surrounding the email marketing industry, including privacy, permission, data security, and deliver-ability. Key best practices include:  

  • Senders should only send commercial email to individuals who have provided informed consent
  • For all third-party licensed data, a global unsubscribe mechanism should be implemented
  • Consumer permission to receive commercial email from a List Owner cannot be replicated or transferred without reference to the original point of collection
  • Clear, conspicuous and repeated notice of data collection and use are required
  • Advertisers and marketers should authenticate their email by publicly registering the domains from which they send email
  • Anyone using email for marketing purposes should adopt and use authentication protocols for both their email and corporate domains
  • All parties should use a one-way encrypted hash to encrypt suppression files

While certainly there are a number of companies who do not adhere to these Best Practices, it is important to note that processes are in place and procedures are promoted to protect consumers’ well being in terms of e-mail marketing methods.

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