How to break through clutter & STAND OUT in your customers’ inbox

Posted on by ask531

Today, 46% of online shoppers prefer email over other channels to hear about sales and promotions. Because of this, Marketers utilize Email as one of the primary channels to reach their customers. But in a customers cluttered email inbox, how does a marketer stand out?

I’ll be analyzing three email marketing efforts from brands to see what worked v.s what didn’t.

Brooks Brothers

Brooks Brothers has a wide ranging audience, however their email marketing efforts targeted to me highlight a younger audience as proof from the models in this email. This is a great way to segment their users.

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The email comes “From” Brooks Brothers which is a trusted brand name giving the customer the peace of mind to open this email. For this specific email they used an interesting subject line “Dress in Ivy Style this Spring”, right in time for the spring season giving customers a reason to open this email. This subject line also has a sense of intrigue as customers may wonder what is the Ivy style for this spring. A second subject line visible in the mobile version of Brooks Brothers email hints a new arrival in the form of a Red Fleece. However, this second subject line is missing from the desktop version of their email. A second subject line serves as a good validation point encouraging customers to open the email. Brook Brothers must offer this consistently through different versions of its email.

The purpose of this specific email effort is clear that Brooks Brothers wants to promote its new Ivy Style Red Fleece for spring. A clear call to action in red is visible in the email body which is actually an embedded link taking the customer to a landing page where they can view and purchase the red fleece. This landing page is also optimized for mobile.

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In this email effort Brooks Brothers has used several email marketing best practices making it a successful campaign.

Target

Target follows a superior design philosophy which is consistent through out its branding, stores, products, and email marketing. The following email comes “From” Target.com, Target’s online retail store. It is an authoritative digital property giving customers the confidence to open this email to review Target’s promotional offers.

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The subject line “love your space for less” is not clear, but is further clarified and validated through the second subject line “Bring home stylish furniture plus savings”. The animation in the subject line caught my eye making it stand out from all other emails in my inbox and making me open this specific email from Target. I believe using animations to add emotion to subject lines is a great tactic to stand out.

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The email is targeted at any user who is interested in buying furniture. However, in the body of it’s email, Target also gives the customer the option to either shop for “furniture” using one tab or for “all home” using the second tab. They also have other areas of their store advertised such as “clothing” etc. Essentially giving the customers an idea of all the other things they can purchase during their experience on Target.com. Each advertised area is an embedded link taking the customer to a different part of Target’s website.

Target has optimized it’s email efforts as well as landing page for mobile. We can see how different the “furniture” landing page is on desktop v.s mobile. Where the mobile landing page is designed for the on-the-go mobile customer who can easily navigate through different furniture categories such as bathroom furniture, bedroom furniture etc.

In conclusion, Target’s consistent design philosophy makes their email efforts visually appealing and highly clickable as well as the simplicity of their mobile design drives more transactions.

Eventbrite

Eventbrite is a search based website that allows its audience to find interesting events varying through different categories. This specific email effort by Eventbrite stood out to me because of it’s catchy subject line “75 Fun Things to Do in NYC this April”. This subject line offers intrigue wanting the customer to find out more about the fun events in NYC this April. However, the email fails to add a second subject line to validate this point. Eventbrite should get rid of what is currently occupying space to include a second subject line that offers more information and creates excitement in order for the customer to open this email.

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On opening this email, we realize the objective is to access the “events calendar” which is advertising the 75 Fun events this April. Eventbrite uses a persuasive and authorotative tone mentioning ” Here are some of the best events happening in NYC this April”. Customers only want the “best” hence this call to action is compelling enough for them to visit the events calendar.

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The email and the landing page are both optimized for mobile, where the landing page is clearly tied to the objective and leads the user to the events calendar. The events are organized by weeks and dates, following visually appealing imagery and fun event descriptions that compel a user to click through to find out more. Events are also clearly labeled if they are free or selling for a ticketed price.

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I believe Eventbrite’s tone, interesting content and organization has allowed them to be successful in this email effort.

Blogging your way to success – insights and strategies to target the social user.

Posted on by ask531

Hook/Lead: How can you increase your website traffic by 1000% in 8 weeks?

Problem: In today’s cluttered online space, with advertising messages, and distracted users in pursuits of instant gratification, how does one stand out?

Solution: On recently attending a talk with Todd Giannattasio, President and CEO, of an online marketing firm, Tresnic Media. I learned about a comprehensive blogging strategy that can help individuals or businesses grow their online presence.

Todd mentioned that it is essential to have an online presence through a blog. The two main elements to success are the quality and frequency of blog posts.

Where quality means delivering content that is beneficial to your customers, and this starts by accurately identifying and knowing your audience. From a question raised during the talk, I learned another interesting insight about content – posts that answer customer questions gain a lot of traction, turns out, if one customer has a question, it is likely that several others will have the same question. This also helps businesses reduce customer service times.

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Quality also means knowing what type of content works with your audience, and this can be identified through research and used as a guide to create fresher blog posts on similar topics.

Todd also talked about Trello, a neat app that helps you keep track of your content during high production cycles, which brings us to the topic of content frequency.

According to Todd, frequent blog posts help Google crawl your site more often, helping to improve search rankings. As Todd mentions, success in driving traffic to your website cannot be fully achieved without sharing content on different social media channels, as well as, niche online communities, which harbor your audience. However, he cautions us to not intrude others’ social space by bombarding posts within a community, but to first create a positive presence in the community by liking, commenting and sharing member posts. And then to introduce one’s content in the community in a value added manner. This also promotes organic sharing.

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Todd also talked about creating thought leadership, which is being knowledgeable in a certain space by creating content that is compelling enough for organic sharing. Todd advises to build an online presence by being known for your work, and becoming a source of information to create influence. An awesome tool to share your work is Slide Share. Todd also mentioned, tools like Topsy to search through social media to find other thought leaders that can benefit from your content.

Thought-Leadership-topConclusion: It is essential to know your audience and become a formative member of their online communities for your digital marketing strategies to reap rewards. At the end of the day, all marketing is human.

 

Good O’l Story Telling…

Posted on by ask531

olympus

In recent years, the Olympus brand has somewhat been forgotten.

I was tasked to come up with a brand story to make Olympus relevant again.

Objective: Reconnect audience with Olympus.

Audience: Millennials (they are disconnected with the brand).

Feel: Olympus is more than a digital camera, it is a device that creates and maintains bonds.

Strategy: Brings you closer to the people that matter most to you.

Brand Story: Years Missed

It had been 5 years since Tim went back home.

Home to Tim is a place of love; home is where Tim grew up and that’s where his parents live.

Tim started at home and traveled far to pursue his dream of one day being successful.

Through these years, his parents got old, his friends got married, his cousins had babies, and elders passed away.

And Tim graduated from college; he got his first job and his first car, and met the love of his life.

Growing up, Tim’s father taught him that moments of happiness and sadness are a part of a family’s life; they are meant to be shared and not missed.

When Tim left for college, his father gave him an Olympus Pen.

Tim promised that he would document all the milestones in his life and share them with his family.

So he did, and his father did the same.

Even though they were apart, they shared a digital gallery of beautiful moments that brought them close together.

Mobile Shenanigans

Posted on by ask531

I love my iPhone. I recently got the 6 and I gotta tell ya, I REALLYYY love it.

I call it “functional jewelry”. Well, it’s beautiful and it’s easy to use.

Last weekend, I forgot my iPhone in a Uber car (thanks for all those bourbons, Tavy).

As I got back home, I searched my pockets, there was no iPhone there, I felt naked.

But with technology today, can we really lose something?!?

I scrambled to my iPad and went straight to the iCloud site. Here, I used the find my iPhone App to track my iPhone on Apple Maps. And Ohhhhhhh Boy!!! Or Girl!!! for that matter…my iPhone was taking the freeway…fleeing like NO Tomorrow. I started to call my iPhone using my iPad (pretty neat) but to no avail. I was so sad at this point, I could do nothing to save my iPhone. So I decided to go to bed.

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I woke up with the worst headache (thanks again, Tavy). I had to meet my friends for brunch, I showed up 30 minutes late and they were like “Where the F were u, we’ve been calling you for 30 minutes!!!”

While I sat there explaining my self, my friend’s phone rang and the screen glowed saying “Ahsan’s cell”, you can now imagine music playing in the background and it sounds like a symphony.

I picked up the call while everyone looked at me in disbelief. It was the Uber guy and he said “I have your phone”.

I told him that If he could drive to the restaurant where I was, I would pay for his trip and include a nice tip using the Uber app. And guess what…He did!!! (another symphony playing in the background).

I was thankful.

Over brunch, I shared pictures with my friends from our crazy night using Instagram.

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On the train ride back home, I asked myself “why do I love my iPhone so much”?

The answer was obvious “it brings me closer to my family and friends, even when they are not there”. Apps make this possible and they are powered by my iPhone.

This led me to the realization that humans now live in apps.

As Marketers it is more important than ever to make the app experience as beautiful and comfortable as our homes.. Well we do kinda live inside the apps now.

Until the next crazy incident…well maybe not…I’ll be more careful next time.

Chow.

-Ash