Although social media has been grabbing the headlines for the last few years, email is still the king of marketing on the internet. I am still far from perfecting the art of marketing people, however you can learn a lot about email marketing by looking at what other people are doing. This is particularly true within the world of eCommerce.
My first ever marathon is four weeks away. Training hard and eating healthily is always something I have done, though I have obviously stepped it up a gear because my upcoming marathons. Last month I placed an order of whey protein and milk protein from Myprotein: One of the largest online nutrition stores within the UK. After creating an account, I soon saw how well they have optimised their email marketing strategy.
I was initially unsure about which protein to purchase so after adding several items to my cart, I went to bed and decided to place the order the next day. It was only a few hours before I received an email from the company asking if I had any problems with my order. The email detailed every item I had added to my cart the night before. I was planning on making an order anyway; however I was impressed with how the items in my cart had been tracked and then emailed to me.
To say that the company has an aggressive marketing department would be an understatement. Every day or so they have a new deal. There is always something going on sale that will entice you back to the store. It’s a smart move as people who train regularly will purchase protein and other nutritional items on a monthly basis.
Since signing up, I have received an email from them every week without fail. Normally, this pushy sales method would make me unsubscribe, however I have so far resisted doing this incase a good offer comes up.
Below is a screenshot of the mailing I received this morning:
I have always been conscious about emailing my newsletter subscribers too much. I tend to just email them whenever I have a really good offer or deal. Most full time marketers do not share this opinion and use aggressive direct marketing techniques. It is common for many marketers to email their list every day.
There is no doubt that emailing people more often will cause more people to unsubscribe, however it will give you a better relationship with those who do not. Over time, it should make your list more loyal and more receptive to buying products and services from you. I would take a responsive list five hundred subscribers over an unresponsive list of five thousand any day.
I know that many of my readers are bloggers. Many of you are in a similar position to me. That is, you send an email every week with a list of recent posts and send out another email irregularly about any special events. Third-party email services such as GetResponse make it easy to collect email addresses and send an email blast to subscribers; however their service is not free.
We should be doing more and emailing our subscribers more often. I do not see me ever emailing my subscribers every day, though I believe I could build up a good relationship with subscribers by sending out an email once a week.
If you are not taking the time to connect with your subscribers, generating a list is a bit of a waste of time. I recommend examining what other people are doing and see what can be applied to your own campaign.
Good luck,
Kevin
Hi David,
I’ve actually not done one yet. My first one is three weeks today in Manchester.
I’m actually injured with a hamstring strain just now. I was supposed to be doing my last big run (20 miles) before decreasing my miles over the next few weeks. Don’t really have a choice. I ran 15 miles last sunday when it was painful, then 8 and a half miles fast on the Tuesday and 9 miles slow on the Wednesday. By Wednesday night, I was limping. It’s getting better….slowly.
Hopefully, I’ll be better and feeling strong for the marathon (which I’m running regardless of an injury). My only concern is my fitness may have dropped a little.
I have never looked into whey from grass-fed cows. It’s not something I have over analysed to be honest (but probably should).
I thought the campaign was effective for a number of reasons. Firstly, because they emailed me about the items I had added to my basked and not purchased. Secondly, because every day they have a free gift or deal on offer. This entices people to go back. It also makes people reluctant to unsubscribe incase they miss a good deal.
Kevin
Hi Kevin
First of all: belated congratulations for your first marathon! I am a passionate (ultra) runner myself so I know how the first one feels and what it takes to get there :)
Question: Can you explain more what exactly you find effective in this email marketing campaign? That’s not quite clear to me yet.
By the ‘whey’ ;) : have you ever thought of whey proteins from grass-fed cows rather than from cows? I haven’t been willing so far to pay the much higher prices for it and was made aware of it through the Paleo movement that’s on the rise. Could be interesting, although I haven’t searched if it is worth the difference.
Best regards from Greece (finished a half marathon today :) ),
David
We are being tricked whenever we shop, in some way or another. Big supermarkets in the UK are notorious for it. They will artificially inflate a price for three weeks so that they can sell it “On Sale” for several months; and the sale price is normally more than the normal price.
I think there is always a fine line when buying anything – particularly when looking at what you need. Do we need televisions, do we need expensive clothing etc? Probably not.
The only way to see if you are getting a good deal is to compare the price online over dozens of different retailers. As you rightly point out, good marketing will make you think you are saving money instead of spending it.
I see no reason why these techniques cannot be applied to other niches :)
I have observed that supplements sellers are always offering offers… so I think they achieve that when somebody spends his money in supplements, who pays don´t think that is spending money, thinks is saving money. It´s a great strategy. But I don´t understand why that strategy works so well so many time… it seems people is not able to see the “trick”.