Email is NOT dead!

In fact, many business companies are following this channel of marketing to better communicate with their audience. So how does email marketing entice customers to buy?

“Permission marketing encourages consumers to participate in a long term, interactive marketing campaign in which they are rewarded in some way for paying attention to increasingly relevant messages” (Godin, 1999).

In this blog I will be critiquing a permission based email I received from fashion retailer Missguided. After my first purchase from Missguided, I opted in to receive emails therefore giving them permission to notify me regarding new product lines, future deals and promotions. This particular email I had received was event triggered as it had a subject line reading “HAPPY Freakin’ Birthday Binisha”. Using variant testing, Missguided has found a subject title that is the most effective as it grabs the readers attention and thus, the aim is to get the customer to engage with the email which they have successfully done (Ellis-Chadwick and Doherty, 2012).

Not only is the subject line engaging, but it is personal and relevant as it flows with the content of this email marketing message. According to Lowe, the main objective is to build customer relationships based on trust, loyalty and brand awareness. Email Marketing allows you to personalise messages and therefore as the customer, I am more likely to open the email as the prospects of the material matches my interests. Personalisation also increases the click through rates (CTR) but this is dependant on the relationship status and personal data exposed by the customer (Ellis-Chadwick and Doherty, 2012).

Moving on… every marketing email should really have a clear call to action displayed and one that stands out! Using a bright pink colour theme with a subtle pink background, Missguided have not failed to ensure that the purpose of the email is not to be missed. The message content is minimal, relevant and timely – this stimulates a responsive format whilst continuing the flow between the subject line. The use of bright bold statements on a clear layout draws my attention to the offer (setting off my emotion) and instantly creating a sense of urgency influencing me to click on the hyperlink. According to Mohammadi, M et al (2013) using a CTA as a company you will obtain better results and higher conversions – every marketeers dream! The hyperlink redirects me to the landing page of Missguided’s website as you would expect. However, having to apply the code independently can lose that sense of urgency for the customer unless they already have a product in mind. If the code was applied to each product automatically the customer would be more psychological engaged.

Furthermore, illustrations in this email were presented at the bottom. The captivating mini video that loops back and forth of the ‘Badass’ Birthday Cake creates a sense of creativity and sustains the readers attention. Even though the image has nothing to do with the products Missguided sell, the focus and aim of the email remains following the birthday theme consistently. The image triggered an emotion as it was relevant to my birthday and made me feel a sense of excitement!

Alas! The email marketeer has cleverly displayed the less appealing information at the bottom of the page, all which is very important as it highlights the terms and conditions for the birthday code. However, “The offer only applies…cannot be used in conjunction…offer will not be applied” are all statements that could make the reader less interested.

Here are some statistics that might interest you:

•  This marketing technique increased the click-rate by 133%
•  Email conversion rates have increased by 298%
•  Email revenue for the automated campaigns is up by 439% with yield per email improving 118%

This shows that using soft sale and CTA, Missguided have remarkably projected this birthday campaign to build personalised relationships with their customers from the very start and as a result it has created efficiencies in their marketing outreach (Robinson, 2015).

References

Ellis-Chadwick, F., & Doherty, N. F. (2012). Web advertising: The role of e-mail marketing. Journal of Business Research, 65(6), 843-848.

Mohammadi, M., Malekian, K., Nosrati, M., & Karimi, R. (2013). Email Marketing as a Popular Type of Small Business Advertisement: A Short Review. Australian Journal of Basic and Applied Sciences, 7(4), 786-790.

Godin, S. (1999) Permission Marketing: Turning strangers into friends and friends into customers. Simon & Schuster

Robinson, S. (2015). How Missguided Won Over Fast-Fashionistas With Trigger-Based Marketing. [online] Blogs.oracle.com. Available at: https://blogs.oracle.com/marketingcloud/how-missguided-won-over-fast-fashionistas-with-trigger-based-marketing [Accessed 31 Oct. 2016].