As I am sure we all realise, every one of us receive a huge number of marketing e-mails from a multitude of businesses. Although e-mail marketing can be effective when done correctly, however can also be ineffective if done incorrectly or targeted at the wrong audience, as shown here:
However, this does not detract from it’s advantages – It is easy and cheap to set up, and is easily trackable and can be used to provide a business with useful data such as how many of their e-mails were opened, at what times, and for how long. The availability of this data allows for businesses to further refine and improve their e-mail practices in order to enhance their effectiveness.
As shown in a study in 2012 by Ellis-Chadwick, F. & Doherty, N. F, a number of factors affect the effectiveness of an e-mail advertising campaign. These include factors such as the subject line, illustrations, personalisation and the such. In this post I will examine an e-mail sent by Dominos and exactly how effective their e-mail is to both me personally or other customers.
Domino’s sent the above ‘event triggered’ e-mail with the headline ‘SPORTING DOUGHVERLOAD’ on the 9th of July this year. The title itself is both an entertaining one and an informative one: It notifies the recipient that the weekend would involve a number of high-profile sporting events, namely Tyson Fury’s rematch with Wladimir Klitschko as well as the finals of both the Wimbledon and the Euro 2016, and that they would also have deals for that weekend. The use of a pun captures the reader’s attention, and can be an effective way to encourage them to open the e-mail and read its contents. This e-mail would likely have appealed to fans of sports – both casual and hardcore – as it informs the casual fans that there will be a number of sporting events of the weekend and reminds the people already informed that Domino’s would be providing deals over the weekend for large orders. However, although this may have appealed to those interested in sporting events, this did not apply to me. This lack of personalisation meant that there was little chance that I would open the e-mail – If I myself am not interested in the subject matter, then what chance was there that I would open the e-mail?
It can also be seen that Domino’s implemented their hyperlinks fairly well. Although it is established that too many hyperlinks would negatively affect the e-mail itself, Domino’s has managed to implement them in a manner that is both simple and aesthetically pleasing, as seen in the first screenshot with the easily recognisable icons of Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram. Their use of icons can be further seen in the third screenshot, and this is again implemented seamlessly. One critique on their use of hyperlinks, however, is their ‘Opt Out’ option. This option is located at the very bottom of the e-mail, and the problem is further exacerbated by the fact that e-mail is in a very long, portrait format. An ‘Opt Out’ option is extremely important, as it demonstrates good will and does not annoy the consumer when they are barraged with hundreds of promotional e-mails. However, the fact that the ‘Opt Out’ option is at the very bottom of this long e-mail adds extra tedium to the process and may disgruntle potentially returning customers. It is also entirely possible that people would not scroll all the way down and just never see the option. The fact that the ‘Opt Out’ option is somewhat hidden can also be disadvantageous to Domino’s, as many customers who would like to opt out may simply never read their e-mails, leading to wasted resources and money.
It was also found in the study by Ellis-Chadwick, F., & Doherty, N. F. (2012) that illustrations are important in keeping the reader interested in the contents of the e-mail. At first glance, it can be seen that Domino’s used bright colours and a variety of illustrations to catch the reader’s attention. The initial picture was even animated, further drawing the reader in and hyping them for the incoming sports events, highlighting their importance.
The use of animations and illustrations, accompanied by the large ‘ORDER NOW’ buttons are a strong call to action. Both the images and the buttons link to the Domino’s homepage, making it both easy and accessible for customers. One possible critique on their call to action is the fact that the image highlighting the deal available being further down means that at first glance it may be unclear to the customer exactly what deal was available, but their use of an animation serves the purpose of reminding the reader as to why they are opening the e-mail – to get a sweet deal for pizza on the super sports weekend!
References:
Ellis-Chadwick, F., & Doherty, N. F. (2012). Web advertising: The role of e-mail marketing. Journal of Business Research, 65(6), 843-848.