It seems nowadays we all are bombarded with e-mails via almost all websites and companies we have come across or even accidentally opt-in for newsletters after making an online purchase. Can you remember the number of times you have opened your e-mail inbox to find a dozen of cold mails that you are merely interested in? It has almost become a chore to check your e-mail inbox. Nevertheless there are e-mails that are personalised to us as individuals as a marketing tool to engage us to the brand; “E-mail marketing is an important medium of marketing communication especially for companies seeking to build and maintain closer relationships with customers” (Chadwick, 2012, McCloskey, 2006 and Chaffey et al., 2003). Thus I will analyse an e-mail sent to me by Sainsbury’s.
Sainsbury’s Halloween Special E-Newsletter
Shall I Open This E-mail? Firstly, I did open this e-mail when I received it because I shop with Sainsbury’s very often as it is my local supermarket. I would like to receive a benefit in exchange and see the promotions they are offering in comparison to other competitors.
Personalisation – ‘Mandy, treat yourself this Halloween with Sainsbury’s’ – Simply by using my name in the title of the email shows this e-newsletter is directed personally to me which already attracts my attention. Furthermore the e-newsletter is completely personalised to myself as it highlights my grocery shopping habits and what I purchase often. Sainsbury’s uses the nectar card loyalty card reward system to track the purchases I make and strategically use this to invite me to make another purchase with Sainsbury’s. It is interesting that not only Sainsbury’s know the brand I like but the specific flavour I choose. Tailoring the e-newsletter to each individual customer is an effective marketing strategy as it feels Sainsbury’s is building a relationship with me and aware of the products I devour in.
The Template/ Design – The Halloween image as the first image to see is attractive and compliments the holiday season; the design of the e-newsletter is clean and simplistic, I feel it is very to point of what Sainsbury’s want to achieve which is to advertise the products I tend to buy with a promotional discount; I believe this is strong and attractive as it is easy to understand. Also using the price discounted in bold and red is more visually eye catching and I immediately spotted the price discount first. A simple layout to draw my attention to items I particularly like to purchase and to exaggerate the money saving promotion which is clever and personalised.
E-mail Critique
Pros:
1) Immediately engaged by the use of my name in the title – Mandy, treat yourself this Halloween with Sainsbury’s’ – shows personalisation
2) Using Halloween catch word is attractive at this time as it target shoppers to purchase from Sainsbury’s Halloween range
3) The clear sized image of my favourite products are inviting me to buy the products on discount with an expiry date in the bottom
4) Simplicity – e-mail is easy to navigate and highlights the Halloween season and their discounted products. Reimers, Chao, and Gorman (2016, Volume 28, Issue 2) “Because one of the key goals of a retail website is to make shopping as convenient as possible, the less complex this task is, the more willing the consumer should be to utilise it.”
Cons:
1) Show more personalisation, not only address my name but can show my last visit and more product recommendations for the Halloween season
2) The expiry date of the promotion is not visibly clear. Sainsbury should emphasise the deal expiring to prompt the user to go to the store soon; as it is only in small grey font in the box, it is not bold and standing out. Often the discount is not persuasive enough to make shoppers wanting to buy their products but with a bold expiry date of the discount would prompt users to go buy it.
3) Showing comparison deals that Sainsbury is offering better than other competitors is ideal to show Sainsbury is competitive in the market
4) E-newsletter could show more Halloween content, the title of the e-newsletter does not match as well to the content as I would have thought there to be more Halloween range shown.
Improvements:
1) Include more Halloween content in the e-newsletter; show the Halloween range in the e-mail that is recommended by my similar purchases. Could also display other Halloween items like decorations, costumes and food.
2) Emphasise the promotion expiry date to persuade users to buy the product in the time limit, usually shoppers buy products if the time limit is made aware of and put on centre point.
3) Show my nectar card reward system with Sainsbury’s, my points, how many points to my next rewards and include promotion for more points. Using the loyalty system is attractive to all loyal regular shoppers. Which in comparison to Co-op e-newsletter; Co-op emphasise on their loyalty system and the benefits of regularly shopping with the brand. ‘Something for you. Earn your 5% and 1% Straight Away’. – Shows I am earning points/saving money every time I shop with Co-op; I think Sainsbury should highlight their reward system and even do promotions with points and their Halloween range.
The Call to Action (CTA)
The e-mail allows the user to navigate to different segments of Sainsbury’s website to discover more of the e-newsletter. Firstly, clicking on the Halloween food image navigates the user to the Halloween page. The page is a short segment of Halloween and further give Halloween recipes to follow using Sainsbury’s products.The page is specialising on the season holiday giving recipes, promoting their Halloween decorations, costumes and food. There is no personalisation on this page, however it is informative on the season. However, the page could be better by showing personalised items that Sainsbury’s would like me to purchase for Halloween, so recommendations for me to make Halloween treats for example. For improvement the page could even allocate me to my local Sainsbury’s and identify whether the Halloween products are in stock.
Another CTA the e-mail transfer the user to is the product page, by clicking on any of the favourite products it takes you to Sainsbury’s webpage to purchase the product. In example, by clicking on the New Covent Garden Chicken & Root Vegetable soup image or ‘shop now’ directs me to the webpage. This is a method of sales to take the user to the online store is highly efficient to prompt me to buy my favourite item ‘now’ than later; especially it is a personalised item with highlighted red and bold discount really would influence users to make purchase immediately.
Takeaway
It is clear and visible Sainsbury’s objective is to use the Halloween season to target more of their customers by using the catch word in the title of the e-mail. The title is crucial as it is the first sentence the receiver sees and judges whether to open the e-mail regardless of the content. Therefore by the use of the addressee’s name is inviting to open the e-mail.
Also the timing of the e-mail is essential as it is sent during the Halloween season, it is in the right time frame for shoppers to want to open the e-mail to see the Halloween promotion as Huffington Post (2014) states ‘send the right message to the right people at the right time’. Therefore to summarise, it is fundamental for e-mail marketing to send the correct e-mail at the correct time frame tailored to the receiver as seen in the Sainsbury’s e-newsletter. From this I have derived the importance of e-mail marketing to present the e-mail in a form to influence the receiver to even open the e-mail.
Reference
Ellis-Chadwick, F., & Doherty, N. F. (2012). Web advertising: The role of e-mail marketing. Journal of Business Research, 65(6), 843-848.
Huffington Post (2014) 11 Remarkable Email Marketing Tips You Need To Implement Right Away [Online] < http://www.huffingtonpost.com/matthew-collis/11-remarkable-email-marke_1_b_5710091.html> [accessed 3rd November 2016]
Reimers, V., Chao, C.W., & Gorman, S. “Permission email marketing and its influence on online shopping”, Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics, (2016) Vol. 28 Iss: 2, pp.308 – 322