As email marketing provides twice the return of any other form of online marketing (Pavlov et al., 2008 cited in Ellis-Chadwich and Doherty, 2011) it is crucial that’s Marketers get it right and readers attention is gained.
Why Open the Email? Subject Line & Timing
Executional tactics are crucial to gain the customers attention (Rossiter,1981 cited in Eliis-Chadwick and Doherty, 2011), this is made difficult through the increasing use of mobile devices as a way of viewing emails as it is not possible for people to preview emails, therefore Subjects and straplines are the only way to raise the interest of a reader. The AXS Event Guide subject line draws the attention to the reader as immediately you know whether artists contained within it are of interest to you.
Arguably this is a follow up email, this is because the first email I received was registering an account with AXS Events, the second email was thanking me for purchasing my tickets and confirming my order, the fourth email was reminding me of the event and since then I have continued to receive these messages informing me of events and promotions (Mohammadi et al. 2013). As I have not been inundated, I have continued to purchase tickets from them/their distributors.
The timing of the email also makes the reader more inclined to view the email as it is sent on Thursdays due to tickets being released on Fridays, this can be quite useful as it reminds customers to be up early to get in-demand tickets the next day (unless you are on O2 priority, where this can be quite inconvenient as the O2 priority release date is Wednesday at 9AM).
As an opt-in email, I have chosen to receive it as the information and promotions are of interest to me (Grunert, 1996; Gengler and Thomas, 1995). I tend to open these emails when they are sent through due to my interest in music and wanting to ensure I do not miss out on any concerts of artists that I like. I have taken advantage and found out about many concerts this way, such as James Bay, Coasts, Circa Waves, it also makes life easier not having to trawl through all the London events going on but being sent them straight through to me. It is interesting to note that I also receive emails from another music venue/club Koko that I did not opt-into, as I did not choose to receive this mail I do not always open it, proving Grunert, Gengler and Thomas’ theory correct. Using this spam email is risky as many customers will mark it as spam and will result in many people ‘unsubscribing’ automatically reducing the amount of people reading the e-mail, in turn having the adverse affect on what the email was trying to achieve – losing customers instead of gaining them (Mohammed et al. 2013). Although it must be noted, as I am interested in music and know this venue hosts popular up and coming artists I do check on occasion to see upcoming events.
Personalisation
Interestingly, there is no personalisation in the AXS Event Guide email, this may be due to the fact that this would not be appropriate as the information shared is very general (White et al., 2008). However, this could be made relevant, and emails significantly improved through personalisation by using algorithms to look at what concert tickets I have bought previously through them, syncing to my Spotify and seeing what music I like and sending me information about concerts relevant to that, be it recommending similar artists or ones that I am clearly already interested in. From there it would make sense to address the email to each individual it is sent to, to represent personalisation. Furthermore the email could be sent out at different times according to when is most convenient to the individual, such as if someone signs up to receive their newsletter when ordering an O2 Priority ticket, they know they are an O2 priority customer so will be wanting to purchase tickets on Wednesday, therefore it would be beneifical to send the email to these clients on a Tuesday. Whereas those who have not bought tickets on O2 Priority are likely to not have it and therefore the best time to send the email would be Thursday (as they do), raising the personalisation of the email and increasing ticket sales as varying customers are reminded at the time most convenient to them.
Email Template and Design
In terms of design the brand logo is not in the top left as used by many companies and recommended by Ellis-Chadwick and Doherty (2011), however it is centralised within a blue bar making it the focus of the top of the page, separating the header and sender from the body of the email. There is an image of every artist with a call to action saying ‘Select Ticket’, under the date, time and location, this simple design draws the attention of the reader to each event. To improve it, it may be worth replacing the picture with a still of a Youtube video of the artists most popular or latest track to encourage people to view the act if they do not know their sort of music, this maintains the length and simplicity of the email but also makes it more interactive and allows the customer to make a more informed purchase decision. This is because some people do go to spot upcoming music if it is in a particular type of genre that they have not explored yet, particularly when the tickets are cheap – something AXS primarily do.
Although there is no interactive feature on the email such as video, which would potentially be beneficial to give insight into the sort of music the promoted artist makes, there is a Spotify playlist containing all the music of the promoted artists from that week. This is something that is different from other concert promoters, a truly value added service which reminds people of AXS even if they do not want to attend a particular concert promoted that week but still like the song, so people refer back to them at a later point.
This compares to another music venue – Koko’s email, who go for a more user-involved, engaging approach, which tells a story before going into what is occurring at the venue. Interestingly I do not see the relevance of the story to the music but it does relate to its audience as Londonders get the tube and do leave things on the tube – therefore gaining its customers attention. It is not as simple a design and not many call to actions as the AXS Event Guide, however, due to the differentiation in design it becomes more memorable. Koko has also tried to make some sort of incentive to get customers to read their mail with pictures of people at the venue, if they are ‘Spotted’ and put in the email, then they receive free tickets to the Friday clubnight – which are around £10.00.
Although more of an informative email, with less events than the AXS Events guide, KOKO uses an animation flash banner to encourage people to purchase tickets for upcoming events and their podcast available on iTunes. This draws the attention of the reader, resulting in far greater purchases (Ellis-Chadwick and Doherty, 2011).
Call to Action & Landing Page
Once the call to action button has been click on the AXS Event Guide newsletter, the landing page offers people the opportunity to purchase the tickets clicked on – see here. It acts as the connector between you viewing your email, and purchasing your ticket, ensuring you choose the date and location you want to see the band, then allowing you to choose your ticket type and ultimately paying for your ticket. Like in the email there is a clear image of the artist playing, however there is also a selection of dates and locations to see the artist with a clear call to action to ‘Select Tickets’.
This is beneficial in that it provides the seamless experience that marketers crave across platforms. It could potentially be improved by shortening the process from the email to purchase. For example, if you have been sent an email about the gig in London, you clearly want to go to that location, so to reduce the amount of clicking and potentially increase conversions it may be worth taking customers straight through to the choose seat and payment page and it remembers your details from a previous payment (like Amazon 1-click), therefore you simply choose your seats and payment is complete. This also allows for a more personalised experience as it remembers you and your details. It could also say ‘Gigs you may be interested in’, once your order has been confirmed, potentially giving regular users exclusive deals for upcoming concerts – again, using algorithms, concerts you may like going by ones you have previously been to – before general release building a stronger customer relationship.
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.