ETD: 972 10 Tips for E-Mail Marketing; Misused words; GenXers
Are Reaching Middle Age and Affluence
E-Tailer's Digest
etd_post at gapent.com
Tue Apr 25 03:34:06 GMT 2006
E-Tailer's Digest --- Everything for the Retailer
Issue #0972 April 25, 2006
George Matyjewicz, Moderator mailto:georgem at gapent.com
Published by: GAP Enterprises, Ltd. http://www.etailersdigest.com
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CONTENTS
[1] Greetings
[2] 10 Tips for E-Mail Marketing
[3] Misused words
[4] GenXers Are Reaching Middle Age and Affluence
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[1] Greetings.
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Hi All:
Is e-mail marketing effective? I can't answer
that question. However, after reading a lot of
material, I have put together 10 Tips for E-Mail
Marketing that may be useful. Comments?
Patty Sachs shares information on misused words,
and I have added some common ones. What are your favorites?
Pam Danziger tells us that GenXers are reaching
middle age and affluence. Now that is making me
feel old. ;-) But, we now have another great
market to sell our wares. What do you think?
Now, let's get to everything for the retailer.
Sincerely
George Matyjewicz, PhD
Chief Global Strategist, GAP Enterprises, LLC
mailto:georgem at gapent.com
http://www.etailersdigest.com
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[2] 10 Tips for E-Mail Marketing
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I've been reading some information on e-mail
marketing that I would like to share. Here are
ten tips for e-mail marketing campaigns.
1. Your mailing list is most important. Make
sure you use a double opt-in (i.e., confirming
that somebody actually joined the list) technique
for building a list. The simplest way to confirm
is to send a confirmation email to the subscriber
allowing them to verify their desire to join your list.
2. Mail effectively. What bugs most people is
the amount of mail they get from a company. I
bought stuff from a garden supply company, and
they were sending DAILY updates of what was on
sale! I unsubscribed fast. Carefully monitor
conversion data. If they drop off, you may be
mailing too much, or you don't have anything new to say.
3. Subject line is the most important part of
your e-message. With letter writing, the key
ingredients are the first paragraph, signature
and P.S. With e-mail, the subject line has to
get their attention. Spam has killed e-mail
marketing, so you have two seconds to get their
attention. And you need to use words that
sell. Subject lines should contain six to seven
words. And avoid words like free, sex, pharmacy,
stocks and al the others that get caught in spam
filters. We use Spam Assassin on our mail
server, and it's easy to see what gets
blocked. You can also use a services provided by
them to check your subject line for spam
filtering. http://spamassassin.apache.org And
don't use exclamation marks!!!!
4. Call to action. It's not any different than
a mailing or any other campaign. Tell the reader
what you want them to do - a call to
action. Your copy needs to have words that sell,
well-worded text, short and to the point and a
call to action I still love that story about Tip
O'Neill the politician from Boston who reminded
his next door neighbor to vote. Later that day
he asked her if she voted, and she said yes. He
then asked if she voted for him, and she said
no. When he asked why, she replied "you didn't ask me."
5. HTML vs. text only. We had this discussion
on E-Tailers Digest. Most respondents said they
prefer text-only, with perhaps a link to an HTML
page. Many people believe this is almost a
non-issue because most everyone can receive an
HTML email. However, there are some e-mail
programs that don't default to show images.
Google’s Gmail and Microsoft Entourage are two examples of this.
6. Timing. Like any marketing campaign, timing
is everything. Holidays are often holidays from
email, too. That's why email marketing during the
holidays is often not very effective.
7. Make landing pages fit your e-mail marketing
campaign. Nothing annoys people more than to go
to a general page in your site, and then have to
look for whatever it is you are selling.
8. When to send your e-mail piece. If your
piece is of vocational interest and read at work,
send it on Wednesday or Thursday.
If your piece is primarily read at home and
focuses on spare-time activities, send it on Sunday.
9. Address recipients with their name in e-mail
campaigns. Make your newsletter recipients feel
more like themselves, less like mere numbers by
greeting them individually and personally.
10.. Opt-out. Provide for an easy way to opt-out of an e-mail list.
George
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[3] Misused words
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Regarding a turn of a phrase or word causing
confusion--.the one that frequently gets me in
trouble is actually an easy typo that gets
through the spell checker without a
question. "Now" instead of "Not"...or vice
versa, equals a disastrous exchange of meanings.
"I will not be attending" becomes "I will now be
attending." and so forth. Who knows how many
recipients have gotten the absolutely wrong message from me?
So, I will not proofread my letters more carefully....
Oops! See what I mean?
Best to you,
Patty Sachs
www.PartyPlansPlus.com
+++ [Moderator's Comments] +++
Thanks Patty. Here are some other common mistakes...
Bimonthly / Semimonthly. Bimonthly is an
adjective that means every two months: “We
publish a newsletter bimonthly.” Semimonthly is
an adjective that means happening twice a month:
“We have semimonthly meetings on the 1st and the 15th.”
i.e. / e.g. The abbreviation e.g. means for
example (from Latin exempli gratia): “The
contract states the work is to be done daily
(e.g., Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, etc.) ” The
abbreviation i.e. means that is or in other words
(from Latin id est): “The contract states that
work is to be done semi-monthly, i.e., on the 1st and 15th of each month.”
it's / its
It's is a contraction for it is, whereas its is
the possessive form of it: “It's a shame that we cannot talk its content.”
Stationary / Stationery. Stationary is an
adjective that means fixed or unmoving: “They
maneuvered around the stationary barrier in the
road.” Stationery is a noun that means writing
materials: “We printed the letters on company stationery.”
Their / There / They're. Their is the possessive
form of they; there refers to place; and they're
is the contraction of they are. “They're going
there because their mother insisted they become proficient in Hebrew.”
Who's / Whose. Who's is the contraction of who
is. Whose is the possessive form of who. “Who's
going to figure out whose job it is to read the contract?”
Your / You're. Your is the possessive form of
you; you're is the contraction you are. “If
you're planning on reading this issue of ETD,
then be sure to bring your reading glasses.”
George
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[4] GenXers Are Reaching Middle Age and Affluence
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In 2005 luxury consumers of the GenX generation,
born from 1965 to 1976, spent 6.3 percent more
buying luxuries than their affluent Baby Boomer
counterparts. GenXer households averaged $52,781
as compared with Boomers average of $49,672. The
biggest spending gap was in the home luxury goods
category, where GenXers spent 28 percent more than Boomers on average.
While Boomers still spend lots of money on
luxuries, luxury goods marketers are going to
find the younger GenXer affluent consumers a more
important part of their target market in the coming years.
After years of catering to the Boomers’ luxury
appetites, luxury goods marketers need to tap the
tremendous spending potential of
GenXers. Because they are younger and more
recently affluent, they are acquiring luxuries
for the first time that Boomers already have and
own. As Baby Boomers downscale their lives,
GenXers are at a more materialistic life stage
and so marketers of home luxuries, such as
kitchen appliances, furniture, electronics, art
and tabletop, and personal luxuries, like fashion
and fashion accessories, jewelry and beauty
products, need to become attuned to the emerging
desires and shopping habits of this younger luxury generation.
In order to provide new insights into the
changing dynamics brought about by the emerging
GenXer luxury market, Unity Marketing is
undertaking a new consumer insights study in
association with its Luxury Tracking service.
Generations of Affluence Consumer Insights Study
Today’s affluent market is dominated by two
generations at two different life stages. These
two generations represent the core target market
for luxury marketers. Some 55 percent of the
affluent consumer households are headed by Baby
Boomers, ages 42-to-60, who are approaching or
already in their empty-nesting
lifestage. About 25 percent of the affluent
market are GenXers, aged 30-to-41, who are in the
family-formation and young children at home lifestage.
Given their different lifestages, these two
generations demonstrate different luxury shopping
behavior, with the GenXer affluent households
spending more money on average buying luxuries
than the typical Baby Boomer. As a result,
luxury marketers must understand the two
different generations in order to target their
marketing communications, advertising and product
development efforts effectively.
Unity Marketing is undertaking an intensive
investigation of the mindset and consumer
psychology of these two distinctive generations
of luxury consumers. Through a series of focus
groups among luxury consumers (household incomes
of $150,000 and above) Unity will examine their
differing attitudes toward luxury and how that
impacts their buying and shopping for luxury
goods and services. Subscribers to Unity
Marketing’s Luxury Tracking Study can participate
in this special investigation of the generations of luxury.
To learn more about this study and participating
in Unity’s luxury generations research, complete
the request form
http://www.unitymarketingonline.com/reports2/luxury/affluence_reg.html
for more information or call us.
Pam Danziger, President, Unity Marketing
717-336-1600
Author of Let Them Eat Cake: Marketing Luxury to
the Masses — as well as the Classes
New book, Shopping: Why We Love It and How
Retailers Can Create the Ultimate Consumer
Experience, will be published Fall 2006.
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