By Tom Polanski, EVP, eBrand Media and eBrand Interactive

eBrand Media has always been a proponent of relationship management. This is done in a number of ways; give and get clarity, stay away from presenting yet another emotional “dog and pony show”, target your offer based on expressed preferences, and give something valuable to the recipient for free. If you’re using social media, personalize your homepage, and be willing to accept the possibility that you may have to give more than you get back.

The giving away of something is of critical importance. This invokes what is known as the reciprocity rule. It’s deeply ingrained in all of us. Society was built on it. I do something for you, I give you something, and the unspoken agreement is that you’ll reciprocate. E-mail is a great way to create, cultivate, and manage relationships with clients, and customers. 

Sending an e-mail is so cheap you might as well send e-mail to every as often as possible, right? Besides the ROI is so good at the beginning why wouldn’t you, correct?  Dead wrong, say, Arthur Middleton Hughes and Arthur Sweetser. Hughes is senior strategist and Sweetser chief marketing officer at e-Dialog, an e-mail service provider that was acquired last year by e-commerce technology provider GSI Commerce Inc.

They argue that bombarding consumers with e-mail blasts is akin to hunting, in that the marketer is setting traps, hoping to capture new customers. Instead, marketers should adopt a strategy more analogous to farming, cultivating their best customers by sending them relevant e-mails and using e-mails to build a relationship. At one major retailer an e-Dialog analysis found that 1% of the customers on the list accounted for 50% of the revenue from e-mail marketing, Sweetser says. But the retailer was not marketing to those customers differently. And that’s not atypical, he says. “Maybe 10% of our e-commerce retailers have messaging tailor to prior purchase and loyal customers,” Sweetser says.

For many retailers, only 10% of the individuals on their e-mail lists ever make a purchase, Hughes says. “The 10% who do should be treated like kings,” he says. “They’re the ones keeping the company going.” That includes sending them relevant e-mail, sending birthday greetings and thank-you notes, and encouraging interaction by inviting them to review products they’ve bought.

Relevance is key says Hughes. Sending relevant e-mail starts with building a database with information about customers. That can include information the retailer can gather itself—based on purchase history and short surveys—and data from outside companies that collect consumer information.

Once a retailer knows something about a consumer, Hughes says it’s easier to send that individual e-mails relevant to him, and avoid sending messages that will only annoy him. “If he lives in a high-rise don’t tell him about lawnmowers. If he’s 60 years old don’t tell him about baby food,” Hughes says. “A database is a bunch of information that helps you build long-term relationships.”
The authors also advise marketers to determine the lifetime value of customers, information that can help a retailer decide, for instance, how much to spend to acquire new names for an e-mail list. For e-Dialog’s retailer clients, the average value of an e-mail address is $20 in sales per year, Sweetser says.

In determining customer value, marketers should remember to factor in the offline impact of e-mail. Hughes and Sweetser say that e-mail generates $4 in store sales for every dollar of web sales. And just e-mailing customers to tell them they have a catalog can make a difference—housewares cataloger Miles Kimball found in a test that customers who received an e-mail telling them a catalog was coming bought 18% more than customers who did not receive that e-mail. “The e-mail just said, ‘Look in your mailbox,’” Hughes says. “That shows that e-mail can work in conjunction with direct mail to boost sales, and that’s particularly important right now.”

However, you can increase the percentage of people who buy from you if you’re cautious with what we call conversion mailings. The mailings meant to drive revenue. Twice a month is best.  Too many times a month, and the recipients become jaundiced; leading to e-mail entropy, an uptick in complaints, and potential black-listing. During the off weeks send a newsletter, or something relevant to your industry e.g. if you’re selling kitchenware, what could be better than recipes? But resist the urge to sell through those “off week” e-mail.

Many of our clients now rely on us to deliver names, and e-mail addresses, as the front part of a campaign that drives conversions, and positions the retailer, to maximize lifetime value. The start is initially capital, and human resource, intensive, but the returns far out-pace the more traditional direct marketing e-mail approach.

People aren’t flush with home equity cash, and credit anymore. Smart companies earn the right to have the costumers they have by creating a trusting relationship based on customer service, competitive pricing, transparency, and by seeking to understand their market. An associate used to say, “Fishes favorite food”. Don’t give a fish steak because you like it, give it what it likes to eat.
To learn more about our customizable and repeatedly successful e-mail marketing campaigns, contact me at, sales@ebrandmedia.com.