Send Birthday emails to customers - your gift is a great ROI

It’s been a month since my birthday, so my mobile phone and email inbox are no longer flooded with all sorts of well wishes and social birthday notifications. While I am grateful the number of emails in my inbox has been hugely reduced - I have to admit, I miss the attention and the surprise of suddenly coming across an email that celebrates a date so special to me.

As an email marketer, I know that birthday emails are triggered, event based communications. They’re a good opportunity to encourage customers to go in store, click through to the website or update their details.

It is however important to keep in mind that the end goal is to create valuable, long-term relationships with customers. A birthday wish from a friend who understands me and knows what’s important to me is priceless and this is what any good birthday email campaign should aspire to achieve.

With my wedding fast approaching, the birthday email that I got most excited about was one from a wedding planning website - “Happy Birthday, your last as a single woman…” This was easy to execute, as the sign-up required both birth and wedding date. It made such an impression that I referred all my friends to the site.

*My top tip: Create a Birthday Email Experience that takes advantage of marketing and cross selling opportunities but most importantly connects and relates to the customer on a 'real' level.

Birthday emails do have the potential to generate a high ROI with relatively low effort – especially if the program is properly set up, tested and automated. On average, Birthday emails have a 300% higher open rate and 100% higher click-through rate*.

*Source: Experian, the birthday and anniversary report

4 Ways to build a great Birthday email:

1. Set up your data collection with triggers in mind:

   Birthday emails are a great way to launch a customer lifecycle communication programme. Birth dates are easy to include in sign-up or opt-in forms.

2. Get the timing right:

   Ensure that the data is correctly captured and send the email on your customer’s actual birthday. A friend would never forget my birthday or wish me the day before. I have never said "Happy Birthday month” to a friend either, but if your communication is based on birthday month, perhaps a birthday email series is more appropriate.
   
   In addition to the actual birthday email, triggers in the series could be:

It’s almost your birthday – here’s what to look forward to or specials during this month Birthday wish list – pick your favourite products or services and send your friends an email wish list Reminder to redeem vouchers/discounts

1. Be specific in your subject Line:

   Be clear; include “Birthday” in the subject line, as this is likely to increase the open rate.
   
   For these emails, personalisation is important. It indicates that the relationship with your customer already exists. Personalising the subject line makes subscribers feel valued.
   
   Using special characters in subject lines is popular at the moment and Birthday emails present a nice opportunity to play with symbols in the subject line - being bold and celebratory will help these emails stand out in a crowded inbox. If your campaign includes a giveaway or discount, ensure you mention this in the subject line.

2. Think about the design & how your email will be used:

   It is of utmost importance to design birthday emails for mobile devices. If you include a voucher code or redeemable voucher, the customer is likely to take their mobile device in-store. Add to the convenience by designing appropriately so it renders well and think about including functionality that enables customer to send the code to their preferred mobile device.
   
   Use design to celebrate with fun, festive images, bold colours and perhaps even an animated gif for impact. Animated gifs are not supported by all email clients, it will look great for those that do support it and for those that don’t, you could still allude to the animation by including a hint in the pre-header. “Go online to view the animation” or “Go online and unwrap” Don’t forget the fundamentals of email design, the discount, voucher number or offer - these should all be clear and readable without the use of images (as should any call to action).
   
   Below is an example of a well designed email (in my opinion) from Philips. All the copy, including the voucher code can be read without having to download any images. The call to action is clear and easy to spot. The email is not cluttered, it’s simple and the use of colourful images makes the email feel fun and celebratory.

Lifecycle communications (such as birthday messages) that are personalized and triggered on a special date or event are an important component in engaging customers and increasing loyalty to your brand.

Get in touch with one of our email marketing experts and get it right.

Sheryl-Lynn Collins 
striata.com

6 Ways to measure customer satisfaction

I recently leased a car and a few days later I received a customer satisfaction survey via email, which I duly completed. My feedback was less than stellar. While the sales and delivery process was fine, I had to go back into the dealership TWICE to re-sign the lease agreement after they discovered errors in their contract.

A day after submitting the survey the General Manager of the dealership called me to say he was very disappointed with my feedback. He told me that his staff is incentivized based on 5-star satisfaction ratings. I was asked to rather contact them directly in future if anything ever goes wrong. This begs the question: what’s the point of the customer satisfaction survey if they only want to hear positive feedback?

ALL feedback is necessary and we’re ALL responsible for customer satisfaction.

Whether you’re in finance, billing, marketing, customer service, sales or operations, it’s essential to ensure that everyone is aligned to positively impact the customer. Even if you never come into contact with customers directly, it all bubbles to the surface.

Turn the negative into a positive

Nobody wants to hear that customers are unhappy, but in today’s world of social media, blogs and increased competition, a negative satisfaction rating can spread like wild fire. You need to know how your customers feel about you – and the sooner, the better! By dealing with negative comments efficiently you will have the opportunity to win back their trust.

6 Ways to measure customer satisfaction

1. Send out a customer survey across a range of media so that you get a good cross-section of customers


2. Make sure the questions are not loaded in favor of what you want to hear


3. Don’t offer customers a neutral option – i.e. have a rating scale of 1-4 rather than 1-5 so that people can’t sit on the fence and choose a rating of 3


4. Consider including a monthly poll on your website and in any eBills or marketing emails you send out – this increases the dialog with your customers and makes them feel like they have a voice


5. Plan to take action based on the feedback


6. Use the results to improve customer service and actively track the progress over time

A key measurement of satisfaction is “will customers proactively recommend you?”

You’re not going to please all customers all of the time, but aim to correct any areas that are performing below expectations. Send out a newsletter highlighting the results of the survey, including where you did well, but also confirming your commitment to improve in certain areas. Customers appreciate that you take their opinions seriously.

Speak to us for best practices on collecting customer satisfaction data – from full length surveys to snap polls.

Barrie Arnold
striata.com

FROM nobody@example.com – Why do some senders neglect the basics of email marketing?

I get so excited when I see clever email marketing or even simple relevant email marketing. There are so many great examples from companies getting it right. Unfortunately there are just as many companies getting it wrong – and I’m referring to the basics of email marketing: the FROM name and from and reply addresses.

Why is it so important to get right? In email marketing terms, these are the elements that help make that visit into the customer’s inbox a worthy one or one that will result in a quick exit via the delete button.

FROM name

Customers open emails from brands they know. Just recently the DMA sent out an email that came from an individual instead of the organisation. The uproar from the email community at this basic error was palpable.

Nobody wants to receive an email from someone they don’t know. There is enough spam going around without having to guess who the email is from. Stick to your brand name, as customers have become accustomed to recognising a brand and opening the associated emails.

Take note: The FROM name is important for all emails. Far too often, automated emails are completely forgotten and as       you can see from the example below, will quite easily get lost in the crowd of email with the same non-branded FROM     names.

 

Reply address

Emails may be sent in bulk, but are often perceived to be a two-way communication channel. The recipient may want to respond by simply clicking reply. Far too often though reply addresses don’t work or they are unmanned, leaving a frustrated customer on the other end.

Nothing quite says ‘we don’t care about you’ as much as not responding to customer replies and making it difficult for them to reply to your email. This may lead to them unsubscribing or worse, hitting the junk-mail button.

Many customers will use the reply option as a means to unsubscribe – let them. It’s better than having them mark your email as junk-mail.

Take note: Allowing customers to reply is great for customer service and fantastic for deliverability. When customers     reply  to emails, it registers as engagement at some webmail providers like Yahoo! Gmail and Hotmail. If your     engagement is high, your inbox penetration will also be higher.

FROM address

Not enough time is spent thinking about the FROM address. Considering that this address is often displayed in email clients, it should be higher up on the priority list.

The FROM address is the email address that is displayed next to the FROM name in email clients. I have included three examples from my Gmail account, however most other email clients treat the appearance of the FROM address in a similar way.



So, when you haven’t tested that pesky automated email and it comes from nobody@example.com, or a long FROM address via another address displays next to your brand, that personal interaction with the customer goes flying out the door.

Take note: When the FROM address mimics the reply and the FROM name hasn’t been set up correctly, you are also in      a situation where that email address will display in the FROM area. See the example below. It really screams ‘we just      don’t care’ - doesn’t it?

Don’t assume anything – check your basics!

Take time to get the basics right, as they will impact campaigns and the experience the customer has with your brand in their inbox. Test every email leaving the organisation – including those automated emails everyone just assumes are right.

If you would like to get it right with email, then get in touch with one of our email marketing experts..

Mia Papanicolaou
striata.com

Effective communication can reconcile the insurance industry

I have a broker / personal financial advisor (PFA) who keeps me up to date with the latest products that should be of interest to me within the financial services and insurance industry – or so I think. The upside of this arrangement is that I don’t have to do any research on products in this space because hopefully, my PFA does this for me.

The downside of this arrangement is that I am left with little choice. Sure, I get to say “yes” or “no” to a product that comes my way, however I rely heavily on him pushing this information to me. I never hear directly from any of the companies who underwrite these products. Come to think of it though, it’s been several months since I heard from my PFA.

Why the ‘middle man’ is an obstacle

As a traditionally intermediated industry, a great deal of insurance business is done through third party brokers and PFAs who play a ‘middle man’ role between the product owners and their end customers.

The result is often a crippling communication void between the insurance companies and their policyholders which, in many cases, is nurtured by the ‘middle man’ to retain control over access to the customer.

I understand why. The broker / PFA fears being left out of the loop. In fact, in some instances, intermediaries block the communications sent to customers by setting up multiple mail boxes (for traditional and electronic communication) to ensure only what has been vetted by the PFA is sent onto the customer.

So, what’s the solution for a consumer like me who wants targeted, relevant information to assist in making wise financial choices? The answer is to develop a solution for the companies who create the products, that allows them to communicate effectively with the people using their services.

Communication strategies that are win-win-win

Introducing a strategically inclusive communication plan can benefit all parties. The argument about who owns the customer becomes moot when the insurance company works alongside the broker or PFA to present appropriate products to the end customer.

It is possible to create digital communication strategies that effectively communicate with policyholders, while maintaining the important relationship between the broker and his customers.

There is fantastic flexibility in digital communication which enables agile segmentation and targeting of communications. The outcome is a relevant communication that the customer receives from their broker, allowing them to take up the offer or request further information from within the email (the information request is on sent to the broker). Customers are also kept up to date with the latest products that cater to their individual needs.

Using interactive digital marketing helps bridge this communication gap via a three way approach that markets an insurance company’s product offering on behalf of a broker to a customer. Everybody wins in this scenario.

Striata can assist you with a win-win-win digital communication strategy, get in touch.

Nicola Els
striata.com

3 Top reasons to start sending email receipts

Email receipts are a highly underutilised tool. They are an incredible addition to your communication suite, an opportunity to cross sell and they enhance future marketing, yet only a handful of bricks and mortar retailers are actually using them.


I believe all retailers should move to email receipts - for purely selfish reasons. I am sick of sifting through grubby, crumpled bits of processed tree in my wallet. I want to start organising my purchases wisely, effectively and easily. I want to stop digging into the crevasses hoping I saved that bit of scrap with £5 off.

And it is for these reasons alone that I give you my  three top reasons to start sending email receipts:

GOOD EXPERIENCE = GOOD MARKETING

In some stores it seems as if it now takes ages to checkout. By the time the salesperson has asked me for my phone number, post code, first line of my address and my first dog’s favourite food, I am often left wishing I had trolled online for that woolly jumper. It is annoying at best and like most of you, I feel like I just inherited a stalker.

Instead of asking if you can have a customer’s email address in order to add them to your “VIP” list, offer them an email receipt and watch the response change. Suddenly, you are enhancing their experience. You now offer them a chance to make life easy, should they want to make a return. And, you can softly and gently make them a transpromo offer of 10% off their next purchase when the receipt hits their inbox.



EMAIL RECEIPTS = ACCURATE EMAIL ADDRESSES

Asking a customer for their email address in order for you to issue an email receipt is a sure fire way to get an accurate path to your customer’s inbox. If a correct address is the only way a customer will be able to return an item, you can bet your bottom dollar that you will be given the correct information.

Most retailers know that having a proper email address for a client is fundamental to driving inexpensive marketing campaigns and further footfall.



EMAIL RECEIPTS = A MOBILE STRATEGY

In 2012, many IT bloggers have taken on the analogy of online being a wave, and mobile being a tsunami. The numbers certainly support the case. There are nearly 6 billion mobile subscribers now, which is roughly 87% of the world’s population. It won't be long before many mobile web users will only be mobile as the sales of Smartphones indicate. 486 million were sold in 2011 alone compared with 365 million PCs.

Email receipts are an easy way to make your marketing strategies more relevant to the way customers are accessing your campaigns. Email receipts land in your customer’s inbox, which nowadays means it’s on their smartphone. These are transactional emails that can be easily rendered for every mobile device, ensuring your transpromo opportunities are displayed pretty as a picture on those Smartphone screens.

Companies can no longer rely on websites alone to sell their goods. Apps and mobile rendered emails are current ways to literally make your way into the hands of the consumer.

EMAIL RECEIPTS ARE THE PERFECT QUID PRO QUO

Pease do something for me and I’ll do something for you... Email receipts are a perfect quid pro quo. Your customer receives a better experience and news on promotions, while you get sales and loyalty.

I’m happy to share the knowledge, get in touch if you are keen to know more about retail receipts and how they can benefit your business.

Sarah Appleby
striata.com