Inspire Customers to Think Multichannel
Connect the dots.
All good catalog marketers know their customers’ lifetime value. And those who are savvy have a handle on their customers’ spending patterns by channel. In today’s multichannel environment, the winners are those who synchronize their online and offline efforts.
There are many studies showing that customers who interact with a cataloger in more than one channel spend dramatically more than a single-channel customer. J.C. Penney was one of the first to come to this realization. A study the multichannel retail giant conducted with Abacus on annual spending showed:
• Internet-only shoppers spent —$151.
• Catalog-only shoppers spent —$201.
• Retail-only shoppers spent —$195.
• Two-channel shoppers spent —between $446 and $608.
• Three-channel shoppers spent —$887.
With results like these, it’s obvious that anything you can do to encourage your customers and prospects to interact with you in more than one channel will allow you to reap significant benefits.
Here are five ideas on how to be effective at cross-channel marketing.
1. Synchronize your catalog and e-mail communications. This is easiest to accomplish with your house list. One effective tactic is to use e-mail to pre-announce your catalog. Be sure to feature the cover of the catalog in your e-mail. This provides a visual cue to recipients and may help your mailing stand out in a cluttered mailbox.
The Sharper Image uses this technique. And, to make its e-mail recipients feel special, it tells readers that they’re getting a “sneak preview” and often includes a special time-sensitive offer.
Or, time your e-mail so it reaches the recipient after the catalog has been delivered. This helps extend the catalog’s life and should generate more sales.
Brooks Brothers does a good job at this. When the catalog is delivered early in the week, the regular e-mail for the week features the catalog cover. And, even better, the homepage also features the catalog cover. That’s smart! In its next weekly e-mail, it features items from either the first inside spread or the back cover.
2. Promote Web site features in your e-mails. This starts with your e-mail design. A good template mirrors prominent product categories from your site, and includes a search capability and your toll-free number.
The first thing you see in a Lands’ End e-mail is a search box right next to its logo highlighting the ability to search by keyword or item number. Directly under that is a horizontal listing of its major departments. This makes it easy for the recipient to link to an area of interest, and extends the e-mail’s effectiveness, since it becomes a mini-portal to the Web site. In the footer, the retailer promotes its free catalogs and provides a sign-up link.
To encourage channel migration, emphasize Web site features that enhance customers’ online shopping experience via e-mail. Bellacor, the lighting and home furnishings company, has an elegant e-mail design that closely parallels the site. In its e-mail header, Bellacor lists all of its product areas, features its toll-free number and includes a “search box.” The company doesn’t stop there, as it also features the shopping cart, a wish list and a personal shopper facility.
J.C. Penney includes a link to its gift finder and gift registry in its e-mail header, as well as a link to that day’s store ad, which helps support its newspaper inserts. For those with the J.C. Penney credit card, the e-mail also includes information on how cardholders can view their accounts, pay their bills or manage their accounts online.
3. Use your catalog to promote your online presence. You also can leverage your Web site features and functionality in your catalog. Promote your e-mail program and highlight special online capabilities that will amaze and delight your readers. Allow site visitors to browse the latest catalog online. If you have live chat with customer service online, make sure recipients know about it.
Day-Timers Inc. has a great order system that integrates all online and offline activity. A customer can make an online purchase and then call customer service or instigate live chat immediately to add another item.
4. Get e-mail addresses for your offline customers. Chances are there are a significant number of offline buyers for whom you have no e-mail address. It would be great if you could contact them via e-mail and encourage them to become online customers. Test e-mail appending, flag your customer service workstation so your rep asks for an e-mail address when customers call to order, and include a request for an e-mail address on every order form or promotional entry.
Once you obtain a customer’s e-mail address, put in place a channel migration strategy. Quill Corp., the office supplies cataloger, uses this as one of its core strategies. It emphasizes the ease and convenience of ordering online in its e-mail program. And it’s certainly worth it to Quill, since a multichannel customer purchases seven times more than a single-channel customer.
5. Periodically reward e-mail customers. Provide occasional offers to your e-mail list that are not available in your catalog or on your Web site.
The Wine Enthusiast does this well. For example, here’s a subject line from one of its e-mails: “Private Sale … exclusively for our e-mail Enthusiasts.” The e-mail went on to explain that readers could get between 10 percent to 15 percent off their orders. They’re treating their e-mail customers “special.”
Use these ideas to inspire various ways to approach multichannel marketing. The next steps are to put plans in place and start to inspire your customers. There are great rewards waiting for you.
• This technique is only for existing customer relationships where you have name and address information. It’s a fast and easy way to penetrate your housefile.
• Test between 5,000 and 10,000 names by providing your vendor with name and address information.
• Specify strict match logic at the individual, not the household, level.
• Business-to-consumer marketers should match between 25 percent to 35 percent of their file; business-to-business marketers will match between 7 percent and 15 percent.
• Your first e-mail (often called the permission pass) should be short and simple. It should acknowledge the existing relationship and explain that you would also like to contact them via e-mail. You might consider including a special offer. And, make it easy for them to opt out.
• Typical opt-outs are in the 2 percent range.
Regina Brady is president of Reggie Brady Marketing Solutions, a direct and e-mail marketing consultancy in Norwalk, Conn. Contact: (203) 838-8138 or reginabrady@att.net.
