Controlling your communication with customers is the best way to ensure that every interaction with them is impactful and meaningful. However, if you’re only renting the channels through which you’re communicating, many factors of your messaging are beyond your control. Take channels like Facebook or Google, for example. These channels are rented, which means the…
If there's one thing every retailer can agree on it’s this: on any given day of any given week you must listen to your customers. Even amidst all of the COVID-19 news, this basic principle still reigns true. With millions of people across the U.S. working from home, retailers need to keep a careful watch…
The past few weeks have been filled with global uncertainty, and the retail industry has been heavily impacted since the national state of emergency was declared on March 13. Despite the recent industry turmoil, Listrak data from the two weeks following the declaration shows that overall e-commerce sales have jumped 31 percent year-over-year, demonstrating a…
For today’s “What Were They Thinking?” post, Melissa shares some COVID-19 emails she has received from brands and nonprofits.
In this episode of Retail Right Now, Total Retail's Joe Keenan and Kristina Stidham discuss an article recently published on Total Retail titled, “Retailers: Are Your COVID-19-Related Communications Effective? Here’s How to Tell,” authored by John Landsman, manager of research analytics at SparkPost. The article discusses how during this time of crisis retailers are in…
Along with everyone else, retailers are having a rough time with the COVID-19 outbreak. SparkPost, the world's largest email deliverability engine, looked at its data and pulled some trends related to how companies are communicating; what consumers care to see; and how this crisis is driving transparent, ongoing communication. One thing is certain, during these difficult times, organizations…
The key to a healthy diet is variety. Very few people are interested in having the same meal day-in and day-out. Similarly, your customers crave variety in the content you serve them. Since their preferences are constantly evolving, customers require fresh and different experiences to stay engaged. Delivering repetitive and similar email content won’t drive…
In episode 238 of Total Retail Talks, Editor-in-Chief Joe Keenan interviews Gail Buffington, vice president of marketing and analytics at Soft Surroundings, a women's apparel, shoes and accessories retailer. Listen in as Buffington discusses Soft Surrounding's brand history as a cataloger, its expansion into brick-and-mortar retail, and her career at the company. She shares how Soft…
Online sales and direct-to-consumer (D-to-C) shopping has transformed retail and the way today’s consumers discover and purchase goods and services. Challenger D-to-C brands such as Casper, Bonobos, and Stitch Fix have forced traditional brick-and-mortar brands to up their digital presence to ensure they don’t lose market share. With the majority of shopping taking place through…
Many of the differences between the United States and the United Kingdom are obvious. From spellings (color vs. colour) to common terms (trunk vs. boot), it’s easy to see how some things are seen as identifiably American or British. With differences like these, naturally one would expect marketers to use different communication tactics with consumers.…