One of the topics that is constantly discussed by email marketers – and marketers generally – is relevancy. There are plenty of interesting articles and whitepapers available, such as…
http://www.omniture.com/offer/645
http://measure.coremetrics.co.uk/corem/getform/reguk/world-PR-overview-WP
http://www.beatthewagon.com/email-marketing/make-sure-email-is-relevant/
http://www.email-marketing-reports.com/iland/2010/10/how-do-you-make-your-emails-more-relevant.html
…and lots of evidence that applying more knowledge from data to increase the personalisation of communication creates a significant uplift in ROI. I’m not going to harp on about it here, but suffice to say that I’m astonished at just how many companies don’t apply any kind of personalisation, segmentation or targeting to their online and offline communications.
I thought that I would draw your attention to a couple of recent news stories to illustrate my point:
Recently in the Evening Standard I read about the Parrot Asteroid, a new voice-activated car stereo that will play whatever you tell it from a choice of millions of songs. It can also download apps, give you directions and even point you towards the nearest parking space…
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23911113-radio-gaga-the-car-stereo-you-can-tell-to-what-to-play.do
…what an amazing product! The manufacturer has really thought about what delivers a right place, right time service to consumers and helps them enjoy all the benefits of today’s inter-operative world. I can only imagine that this is going to be another nail in the coffin of the traditional CD.
On the flip side, in the same paper, I read about recent problems at HMV…
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard-business/article-23910977-snow-comes-at-worst-possible-time-for-weak-hmv.do
… their traditional business has been based around selling high volumes of traditional media (CD’s, Games etc) and they have struggled to monetise the increasingly internet-based content model. They have largely failed to personalise the user experience of their customers, both online and offline. I have been signed up to the HMV email newsletter for years, have browsed their site often and even bought from them online a number of times. However, unlike competitors such as Amazon – they seem to send me nothing that relates to me personally (based on all that data they should have collected about me). Generally I get the same old, largely price driven, offers that I imagine go out to all their customers. I’m interested in obscure European art-house films…do they really think I want to buy the Friends box-set, even though it is only £39.99?!
My point is simple: companies should try to understand and engage with clients and prospects based on what they tell you and you learn about them… consumers expect more nowadays and simply sending high volumes of generic offers isn’t the cleverest strategy.
Right, I’m off to upgrade my car stereo…
