An article from DM News reports how welcome e-mails are one of the most overlooked sales tools out there for retailers
According to a new report from on-demand business services firm Premiere Global Services and the Email Experience Council only 72% of major online retailers regularly use welcome e-mails.
I would have to think that number is considerably lowers if the customer gives their email at a brick and mortar store. Whether a customer gives their email at time of purchase or to be just added to a mailing list, a welcome email is a great way to establish the relationship and drive customers back into the store.
Bath and Body Works is a great example of what a retailer can do with the right strategy. They began collecting email addresses from customers last January and they now have over 10 million addresses. In just eight months! "By November we'll have the largest e-mail file in all of specialty retail," said Brian Beitler, vice president of customer marketing for Bath and Body Works, at a presentation during eTail 2007.
They value each customer's email address at $18 each. Multiply the 10 million times $18 and that's a whole lot of incremental sales. Well, if the numbers are correct. To entice customers to give their electronic addresses, Bath and Body Works offers free tubes of lip gloss. However, they don't give it to the customer in the store.
The lip gloss offer comes to the customer via email that they have to go back to the store to redeem. And because the store employees see the additional traffic and sales with the coupons they continue to sign people up at a high rate. Awesome.
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