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Conclusive evidence that email marketing is becoming less effective by the day I have not. But I have had many a conversation with marketers of online fashion stores who think the medium is losing its touch.
Many can see open rates going down and click through rates joining them. So what is happening?
Segmentation and Relevance
The answer may be in segmentation and being more relevant, but is that enough? There are only so many email promotions and alerts anyone can take in a day.
Andy Francis from e-style thinks giving users control over what they receive, and how often they receive it, is important, “put them in control of how often they hear from you with a preference manager.” he says.
Social Networks
Are emails for office use only? We know social networks are the places to communicate with and message friends, so does this mean inboxes are logged into less?
Frequency
And if inboxes are logged into less, would this explain why customers often enquire about expired promotions?
Same Old, Same Old
Are email newsletters just boring, salesy and simply uninspiring?
Online fashion stores have been forward when it comes to providing magazine style content through blogs, but what about using email as a platform for this content too?
Maybe instead of using email solely as a sales tool it should be used to provide editorial lifestyle content without linking back to product.
Could the promise of editorial content encourage shoppers to open emails more?
Read more about online fashion at The Online Fashion Agency
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From The Online Fashion Position
Leon Bailey-Green, Director of The Online Fashion Agency, is a consultant to businesses operating in the online fashion industry.
Readers' comments (4)
Caron Reinhold Seamless Recruitment | 25 November 2009 10:15 am
The promise of editorial content may indeed encourage shoppers to open emails but I think discount vouchers are becoming a very powerful source of push/pull marketing and need to be managed effectively for maximum return.
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Paul Foley | 27 November 2009 12:29 pm
I agree - editorial content may be the way forward. We're currently implementing this for a number of our retail clients - in particular we're looking to develop a proper online magazine for at least one.
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Andy Francis | 27 November 2009 2:30 pm
Email isn't dying but it's certainly changing. It's been a fairly stand alone channel for years now and brands were focusing on dropping product into people's inbox and then hoping they might make a sale. Social media has changed all of that. Social media can be well complemented by a planned email strategy. Next year we will see brands not just using email to sell but instead to educate their recipient about the brand message.
So I agree with Leon's view that we'll see more editorial content next year as brands realise e-marketing is about having a dialogue with your customers, not just a monologue.
Email will be used to provoke reaction and comment, not just clicks so your promoting conversation about your brand.
If you're prepared to talk, be prepared to listen!
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