Have your cake and eat it

As consumers we’re getting increasingly used to emails triggered by special events such as birthdays or anniversaries. But as far as I am aware, few catalogues are using triggers to mail out their main books. Sure, you’ll get a barbecue special if the weather hots up, or perhaps a themed mailer around Valentine’s or Father’s Day, but will you get a full catalogue based on a trigger? The answer is invariably, no.

Then comes along gourmet food catalogue Forman & Field. It sent the Catablogue e-business office its annual 2009-2010 catalogue in May. The person it was addressed to has a birthday in June, a fact the covering letter was well aware of: “It may not be for a few weeks yet, but I thought you may be planning a special soiree and what better way is there to celebrate with friends, family and the finest food available.”

To further encourage the birthday girl to buy something from its catalogue, Forman & Field offered 50 percent off any cake or dessert, because no birthday would be complete without cake.

This simple idea is brilliant on a number of levels. First, it refreshes the annual catalogue, which may have been in circulation for more than six months already. Second, it shows how relatively simple data segmentation—it could be as basic as everyone on the list with a birthday in June—can form the basis of a trigger and a legitimate marketing opportunity. Third, the goodwill the offer creates by showing that Forman & Field cares about its customers and “remembers” their birthdays is invaluable for fostering customer loyalty.

A lot of companies pay lip service to trigger marketing—so it’s refreshing to see a cataloguer putting the concept to good use.—MT

Timing the trigger

When is a trigger email not a trigger? When you can’t remember why it was sent. Take this example from John Lewis: Last week I was shopping for some sunglasses. I fancied a pair spotted on one site and did a Google product search to compare prices and get more details. John Lewis had the pair in stock as well as information on UV protection, zoomable images, and in case they weren’t the right pair for me, some suggestions on what else I might like in different price points.

For one reason or another, I decided not to buy the sunglasses. I left JohnLewis.com and thought no more about it. That happened at the weekend. On Wednesday, I received an email from John Lewis titled: “Thank you for your interest. Free standard delivery on all orders over £30”. This left me puzzled. What interest? Is John Lewis referring to the sunglasses I looked at three days prior, or have I inadvertently visited the site and triggered some other kind of action? And why did it wait until Wednesday to send me this email?

In my opinion, a trigger emails should be almost instant—Amy Africa recommends waiting no more than two hours after the consumer has carried out the action (abandoned basket, or abandoned search, for instance). Three days later and it’s definitely too late. So whilst I appreciate that John Lewis wants my custom enough to bother sending me such an email, its trigger marketing ends up shooting itself in the foot.--MT