Not hot on cold-related promos

Marketers are opportunistic by nature. So it’s surprising to see that relatively few are using the record cold temperatures and snowfall to anchor promotional emails.

Maybe merchants are concerned about the difficulties parcel carriers are having reaching some areas of the country. Numerous websites have caveats on their home pages admitting to weather-related delays. That concern shouldn’t hold you back, though: Consumers who are finding it difficult to get to the store to replenish their waning supplies of tea and milk (or in my case, Diet Coke) are well aware that delivery delays are inevitable, so a simple reminder on the website is enough. If they then decide not to place an order, so be it. But at least do what you can to get them to your website (or your call centre) first.

Home decor retailer Brissi, for instance, informs visitors to its home page that its carrier, DHL, is having some difficulties. And to drive consumers to that home page, it sent out an email with the subject line “Beat the freeze, we are delivering to your doorstep for FREE!”. The copy continues in the same vein: “Beat the Big Freeze and avoid the icy roads, now there is no need to venture out, while the cold snap is biting we are delivering everything to your door for FREE! Yes, free package and posting. So what are you waiting for? Put the kettle on, sit comfortably, browse through our gorgeous collections...”

Gifts merchant Past Times takes a similar approach with a recent subject line: “Beat the freeze and shop our Winter Sale online”. The email itself is a generic “sale continues” sort of thing, but by putting a more timely spin on the subject line and creating a benefit in the minds of readers (no need to trek out in the cold; we’ll enable you shop while lazing in front of your fireplace in your Slanket), Past Times manages to instil a bit of urgency and interest.

Apparel retailers arguably have it easier than most others when it comes to tying a promotion into the weather. Cataloguer Bonprix does it nicely while confirming its brand image as a source of fashion savvy on a budget, “Beat the big chill by layering!” reads the subject line. The text continues, “There's only one way to beat the big chill this winter and that's the layer look. Fight off the cold with a cami under a jumper, a cardi, and a coat and then simply peel off a layer at a time when you're back in the warm. For more inspiration, view our online fashion show to see just how it's done.” The runway video that the email links to does a great job of piling multitude items of clothing on each model; I wouldn’t be surprised if the clothes weighed more than some of the mannequins. But they sure look both warm and chic.

So many others missed this easy opportunity, though. EasyvoyageUK sent out an email to promote bargain trips to warmer climes. Its subject line: “Caribbean flights for under £650 pp”. Okay, that’s factual, but not very evocative. How difficult would it be to warm up the subject line with something like: “Get out your bikini—fly to the Caribbean for under £650” or “What big freeze? Warm up in the Caribbean for less”. Before you creatives write in to tell me that those subject lines stink, bear in mind that I whipped them up in a matter of seconds. I’m sure you could do better with just a bit more time—so why not take that bit more time and at least test a more relevant subject line?

Gadgets mailer I Want One of Those did more than simply come up with a clever subject line; it came up with a contest as well. “Stuck at home?" begins the email. "Use that snow before the gritters get to it! While you're working from home (or occasionally checking the work email and watching Cash in the Attic), why not make us a snow creature and post a picture on our Facebook wall? The best one posted will get a tasty £100 IWOOT Voucher! All we ask is that you include a purple element into it somehow, just to prove you're not dragging out photos from Winter '87.”

I received the email at around 3:30pm on 7th January. By noon on 8th January, 151 snow creature pix had already been posted on the I Want One of Those Facebook page. The email about the contest didn’t push product, but it certainly helped engage customers with the brand and, judging by the retweets on Twitter, is spreading the word to prospects as well.

The only things more clever than the promotion are some of the snow creatures photographed for the contest. This photo and caption made me laugh, but my favourite is the one labelled “Snowman cat & dog by Justin Adams” (see below), which for some reason reminds me of Jeff Koons's Puppy.—SC

Compare and contrast: Learning Resources

Though relatively small, educational-toys cataloguer Learning Resources was one of the first US mailers to expand into the UK, first targeting British teachers in 1994. More than 15 years on, the company now targets parents as well as instructors on both sides of the Atlantic. When it comes to ecommerce, though, the UK website appears to suffer from a steeper learning curve than the US one.

In some ways, the UK website (learningresources.co.uk) resembles the US website of several years ago. Stateside marketers still believe that the British marketplace is several years behind their own. I’m not about to argue whether such remains the case, but I will say that I see no reason for the British site to have been designed to fit such a narrow width (see above), so that the right-hand third of the screen is blank.

The typography of the UK site is dated as well, with display copy appearing in an intentionally uneven serif font that’s no doubt meant to suggest a sense of whimsy and that, if I recall correctly, used to be prominent in the print catalogue. What works in one medium, however, doesn’t always work in another, and what worked five years ago doesn’t necessarily work now.

The US site (learningresources.com) looks much more up-to-date (and not just because the logo in the top left corner is adorned with a blanket of snow!). The main image is huge (see below), and there’s a navigation bar across the top, with separate tabs for parents and teachers. The home page of the UK site has two distinct images to direct you to the appropriate section. What’s more, its navigation bar is a small box in the right-hand column.

The British site does enable visitors to download free sample pages and the table of contents from several dozen of its books. Surprisingly the US site doesn’t seem to offer this feature, which I’d imagine really helps convert sales. Then again, the US site has two distinct Resource Centers, one for educators and one for parents, which include free downloadable activity sheets; parenting and teaching articles; and for educators, the ability to search the product database to see which items correlate to the various state and national teaching standards. Given that each US state has its own standards, that’s impressive enough; it also reaches out to Canadian teachers by offering the same feature for the various provincial standards.

In addition, the US site includes videos demonstrating how to use some of its products. I had problems accessing several of these demos, however, which was a shame. I was really curious to watch the video for the Teaching Cash Register, which I’d given my daughter as a gift back when she was four or so. She loved it, but unfortunately it didn’t help her learn how many dimes make up a dollar or how many nickels a quarter. Perhaps the video would have showed me what I did wrong. (Though I suspect that encouraging her to pretend the cash register was a typewriter or a piano didn't help.)

Enough of my reminiscing; let’s go shopping. The US site enables you to navigate by subject, product category, theme (such as animals, human, and multicultural diversity), or brand. UK shoppers don’t have the theme, brand, or category options, but they can drill down by age and by price as well as by subject. Being able to narrow products by age group seems particularly useful for this niche; I can’t think of a reason for the US site not to allow it.

The product pages on the US site (above) include the breadcrumb trail, which I always find helpful. The UK site lacks this navigational aid, but I’ll try not to hold that against it. The UK site also lacks customer reviews—for shame!—though the product copy gives prominent play to any industry awards or plaudits the particular items have won.

When it comes to overall product page presentation, the US site wins hands down. The copy is bullet-pointed for easier readability, the product image is fairly large, multiple images are available, and included are photos of recently viewed products and other products “you may also like”. There are customer reviews, a “tell a friend” button, and the ability to add an item to a wish list.

On the UK site, you’ve got one rather small image (below), several dense-looking blocks of copy, and below the fold in many cases, “related products you may be interesting in browsing”. I appreciate that Brits tend to be more genteel than Yanks (or are at least perceived that way), but “related products you may be interested in browsing”? Just come on out and say “Other products you may like”, for goodness’ sake; you won’t offend anyone, honest.

Could a fear of offending Brits by being too pushy be why the UK site doesn’t ask for visitors’ email addresses? One person who’s no doubt offended by that is internet guru Amy Africa, who insists that if a website does nothing else, it must get the email address of its visitors, so that it can continue to market to them. This reticence on the part of the UK site, along with its reluctance to adopt features such as multiple images and customer reviews that are becoming standard (if they’re not already) on both sides of the Atlantic, shows that Learning Resources’ British team have much to learn from their Stateside counterparts.—SC

December Catalogue Log

Each year we read that consumers are waiting later and later to complete their Christmas shopping. But marketers are apparently not waiting till the last minute to send their catalogues. In December we received just 62 catalogues, the lowest volume of any month in 2009 except April. (And I’m sure that the scant 40 catalogues we tallied in April was some sort of aberration. Gremlins must have swiped the bulk of our post that month so that they could order more spanners to throw into works.) By way of comparison, in November we received more than twice as many catalogues—140.

Half of the December catalogues made no mention of special offers on their covers or in their covering letters. This is a statistically insignificant increase from the 49.3 percent of November’s catalogues. What’s more the percentage of free delivery and gift-with-purchase offers declined. Whereas 19.3 percent of the November catalogues advertised free P&P, just 12.9 percent of the December catalogues did. Likewise, 14.3 percent of the November catalogues touted a free gift, compared with 6.5 percent in December.

These numbers might lead you to believe that fewer marketers felt the need to reduce their margins in order to gain sales from procrastinating Christmas shoppers. But the percentage of catalogues offering sales and discounts refute this: 37.1 percent of the December books boasted of discounts and similar offers, up from 31.4 percent in November.

Only five of the 62 catalogues prominently displayed their order deadlines for Christmas delivery. Maybe that was because most of the cataloguers didn’t have particularly user-friendly deadlines. Knitwear mailer Wolsey, for instance, gave noon, 16th December as its cut-off date—not much of a help for last-minute shoppers. Discount fashion mailer M and M Direct had the latest deadline: midday on 22nd December.

Conversely, Argos targeted early birds with its Furniture Sale insert, which let customers know that the sale began on Christmas day.

Now, as a treat for the wonks amongst you, a few year-end statistics. In total, Catalogue e-business logged in 1,476 catalogues in 2009. September was the month with the greatest volume, a back-breaking (for the posties) 212 catalogues.

May saw the highest percentage of catalogues with prominent sale or discount offers, 43.7 percent. The March books, meanwhile, were the least likely to boast of discounts and price cuts, with just 28.1 percent doing so. For all of 2009, 523 catalogues, or 35.4 percent, made a point of promoting discounts and sales.

Free delivery was most popular in October, with 21.7 percent of the catalogues offering it, and least popular in February, when only 7.3 percent offered it. For the entire year, 219 catalogues, or 14.8 percent, offered conditional or nonconditional free P&P.

Slightly less popular as a promotion was the gift with purchase. All told, 191 of the catalogues received last year, or 12.9 percent, offered it. June was the most popular month for free gifts, when 17.8 percent offered them.--SC

Most popular posts--December 2009

If you spent the first few days of the new year wondering what our most visited blog posts were in December, the wait is over. Here are the top ten most popular Catablogue e-business posts of the last month of 2009:

All the Rage this Christmas

What we learned from one day’s worth of pre-Christmas emails

November Catalogue Log

What’s in a tweet

Click your support

Most popular posts--November 2009

It's a magical world, Hobbes...

Quick ecommerce takeaways from Amy Africa

The big book isn't dead yet

Silly propping

Click your support

You’ve probably sent all your Christmas cards already, so here’s an idea for next year. A lot of companies these days send Christmas e-cards and give the money they save on postage to charity. But why not take the e-card concept a step further?

I received an email today from fashion etailer Asos that read: “Asos.com will donate 10p to the [Udayan Care] charity on behalf of every customer who shows their support by clicking here”.

If just 5 percent of Asos.com’s registered user base clicks through, the company will raise roughly £13,500. This is such a fantastic idea, and so easy for the consumer. I’d like to see more of this next year, especially from the big players. Smaller companies can get involved too, perhaps a penny for each click, or a sum for every 1000 clicks. How about it? --MT

All the Rage this Christmas

The real winner of this year’s fight for the number-one Christmas single is neither Rage Against the Machine nor Joe McElderry; it’s social media. And any businesses that still fail to see the commercial importance of networking websites such as Facebook are doomed to be mired in the 20th century.

The backstory in brief: Essex music fans John and Tracy Morter were tired of the annual winner of The X Factor--or as they put up, “Simon Cowell’s latest karoake act”--landing the top spot on the Christmas charts, as has been the case since 2004. So they set up a Facebook page encouraging people to buy Rage Against the Machine’s 1992 “Killing in the Name” the week of 13th December so that it could pip this year’s X Factor winner to number one. The campaign worked, with Rage’s not-at-all-festive ditty outselling Joe McElderry’s cover of “The Climb” by about 50,000 copies—or rather downloads, as “Killing in the Name” was available online only.

The obvious moral to this story is that one should never underestimate the breadth of a social network or the enthusiasm with which consumers participate in an online campaign. A sociologist might go so far as to argue that in our far-flung, techno-oriented world, people are so hungry to connect with other humans that they are especially inclined to get involved in virtual campaigns, as a way of sating their need to belong to a group. If this is indeed true, then online grass-roots campaigns will become more, not less, powerful as the internet becomes more a part of our everyday existence.

Leaving that aside, though, there are several other lessons to be learned:

1) Be careful how you respond to social media. After getting wind of the Rage campaign, Cowell told the mainstream media at a press conference that the Facebook campaign was “stupid” and “cynical”. In many cases, you do need to respond to web chatter concerning your brand. By doing so at a press conference, though, Cowell gave the campaign greater play than it might otherwise have received. He also demonstrated that he perceived the campaign as a threat, which of course established its credibility as one. He might have been better off by having the X Factor finalists respond in the weeks leading up to the final and then having winner McElderry launch a campaign of his own.

2) Never assume. “I now realise I’ve taken too much for granted,” Cowell said after the chart results were announced. “I have got to hold my hands up. I accept that there are people that don’t like The X Factor.” If he’d been more diligent in monitoring his brand (the subject of an article in our upcoming January issue, by the way), he would not have been so surprised. Hell, he could have just rung me (and if you’d like to call upon me in the future, Simon, feel free. I don’t like The X Factor, but I’m definitely a fan of Simon Cowell.)

3) People—and especially British people—like to support the underdog. So if you’re being perceived as Goliath, you may want to consider highlighting a few of your similarities to David.

4) Not everyone buys into the force-fed image of Christmas as a time of cheer and group hugs. The fact that the Morters selected “Killing in the Name” (sample lyric: “And now you do what they told you/Now you’re under control”) for their protest, as opposed to a more seasonal or cheery ditty, underscores this. You can’t get much less warm and fuzzy than Rage Against the Machine. Prior to the next Christmas selling season, you might want to conduct some research amongst your own audience to see whether they’ve overdosed on messages of yuletide cheer and, if so, whether you should take a different approach to your holiday marketing.

5) If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em—or try to hire ‘em. Cowell reportedly phoned the Morters to congratulate them and offer them jobs at his record company. So far, they’ve declined.--SC

What's in a tweet?

When talking about Twitter, the word “engagement” comes up time and again. Twitter isn’t meant to be a sales channel, insist the pundits, but rather a means of engaging customers and prospects with your brand. Of course, the purpose of engaging an audience in this way is to foster a stronger bond between them and your company, a bond that is ultimately expected to pay off in greater customer loyalty, retention, and yes, sales.

In reality, though, how many merchants are using Twitter to facilitate two-way conversation with consumers, as opposed to viewing it as just another means of pushing out their own messages without encouraging response?

In a highly unscientific survey, I looked at the Twitter feeds of a dozen merchants from 10th to 17th December. I was pleasantly surprised by how few of those 12 companies used their posts primarily to talk about themselves.



Electricals retailer Comet, for instance, posted 24 tweets during the week in question. Of those, 20 involved its Tweet the Parcel competition (which colleague Miri assures me was great fun). By naming the various prizes in its tweets, Comet was able to subtly promote its product range—and of course the game itself drove traffic to its website. But by also announcing the winners in its tweets, it created a sense of conversational give and take, and aligned its brand with a sense of fun. I’d say it was a win/win all around.

Compare Comet with nursery etailer Kiddisave, which posted a whopping 156 tweets during the week—that’s more than 20 a day. Just about every one of those posts was a straightforward product advert (“Micralite Fastfold Stroller Black also available in red - Kiddisave The One Stop Baby Shop http://bit.ly/8Ax0ua”, “Great savings on Quinny, Cosatto, Stokke® any [sic] many more big name brands - Kiddisave The One Stop Baby Shop http://bit.ly/3dFrx9”). Kiddisave’s Twitter feed did nothing to distinguish the company as a brand, other than to suggest it was a site to visit when pricing products. But in this era of comparison-shopping sites, using pricing as your primary selling proposition, with “one-stop shop” a distant second, seems short-sighted. Perhaps Kiddisave figures that because it has a high customer churn rate (after all, you only need to buy strollers and highchairs for a very limited span of time), engaging with customers to encourage a relationship is a foolish luxury.

Then again, maternity and nursery cataloguer/retailer Mamas & Papas has a similar issue regarding customer churn, but its Twitter feed establishes a brand persona akin to a girlfriend with whom you might sit at the kitchen table over a cup of tea while leafing through a copy of Heat magazine and chatting about your neighbours. A typical Mamas & Papas tweet: “Congratulations to Zoe Ball and DJ Norman Cook aka Fat Boy Slim on the news their baby is a long awaited girl who will be due in Janaury. [sic]” Of its 19 tweets for the week, only six promoted products, and even these maintained a “just us girls” tone (“The perfect heirloom gift for a little girl's bedroom. How cute is this? Boys version too. http://bit.ly/60znke via @addthis”).

Other retailers that promoted product aimed for a colloquial, soft-sell tone as well. All six of Laura Ashley’s tweets for the week were self-promotional, but at least the brand tried for subtlety or a sense of context: “Did you see Kirsties Home Made Christmas? Get the Novelty Chrismas [sic] Bunting as seen on her fireplace here! http://ow.ly/LO28”

Likewise, while two-thirds of Halfords’ 15 tweets were promotional, the auto and cycle accessories retailer injected a sense of humour: “On the third day of Christmas Halfords Twitter gave to me...Three Wiper Blades: http://bit.ly/5nTIEh”. Its other tweets offered vehicle-related news and info, helping to establish the brand as a definitive, qualified source.

A supplier of spare parts for appliances, eSpares is an exemplar of two-way communication. Of its 32 tweets, 22 were responses to the tweets of others, with a heavy customer service component. The remaining 10 tweets were friendly and nonpromotional, along the lines of “Good morning! It's so cold here in London today. I'm thinking I should suggest opening an eSpares branch in Sydney.”

Dolls House Emporium follows a similar tactic. Not one of its 26 tweets touted product; one linked to a blog post, 15 were responses or retweets, and the remainder were simple observations. The closest its Twitter feed came to self-promotion was with this tweet: “It's very very busy here. We're not complaining, in fact we're quite excited about it :)”

The upshot? If you’re using Twitter solely as a push mechanism, and the only things you’re pushing are your products, you’re not taking full advantage of the medium. Failing to take advantage of its pull capabilities—by inviting followers to participate in giveaways and promotions, say, or by posting nonpromotional snippets as conversational gambits—is akin to kitting out your lounge with the latest wide-screen, HD television set and surround-sound speakers, then using the gear solely to watch decade-old reruns of Last of the Summer Wine. Why bother, really?--SC