Underpromise and overdeliver

Last week I bought some aftershave for my other half from CheapSmells.com. Though I was a little put off by the name, the website was a joy to use: I could order the item I wanted quickly and easily, and the delivery terms stated that I could expect my order within two to three days. I placed the order late on Wednesday night, expecting it to arrive Monday or Tuesday. My parcel arrived on Wednesday, almost a week after I had placed the order. Whilst it wasn’t an urgent purchase this time, if it were a birthday gift I would have had some explaining to do. Maybe CheapSmells would be better off changing its delivery promise to three to four days. That way, it would outperform expectations if the item is delivered within two days’ time, making for a happier customer.

Making me a happy customer is exactly what apparel retailer 3Sums did this week. I placed an order for a pair of trainers during my lunch break yesterday and took advantage of 3Sums’ standard free delivery. My order confirmation stated that I should expect to receive my shoes with two to five working days. So imagine my surprise when the postman delivered the parcel today, less than 24 hours after I clicked buy now. Now that’s how to underpromise and overdeliver!—MT

Most popular posts: July

Wondering what our most visited blog posts were this past month? Look no further, here are the top ten most popular Catablogue e-business posts in July:

1. What we learned from 150 marketing emails
2. Bonprix's US reentry
3. Very ambivalent
4. Another email we love
5. Doing less with more
6. Better than a poke in the eye
7. June catalogue log
8. Three more emails we love
9. Back to school for Bert’s Nurseries
10. Email we love: Lakeland

Hands across the water--ha!

It’s not such a small world after all, if the difficulties I had trying to shop from overseas websites is any indication.

My sister’s birthday is next week. She’s notoriously difficult to shop for. Making things even more challenging is that she lives in New York while I live in Devon.

An obvious solution is a gift card. My sister isn’t an Amazon.com type of gal, but I did have luck in the past with a gift from Sephora, the upscale cosmetics merchant. Sephora has dedicated sites for 10 countries, including the US (but not, alas, the UK), so I logged on, put a gift card in my basket, and proceeded to checkout.

At that point a warning popped up, something about the name on the security certificate not matching that of the company. Having had problems with identity theft in the past, I opted not to risk it. There are plenty more sites to choose from, right?

Errr… I logged on to Bliss Spa’s US website, Blissworld.com. Requested a gift card, headed to checkout, filled out the billing-address form. The pull-down menu for the “State/Province” field listed as an option “NA-INTERNATIONAL”, which reassured me that Bliss would have no problem accepting a UK credit card.

The next field was “Country”. I clicked on the pull-down menu; the only options were US and Canada.

Why, then, was I allowed to select “international” in the “State/Province” field if Bliss doesn’t except international payment?

Next stop: the Barneys New York website. Barneys is a super-upscale boutique department store. When I went there once to buy a bottle of Annick Goutal perfume, the sales staff could barely be bothered to ring up my apparently insignificant $95 purchase. It is also one of my sister’s favourite stores, which explains why she is very difficult to shop for.

Although a $50 gift card at Barneys would just about cover the cost of a pair of pantyhose there, I forged ahead. Here, the billing-address form gave “Non-US/other” as an option for the “State” field. Unfortunately, the only option for the “country” field was the US.

If a website doesn’t want to accept payment from outside the its home country, fine. But don’t lead us along, presenting us with options that aren’t really valid.

And if my sister is reading this: Your birthday gift may be a bit late, but it’s not my fault, I swear.--SC

What the tweet?

For some unfathomable reason our Twitter account has been “temporarily suspended”. We have sent a request to Twitter to lift the ban and will update followers via our blog as to when we’re back up and tweeting.
Has anyone else had a similar problem in the last few days? How long did it take Twitter to fix it?

Making ample use of an opportunity

Last week I wrote about how Jigsaw managed to turn the problem of a sluggish website into an opportunity to communicate with its customers and promote its summer sale. This weekend Ample Bosom dealt with problems on its site in a similar way.

In an email, Sally Robinson (whom I assume is the owner of the cataloguer) starts off by thanking me for being a valued customer (if you’ve met me, you’re well aware that I don’t fall into the company’s target market, but I did request a catalogue once) before cutting to the chase: “Unfortunately, as some of you have already noticed, we have been having website problems; our online search is currently out of order--but we are working on it and all the problems should be resolved soon. You can still browse and order online by using our brands page. Simply click on the brand logos and view all the items that we sell. Please click HERE to see our brands page. If you can’t find what you are looking for then please contact us...” She provides not just her email address but also a phone number, a fax number, and a postal address.

Clearly Sally understands the importance of offering customers multiple channels of communication, not just the channels that work best for the company. If my bosom were indeed ample, I’d make a point of ordering from her company, on the basis of this friendly, conscientious, concerned email alone.--SC

"A bit unique" is more than a bit annoying

A recent email from gifts etailer Cosmic Superstore certainly got our attention—but not in a good way. The subject line, “Something a bit unique”, sent a shudder of horror down our spine. Something cannot be “a bit” one-of-a-kind, any more than one thing can be “more perfect” than something else.

But that wasn’t our only gripe about the email. The illustration for the primary product being promoted, “the opportunity to include your name on a microchip on the Mars Science Laboratory rover heading to Mars in 2011”, was a rendering of a “certificate of participation” for a Harry Watkins, with Mr Watkins’ name in a bold red font. Who is this Harry Watkins? we wondered. Then we wondered why Cosmic Superstore had neglected to take advantage of this ideal opportunity to personalise the email by including each recipient’s name in lieu of Harry’s.--SC

Diarise this

Here’s a smart way to let your customers know of an upcoming product launch, sale, or other event that requires them to visit your website or call your sales line.


In its latest email, Asos.com invited customers to download a reminder to their Outlook email programme that the new Mango range launches tomorrow. Of course it only works if your customers use Outlook to receive your emails (and not Gmail or Hotmail), but I think it’s a neat little widget. Surely a great way to drum up traffic to your site at specific times, assuming you can cope with that traffic that is…—MT

A nice save from Jigsaw

Apparently fashion retailer Jigsaw failed to anticipate how much traffic its summer sale would drive to its website. As a result, many visitors to the site on the first day of the sale faced slow-loading pages or simply couldn’t gain access. The next day, Jigsaw sent an email apologising for the problem and explaining that “we have been working hard overnight to improve the site speed, so we hope that you can now make the most of our sale reductions (up to 35% off)…” Embedded in the copy was a link to take recipients straight to the sale pages. The fact that it was a text message, rather than HTML, made the message seem more sincere and not at all like a sales pitch—great for building customer-brand empathy. At the same time, the email acted as a reminder to those who may not have tried to log on that the Jigsaw sale was still on. Talk about turning lemons into lemonade... --SC

Gimme feedback

Some companies just seem to get everything right, don’t they? Boden is one of them. Even the copy it uses for its customer survey pop-ups is written in Johnnie’s chatty and personable style, setting it apart from the nondescript copy these forms usually employ:
“Do we give you satisfaction?” asks Johnnie. “The Rolling Stones couldn’t get any—but that’s probably because they weren’t shopping at Boden.” Quite!

I’d be interested to know whether Boden tested this approach against a more standard form. Did it have higher response rate?—MT

What we learned from 150 marketing emails

In this day and age, you’d think that a significant portion of marketing emails would be personalised to some degree. I’m not talking about something sophisticated like a product recommendation based on previous visits to the company’s website; a simple “Dear Sherry” would do. But of the 150 emails that Miri and I tallied during the past week, just 13 had some sort of personalisation. That’s a scant 8.7 percent--even though studies have indicated that personalising an email greeting can increase both open and click-through rates. (For instance, in a study by MailerMailer, emails with a personalised message had an average open rate of 15.15 percent, compared with 13.01 percent for nonpersonalised messages. And personalised messages had a 4.12-percent click-through rate, compared with 2.59 percent for nonpersonalised ones.)

Personalisation, or the lack thereof, was just one of the basics that the majority of companies that emailed us got wrong. And even when companies did try to personalise a message, there were snafus. Stainless-steel equipment seller Teknomek tried, bless ‘em, but the salutation read “Dear –”. And health-food purveyor Higher Nature evidently thinks I’m a man (“Dear Mr Chiger”).

Judging by the emails, social networking is something direct marketers love in theory more than in practice. Only 25 of the emails—16.7 percent—included a link to the company’s Facebook page, Twitter feed, or other third-party social-media site.

Granted, more of the messages included some sort of “forward to a friend” link. But not that many more: only 29.3 percent. And it’s not as if adding this sort of link to an email template should be all that difficult. As Tink Taylor of DotMailer wrote recently for Catalogue e-business, “viral and word-of-mouth marketing is an inexpensive way to spread your marketing messages, drive traffic, collect contact information, and ultimately boost sales”.

Nor should proofreading the emails be all that difficult either, yet too many had obvious misspellings. The subject line of a message from menswear cataloguer Jolliman, for instance, read “Jolliman Summer Bargins”. A Pet-Supermarket subject line read “New website, 4,000 new product & 3 new animal categories”. Office and industrial supplies mailer Slingsby urged recipients to “Safeguard your employee’s health”, which would have been fine if that particular subject line appeared only on emails to people who supervised just one staffer. It was particularly depressing to see a company misspell its own name in the subject line, as The Children’s Furniture Company did: “The Childrens Furniture Company Summer Sale Now On!” Ironmongery Direct ended an email with this caveat: “30% Offer ends: 5th July 2009”; unfortunately we received the message on 16th July. In one of its emails, Staples labelled a link "Click here to view our full range of clearance itmes". Am I being pedantic? I don’t think so. Spam tends to be riddled with typos, so I think many consumers are immediately suspicious of messages that are misspelled.

Not all of the emails were dire. Some were simply uninspired. Nearly three-quarters (71.3 percent) of the messages we received promoted some sort of sale or discount in the subject line. Yes, I know that “Free” does translate to opens and click-throughs, and that “sale” and “one-third off” are similarly magical. And yes, chances are good that the people who receive your marketing emails probably don’t have as many competing messages in their inbox as we do. But the similarity of the promotional subject lines left me both overwhelmed (by the sheer volume) and underwhelmed (by the sheer tedium).

That’s why I liked the subject lines that added a sense of urgency to the promotion (“Free delivery on holiday shop - 3 days only!” from Figleaves.com) or did something clever with the offer (from Peeks Party, “How low can you go? Summer party limbo kit 27% off”).

Because I don’t want to end this lengthy post on a down note, I’m going to close with a few more examples of emails we liked:

* The sales promotion email from fashion brand Ben Sherman (above) had some eye-grabbing cartoon graphics that set off the silhouetted product shots gorgeously.

* The subject line from supplements mailer Trust William certainly stood out: “Every 10th Order Refunded!” Trust William planned to notify the lucky 10 percent within seven days after the specified time frame, so recipients couldn’t try to cheat the system. The notification emails also provided the company with an excuse to contact its customers again.

* The “denim heaven” email from plus-size womenswear retailer Evans (above) promoted a sale (two pairs of selected jeans for £30), but the email text gave additional reasons besides price to buy jeans from Evans. In bullet points, it spelled out “why our jeans are a great fit”: three leg lengths for most styles; stretch added to the fabric; “a higher waist for an amazing fit”; “we fit all our jeans on real women, which means you get a better, more-flattering fit every time”. That’s great, benefit-driven, easy-to-digest selling copy.

* In addition to promoting its summer sale, womenswear retailer Wallis used its email to encourage recipients to take a survey about the company, by offering participants the chance to win £150 in vouchers. Menswear merchant Brook Taverner did something similar: It included a link to its survey but rewarded all participants with a £20 voucher.

* The “minimail” message from Firebox (above) featured just one product, the Cool-er eBook Reader, but the graphics and the copy made a real hero of that item. My favourite line from the product description: “…this wafer-thin eReader is the greatest thing to happen to literature since Jeffrey Archer got banged up”.

My number-one lesson learned from this experiment? That next time I come up with a brilliant idea along the lines of "let's log and analyse all the marketing emails we receive in a week; how long could it possibly take?", I should ignore it.--SC

Doing less with more

Last week I blogged about the new Very (formerly Littlewoods Direct) website, which I felt was an awkward mix of selling and socialising. This week we received the Very Directory 2009 Autumn/Winter, the brand’s overhauled print catalogue.

Actually it really is more of a directory than a mail order catalogue, in that there’s very little selling going on. For the most part the book is page upon page of product silhouettes and minimal copy (“High waist skirt. Cotton. Lining: Polyester. Sizes 8-20” is a typical product description). The pages are laid out in a tidy, albeit monotonous, grid. The only lifestyle photos are on the pages introducing each product category, which is a shame, as the paper stock is gorgeous.

The one thing that the book does sell is the Very website. I’d say that most of the spreads include a blatant web traffic driver: a dingbat next to a product promoting “savings online”; a reversed-out text block suggesting “Not sure about that bag? Ask your friends online. Very sociable”; a simple “Not enough choice? There’s loads more online. Very smart”.

Assuming that the primary aim of the Very directory is to drive traffic to the Very website, then the book is a success. But it’s a success born of a failure: a failure to provide shoppers with enough information and motivation to buy straight from the printed page.

Yes, it’s cheaper to process orders online than via a call centre. But that’s no excuse for burying the call centre phone number; the first reference I found to it was on page 33, whereas the URL is on the header of every page. And yes, cross-selling and upselling can sometimes be more effective online than in print (though the jury is still out on that; for every marketer who says online order values are larger than offline order values, there’s one who swears the reverse is true). But to all but discourage readers to phone in an order by requiring them to go online to gather enough information to make an educated buying decision is reactionary. This is not cross-channel commerce but rather a throwback to the days of two-step response programmes.

At 354 pages of heavy mat paper stock, plus an even heavier cover stock, the Very directory couldn’t have been cheap to produce. But given that the recession has forced most of us to do more with less, it’s surprising—and disappointing—to see Very spend more on a print vehicle that does a lot less than the traditional Littlewoods Direct catalogue did.--SC

Bonprix's US reentry

The acquisition by Otto Group’s Bonprix division of US women's fashion manufacturer/marketer Venus Swimwear makes a certain amount of sense. The largest global direct seller, Otto’s presence in the largest global market is limited to its ownership of home furnishings cataloguer/retailer Crate & Barrel and its CB2 spin-off. And because Otto bought Venus out of receivership--which it fell into in May after its primary lender unexpectedly pulled its financing—it no doubt managed to strike a good bargain.

What doesn’t make sense, though, is that Bonprix, and not another Otto unit, is the buyer. As its name suggests, Bonprix is a value brand. On its UK website you can buy a women’s swimsuit for as little as £4.90, although most fall in the £10-£20 range. On the Venus website, most of the one-piece suits cost $69-$89 (£42-£55), and the brand’s emphasis was always on being fashion-forward, with an especial appeal to younger women. In terms of branding, I’d think that other Otto titles, such as Apart or 3 Suisses, would be a better fit with Venus.

Perhaps Otto thinks that it can use Venus as a platform to relaunch Bonprix in the States. Bonprix had mailed a catalogue in the late 1990s-early 2000s, but it never caught on in the US. Now that the recession shows little signs of relenting in the States, Otto may have decided that now is a better time to introduce a value brand there. The acquisition of Venus, then, would be less a matter of brand synergies and more an instance of back-end synergies.--SC

Better than a poke in the eye

Do you remember back in March we posted a news item that Dwell was not delivering to the south west of England? Well, it looks like the furniture cataloguer has had a change of heart about barring residents of the Westcountry from ordering its wares. In a recent email it announced to customers: “Don't forget we now deliver to Devon and Cornwall every third weekend of the month...” Well at least it’s something.—MT

Are record high temperatures forecast for autumn?

Today's email from Next has the subject line "Just In: New Collections with all the latest trends from Autumn!" So I did not expect the first screen to promote skimpy, floral-patterned dresses:

And I definitely didn't expect to scroll down to see this:

If bikinis are a trend for autumn, I'll have to pass, thank you.--SC

A prize worth winning

Organic and fine food distributor Cotswold Fayre gets a thumbs up from me for its innovative use of incentives in business-to-business selling.
To celebrate its 10th anniversary Cotswold Fayre isn’t offering a naff free gift with every purchase, or a 10-percent off sale. Instead it is offering something I think would make a much more appreciated prize.
Each of its customers who place an order with a Cotswold Fayre sales rep before 31st July will receive a mystery shopping experience—including a complete feedback report—worth £125.
I like this offer for three main reasons:
1. The early order date allows Cotswold Fayre to more effectively forecast its Christmas stock requirements
2. The offer appears to be open to all customers, not just a select few
3. The prize is genuinely useful, and can be used to provide much-needed insight into a business's operations. In other words Cotswold Fayre is offering food for thought!—MT

Very ambivalent

Littlewoods Direct became Very on Sunday. No, a noun isn’t missing from that sentence. Shop Direct Group rebranded its Littlewoods Direct fascia, renaming it Very and radically overhauling its website. The goal is to attract and retain a young, upwardly mobile audience by offering loads of social-networking features as well as some hip new brands.

So, is the new website Very fabulous? Or is it Very much of a misfire? Or is it Very much a matter of much ado over nothing, or perhaps a work still Very much in progress? (Okay, I’ll stop now with the Very bad play on words—but really, with a name like Very, the brand is asking for it.)

Let’s start with the home page. The product categories are clearly delineated near the top, and in the centre of the page the links to “Hot holiday fashion”, “View our new and exclusive brands”, and “Top offers” are more prominent than that for “Introducing our network”. So far, so good. But could there be a stronger call to action to encourage sales? Absolutely. That the product shots on the home page are minimal, in both size and number, and there’s nothing that says, “Shop now” or “Like this skirt? Click here” hints at the drawbacks of having one website serve two apparent purposes: to engage via social networking and to sell product.

The social aspects of the site, in and of themselves, are fine. Product reviews, of course, have gone from being a nice-to-have to a must-have for consumer ecommerce sites, but Very uses a pleasingly thorough template for its reviews that sets them apart from most others. The product pages also include widgets that make it easy to post the items onto Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter. The live chats with its celebrity designers such as Fearne Cotton, who created an exclusive range for Very, are a fun way to create buzz.

There’s also a forum, and a People networking section: You can sign up, fill out a questionnaire, follow other participants a la Twitter, post comments, and put together product “bundles”, such as outfits or room furnishings. It’s all very kicky, but I wonder if all these networking features will distract site visitors from shopping rather than encourage them to do so.

In the July issue of Catalogue e-business, PR and social-media expert Katy Howell, of Immediate Future, advises keeping community sites separate from transactional sites: “People go to online retailers to shop. For advice they will go elsewhere.”

And while there’s much to be said for making the online shopping experience more social, just as offline shopping is, making it too social could suppress sales. Think about the gaggles of teens you see at shopping centres, trying on sunglasses and hats, leafing through magazines, sampling CDs. How many of them buy much of anything other than sodas and sweets?--SC

Catalogue e-business July issue

The July issue of Catalogue e-business lands on desks this week, if you’re not yet a subscriber, here’s what you’re missing:
* Special focus on email marketing: deliverability, subject lines, testing and more
* Circulation: part three of our “Waste not, want not” series
* Ecommerce: how to use social media to improve your SEO
* Print and production: five tips for more-effective paper buying
* Q&A with: James Hart, Asos.com’s marketplace and community director
* Plus: the latest industry news, a review of the Stocksigns catalogue, Ernie Schell’s review of the Omnica system and much more

To get Catalogue e-business magazine delivered every month, or for more information, contact Jill Sweet on 01271 866112 or subs@catalog-biz.com.

Yin, yang, and statistics

Some interesting stats from data specialist Abacus as to how cataloguers view their business going forward. Of the 48 members of the Abacus Alliance who responded to a survey in May and June, 75 percent felt that their economic prospects for the current season were the same or better than they had been a year ago. What's more, 48 percent said they were more optimistic about the next three months' trading than they had been, while only 8 percent were less optimistic.

So far, so good, right?

But when asked if the UK home shopping sector had experienced the worst of the recession, 53 percent said that they felt the worst was yet to come.

This could mean several things. One, that respondents think it will take more than three months to hit the economic nadir--they're cautiously optimistic about the next three months, but after that, watch out. Personally, I think this interpretation is suspect.

Two, that respondents think their own businesses are better positioned than most others to survive the impending doom. In other words, yes, the economy has yet to hit rock bottom, but we'll still manage to do okay. This seems more likely.

Three, that the wording of a survey question can make a huge difference to the response. When respondents were asked if they were "less or more optimistic about their company's business prospects" over the next three months, what were they meant to compare against? Less or more optimistic than they'd been a year ago? Six months ago? Less or more optimistic than the media? Than their doom-and-gloom in-laws?

Four, that it is possible to be optimistic and pessimistic simultaneously. Or to put it another way, ther's nowt as queer as folk.--SC

Most popular posts: March to June

Since we started this blog four months ago, we’ve posted 106 items. Here are the top 10 most visited posts during that time:

1. Royal silliness
2. Another email we love
3. Another email we love: Lakeland
4. Back to school for Bert’s Nurseries
5. Guess that catalogue
6. An email idea to steal
7. Tell me more
8. Ocado is watching you
9. Too old for Asos?
10. Artigiano meets Where’s Wally?

To ensure you never miss a post, click here to subscribe to our RSS feed. --MT

Three more emails we love

Email number one: Uttam Direct

Subject line: How to Wear Prints
Why we love it: Sure, it’s selling product, but the tone of the email is more that of one friend helping out another than of a company pushing its wares. Uttam is promoting its apparel under the guise of advice—figure-enhancing advice at that, which is a bulls-eye for its fashionable audience. And it doesn’t simply suggest the ideal dress for each figure type; it suggests the appropriate scarf and bag for each dress as well, which is sure to help boost average order values.

Email number two: TripAdvisor

Subject line: TripAdvisor’s Meals from Hell
Why we love it: The actual headline of the text is “Meals from Hell vs. Food of the Gods”, but let’s face it: It’s much more fun to read reviews of truly dreadful restaurants than of fabulous ones. (Schadenfreude, anyone?) This email offers links to consumer reviews of the best and worst holiday eating experiences (my favourite review is titled “If you want indigestion this is the place for you”). Once you’re on the TripAdvisor site, I defy you to exit without poking around at more reviews and, while you’re at it, doing a bit of research for your next trip. Which is undoubtedly the idea behind this email. To adapt this to an ecommerce site, you could send an email of links to your site’s most entertaining customer-written product reviews. In fact, you could first encourage customers to submit an entertaining review by offering a discount for, say, the five best reviews, and then follow up with an email linking to them.

Email number three: Bishopton Trading Co

Subject line: Groovy Glastonbury Offer--Free Post and Packing all weekend!
Why we love it: Not for the subject line; inconsistent capitalisation drives us nuts. Not for the graphics, which are frankly amateurish. It’s for the informality of the text, which perfectly suits this retailer of fair-trade, hippie-esque attire. The copy, in its entirety: “We’re getting in the Glastonbury Groove!! We are offering free post and packing on all orders for UK delivery for the Festival weekend. P.S. Bruce (Springsteen), if you’re reading this, the ladies in our Glastonbury shop would love you to pop in!” So, ladies, did he?--SC

The June Catalogue Log

Last month we introduced the Catalogue Log, in which we analysed the catalogues received by Catalogue e-business to date to see what sort of offers were made. We also promised to update it monthly. Well, here’s the Catalogue Log for June.

Of the 129 catalogues tallied in June, 44—34.1 percent—promised some sort of sale or discount. That’s down appreciably from 42.6 percent of the May catalogues. The percentage of free-delivery offers declined as well, from 11 percent in May to 8.5 percent in June. On the other hand, the percentage offering a free gift increased significantly, from 11 percent in May to 17.8 percent.

Overall 46.5 percent of the catalogues did not tout any promotions, discounts, or offers on their cover. Some, such as food and wine merchant Atkins and Potts and educational supplier Morleys Early Years, played up the new additions to their product range instead. Others, such as Party Pieces, Fire Protection Online, and DIY retailer Wickes, pointed out their order deadlines for next-day delivery (1pm, 2pm, and 6pm respectively). Several made sure to drive readers to their website (“There’s more online at wigglywigglers.co.uk”; “Watch the amazing spa film at lush.co.uk”; “Avoid the queues and check stock online” from knitwear mailer Woolovers). Most of the promotion-free cataloguers, however, didn’t include any special marketing message on their front covers, thereby failing to give readers another reason to turn the page.

A few items of note: Housewares mailer Betterware ran a competition for a year’s worth of free housecleaning. On the cover of its Tents 2009 edition, Taunton Leisure boasted of its “price check promise”. And both Easylife and Telegraph Select featured the same photo of a “versatile ladder” on their front covers—only Easylife charged £10 more.--SC