A successful retail email campaign involves much more than just an email. Because it creates customer engagement and results in revenue, a successful email campaign aligns closely with social and e-commerce, resulting in a “trifecta” across all three channels.
But, integrating social is more than just asking your subscribers to fan you on Facebook or follow you on Twitter or Pinterest. It requires effectively communicating the value proposition and integrating social as part of the shopping experience. Following are four approaches to successfully interweave email, Facebook and e-commerce.
1. Like More, Save More
In this example from Tea Collection, an email was sent driving customers to a landing page where they could like individual products. Tea Collection then placed products that received the most likes on sale at a higher rate (200 likes = $12, 400 likes = $10, etc.).
This campaign is driving Facebook engagement so that product likes appear in customer newsfeeds, increasing exposure and the probability of new Facebook fans. After the company collected likes for a specified period of time, it sent an email announcing the product winners with the most likes and their discounted price. This two-part email campaign increased Facebook engagement in addition to generating revenue.
2. Facebook First
Offering Facebook fans exclusive, or first-rights, access to a sale is another way to tie in all three channels. In this example from LOFT, customers must like the brand on Facebook to receive a sale code that enables them to shop online. This does require additional work on the subscriber’s behalf, so be sure there is a clear communication of value to generate the response.
In this example from Banana Republic, Facebook fans receive first access to shop new arrivals, as well as getting access to the sale one day early. Just as you might promote an email-only offer to your subscribers, Facebook fans can also benefit from content exclusivity.
3. Social Content In Email
Embedding social content within an email is one way to repurpose existing content that gives customers a reason to purchase. In this example from Crate and Barrel, Facebook comments appear as “rating and review” content in the email.
This is a great example of communicating to an email subscriber by using exactly the kind of content they can expect to receive from being a Facebook fan, rather than the standard marketing boilerplate (“Get updates, news, promotions, etc.).
In the following example from Crocs (full disclosure, Crocs is a client), the email serves as the communication piece to showcase the “most talked about” products from its social channels. Unlike the above examples, whose primary call-to-actions involve Facebook first, this email showcases engagement that has already happened in the social channels. This allows the content to be product-centric and the resulting primary call-to-action is focused around driving e-commerce sales.
4. Facebook For Email Acquisition
As discussed in last month’s column, list growth can play a large part in increasing revenue from email. When email subscribers originate from a sign-up form on Facebook that required them to fan your brand, you can flag them in your eCRM system as being engaged in two channels. Because Facebook prevents brands from extracting their fans’ email addresses, it is impossible to know if they continue to remain fans on Facebook over time. However, at the very least you would know for certain that they were Facebook fans at one time.
This allows you to track these subscribers and determine the value of having email subscribers who are also Facebook fans. For example, do these customers spend more with your brand, compared with customers who are only engaged in email? Do your email subscribers sourced from Facebook have a different demographic than your traditional customer?
In this example from AMC (another client), subscribers provide enough information to receive ongoing emails customized with local movies appropriate for their age.
In addition to a simple sign-up form on Facebook, Lee Jeans (a third client) has seen tremendous success with contests on Facebook as acquisition strategies. Having an incentive for your Facebook fans to sign-up for your email program can greatly increase your conversion rates.
Three’s Company
Frequently, social, email and e-commerce managers operate independently of one another within an organization. According to The Social Profile report from ExactTarget, “Some consumers have noticed the lack of coordination across these channels, and have realized that certain brands consistently deliver better content in one channel versus another.”
When tightly integrated, all three channels benefit, further accelerating each driver for the brand, and generating revenue. Collaboration across the channels also creates a seamless user experience and brand experience for customers. This consistency, or lack thereof, is highly visible to customers.
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