Commentary

How To Augment Search With Email Campaigns

Laptop-with-a-magnifying-glassSome 44% of total open emails occur on mobile devices. About 52% of marketers have used animated gifs in their email campaigns, and 78% of brands use sales associates to collect email addresses as leads. Some consider email campaigns the lifeline connecting consumers to Web sites, mobile and social channels.

That lifeline can start at the search campaign or at the point-of-sale register in the physical store. More than 66% of marketers offer -- or say they intend to offer -- e-receipt options to in-store shoppers. Experian expects more marketers to use e-receipts for promotional messaging in the next few months and years.

The emailed receipts not only serve as environmentally friendly reminders, but an additional touchpoint with customers and a simple way to collect more information -- especially email leads and addresses. Emails should give consumers a reason to search for information, whether on an engine or a brand's Web site.

Experian Marketing Services' 2012 E-Receipt Study identified increased sales with support from e-receipts. The emailed receipts created six times higher transaction rates and eight times higher revenue per email compared with bulk mailings.

Marketers that are concerned about data integrity will want to personalize content from sources like rewards programs, where a user is less likely to enter a fake name, according to Experian. (Although I hate to burst anyone's bubble, that's not entirely true.) My Starbucks card reads "first" and "last" for the name: it was initially done as a joke, but now it's an initial point of conversation in the retail store.

Some 48% of marketers said collecting the first name is the most important -- or mandatory -- piece of information, followed by 45% for last name and 32% for ZIP code. Surprisingly, 29% of marketers said they don't make any field mandatory, and 14% said they don't collect any of these fields, along with date of birth, country, phone number gender or full mailing address.

The study also suggests that the majority of marketers do not offer incentives for filling out a survey, with 59% stating they send no offer. Regardless, marketers see strong completion rates, with 62% reporting 10% or higher completion rates -- especially after a purchase. 

"Laptop with a magnifying glass photo from Shutterstock"

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