• by Sean Hargrave , Staff Writer, June 3, 2016

How can organisations that have the veneer of being smart let themselves down by being so foolish? It's a question that probably vexed us all at times, but it's particularly true of email marketing. 

The average consumer can probably give the brands they patronise a fair bit of slack in display, social and native because they understand these are general platforms where companies usually pass on fairly general messages. The point of the communication may well be cleverly predicated on some other behaviour -- but typically, the message is a general one that could apply to anyone else exhibiting the same behaviour at a similar point in the purchase funnel.

Email is different, however -- and that's why it must really step up to the plate. Email is the original channel through which customers continue to use to hear more about what a company has to offer. In turn, those companies have attempted to get better at personalising communications around behaviours and data to ensure that, perhaps weekly, opportunity to get noticed in an inbox is more likely to appeal.

That's what makes it all the more galling when the facade peals away and you realise that big brands are not going the extra mile. My prime example right now has to be Ryanair, the budget European airline that has gone to great lengths to point out that it is becoming nicer and more in touch with its customers. You'll probably have noticed that means dialling down how many interviews its controversial founder does, but let's leave that observation there for now.

So Ryanair claims it has gotten to know its customers better, but yet here's the rub. Sitting in my inbox is a call to action addressed to my booking reference number. OK -- so that's not great, when they know my name, but it's not the end of the world. It surely means their invitation for me to buy parking at the airport will be based around that booking reference? Well, no. Not only does the email not know who I am, but despite knowing my booking reference, when I click on the button to buy the parking, you can guess where it takes me. Despite knowing me and my reference numbers and the subject header asking whether I want to book car parking for my Bristol Airport travels, I get taken to a bland, general car parking page where I need to add all my dates and details as if I were coming to the page cold.

Here's the irony. Airports would kill for the information the airlines have. They struggle with the perception that they are data rich when actually it is the airlines holding all the booking information.

That's what makes it all the more perplexing that airlines -- and it isn't only Ryanair -- choose to not act on that data. Or rather, they use email to act on the data they have but not to improve the customer experience. They knew my booking reference, why not have a pre-populated form ready to be submitted? Why not offer that form in the email, even, with a "submit" button right there in the first point of communication?

Email personalisation is nothing unless it makes the next part of the customer journey that little bit easier. Instead, it just frustrates as brands go from pretending to know someone to turning their backs on them at the very moment they choose to take their engagement deeper.