• by Ray Schultz , Columnist, August 6, 2019

No consumer in their right mind would sign up for almost 20 email newsletters at one time. But the team at SmarterHQ did, in order to answer key questions about email marketing by retail brands. For example, do they send too many messages? 

They found out. Target alone blasted out 62 emails between July 11, the day of the signups, and the end of the month: It was the top offender. Saks was next with 47 emails, and Neiman Marcus sent 39 — all way beyond the one to three emails preferred by millennials.

Worse, personalization was “scarce,” SmarterHQ notes. When signing up, the team had carted two items and heavily browsed specific categories, but few brands acted on this obvious intent.

And most failed to mention free shipping, Buy Online, Pick Up In Store (BOPUS) or fast delivery.

The SmarterHQ team divided retailers into several categories, starting with what it calls the top brands.  

Of these, Walmart focused on products and discounts, but failed to personalize a single email based on the product/brands the team interacted with at signup. 

Only Target and Home Depot personalized some of their emails based on the interactions. Next were the membership-only retailers — namely, Costco and Sam’s Club. 

Costco sent 14 emails, including two or CostcoGrocery, but not one was personalized. However, Costco was the only retailer among all those studied to mention holiday in an email. 

SmarterHQ offers one disclaimer — that the Costco email sign-up was non-member. And it notes that the Sam’s Club membership email was opted out of marketing messages last month. 

Among classic department stores, Neiman Marcus was the most prolific sender of emails. But none were personalized to the person’s product interests. 

And when brands bothered to focus on products at all, they got it wrong: Having looked at men’s shoes, the SmarterHQ crew was sent emails targeted to women. 

Saks was the most active at personalization, sending 17 tailored emails.

The beauty brands had a more moderate cadence.

Sephora sent two emails — both personalized. 

The department stores did well in offering free shipping and BOPUS. 

Probably the most effective retailers were the digital native brands — those operating solely online. For one thing, they sent fewer emails than their brick-and-mortar counterparts. Amazon sent none, while Warby Parker sent six, Bonobos sent 10, Everlane six and Birchbox two.

Almost all of these brands tried personalization, with emails linked to the interactions. But only one pushed delivery/shipping options.