I recently had the pleasure of giving a presentation at the Internet Retailer Conference & Exhibition (IRCE) alongside valued Americaneagle.com client PinMart.
PinMart was founded in 1964 and sold stock
lapel pins. They launched their first ecommerce website in 1999, selling 42 pins. Since then, PinMart has worked with Americaneagle.com to become the number one online provider of lapel pins, emblems, lanyards and recognition items, with over 2,000 product designs in stock and ready to ship! Through use of an exceptional online presence and a variety of marketing campaigns, PinMart is truly an industry leader. At IRCE, I presented with Mike Dominelli, President of PinMart, on the topic of email marketing, which has been an essential part of PinMart’s success.
Email Trends
Retailers are learning to refine their email marketing tactics and are moving away from email blasts to all customers, with an emphasis on personalized emails to select groups.
Original, interactive email content is also becoming increasingly popular.
Statistics support the above; according to
Content Marketing Institute, 75% of firms anticipated an increase in the amount of interactive content they used in 2016 compared to 2015. This is a trend that is expected to continue over the years ahead. Customers are expecting more; emails must be original and interactive in order to get the attention of existing and prospective customers.
Notable Stats
Every company that tracks their email campaigns should pay attention to three key statistics:
- Open rate
- Click rate
- Conversion rate
Some would argue that conversion rate is the most important, but without a stellar open or click rate, conversions simply don’t come into play.
If you continuously send out your emails at a scheduled time and frequency, your customers will come to expect your emails and will be more apt to open them. Sending them out on a consistent basis with content that is personalized, along with great offers, will greatly improve the open and click rates.
One final piece of advice for running a successful email marketing campaign: if you make a call to action time sensitive, it will typically be more successful. Offers that are valid for a long time period can encourage complacency. Creating a discount that is only valid for a few days after the email is sent creates a sense of urgency and encourages immediate purchase.
Content Calendars
Content calendars are indispensable for planning out a successful email marketing campaign. Create a calendar that keeps track of the campaigns you send out, recording the date, title, and relevant statistics, including deliverability, open rate, click through rate and conversion rate.
Creating your content calendar as a table, displaying results, is a great way to visualize your overall success and compare which campaigns were favored by your customers.
PinMart & Email Success
PinMart uses many of the aforementioned tips for its email marketing. Two tops tips based on PinMart’s experience include the following:
- PinMart segments large lists of customers based on factors that include previous orders, campaign engagement and product type. This allows for certain groups of customers to receive different emails catered to them.
- PinMart increased the frequency of their email campaigns and also tested content along with send times and days. PinMart now has a good understanding of the most effective time of day to send emails, the most effective day of the week to send emails, and the most effective type of content to include.
We are proud to continue to work with PinMart and celebrate their incredible success!
If you’re looking for custom guidance as to how to improve your email marketing program, simply get in touch with Americaneagle.com today.
