E-mailing Brand Equity or Inversed Strategy?
There’s an interesting e-mailing debate on the Signal vs. Noise blog. Now I mostly agree with some of the business philosophy of mister Fried and co., and I’ve got a deep respect for what they’ve achieved and the way they did it, but the idea of trying out new e-mail designs First before applying a design overhaul to the website based thereon is inane.
Though I can sympathize with the “Process-Breaking-Possible-Mind-Freeing” idea behind the post, there are two obvious pitfalls Jamie (the author) is unaware of, both stemming from a misguided thought pattern.
1. Conversion and Marketing Strategy
The author is putting Form over Function, Tactic above Strategy and Outcome before Process.
There’s a good reason why
“…emails have their conceptual birth in another medium altogether: a Catalog, an Advertisement, or the Website.”
And why
“The concept and strategy was already finalized before it goes to (the web designer). At that point it was all about production.”
Please read the whole 37Signals post and the discussion here for some more context.
Strategy ultimately leads to Production and not the other way around, for all the obvious reasons.
That being said, let’s try to break down the raison d’être of E-mail Marketing once more, starting off with a fundamental question: Strategy and communication plan aside,
Why send out an e-mailing in the first place?
Your sending out an e-mailing to stimulate your reader base to take action (on your website), be it either:
- Reading the latest news (gaining you the required eyeballs for advertising revenue);
- Signing up for a service;
- Filling in a survey;
- Updating their profile (both offering more accurate targeting = opportunity to add more relevancy);
- Buying a product;
- Booking a ticket or
- Simply just showing your appreciation for them being such loyal customers…
Whatever your primary motives may be, you’re mainly sending out that mail to communicate to your (potential) customers in order to generate higher conversion rates.
Make them click! That’s your core Sub-Goal*.
Your sole priority lies there, design details such as shadow and rounded corners are superfluous and should be geared towards supporting you in reaching that goal, not detract from it. Your main objective is not to go against all logical and proven processes by designing a fancy e-mail template as a way of alpha-testing a possible future website redesign.
It’s the message and the call-to-actions therein that count, and though it doesn’t hurt to have a neatly designed mailing, it’s a waste of your efforts if you spend too much time on art instead of investing it in sensible e-Copywriting. In other words: “Substance Over Style, please m’am”.
The only exception here is when you’re Crowdsourcing your website re-design and have a dedicated address list of people that are aching to be part of the drive testing(process) or if your regular subscribers have given you Permission to do so. If such is the case, don’t forget to add a feedback button in there as well…
This approach allows you to obtain valuable feedback because people are consciously paying attention to the careful alterations you make to your template, whereas in all other cases some people are bound to take notice of the gradual changes somewhere down the line and probably think you don’t have a clue about what your doing…
[* Note that I said "sub goal" deliberately, because an e-mailing is a part of your communication plan and thus should support your overall Marketing Strategy. Seeing a pattern here?]
2. Consistent Authentic Branding
The second pitfall was correctly pointed out by a comment in the thread from none other than Seth Godin himself. 37Signals has a reputation of having a very unique and dare I say intimate bond with their customers/users.
Part of their reputation, appeal and charm lies in the passionate and practical way they look at how to improve a business process and how to get rid of excess weight, so to speak. And more often than not, the sluggish corporate way of doing business is at the receiving end of their rants and riffs.
Unless your target audience is expecting it from you, suddenly adding a standard Corporate styled e-mailing in the communication mix isn’t going to strengthen that relationship. On the contrary; you’re actually running a huge risk of erecting an invisible wall between yourself and your clientele.
Other than that, this operation could turn out to be a “me-too” approach for 37Signals: Since they’d be stopping with communicating in a personal (and their very own Getting Real) way, the receivers might unconsciously end up getting a change of attitude towards them; leading to a loss of sympathy over time, which ultimately leads to less loyalty and brand connection. Stay authentic, be consistent.
Have I already mentioned that the suggested Inversed Strategy approach isn’t conversion centred?
When I’m subscribing to a newsletter I expect (nay, want!) a clean and simple, (mobile device friendly!) swiftly-loading mail in my inbox, communicating a focused, relevant and -in this particular case- personal message. That’s the way I got charmed by & connected with your brand in the first place.
It’d be a waste to ruin the expectations and experience of your target audience and clients by giving in to a (misguided) personal desire for creative freedom.
If it’s more creative freedom you want, it’d be much wiser to start thinking about rearranging your career, instead of rearranging a proven process or something as fragile as your E-mailing Brand Equity.
SoundCloud.com Social Media Done Right (or About Being Authentic)
Every once in a while something comes along that just… Works.
It can be a product or a service that manages to captivate you just for its sheer brilliance. Not by throwing around zillions of options and other complicated stuff, but by being functional and simple.
Really simple.
What’s even more rare to discover is a concept that is -in your eyes- so special that it needs to be heard, seen and talked about. Directly.
That something just came along for me a few minutes ago and I just had to share my thoughts on it and what this means for you, your product or service and your organization.
In this case it’s a website for people that like to dabble with producing (electronic) music, either as a bedroom-producer or as a pro. As some of you may or may not know, I’m quite the audiophile, so when I read about SoundCloud.com and their waveform-annotation concept on SignalvsNoise (37Signals Blog) this afternoon I just had to go and check it out. #Serendipity soon followed :)
Note that I was at first purely and only interested by the waveform comment stream idea, wherein you see a visual of a WAV-file and friends or collaborators can leave time based comments on the spot, so the artist gets feedback on exactly which parts of a song sound cool and which parts need, say, a little more mastering to make the bass come out louder etc., etc. This can be shared privately or made public. Already big EDM names such as Funk D’void are using this service and having worked in this industry myself I can assure you that it will be picked up very soon by their respective followers.
What struck me as a huge surprise was not only the user friendliness of the site, both in design and in UI, but also the way the site communicates with me as a prospect / first-time user.
If I was a person who happened to be inexperienced with browsing the internet or using apps, this site would be happy to just gently guide me through the whole process, from the beginning. The funny thing is, the very core audience of this service is very tech- and web savvy!
Where to begin? The size of the fonts are big so I don’t need to squint to see them clearly, the color scheme and lay-out are clutter free and “logical”; the user is guided through a flowing process. In short: the usability is tops and I haven’t even started to use the service that this site was built for! (Sometimes you don’t need to or simply can’t rely purely on data; in such cases some common sense & gut feeling can help a long way)
Now the thing that really was the icing on the cake for me was that when I went to my account preferences, it gave me two relevant fields to fill in: My Discogs.com account and my MySpace artist account.
Bang! “The devil is in the detail”. These guys and girls are “in the know”. In that instant moment you just know that this site hasn’t been made or thought up by cynical marketers in conjunction with focus groups, but instead that it was crafted by people who’re obsessed with music just like me and with a lot of LOVE and attention to detail.
Aesthetically and conceptually everything fits together. Make no mistake; insiders recognize this kind of dedication and true devotion from miles away: in other words it’s authentic.
Take away: You can’t create authenticity by pushing a button or hiring a nifty PR spokesperson or consulting firm. You either are perceived by an audience as authentic or not, despite the fact that some marketers and self-proclaimed gurus would have the more gullible amongst us believe otherwise…
If you already know this, then why is that you’re still doing the opposite?
Why Retention Policy is Your Strongest Asset
Great topic touched by the guys over at 37Signals on why Pixar has been setting the pace in it’s field for some time now.
Hint: It’s not so much about having big budgets, nor is it about survival of the company, it’s about the one thing that some managers still fail to adhere to: Genuinely caring about your people, put them and their well-being first and the rest will follow.
…And here’s a great quote from Nelson on why the company eschews the industry’s standard practices (which favor one-time contracts over long-term affiliation).
“Contracts allow you to be irresponsible as a company. You don’t need to worry about keeping people happy and fulfilled. What we have created here – an incredible workspace, opportunities to learn and grow, and, most of all, great co-workers – is better than any contract.”
You can try to outspend the competition. Or you can try to outculture them. Create a place that makes employees feel special. A place that makes them feel like they’re part of a bigger whole. A place where they continually get to learn and evolve. A place where everyone actually likes each other…
Read the whole post and the reactions on 37signals.
On Cross-selling and Adding Value For Your Customers
Inspiring and reaffirming Innovation/Business post and ensuing discussion on the 37Signals blog; sometimes the very (seemingly) far-off things we’re looking for are right under our nose.
Just don’t forget to include and prioritize the most important stakeholder of your business in your Cross-selling plans: the end user/customer/client: Neglecting to put them first, may result in your results ending up last…
