I get a lot of email every day. 99% of it is quickly dispatched via the “delete” button, but occasionally there’s one that attracts my attention.
Being owned by two Chihuahua’s who don’t enjoy “going” outside, they have become accustomed to a certain brand and type of wee-wee pad on which they conduct their business. Much like diapers from the 50’s, these pads are made of cloth and are machine washable. Since they hold up very well, I don’t have to replace them too often.
The need arose for me to add a few more, so I went to one of the few etailers who carry them and placed my order. Like any good eCommerce store, my name and email address was added to their marketing list and within a few minutes, I received my first email.
Dear Scott,
Thank you for your recent order from [NAME DELETED TO AVOID EMBARRASSMENT]. Providing your bird with quality cages, seed, supplements and toys is our goal and we hope your recent purchase from us is just the beginning of a long lasting relationship.
We’ve provided some helpful links on bird care below written by our Avian experts that you may find useful.
The email was signed by the company president and included her email address and phone number along with an invitation to “Contact me with any comments or suggestions.” Not wanting an opportunity like this to pass me by, I took her up on the offer.
Dear [NAME DELETED TO AVOID EVEN FURTHER EMBARRASSMENT],
I placed an order on your site a few minutes ago and received the email below. I’m curious as to why you think I own a bird when I ordered wee-wee pads for dogs.
A few minutes went by before I heard a “ding” signaling new mail.
Scott,
Thanks for your email. We have a new marketing person in the office and I’ve brought it to his attention.
“A new marketing person in the office.” While I would have loved to continue the conversation with madam president and suggest that the “new marketing person” learn the difference between a dog customer and a bird customer, I let it go.
This may seem like a trivial matter for most, but for someone in a marketing role it’s a big mistake. Not knowing your customer is like the Pope not knowing the words to the Lord’s Prayer.
As eCommerce store owners we spend a lot of money to get traffic to our sites and land a customer that we can market to and turn that one order into a chain of others. By me clicking the “unsubscribe” link in the email I received from this pet supply company, that chain is now broken.
Knowing your customer is perhaps the number one rule of marketing. You get to know your customer by where they came from, what they bought, what their purchase history looks like and you tailor your marketing efforts around that data.
On my eCommerce sites, I use an email marketing solution called Cactus Connect (a product of Solid Cactus) that allows me to tailor such messages to customers. If someone visiting my pet supply site buys a bag of dog biscuits and a catnip mouse, they’re automatically added to two mailing lists – one for dog owners and one for cat owners.
Over the next several weeks and months, that customer will receive a series of automated emails with information about dog and cat products. These autoresponders, as they’re called, are used as a means to keep you engaged with your customer and your customer engaged with you.
If that same customer comes back a month from now and orders a bag of hay, they will also get added to the rabbit mailing list and will start to receive messages tailored to rabbit owners.
When it comes time to send out a special announcement about a sale or new product, list segmentation comes into play once again. I’m not going to email the cat and rabbit people about a new dog crate, so when selecting which lists to send my email to, I only select the dog list.
This may seem like pretty simple stuff, but I bet you can cite numerous examples of similar email messages you get everyday. If you’re guilty of not properly segmenting your marketing lists, you’re not doing yourself, or your business, any favors. Again, you worked hard and spent a good chunk of money to get that customer to your store and to make a purchase. Don’t give them an easy way to opt-out of your marketing efforts because you’re sending them information that is not relevant.
I just heard another “ding.”
This time it’s the dryer.
The wee-wee pads are dry.