Tag Archives: email

Business Blunders, Email Marketing

Email Fail By Sportsnet.ca

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Yesterday was a big day in Canada not only because it was Canada Day, but also because it was the first of day free agency in the NHL (…which I guess really makes it a big day for all hockey fans).

In the good ol’ days (way long ago), you’d have to be glued to your radio and TV in order to stay on top of all the wheeling’s-and-dealings. But, now with websites being updates in real-time, social networks updated in seconds, and the ability to send rapid ‘news alerts’ through email, information spreads faster than ever before.

But, it seems some sports news organizations still don’t have a full handle on all the new technologies.

There was a serious EMAIL FAIL by Sportsnet.ca.

Here are 3 unedited “Hockey Central News Alerts” sent out by Sportsnet.ca yesterday.

——Original Message——
From: SPORTSNET.CA
To: XXXXXXXX
ReplyTo: email@sportsnet.ca
Subject: Hockeycentral News Alert – SPORTSNET.CA
Sent: Jul 1, 2010 12:33 PM

New York Rangers re-sign:

Length of contract: 2 years
Average annual value: $925,000

More at sportsnet.ca.

##

——Original Message——
From: SPORTSNET.CA
To: XXXXXXXX
ReplyTo: email@sportsnet.ca
Subject: Hockeycentral News Alert – SPORTSNET.CA
Sent: Jul 1, 2010 6:24 PM

Anaheim Ducks re-sign:

Length of contract: 5 years
Average annual value: $5 million

More at sportsnet.ca.

##

——Original Message——
From: SPORTSNET.CA
To: XXXXXXXX
ReplyTo: email@sportsnet.ca
Subject: Hockeycentral News Alert – SPORTSNET.CA
Sent: Jul 1, 2010 8:08 PM

Montreal Canadiens re-sign:

Length of contract: 1 year
Average annual value: TBD

More at sportsnet.ca.

##

Are you serious?

Sportsnet blasted out emails to their entire hockey mailing list and LEFT OUT the player’s name in the email?

I wonder how many Blackberry’s were buzzing yesterday only to have people look and find out that someone signed a contract, but they were not told who. How helpful is that?

My favorite is the last email above where an unknown person signed a 1 year contract for an amount to be determined. Wow… that email is just oozing with useful information!

Lastly, take a look at the subject. Am I the only one who thinks “Hockeycentral” is actually two words and might have deserved a space in the middle?

Sheesh!

[Many thanks to David B. for forwarding these emails to me.]

Business Blunders, Email Marketing, Online Marketing

Chrysler Dealership Breaks Key Email Marketing Rule

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One thing I always tell people is that their email marketing campaign should have a mix of pictures and text. The worst thing you can do is send out an email that is largely just one big picture because these days most email programs (web-based and desktop-based) disable (ie. Turn-off) images by default.

Here is an example of an email that I just received from my car dealership:

columbo_chrysler_email

What do you think about that email?

Needless to say, I can’t see this email achieving any of their objectives since most people probably would not click to download the entire message after opening up and seeing it was blank.

In addition, the likelihood of this email going to junk/spam is higher (it actually went to my junk folder) because there is no legitimate content. Everything is hidden in the image, so when contact-based spam filters skew towards the sides of caution, they will most surely raise a red flag at this email.

When I choose to display images, it ended up displaying a dreadfully long flyer.

I get the feeling they took a print flyer and sent it out, which is hardly the best course of action.

This surely isn’t the reason the car industry is struggling, but maybe with better marketing they’d sell more cars!

Email Marketing

Sunday Night Doesn’t Really Give Your Email Marketing Campaigns a Head Start on The Week

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I saw a couple support emails come in today from people asking if it’s a good idea to send emails Sunday night. Their theory, which definitely does make sense, is that by sending their email marketing campaign Sunday night, they’ll  be first in their recipient’s inbox come Monday morning.

While it is true that sending an email marketing campaign Sunday night puts you in the box ahead of anyone who sends out an email Monday morning, the research consistently shows that this is a flawed tactic.

One thing to think about is how most email programs, including the one you’re using, actually work. The email programs put the newest emails at the top of the list and slowly push the older emails down. So, if you send your email now, it will get pushed behind any other emails that may get sent to your recipient before they check their email Monday morning. While the idea of “First in, First Read” (FIFR, in case you like acronyms!) would be nice, it doesn’t typically hold true.

The other thing to think about when sending an email marketing campaign Sunday night is that when your recipient checks their email Monday morning, they are going to get a rush of messages. Usually this encompasses anything sent from Friday at 5:00pm through to Monday morning. When this big rush of emails come flying in, it’s a lot easier for your email marketing campaign to get lost in the clutter. Since you want to make sure your email gets the attention it deserves, you’re a lot better off not being part of this email flood.

It’s best to give a lot of thought to the timing of your email marketing campaigns since it can heavily skew your success. Be sure to put yourself in your recipient’s shoes because it’s their schedule (not yours!) that you’re trying to accommodate.

Email Marketing

Email Marketing Campaigns For Thanksgiving

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Today we started getting calls and emails from customers asking when the best day is to send out their email marketing campaigns saying “Happy Thanksgiving” to their customers.

Obviously one of the benefits of email marketing is that your message can be timely, but that doesn’t necessarily mean you should wait until the absolute last second to hit send.

There are primarily two schools of thoughts when it comes to email marketing strategy on this topic.

1. First Mover Advantage
While this actual term typically refers to a company gaining a competitive advantage by entering a market segment first (see Wikipedia on First-Mover Advantage), I like to use it on a more micro level as it applies in this case. If you want your customers to get their first “Happy Thanksgiving” email from you, then go ahead and send it early. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with launching your email marketing campaign before the actual holiday is upon us. If you think that waiting will make your customers say “Yet another email wishing me happy thanksgiving” then go ahead and send it early.

2. Timeliness Is Everything
My birthday is on June 5. But, if someone were to call me up on May 26 and say “Happy Birthday Rob!”, I’d probably think they’re crazy. I mean, nice gesture, but come on? That same sort of methodology applies to your email marketing campaigns around Thanksgiving. Just about everyone realizes that email is an instant technology (that’s one of the key benefits over traditional snail mail!). So, you may make your customers wonder why you jumped the gun on pressing send on your email so early.

In my opinion, no matter which option you choose for your email marketing strategy, the important thing is to realize that your customers will appreciate the gesture. So, in this case, there may be no wrong answer, just two variations of the right email marketing strategy.

Go ahead and adopt whatever you think will work best for your audience, but don’t spend too much time worrying about the exact timing. After all, while I thought the person who wished me happy birthday in May was a little bit nuts, I still appreciated the gesture (and, heck, it may be the only birthday wish I remember because I’m even writing about it now!).