Just How Often?
The issue of how often to send out promotional information is an important one. If you don’t do it often enough, you’ll lose sales. If you do it too often, your customers will start ignoring what you send them and, instead, relegate your printed or e-mail newsletters to the wastebasket or spam filter.
On the direct-mail side, the problem is often that dive stores do not send out paper-and-ink newsletters and other promotional pieces often enough. Putting together a printed newsletter or promotional piece takes time, effort and — especially — money for printing and postage.
In many instances, customers get absolutely nothing from their local dive center, either through direct mail or e-mail. In other instances, stores send out regular e-mail newsletters — but apparently forget that they still lack valid e-mail addresses on up to two-thirds or more of their customer database. It is important to remember that, while the ability to promote via e-mail can reduce the need to send out regular direct-mail promotions, it cannot eliminate it. For most stores, direct mail represents the only means of reaching the majority of customers in their database.
On the e-mail side, the problem is increasingly that stores send out too much in the way of e-mail newsletters and promotions. For example:
- DiveRetailing.com is on the the mailing list for a number of dive store’s e-mail newsletters. (It’s one way we stay up to date on what dive stores are doing.) We remember that when one California store started doing this, we read each issue with great interest. However, when the e-mails started arriving on a weekly basis, we started ignoring them. This wasn’t a conscious decision; it just happened. You have to wonder how many of the store’s customers started doing the same.
- One midwestern dive store has been sending out e-mail newsletters on a monthly basis. Recently, though, they sent out a special e-mail sale flyer just one week after e-mailing their regular, monthly newsletter. Normally, the store gets no more than one person opting out of their mailing list each month. When they sent out the sale flyer, just one week following their regular newsletter, over a dozen people opted out. It was as though they were saying, “Once a month is okay; however, if you are going to send me something every week, I’m not interested.”
The ability to send e-mail to your customers on a mass basis is seductive. It’s fast, easy and, unlike direct mail, costs next to nothing. You can’t afford to overdo it, however, or you’ll end up losing your customers’ attention. As a general recommendation:
- Send out a direct-mail (printed) newsletter or promotional piece at least twice a year (and when you do, encourage customers to sign up for your e-mail newsletter, so they can hear from you more often).
- For e-mail newsletters, once a month appears to be a good interval for most retailers. Any more often than this and you’ll risk losing people. Any less often and you may miss opportunities.
Keeping your mailing list up to date »
::: TOP ::: SUBSCRIBE ::: CONTACT US ::: ABOUT US :::