email marketing

Who wants a copy of the Metro? (It’s free…)

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I remember when people paid for newspapers. Now, it seems, they can’t even give them away.

The problem was, when newspapers such as the Manchester Evening News became free (which it was in the city centre up until recently), the perception of the paper took a beating.

Yes, circulation levels went up, but then attention levels went down. This meant that advertising space was valued at even less than it was before the price crash (when the paper had smaller circulation figures).

This is typical of over-used media

If  you devalue your message by giving it away, then, by its very nature, the value has reduced. This is the same with emails.

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The Future of Loyalty Schemes – Part 1

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This is Part 1. See Part 2 here.

I think we can now all agree that loyalty schemes are here to stay.

Whether it’s a Clubcard, a Nectar card or even a ‘Hi-Life’ dining card, loyalty schemes have become a part of our culture, and they play an increasingly large part in shaping our buying behaviour.

It may not be a surprise to learn that Tesco are leading the development of the next generation of loyalty schemes. They are pioneering joined-up, intelligent schemes that not only reward loyalty, but influence future buying behaviour with highly relevant vouchers & offers for high-margin items that the shopper has previously bought (but, often, and this is key, not for a while).

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Retailers Fail to See Mobile Opportunity

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I read 2 articles yesterday.

The first was in a magazine reporting that in 2011, smartphones (iPhones etc) will account for over 25% of all mobile sales.

I also read on DestinationCRM news site (we do lead exciting lives…) that retailers are only allocating a tiny percentage of their marketing budget to development of their mobile marketing efforts.

To be fair, not everyone who buys a smartphone will be using it to buy online, but research has consistently shown that if a website doesn’t load, or a page doesn’t load properly within 10 seconds, the visitor will click the back button, regardless of the device, operating system or platform.

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The Only Way That Local Retailers Can compete With Tesco…..

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Back in October, the UK’s largest independent chain of Green Grocers, Stokes, went into administration.

Media coverage suggests that Stokes was just another High Street casualty in a losing battle with Tesco and the other big chains. Whilst there is little doubt that increased competition from low price driven super markets contributed to administration, this doesn’t tell the full story.

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