Friday, January 30, 2009

Simple, Yet Effective Email Content

After a while of producing no new postings, an email I received today prompted me to get back into the game. Namely, I received a mailing from Orbitz that, upon first glance, seemed innocuous enough. You've seen this type of campaign a million times. You know, here are this week's special offers, better book now...blah, blah, blah.

However, after closer examination, I saw something really simple and straightforward that has become sort of a lost art amongst email marketers. In this case, Orbitz isn't just settling for a brochureware creative. Rather, it's treating email customers in a unique way. Here's the copy in question:

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Dear Russell:

Life is good on the beach! We'd like to offer you $75 off your next Caribbean, Mexico, or Hawaii vacation package, so escape to your sunny paradise faster and easier with these great getaways. To save now, enter this email exclusive promotion code when you book: WINTERSALE. Book select 3+ nights vacation packages by February 8 to save on travel through May 31!
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To play on Sally Field's famous Oscar speech, "They must REALLY, REALLY like me!" What I mean by this is that, too many times, etailers lump email in with the Web without paying deference to its unique nature. In these tough economic times, email marketers can no longer treat email as simply a conduit for getting customers to their site. They must do things similar to Orbitz by giving recipients a REASON to click through to the site and to let them know that they are special above and beyond "normal" online customers.