Anyone involved with designing printed matter, websites and emails knows that not only does each typeface have its own personality, but some are more readable than others. Conventional wisdom (click on the headline for more…)
Counterintuitive Effects of Email List Segmentation
I just read an interesting report on a study that email service provider MailChimp performed on the effects of list segmentation on email marketing. They compared the results of 10,691 segmented campaigns that 1,998 companies sent to 8,762,207 recipients to non-segmented campaigns sent by the same companies.
You’d expect that the segmented campaigns would produce better results than the non-segmented ones. For the most part, that was true, but there were a few surprises:
Top Ranked Speakers Return to MGA Conference
If you’ve been thinking about attending a Mailorder Gardening Association conference, the January 2010 programs looks like an especially good one to check out. Of particular interest are two speakers back by popular demand. (Click on the headline for more…)
A Study in Pricing Pscyhology
Duncan Simester of the MIT Sloan School of Management is known for fascinating research on consumer buying behavior, much of it specific to the direct marketing industry. I’ve written about some of his studies in the past, including the surprising long-term impact of discounting and the long-term impact of traditional circulation plans.
I recently came across another interesting study by Simester (click on the headline for more…)
Welcome, Dorothy Biddle Service!
We’re pleased to welcome Dorothy Biddle Service as a new client. A third-generation family-owned business, Dorothy Biddle offers more than 300 useful and unusual products for flower arranging, gardening and houseplant enthusiasts. We’re looking forward to helping them grow!
Insights Into How Customers Rate Garden Company Shopping
In my last blog post, I emphasized the importance of following best practices in all your customer touchpoints if you want to maximize your sales without increasing your marketing budget. As I mentioned, the Secret Shopper Survey sponsored by the Mailorder Gardening Association earlier this year uncovered an astonishing number of opportunities for improvement in this regard. A new program at the next MGA conference is sure to provide even more ideas for low-cost improvements. (Click on the headline for more…)
Can You Increase Your Sales Without Increasing Your Budget?
These days, every company is looking for ways to get more out of their marketing budget. Experience suggests that an internal review of how you handle information requests and your ordering process is likely to uncover a wealth of opportunities. A couple shocking examples illustrate why I say that: (Click on the headline for more…)
Keep Your Subscribers Looking Forward to More
Here’s a tip for reinforcing the value of your newsletter and encouraging subscribers to open future issues:
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Evaluating the Relative Strength of B-to-B Marketing Channels
Bob Bly, the renowned and prolific B-to-B copywriter, wrote an especially interesting column in this month’s Target Marketing. In it, he ranks 19 different marketing channels, classifies them as “inbound” or “outbound,” and rates them by lead quality and ROI. (Click on the headline for more…)
Cement Your Email Marketing Relationships Early
When people sign up for your email list, what happens next? Do they get a perfunctory “Thank you for subscribing” and then nothing until your next scheduled email – which might be a month away?
It’s important to get new subscribers used to hearing from you, and start sending them helpful information right from the get-go. Autoresponders, which allow you to send a preprogrammed series of emails to new subscribers at specified intervals, make it easy to cement email marketing relationships. Some of the ways you can use an autoresponder program include: (Click on the headline for more…)
