Old-line retailers are deluging holiday shoppers with irrelevant emails this season, The Wall Street Journal reports.
Among other misfires, retailers have been promoting luxury underwear to broke college kids and women's clothing to men.
"Retailers have their work cut out for them when it comes to customizing and personalizing their email offers," the paper says.
So do many event marketers.
They're swamping attendees' in-boxes with vague offers of "must-attend" conferences.
Attendees are growing angrier and more resistant by the day.
Targeting demands not only that you segment your lists, but that you think hard about the relevance of your value proposition, and its expression. Can you:
The counter-move is targeting, and you shouldn't be surprised if 2018 turns out to be the year event marketers mastered it.
The stakes are too high to do anything less.
- Distill your value proposition? Can you convey is a few short, simple sentences why anyone attends your event? Can you make the sentences memorable?
- Capture the message in a Subject line? Can you convey that value in 10 characters?
- Personalize the email? Can you avoid sending generic emails? Simply including the reader's name in the Subject line boosts open rates 26%.
- Assure readability? Can you design emails that encourage speed-reading and comprehension (especially on a mobile phone)?
- Leverage your content? Can you put content and speakers center stage? Will attendees meet celebrities, thought leaders, and influencers at your event?
- Provide social proof? Can you persuade readers they'll miss opportunities others enjoy by attending your event? Dropping names and including testimonials do this.
