In Email, Discount in Dollars
Although the most common promotional offer in marketing emails is a percentage off the purchase price, it’s dollars-off amounts that generate higher clicks. In fact, click rates for emails offering a specific dollar amount off are 45% higher than those offering a percent discount (even when the amount saved is the same.) A new study from e-mail service provider Silverpop Systems analyzed 610 marketing e-mails, both b2c and b2b, sent by 430 companies to 100 or more recipients. Why does a dollar-off amount seem more attractive? My guess is that percentage-off discounts are so prevalent in marketing they just don’t get much attention anymore (and doing the math is hard!) Design Within Reach offers good customers a coupon that is good for $50 on a purchase of any amount. The retailer found that most customers, pleased with the generous gift, ended up purchasing items worth far more than $50. The Silverpop study also found that lifestyle photography does pay off in higher e-mail click rates for b2c marketers. The average click rate for e-mails to consumers with lifestyle photography was 6.3% compared to 5.4% without it. The study uncovered a few surprises. Although a postcard-style design remains a favorite format for marketing to consumers, a newsletter format gets a better click rate: 7.1% versus 6.2% for postcard layouts. If you market to consumers, you should at least try a newsletter-style layout. Branding in an e-mail subject line results in 32 to 60% more recipients opening that email. So if you plan to market to your customers via email this holiday season, use your name and/or a brand in the subject line, use a newsletter format with lifestyle photography, and include a coupon for a specific dollar-amount off. Oh, and don’t try to save money by sending more than a hundred or so emails yourself unless you have some good email marketing software. Your message will probably be labeled as spam and blocked.