Men are from Mars, women go shopping: The blinkered world of emarketeers
Recently an email pinged into my inbox from a leading London department store; an emporium of menswear, womenswear, household goods, home entertainment and much more. However, its emarketing team seem to believe that the only people wishing to receive its email newsletter are women.
The glossy newsletter pings into inboxes across the globe featuring predominantly images of women’s clothing and accessories. Just a small tab links through to its menswear offering, but otherwise men appear to be given short shrift.
Surely given the breadth of its online and in store offering keeping marketing communications so narrowly focussed is costing the company sales and potentially alienating existing customers. This type of email marketing is not untypical. Emarketeers all too often employ a single mail out to all subscribers, loading the content to make it gender specific.
There are a number of simple solutions; either have gender specific mail outs, determined through a tick box to opt in at sign-up, or balance and rotate the content of these emails for both genders.
Designers should try to make their email communications as intuitive and user friendly as possible. Lastminute.com and Toptable both regularly produce fantastic emarketing collateral that conveys their brand values, engages the consumer and undoubtedly drives sales. Companies do not even need to invest significant resources in design, if the message meets the needs of the consumer. Vouchercodes dispenses with expensive design conceits altogether, using a plaintext interface, which given the nature of the offering is quite acceptable.
All too often firms fail to effectively translate the ethos and values of their brand in the online environment. Given the maturity of the internet and email as communications platforms, surely at Board level, senior executives should be critically reviewing their company’s online presence.
A brand experience is now just as likely to be enjoyed by a consumer sat at their desk during work lunchtime, as it is to be found on a Saturday afternoon laden with shopping bags in store, so it is vital that a simple email conveys the same values as a glossy press ad or expensively designed in store display.