Posted by Jordan Ayan on January 12th, 2010
This is an exciting post for me to write! Nearly eighteen years ago, my wife and I sat in our family room and launched a business. We slowly built an organization from the ground up. It wasn’t always easy, but with a strong product, a solid team and superb customers, our business grew and developed. In 2001, our business launched SubscriberMail. We developed a patented email solution that was broadly accepted, grew rapidly and became a leading email service provider helping some of the world’s great brands get their email messages out.
We have grown the business diligently by avoiding outside funding or venture capital. Our objectives were simple – hire an outstanding team and provide best-in-class support. We have been approached numerous times by organizations seeking to acquire us, but never found one that we felt shared our values, would support our employees and service our customers as we would, and continue building upon our vision of what SubscriberMail could become. In short, we felt that our paths never crossed with an entity that could create something better than we could on our own.
Last year, our perspective on selling the company changed. We were approached by a long-time customer who shared our values and was looking to strategically enter the email business. I am pleased to announce that on December 31, 2009, we completed the sale of SubscriberMail to this customer, Harland Clarke Corp.
Harland Clarke is the largest business of a $1.7 billion dollar company, Harland Clarke Holdings Corp. Harland Clarke is recognized for being a leading provider of transactional, marketing and security products and services used by nearly 13,000 financial institutions, major investment firms, business-to-business clients, small businesses, and individual consumers. Its sister company, Harland Financial Solutions provides technology and hardware that drives the back-office functions for financial institutions, and also provides leading risk management and compliance solutions. Its other sister company is one most of us are familiar with from our school days: Scantron Corporation. But these days, it’s not just about a paper bubble test waiting for a No. 2 pencil. Scantron provides measurement assessment and analysis for educational and commercial organizations globally.
Bottom line: Harland Clarke and Harland Clarke Holdings Corp. are committed to bringing the SubscriberMail capabilities to their vast client network. They want to invest in our growth to rapidly introduce new products to the marketplace while increasing the services we provide our existing customers.
Harland Clarke’s commitment to their clients is legendary. I will remain with the company as General Manager and Senior Vice President of SubscriberMail, reporting directly to Harland Clarke’s President and COO Dan Singleton. Jan (my business partner and wife) will also remain in a consulting role to help integrate the financial elements of the business.
I want to thank all of you who have contributed to the success we have been honored to experience while owning SubscriberMail. We have won numerous awards, made the Inc. 5000 list for three consecutive years, and built an outstanding team. Most importantly, we have forged relationships with some of the world’s leading marketers who we look forward to working with long into the future.
Tweet This Post
Posted by Nic Winters on January 4th, 2010
Welcome again to The First 2 Weeks, where we analyze 3 competitors’ email marketing strategies when it is most crucial… the opt-in process, welcome message, and first few campaigns as these marketers attempt to establish relationships with subscribers.
For this edition of The First 2 Weeks, we have chosen 3 competitors in the grocery store segment: Jewel-Osco (a Midwest division of Albertson’s), Kroger, and Meijer.
OPT-IN PROCESS
Jewel-Osco features the best positioning of promotion for an opt-in opportunity, as they very clearly display an envelope graphic and the words “Email Signup” in the navigation area at the top of their homepage. It is clear promotions in prime positions such as this that lead to the greatest opt-in activity. Kroger promotes “My Kroger Account” throughout their homepage, however it is only at the bottom left that it clearly spells out that this includes beneficial emails you can opt-in to receive. In comparison to these two competitors, Meijer’s opt-in promotion is fairly hidden. You must scroll down to the bottom right of the page to find a note about “Sales Alerts” that includes a form field for your email address.
Along with having the clearest opt-in promotion, Jewel-Osco also features the best opt-in form. They have done a great job at keeping the information collection simple (only requiring first name and zip code) and they set expectations by listing information about how often you will receive email and displaying a sample newsletter. In addition, they feature a great reminder on their thank you page to add their from address to your address book to help assist with future delivery. The opt-in form for Meijer was also fairly simple, however as you enter in your zip code you must then select the preferred location in your area. Kroger takes a more complex approach, requiring a similar store-lookup via zip code, but also requires a password creation. One great feature within the Kroger opt-in form is that they offer the ability to opt-in for 3 different types of newsletters (and most importantly, none of these options have pre-checked boxes).
WELCOME MESSAGE
Greetings from both Meijer and Kroger arrived within 1-2 minutes beyond opt-in – a very timely response to begin the email relationship, whereas Jewel-Osco failed to send any confirmation or thank you via email.
However, even though Meijer did send a welcome, they aren’t that far ahead by doing so. When you send out a message such as this with no true purpose than to just say thank you… you aren’t exactly setting a great tone regarding the value that can be expected in future emails. They just touch on the fact that if you didn’t set up a password during opt-in a random one was assigned, which can now edit if you wish. They do include a link to shop within the header graphic, however they should address this call-to-action within the body of the email – pushing you to click now and save, etc. One final issue found within this email is their choice of from name – ShopForMore, which leads to subscriber confusion as it doesn’t include any indication that the email was sent from Meijer.
As Kroger utilizes a double opt-in list, their welcome message has a very clear purpose… confirming your opt-in. They have chosen to use a simple text only email design that ensures nothing is lost with images disabled, however no branding has been carried through on this key first communication piece. Kroger does a great job however at including a reminder at the top to add their from address to your address book to ensure future delivery and they also list out all of the email newsletters you requested to receive.
Watch for Part 2 in the coming weeks in which we will evaluate campaigns sent beyond the welcome message and preference editing options.
Tweet This Post
Posted by Dave McCue on January 1st, 2010
The film adaptation of Arthur C. Clarke’s novel 2010 came with the sub-title “The Year We Make Contact.” Human space travel may not have advanced to the extent Clarke imagined when he published the novel in 1982, but the way humans make contact in the real 2010 certainly would have seemed like science fiction all the same.
Remember the home telephone? Remember writing letters, or simply paying bills through the mail? Remember having to actually speak to someone if you wanted to order a pizza? Technological advancements have replaced these things for a large number of people.
To say communication has changed over the first decade of this new millennium would be an enormous understatement and the speed at which it continues to develop is incredible, to say nothing of how widespread that adoption has been. At no time in history has the gap between the tech-savvy and the rest of the population changed so rapidly.
For email marketers, this represents a tremendous challenge. 10 years ago, the general public was not nearly as well-versed in the ways of online communication as they are today. This comfort level has definitely changed the email marketing game—which, depending on your point of view, might not be such a bad thing.
In honor of the New Year, here are ‘10 characteristics of email recipients in 2010. If you’re an email marketer, it’s time to realize that you’re not sending to a bunch of web newbies anymore.
Tweet This Post
Posted by Nic Winters on December 30th, 2009
Welcome again to The First 2 Weeks, where we analyze 3 competitors’ email marketing strategies when it is most crucial… the opt-in process, welcome message, and first few campaigns as these marketers attempt to establish relationships with subscribers.
In our last edition we evaluated the opt-in process and welcome messages for 3 competitors in the steakhouse restaurant chain segment: Lone Star Steakhouse, Outback Steakhouse, and Texas Roadhouse. In part 2 we will now investigate campaigns sent beyond the welcome email and preference editing options.
INITIAL CAMPAIGNS
Both Outback and Texas Roadhouse sent out additional campaigns beyond the welcome email within the first 2 weeks, but there was a vast difference in timing. Texas Roadhouse capitalized on the interest of a new subscriber by sending their welcome email relatively quick and then a second message within the next week. However, Outback (who didn’t send a welcome message) didn’t deploy their first message until day 14. Both competitors are much more aggressive than Lone Star, which didn’t send anything beyond the welcome message within the first 2 weeks – missing out on continuing to grow the solid foundation they established with their welcome offer.
Overall, I found myself fairly unimpressed by Outback’s email, as the design seemed to be missing a clear focal point. In addition to this fault, the message was comprised entirely of images. However, they did employ an interesting alt tag strategy, as the alternate text that displays with images off doesn’t entirely spell out what is contained within that image. Instead they used the 2 alt tags that display as part 1 and part 2 of a sentence that summarizes the overall focus of the message (“Summer is almost over…” and “but there is still time left to try our $9.95 Summer Adventures. Visit us tonight!”)
Texas Roadhouse took a similar approach to email design – all images. However, they utilized alt tags throughout to identify the contents of key items when images are disabled. They also utilized the information gathered during the opt-in process by pulling in your favorite location within the content and the from name along with pulling in your first name as well.
EMAIL PREFERENCE OPTIONS
Outback lacks any preference capabilities – only supplying an unsubscribe link. Lone Star goes just one step further by allowing the subscriber to update their email address on this well-branded webpage. However, they provide only an archaic unsubscribe capability, as their link is just a mail-to link that generates a draft message with no subject line… requiring you to email them to be removed.
Texas Roadhouse provides the most options for subscribers of these 3 competitors by far. They include an “Update your information” link at the base of all messages – taking you to a preferences page similar to that seen during opt-in that allows you to change not only the items you submitted in the past, but also fill in additional fields. They have take a great approach to collecting more optional information on this page, as those who are visiting have already indicated interest in updating settings. These additional fields include items such as how often you visit, marital status, if you have children, favorite time to visit, favorite menu item, and even an area where you can suggest events/offers you would be interested in. All of these items could lead to additional segmented messages with relevant content/offers.
Watch for our next edition in the coming weeks in which we will evaluate the campaigns of 3 new competitors!
Tweet This Post
Posted by Nic Winters on December 7th, 2009
Welcome again to The First 2 Weeks, where we analyze 3 competitors’ email marketing strategies when it is most crucial… the opt-in process, welcome message, and first few campaigns as these marketers attempt to establish relationships with subscribers.
For this edition of The First 2 Weeks, we have chosen 3 competitors in the steakhouse restaurant chain segment: Lone Star Steakhouse, Outback Steakhouse, and Texas Roadhouse.
OPT-IN PROCESS
Outback features the best positioning of promotion for an opt-in opportunity, however the wording is a little unclear – with “KEEP IN TOUCH” as the main call-to-action. Texas Roadhouse has a less obvious location (requiring you to scroll down a little) but also has some unclear promotion – using “Become a Text Roadie VIP” as the phrase to pull you in. Finally, Lone Star also requires a little scrolling but features the clearest language as it directs you to “Join our E-CLUB”.
The opt-in forms for all 3 competitors were fairly similar as they all collected information such as birthday, favorite restaurant location, and zip code (all information that could be very valuable for deploying segmented campaigns). However, Lone Star caused a decent amount of confusion as they made their form appear as if no information was required but if fields were left empty you received error messages.
WELCOME MESSAGE
Greetings from both Lone Star and Texas Roadhouse arrived within 12 and 15 hours beyond opt-in (respectively) – a fairly timely response to begin the email relationship, whereas Outback failed to send any confirmation or thank you via email. Both competitors that sent welcome emails also immediately establish the value behind their email programs by providing coupons for free appetizers. This offer not only is rewarding the subscriber for supplying their email address but also hopefully is driving traffic into their restaurants. However, both restaurants should have promoted this welcome offer on their main page to entice visitors to subscribe.
Both Lone Star and Texas Roadhouse did a decent job of creating email designs loaded with branding and imagery but still utilizing alt tags and text to ensure that all was not lost with images off (LS & TR). Both also took advantage of the information they gathered during the opt-in process by personalizing the emails with the subscriber’s first name and Texas Roadhouse went a step further to list the subscriber’s favorite location at the bottom of the email. Both competitors also wisely included a reminder at the top of their emails to add their from address to your address book to ensure delivery of future messages. Overall – a job well done by both competitors, and certainly as step ahead of Outback… which opted not to deploy a welcome.
Watch for Part 2 in the coming weeks in which we will evaluate campaigns sent beyond the welcome message and preference editing options.
Tweet This Post
