The First 2 Weeks – Outdoor Sporting Goods: Part 2 of 2
Posted by Nic Winters on May 22nd, 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 first edition we evaluated the opt-in process and welcome messages for 3 competitors in the outdoor sporting goods retail segment: Gander Mountain, Cabella’s, and Bass Pro Shop. In part 2 we will now investigate campaigns sent beyond the welcome email and preference editing options.
INITIAL CAMPAIGNS
All three competitors sent out additional campaigns beyond the welcome email within the first 2 weeks. However both Gander Mountain and Cabella’s communicated closer to the opt-in date and more frequently than Bass Pro Shop (as they sent only 1 message and it didn’t arrive until day 14). Both Gander Mountain and Cabella’s sent a total of 3 messages each in this same timeframe, with Gander Mountain sending the email closest to the opt-in date (day 3 as opposed to Cabella’s received on day 8). This quick response by Gander Mountain was sorely needed as they did not send a welcome email – unlike their competitors.
All 3 competitors had a reminder to add them to your address book to ensure the delivery of future messages at the top of each email, while only Gander Mountain and Cabella’s had links to view in a browser. Bass Pro Shops failed to offer this feature even though the one email we received beyond the welcome was image heavy and thus appeared fairly blank with images off.
Although they both offered links to view in a browser, both Gander Mountain and Cabella’s definitely were more in need of this feature than Bass Pro Shops (who made sure to include alt tags for images). Both Gander Mountain and Cabella’s deployed messages that appeared completely barren with images off. Compounding these image issues for Gander Mountain is the fact that they have chosen to send messages with extremely large images that could frustrate recipients with download delays.
Where Gander Mountain has failed to accommodate for images being disabled, they have instead done a great job of promoting their presence in Facebook and Twitter by linking to both at the base of each of the 3 emails we received.
Cabella’s also has a great feature at the base of their emails which displays the email address that is subscribed. This can assist in reducing a subscriber’s confusion in cases of old email addresses that have been forwarded, etc.
EMAIL PREFERENCE OPTIONS
While Gander Mountain and Cabella’s fail to offer any preference center (only providing you with the ability to unsubscribe at the base of each message), Bass Pro Shops excels in this area. At the base of each email, Bass Pro Shops offers a link to “Update your email preferences” which takes you to the options screen that we praised in Part 1 of this evaluation, allowing you to update your selections for local store, 18 different interest categories to customize your emails, and which of the 2 formats of their email you wish to receive – standard and/or retail.
Watch for our next edition in the coming weeks in which we will evaluate the campaigns of 3 new competitors!
