You Had Me At ‘Welcome’…
Posted by George Palatine on June 5th, 2009
I have been receiving the Scotts enewsletter (monthly) for several years now. I enjoy the lawn and garden tips (especially when they make my yard look better than my neighbor’s) and frequently use the coupons to purchase their products. I also think they do a nice job in regionalizing /personalizing the newsletter content based on where I live and my lawn type.
So in April when they promoted a new rewards/sweepstakes program called Scotts Insider featuring additional tips, how-to videos, more coupons and chances to win prizes, I signed-up. They promptly sent me a plain but nice looking welcome message (below) and that is the last I ever heard from them.
After re-reading the welcome message 6 weeks later I realized that they had instructed me to visit this special insider micro-site (daily) to earn points and be eligible for the prizes. While I enjoy maintaining a nice lawn and always use the Scotts line of products, it is not exactly something I think about everyday. I wonder how many people like me signed-up and simply forgot about this program? This could have been a great opportunity to continue to engage with me (via email) to support this promotion.
For example; Send me…
- a program reminder, “Hey you singed up for this program and never came back”
- a weekly recap of my accrued points and maybe an email-only special incentive to earn more.
- a recap of the weekly/monthly prize winners (so I can see if my neighbor won something)
- a promotion of this week’s content and how-to tips
- something, anything even a brief survey to try and reengage me in the program
- even if the program was canceled, tell me so.
Perhaps the lesson learned here is to not assume your program/promotion will remain top of mind for your audience, regardless of how great you (or they) think the program is. Be sure to build in a supporting communications plan including a reengagement process for people you may have lost along the way.
