Bryan Landaburu (aka Reno Bryan, Willie Vega, and Fuze) | Dont call me a blogger

Delta and American Airlines continue to underwhelm

Offers that aren't offers. Websites that aren't up to par with hobbyist sites. Charges for your luggage, food, plane detail service fees, etc. All crappy ways to make more money and all reasons that some of Americas largest airlines, in my opinion, are doomed. How long until they start passing the hat through the cabin to collect for de-icing? What about a tip jar outside the cockpit door with a sign that says something clever like, "Support Cockpit Intelligence" or "This shit ain't gonna fly itself". Frankly, it all sucks because it just makes getting places more challenging, and it doesn't need to be this way.

Outside of the aforementioned, the inspiration for this post (and another reason i think they will continue to circle the drain) is their unintelligent electronic marketing. For instance, I have an upcoming business trip to Miami next month. I have a couple fare trackers watching flight segments i like. Today, i got an offer for Florida flight sale. While I THOUGHT maybe it was because i told Delta to watch those flight segments for me, I soon realized on the contrary, it was pure coincidence. I know that because this message and the offer are irrelevant.

Ex. My email

When i clicked through on the offer to look at flights, this was the search result:

Now, Delta knows where i travel to, how often, that my travel is primarily for business, that i pay with a business platinum card (theirs), that i am a registered traveler, and that i have a 6 figure mileage balance. So, if they know all this information, why then, would they send me an offer that has 30 flight options, all with 2 or more stops across the country. Delta, that offer is not for me. That offer is for someone who opted to fly vs take the Greyhound. I dont want to just "get there" I want to get there FAST, and if i can get a deal, so be it.

HEY DELTA: bouncing human bodies through multiple airports and onto segments you cant sell to make travel an all day/night process is NOT A SPECIAL OFFER, its a prison sentence.

- bryan landaburu, passenger

On that topic, American Airlines also has its share of issues. Try to get to NYC from RNO without getting in a puddle jumper at some point. Also, try to navigate their absolutely atrocious website:

Their website and its horrible user interface are so bad that people volunteer to redesign it, FOR FREE. Dustin Curtis, one amazing designer, wrote this post based on his letter to AA after he too was sickened by Americas largest airline company having such a crappy web presence. Here is his redesign...

I guess this post is more of a rant than anything. I get frustrated when companies who have access to hoards of valuable information that they have either collected because you are a loyal customer, or that they have specifically asked you for in the past, don't do anything relevant with that information. Small marketers do a better job than the big guys. If companies like Sojern who don't even know me, can discern enough about me to serve me relevant content throughout my checkin and boarding pass printing processes, why then cant the actual airlines send me email offers that they know I would have a high probability of accepting?

In contrast to the two examples above, new comers Virgin America and JetBlue buck these trends. And then there is the beloved price-performer Southwest, with its fantastic websites, a great social media strategy, low fares, no frills airline with serious business plans and a great sense of humor. They don't charge for bags, changes, etc, and since 1967, they have taken marketing very seriously. Here is their latest email offer from this week. In this email they did their best with what they know about me:

So i clicked through as they asked me to, and it brought me to a screen displaying what they know about me and allowed me to provide additional information on my preferences:

With this information updated, I GUARANTEE that they will send me relevant emails for the destinations and interests I have, taking into account my mileage points, status, frequent trips, etc. That's how it is supposed to be. I call that FULL SERVICE and that's just one reason i am loyal to them.

Much like everything in society we are going to see a trend to move to high-end/high-service and super-value for less service. The middle ground, mediocrity, will be extinguished and vanish, thankfully. Give me premium service and i will pay for it. Present me a relevant value, don't insult me in the process, dont try to trick me (you scalawags), and my bargain hunter side will take it. Know who the hell i am, and i will reward you with my patronage, hard, hard earned monies, and loyalty. I cannot be alone in this thought and purchase process.

Anyway, I have taken quite a break from my blog. Primarily because i am busy and secondarily because i haven't had the energy. Hopefully i can get back into it here. We'll see.

Till then...happy trails, and happy holidays.

B

Now here's a novel concept, anyone remember Sears LAYAWAY?

Back in the 70's I used to look through the JC Penny, Spiegel, Sears, etc, catalogs about this time and pick out the hero toy of the season.  To afford said toy for my brother and I my not-rich parents would use something called LAYAWAY to acquire the toy for us before Santa Day.  For those of you that haven't ever heard of this, its a concept where you actually pay for something BEFORE you take it from the store. This little known concept went the way of the dodo during the decades of decadence that happened from the 90's to present. Credit cards and home equity made Christmas' quite bright all over the US in the last decade, but here we sit all broken hearted and this year retail will be a different scene.  To address this, while JT was bringin sexy back, Sears is bringin Layaway back:

Is this a sign of true change? Why do i comment on Sears email so much?  I dont know the answer of either, i just know that this is an email you would have never seen 2 years ago.

Lemme put a lil sumthin' on it...

BL

Crutchfield.com Customer Reassurance - get ready for more of this

I have long been a fan of Crutchfield.com and we have admittedly "borrowed" from their research and concepts for some of our own ecommerce clients projects (don't act like you've never done it). They are true innovators, the best of the best customer service wise, best catalog, best marketers, best photos, best descriptions, best content overall. Not however, the best prices but I digress.  They kick ass.  Today, in kickass fashion the CEO, Bill Crutchfield (go figure) sent out an email to all his customers that is preemptive and simply awesome as we approach the holidays.  It's also a nice "suckit" to their competitors in consumer electronics online retail. Wanna see it, here ya go...

There is one particularly notable paragraph that demonstrates this CEO's smarts and the company's ability to see past the end of their damn noses:

"For many years, I have been concerned about the growing credit bubble. It was obvious to me that it was unsustainable and that an inevitable day of reckoning would come. To protect our customers, our employees, and my family from the disastrous consequences of a financial meltdown, I positioned Crutchfield to withstand the worst. We became very frugal with how we spent money. We did not pay outlandish executive salaries and bonuses. We did not build fancy facilities. We did not expand our retail store operations. And we did not buy other companies. Instead, we worked extremely hard to improve how we serve our customers, while we managed every aspect of our business with excellence. Furthermore, we paid off all of our debt and accumulated cash reserves."

Hot damn! Makes me wanna buy a big screen for the den!  Seriously though, get ready for more of this from responsible and prepared companies as doom & gloom runs rampant throughout online commerce this holiday season.  Crutchfield is a company that will weather the storm and this sincere, and this authentic letter has me evangelizing for them and committed to them as a company.

Nice job Bill.  I hope someone on your PR team sees this (because I actually do matter, or so my mom says).

Happy FriDEE!

Bryan

Bad Email Marketing - Sears

Wow, I was blessed to be on the opt-in list of Sears, a small chicago-based retailer, who sent out a lovely pair of emails yesterday.  I thought I would pass this along in my 2008 series of bad email crap because what they did was really lame for a company that mighty.

Here is message 1:

and here is message 2 that followed a couple hours later:

Thats just awesome that a giant company fires off a we f'd up email to probably 250,000-500,000 folks. Just goes to show you that its not small companies and their associated agencies that screw up.  The big guys eat poo-poo too. My hunch is that there are probably job openings for an e-mail campaign manager and proofer up at Sears marketing HQ.  Hmmm...I wonder what it pays.

BL

More crappy emails: RealEstateProNews.com Advocates Firing Webmasters

From the world of crappy email, rises a new contender:  RealEstateProNews.com who in this crappy email suggests you "fire your webmasters".  Whoever sent this email for them should be fired:

Why you ask?

• They start with an accusational headline, but cant pay it off
• Images wont render in Outlook 2003 or 2007 (used by ohhh, most business users)
• No way to view online
• No text equivalent of the offer or the company - who knows who its from
• Even the dead images ARENT CLICKABLE

I assume this message is for a seminar of sorts where they are going to spew genius of template based web products and their "email systems" but who knows.  Now, RealEstateProNews, aka MortgageTrends, aka Verticalemail, aka who knows what else, is a typical ambiguous shell company that sells "services" to [unsuspecting] real estate agents. As an email provider, verticalemail.com (a namesake rip rip off of VerticalResponse) has shown that they aint got it together so, shame on them. Here is how they send such dynamic/compelling emails:

"This is accomplished utilizing our Patent-Pending    Database-Controlled Broadcast Email System developed specifically for    the commercial real estate industry" - taken from their website

Make any sense? No. I am not saying this company is unethical, or illegitimate, I am simply commenting on this email that I took some offense to.  The links to their websites should be a fair trade for this critique from an opted-in subscriber. Till RealEstateProNews/Verticalemail gets their shyte together, may want to think about firing them.

Enjoy.

BL

More Email Superbad - EDAWN

Sorry I have to be the police on this but another poorly crafted email hit my inbox today, this time from my friends at EDAWN.  Here are some issues:

• Message renders illegible in Outlook2007, no option to view online.
• No identity/branding/logo that shows who this is from or what it's about.
• My sweet hot-pink box below represents what the typical "preview" area is in most mail clients.  As you can see in this case, that entire area is blank.

I dont mean to bash EDAWN, we are members so I am very receptive to, and interested in all their emails and events.  This series is a mess.

I get off on these rants sometimes because things come in waves.  Last year it was mobile phones, this year so far, email.  Alas.

Hopefully EDAWN will get it sorted out and then i can give them some McLovin.

BL

Candidate for worst practice email from MediaBistro

Yes, MediaBistro, real advertising folks, who usually say they want ads like this...

...because nobody reads. Today, sent one of the worst emails I have seen in a while. Here is their RevolvingDoor newsletter for March, in all its glory:

It almost looks like Teddy KGB sent this straight from the Kremlin.  MediaBistro really must GYST on these emails.  I am actually interested in MediaBistro info, and their events, but who, including myself would take the time to digest this fatty meal?  Always lessons to be learned, even with the pros.

BL

Even self proclaimed genius' send SPAM

Be careful who you send messages to.  Today i received this SPAM from some e-mail marketing experts at ProspectDB who led their SPAM with the bold intro:

Email marketing is a powerful and cost effective...
...if done correctly. 

Here is their message in tact:

1. Addressed to "Hello"
2. I did not opt-into their list
3. Even if I did somehow opt-in to their list, there is no way to tell how, when, and where
4. Their opt-out procedure sucks (who knows, it may work but i frankly don't trust clicking links that have a series of hieroglyphic characters in them)
5. Using "NOREPLY" is a great way to get responses to your offer
6. Using a from address thats a 3rd party (in this case webmailcurrier.com) is no a great way to build trust
7. No logo, branding, or anything explaining who they are
8. I will give them 5points of credit for having a valid email address, address, and toll free number - those indeed ARE best practices
9. no way to report this as SPAM
10. Other than that, nothing in this message is representative of "best practice e-mail marketing"
11. they did toss in this disclaimer at the bottom so i think i am breaking their rules (but since i didnt ask for their damn message, and since I am not "named above", I am justifying my critique with a link to their website which i think is fair:
    CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE: The information contained in this e-mail transmission is intended only for use of the individual or entity named above. This e-mail transmission, and any documents, files, previous e-mail transmissions or other information attached to it, may contain confidential information that is legally privileged. If you are not the intended recipient of this e-mail transmission, or the employee or agent responsible for delivering it to the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any disclosure, dissemination, distribution, copying or other use of this transmission or any of the information contained in or attached to it is strictly prohibited. If you have received this e-mail transmission in error, please immediately notify us by return e-mail transmission or by telephone at the number above or at the address above, and destroy the original e-mail transmission and its attachments without reading or saving it in any manner. Thank you.
12. AS A NOTE: they can "avoid spam catches" by NOT SENDING SPAM AT ALL!

Now, I must admit that I am somewhat curious to bite on their offer to see what they speak of in their: "Top 10 Keys to Successful Email Campaigns". But, something tells me I may get more emails with the subject: "increase l0ad v0lume" or "mak3 her happy th1s H0l1daY s3ason".  Sorry, I wont be able to provide a review on their 10-best for you this Christmas.

Anyway, if I (or any of our clients) sent them a message this bad, I would welcome a similar criticism.  GYST Prospect DB - you should be ashamed of yourselves.

(By the way, Fuze actually does understand CAN-SPAM compliance, double OPT-IN, and various other tactics to make your emails better than this one.  Give us a ring-a-ling if you want to chat it up.)

WBV

Email Creative for Know-it-alls [like me]

I feel [very occasional] guilt from time to time that this blog is all about rants and opinion and not enough about what we do as a business.  So, here is a post that dispels said myth.

As I was clearing out my ridiculous inbox I came across a few bullets in a note from Responsys that I thought would be great to pass along to our email marketing clients, and now here as well.  The article discussed some of the most valuable things to think about when crafting messages.  Often conversations focus on how an email will look best if designed this way versus that way. The biggest lesson we as professionals need to embrace is that with email we must learn to design for the worst case, not the best case. Otherwise, it is a simple case of resistance to the facts — facts that have been validated time and time again through comprehensive testing across the industry. I have boiled down a few bullets from the article and added my own input below for consideration.

Several critical points your creative team must keep in mind when designing E-Mails:

• Best practices are best practices for a reason. If Outlook 2007 does not render background images, then why risk the integrity of the design and message by including them just because one email client will? Unless it will work in 99.9% of environments, it is not a best practice and should generally be avoided.
• Print is not the same as email. How the recipient will interact with it and read it will be very different. Emails are rarely viewed in their entirety. You have to be able to tell your story within consolidated chunks that are clear, easily scanned, and actionable. Emails are read top to bottom and left to right. Placing the headline at the bottom of the email is not going to work as the email recipient is not likely to be motivated to scroll down. You have only a few seconds to grab their attention — don't waste it making them search for the primary points and call to action.
• The way you would code a web page is not the same way you code an email. You must adjust your design to accommodate: no background images, no Flash, no forms, no Java script, no CSS, no image maps... the list goes on and on. The technology for a web page may be 2007, but the email has to be 1997.
• An email is never the destination. It serves as a stepping stone to motivate email recipients to take an action to a web page. If the email is not designed with this in mind, then the point of sending an email is being missed (and money is being wasted). Who cares what the open rates and click-through rates are if they are not converting! Clicks don't pay salaries.
• All email messages should have a relevant web landing page.  You cant say everything in the body of an email - and your home page is not a "landing page".  Landing someone on your home page after they agree to take the click action in an email is purposely putting a seek-and-find mission in front of them.  Now they have to remember how they got there, and what they were responding to.  Landing page creative should be an extension of the email campaign - but different than a traditional web page on your site.  In all cases, the goal is: get to the point, present the offer, tell me take it or leave it, dons.  Don't waste anyone's time.  Readers all appreciate that (watch for more articles on landing pages to come).

It is easy for us all to forget these simple steps when we craft and push our messages so hopefully these tips help you in your strategy and delivery.  Remember, if your messages have no point, or the recipient cannot read your email, whether because the primary content is hidden below the fold or because it is coded in a way that will not render correctly, they are not likely to take an action now, and are even less likely the next time around.

Hope you found this helpful.  I will try to post these sort of things more often.

WBV

The State of Email Marketing from Ad:Tech San Francisco 2007

My takeaway from a session on Email Marketing:

Despite all the rumors: Email marketing isn't dead. [makes me happy since we have a burgeoning practice around email marketing]

In spite of all the woes of SPAM filters, stuffed inboxes, and inundation with information, email is still a valuable component in the marketing quiver.  Email alone is not as powerful as the mix of components such as: landing pages, conversion pages, subscription pages, etc.  Best practices in email assume the same things any of your marketing components...OPTIMIZATION is key. 

Firing into the abyss with any single component will always have limited success.  The more consistent messages, delivered in the most relevant and frequent means that match your target, will produce the best results (novel idea, i know.).

Here are a few bullets on the state of email from the Ad:Tech San Francisco floor:

• VALIDATED SENDERS - Gaining strength but still not main stream  List hygiene and using a good email provider can greatly help with your deliverability and consumer trust
• Deliverability should be in the high-90% range
• Images are being turned off by default for many ISPs and Outlook 2007.  Need to make messages pretty for text as well.  Also need to account for that fact that your open rates will be lower simply because images are set to off.
• Optimize subscription management landing page.
• Co-reg is still good
• Frequency is dependent on audience...only message as you need to.
• most are doing email - landing - conversion
• Most all have an agency handling creative and message craft, then distribution is internal, tracking internal
• All are re-engaging with their aging lists
• product specials work less than good information
• Headcount in email is typically 1-3 internal, 3-5 external

Of course it is always reassuring to know that Fuze's MessgeCenter systems are still state of the art in terms of data collection, message craft, and statistical analysis.  Do you use them?  You really should.  Call us!

WBV

(another treo post - sorry for the typos)