What else could Apple be doing in their emails?

As a summary to my review of Apple’s email marketing, there is really only one thing to look at: what else should Apple be doing with their email communications? Overall, like everything Apple does, it works. It is clean, simple and effective.

There really aren’t too many other things they should be doing. I have thought of three things they could be doing more of:

1. Bundling: Apple have got their product emails sorted, they are clean and very focused, but there is a huge opportunity for bundling. They have started this with the latest uni newsletter. However, they can be doing this with so much more.
2. Asking questions: Apple have never sent me a survey or asked me how I want to interact with them. I’m getting a combination of messages: software, product and event. I’m happy to receive all types, but they are all dry messages. I want something more. More content or more relevance to help me expand my knowledge.
3. Tailor content: They know what products I have, but the messaging isn’t relevant to this, ie upgrade messaging rather than buy. Where is the accessories push or up-sell in all of these emails?

The common theme throughout these additions is the data smarts and intelligence. There really aren’t many companies getting that right within this space. Victoria Secret‘s and the other US retailers (Bluefly, GAP) are really pioneering the way. They are able to determine your site activity and marry it back to your data and actions, ie if you leave something in the shopping cart on their site, you get an email letting you know it is still there for a limited time.

Most companies think a blanket email (one email for all customers) is enough. With email being so cheap it means you can test things and really understand what works for consumers. The ideal would be to use email as a test bed before any of the above the line communications goes out. Similar to search, it gives you the opportunity to test real-time what is working with your customers before rolling it out with a bigger budget.

Due to the financial opportunity, I wonder if companies will start to realise this and place more importance on communicating to the customers they already have and using them as a test case before spending millions and millions of dollars on media and creative.

——————————————————–

RELATED POSTS:

• Overview of Apples email marketing
• What are the common elements in Apple’s emails?
• Why does everyone love Apple’s newsletters?
• How many emails is too many? Qantas Frequent Flyer, Air NZ and Apple
• What questions to ask consumers to tailor email communications?
• What are email best practices?
• How to ensure subscribers see HTML emails?
• What & when retailers send emails? Tesco, Coles & ALDI
• Coles Supermarket – great email communications & templates

Why does everyone love Apple’s newsletters?

Whenever we ask a client for a competitor/company who is doing email marketing well or someone they aspire to be like, most answer with Apple. Not sure if this is because most companies what to be like Apple or whether they really are the cutting edge of email marketing. Keep reading if you want to know more.

The common reasons why Apple are perceived to be doing emails well are:

1. Design: a combination of beautiful imagery and a lot of white space
2. Content: it is always relevant to the consumer, single minded (about one product or event) and short
3. Exclusive: you feel like you are part of the Apple club as soon as you receive anything

Apple have a fluid approach to sending emails and their frequency. There is no rigid structure or routine to their sends, ie there isn’t a monthly newsletter about a collection of products. Their approach is to send an email focusing on one product, highlighting the features of that product with strong calls to action. They may send between 3 – 4 emails in a month depending on their NPD cycle.

Apple Emails - 15 January - 20 April 2009

A summary of the number of emails sent:

• January: 3 emails (2 x software, 1 x event: Valentines)
• February: 1 email (1 x product)
• March: 4 emails (3 x product, 1 x event: uni)

What do Apple do well?

• Frequency: Apple don’t have a set frequency of communications. When they have something of interest they send it out, they don’t wait to fill a monthly newsletter.
• Focus: the emails are focused on one product or event. They don’t try to include too many products into the email or tell the consumer too much. There is a focus on providing enough information about a product and then pushing consumers through to the website to find out more.
• Strong CTA: at the bottom of every email there are strong calls to action that are consistent across all areas (see screen shots below). There are two elements: shop online and come in store.
• Design: all emails have been designed so that all the information is displayed on screen if a user has opened the email. A post on this is in progress and will be live in the next few days.
• Preview: there is enough information displayed in the preview window to encourage a user to open the email. Most emails have a headline and a strong email to encourage this. A post on this is in progress and will be live in the next few days.

STRONG CTA

Apple Call to Action - 31st December email

Apple iMac Call to Action - product email

Apple iPod Call to Action - product email

Apple MacBook Call to Action - product email

Apple MacMini Call to Action - product email

COMMON ELEMENTS

There are several commen elements within these calls to action:

• Two boxes: there are always two boxes. One promoting online shopping and the other promoting coming in store. Both pushing the consumer to make a purchase
• Imagery: whether it is human or iconic, there is some consistency to the imagery used throughout the calls to action. It looks as if Apple have a standard way of using the in store ‘Specialist’, far right. The first example above was used in one of the product bundling emails.
• Consistency: every email is pushing these two calls to action. The copy may change, but they are really saying the same thing just making it relevant for the product they are promoting.

—————————————

LEARNINGS

There are three key learnings that companies can take from Apple:

• Be focused: don’t try to put everything in one email. If there isn’t a topic/theme to hold all products together it isn’t worth forcing it. Be single minded and manage content around a topic/theme. If something doesn’t work this month, try it again next month.
• Understand your audience: don’t box yourself in to sending a monthly email, know what products your customers have and talk to them personally. Use them to gauge how often they want to receive communications from them and get their feedback into what they actually want to receive.
• Set rules: rather than setting rules based on frequency, set them based on content and themes. It isn’t essential to send a monthly newsletter, but it is to communicate regularly. What are your rules around communication?

—————————————–

RELATED EMAIL POSTS

• How many emails is too many? Qantas Frequent Flyer, Air NZ and Apple
• What questions to ask consumers to tailor email communications?
• What are email best practices?
• How to ensure subscribers see HTML emails?
• What & when retailers send emails? Tesco, Coles & ALDI
• Coles Supermarket – great email communications & templates