I would have liked to be a baker!
No, no, this is not a joke. I love the smell of fresh bread, the atmosphere of bakeries, the sound of bread being broken, ... But let's be honest, getting up in the middle of the night to go to the kneading trough is not my cup of tea. There's a good chance I'll end up falling asleep between two bags of flour.
No, today, there is much more chance that I will end up working for Boulanger.fr than as an artisan baker. Nevertheless, in a world of marketing that wants to be relational, and of which email is one of the main channels, we have a lot to learn from the baker, and from all small traders (as long as they are real traders).
I will try, even if the story may be shaky, to draw a parallel between the traditional merchant's approach (which is relational in essence) and the implementation of an emailing program.
The acquisition
You move to a new city, or a new town. You wake up after your first night in your new home... and like everyone else, you are hungry. You get dressed and try to find a bakery. Several methods are possible.
The first one, when you leave your house, you go to a shopping street, and you enter the first bakery that appears. This is the search. Whoever is best placed will win the most leads. It's a strategy that requires investment, but it's a winner when done right. There is even a variation, if the bakery is not well located, it will tend to buy advertising space in order to lead you to your destination.
In the second case, you go to the local bistro (let's say you woke up at cocktail hour) and ask the regulars which is the best bakery around. This will be followed by a more or less long discussion about the experiences of each one and often you will be able to get a good idea of the quality of each other. If you are lucky, you may even meet a baker who will tell you about his passion for bread, his latest experiments and who will take you to taste a free sample of his best croissants. Welcome to the wonderful world of inbound marketing.
On the other hand, if you leave your home and you are assailed from all sides by proposals of contests of the style: "Without engagement, the Duchemin bakery proposes to you to gain a frying pan in exchange for your address". Not sure if you will be won over by the baking qualities of the proposal. Especially since your mailbox is likely to be filled with all kinds of flyers.
Welcome
When you walk through the door of your new bakery for the first time (let's say it's an optin), you are not told: "Confirmation: You have entered the Paradise Bakery". No, no, no, we welcome you, we ask you if you are new in the neighborhood, ... we start chatting.
But again, beware, if the baker starts pulling out a form, asking you if you have children, what year you got married, what is your mother's name and where you usually go on vacation ... you will run away and buy your croissants elsewhere.
However, if you ask for a baguette and the baker offers you a bag of chouquettes. Bingo, he is so nice that you will come back. The first impression, the first shopping experience, the first contact is PRIMOR.
It is therefore important to take care of your first relationship with your subscribers, so that they feel confident, so that they want to come back (or open your emails).
Triggers and transactional
When you pass the bakery the next day, or a few days later, what do you expect? That there is a big sign in the window announcing "5 croissants for the price of 4"? Or that the baker on the doorstep says "So, how was that baguette?
A good baker will try to build a relationship with you. By asking you how your experiences were, what services he doesn't offer but that might interest you, ... He also has the habit of introducing you and letting you try his new products/services as quickly as possible.
Personalization and customer knowledge
Your baker has a memory like an elephant. You told him six months ago that your youngest daughter loved violets, and now, when it's time to order her birthday cake, he remembers. This elephant memory allows him to remember all your tastes and to suggest you only the products you like. You enter his store on a Sunday morning, he is already preparing the 2 baguettes and 6 croissants you were going to ask for.
One Sunday, two weeks ago, to thank you for your loyalty, he even went so far as to deliver your 2 baguettes and their 6 croissants to your home, free of charge. Your baker is a golden man.
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My baker can also be mobile
The mobile baker! Yes, your baker can also adapt to mobile situations. Not only can he come to your home, but he has also invested in a van to go around the small villages in the area and to go to the train station at 6pm when it is busy. This allows him to reach a new public, which likes to have all the services at its disposal, wherever it is.
It's an investment of course, but you have to know how to adapt, ... otherwise it's a disaster.
The inactive
Even with all the efforts he makes, your baker loses customers from time to time. But that's not why he'll give up. Without bothering them, if he sees them on the street, he will say "Hey, hello, we haven't seen you for a while! The objective is of course to understand more than to sell. An approach that will be seen in any case more positively than a simple "So that you come back, I offer you 2 cents 40 on your next purchase".
No, no, no, the baker will be smarter than that, he will point out one of his weaknesses and assure you that it is solved, while reminding you of the good times we had together.
The numbers
Here are some figures that will help you understand the different points we have seen previously:
Acquisition
34% of all leads generated in 2013 came from inbound marketing techniques - HubSpot, State of Inbound Marketing Report, 2013
Welcome
In 2008, 40% of brands sent a welcome message to their subscribers. Today, 80% of brands send this type of message. - ReturnPath, The Email Subscriber Experience 2008-2013, 2013
Trigger and transactional
64% of Internet users find Trigger Marketing messages more interesting (Marketing Sherpa's Email Marketing Benchmark Survey, 2010)
Personalization and customer knowledge
Email marketers estimate that 30% of their revenue comes from targeting to specific segments. - DMA, National Client Email Report, 2013
Personalized promotional emails in 2013 had a 26% higher open rate and a 41% higher click-through rate than non-personalized emails. - Experian, Email Market Study, 2014)
The mobile
51% of emails are opened on mobile - Litmus, Email Client Market Share: Where People Opened in 2013, 2014
72% of smartphone owners check their email every day - SNCD, Mobile Marketing Attitude 2013
The inactive
It's not a statistic, but working on your inactive subscribers is the best way to improve your deliverability.
Conclusions: The baker is your emailing program
There is no reason why you can't apply good old-fashioned marketing recipes in your email marketing program. Obviously, every business is different, but all of you offer products and services to customers. So you need to :
- Put the user at the center of your thinking.
- Build a relationship of trust.
- Keep your promises (and post them clearly).
- Do not look like a carpet salesman.
The presentation
This article is taken from a presentation we had the opportunity to give at the E-Commerce Day Metz 2014.
[slideshare id=32727443&doc=emailing-ecommerce-metz-2014-140325150408-phpapp02]
One Response
I will look at my baker differently now 🙂 bravo for this article