I know that I tend to very (overly?) critical of email marketing campaigns. Can you really blame me, though? It is my job.
But…every so often, I get an email that rocks my world. An email that nails it. An email that practices what all of us crazy, passionate email marketers (you know who you are) preach.
Buckle up.
Sidestep emailed me on October 21st to tell me that they were breaking off our email relationship. As you can see with the 2 screenshots of the email below - images off (left), images on (right), they got it right on many levels.
Reviewing from the top…
- From Name: SideStep. Seems obvious as that’s who sent it, right? Some companies miss on this one by sending it from a human…a person that nobody knows and can’t identify with.
- Subject Line: “Goodbye from SideStep.” Killer. I opened immediately.
- Brevity: Email is concise, direct, to the point. Simple text with one (relevant) image.
- Clear Call to Action: Actionable item is very straightforward - do nothing or unsubscribe.
- Rendering: Looks nice with both images on and off.
- Unsubscribes: Several (3) opportunities to unsubscribe - link in copy, button (viewable with images on), link in footer.
- Copy: Quirky, but very consistent with SideStep culture. Very much as I would have predicted.
Great stuff, huh?
However, I wouldn’t be doing my job if I didn’t have at least one suggestion for SideStep. So, here it goes. The email states that if I do nothing, since I’ve “opened the email,” they will continue to send me emails. Unfortunately, this statement is not entirely true. As many have blogged about in the past, an “open” is not really an open. Opens are recorded only if images are enabled. SideStep’s wonderful design of their email for images off can actual hurt them. Because this email tells me everything I need to know before enabling images, I don’t really have any reason to turn them on. If I don’t turn on images, I’ve actually not really “opened” the email. Therefore, “doing nothing” will, in reality, mean that I will not continue to receive email from SideStep.
My recommendation to SideStep would be to include some language encouraging subscribers to enable/turn on images OR actively reconfirm their interest (”Continue my email subscription”).
While this may seem like a minor point, it is definitely important and worth noting. I’ll let it slide - for now.
DJ Waldow
Director of Best Practices and Deliverability at Bronto
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{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }
I think you analysis of “do nothing” is incorrect. I don’t think is “We’ll keep you on the list if you open.” I think it more of an “We’re going to keep you on the list unless you actively unsubscribe”
DJ,
If there are two choices, stay on the list or don’t stay on the list and the “break up” is initiated by SideStep, it makes much more sense for them to ask for their subscribers to affirm the subscription.
There were three opportunities in this message for a subscriber to opt-out. How much better would it be if there three opportunities for the subscriber to confirm they want to stay on SideStep’s list? A lot better, if you ask me.
By a simple copy change, SideStep could have said, “If you do nothing you will be unsubscribed” And give a do nothing time limit - 15 or 30 days. Of course there is an unsubscribe link in the footer so if someone really, really wanted to unsubscribe they would have the option to do so immediately.
I think it would be prudent half way through that self-imposed time period to send a reminder message to everyone who has not yet opened the message. After the time period has passed, those who have done nothing, including open the message should be opted- out.
This would provide SideStep with a much more engaged list. Because their subscribers actively chose to stay on the list.
SideStep made a valiant effort, but in my opinion they are going about this from the wrong direction.
Have to agree w/Maddy - the better approach would be to remove non-clickers.
That said, this is way beyond what a lot of email marketers do, and is a (side)step in the right direction.
@jonathan
Regarding your comment….
I think you analysis of “do nothing” is incorrect. I don’t think is “We’ll keep you on the list if you open.” I think it more of an “We’re going to keep you on the list unless you actively unsubscribe”
The copy says very clearly…
1. Do nothing! Now that you’ve opened this e-mail, we will continue to send you travel deals hand-picked by our editors.
However, maybe we are arguing semantics and not intent.
Either way, I think @maddyhubba’s analysis is an interesting one. On many levels, what she is suggesting is a “better” approach. Asking your subscribers to take an action to re-engage is one way to go. I’d caution, however, that using this method will result in a big-time cleaning of your list. You will certainly get those subscribers who are truly engaged, but be ready for your list to shrink. Not saying this is necessarily a bad thing…just have to understand the consequences of your actions.
Thanks to all for comments. Great discussion.
dj
I think the segmentation is the key here (and the key to why the approach Maddy suggests is a better one).
If this were going to everyone or to a relatively untargeted group, then I’d be worried about the list shrinkage you mention, DJ.
But if you’re only communicating with people who have really disengaged (haven’t interacted with any of your emails in a long enough time), then who are you losing if your list shrinks? As far as I’m concerned, anyone who doesn’t respond was already as good as gone anyway.
Cool discussion, thanks for starting it.
this should be treated the same as an opt-in message, requiring a click-through to remain subscribed
@Justin
I agree with your comment on “list shrinkage.” Very good point. My overall thoughts are to think before you make decisions…evaluate what the potential consequences could be.
dj
Great post and comments! I think Jonathan picked up on the subtle logic from them (he does represent Direct-Logic, after all). Most likely they didn’t unsubscribe anyone from their list unless they actively clicked the unsubscribe button.
They might be a little misleading when they say, “since you opened this email, we’ll keep you on the list” when they could have said, “unless you click unsubscribe, we’ll keep you on this list.”
That being said, the email is still pretty genius. Thanks for letting us know about it!
@Matt -
Thanks for the positive feedback. Much appreciated. I agree that they most likely did not unsub anyone unless they clicked the unsub button, but as you point out…it is a bit misleading. Why not be very clear?
Overall…they rocked it.
dj