Want to get your customer’s attention? Send them a letter in the mail. This worked for Audible who recently sent me a physical letter in the good old US Postal mail to let me know that I could sign up for their email updates.
Now you might think that’s inefficient, but let’s break it down.
Obviously, they want my permission to send me email updates. This is a good thing because, I know they already have my email address. I entered it myself. They are respecting my preferences by not sending me unwanted emails. That’s not just a spam law thing, that’s also a good business to consumer relationship thing.
If they violate that trust that consumers have become so sensitive to, then they would lose me as a customer almost instantly. But, if they can get me to agree to receive emails then Audible can potentially offer me more products, encourage the use of my already purchased credits, and cross promote other offers. They can also communicate with me more cheaply and personalize their communications more closely to my personal preferences, if only I’ll agree to receive emails.
Since they can’t contact me by email to get me to sign up, they sent me a letter written from the perspective of Wanda Urena, the Member Emails Manager. This was a nice touch. Every concern or cost saving suggestion is writtern in the first person of Wanda so that the reader can identify with Wanda and feel like she understand how they feel as well. The letter is really very well written.
In the letter they listed out the benefits to me for being on the mailing list and they empathized with me about concerns over receiving to many emails and protecting my privacy from third parties. This was a nice touch because it told me they considered the conversation that might be going on in their customer’s head. They needed to overcome any objections I might have to their request. Directly addressing concerns and stating concrete solutions is a great way to do just that.
They even offered me a free audio credit for agreeing to receive emails. The offer even had a dated time limit on it to create a sense of urgency. Offering a limited time insentive for taking action is a great way to get someone to take action. If you can offer something that has a perceived value to the customer, but doesn’t cost you anything, even better.
They could have just slapped a banner up on the Audible site, or presented me with a splash screen inside my account to prompt me to sign up. These notices would have cost very little compared to the time and material costs that went into producing and mailing an actual letter. That in itself gives it a personal feel.
Overall, I am impressed with the campaign, and yes I will agree to receive emails. As an Audible customer a free audio credit means $14.95 to me, which really means an audio book worth 6 to 8 hours of learning or entertainment time. If all I have to do is let the company market to me via email to get that value, then it’s simple math. They already proved they could do it in a letter, why not an email?
Charles McKeever
OpenSourceMarketer.com
You have done such a great job of explaining how direct mail can be used to reach out to prospective and existing customers instead of waiting for them to search for you on their own. I also like that you mention the personal feel of a letter. The continued patronage of their customers will more than cover the cost of the mail campaign.
Thank you. I so totally agree about the value outweighing the cost. There used to be a time when letters were common and junk mail was small. Then there was an explosion of junk mail. Then letters became electronic and junk mail became spam. Now with some of the postal noise gone and companies learning that they have to value their customers, maybe letters will return as a positive way to communicate and foster relationships. It certainly paid off for Audible in this case, and I think it will continue to pay off in the future.
I’m glad you liked it, but I was annoyed enough by this mailing to write to Audible to complain:
I’m writing to let you know how frustrated and annoyed I was that, because I opted out of receiving junk emails from Audible, I was targeted to receive a piece of junk real mail from the manager of member emails Wanda Urena. I did not agree to receive junk mail by post any more than I did by email, and this mailing to my billing address inconvenienced my mother, who thought it might be important and forwarded it to my residence. Ms. Urena’s letter, which asks me to agree to receive bulk commercial mailings from Audible in exchange for a listener credit, also tells me that people who agree to receive those emails are getting better prices than I am on their audible content through email-only sales. This is something I already know from your website, and the news did not irritate me any less for having also come by post. I’m an excellent customer for you guys. I’d like to think that you would be willing to give me the best deal possible and as many credits as possible whether I agree to receive bulk commercial email (and contrary to her claims, what Ms. Urena describes IS spam) or not. Ms. Urena’s ill-considered mailing gives me no confidence whatsoever in the efficacy of her “monitoring the number of emails members receive” or her ability to determine what email content will be “exciting” to me. Please keep me off of your bulk email list, and never send a piece of mail like this to my billing or any other address ever again.
Amanda,
I’m sorry to hear that this mailing upset you. I guess that highlights the fact that not everyone will appreciate the marketing efforts of a company, no matter how creative they try to be.
I would interested to know if Audible’s marketing campaign will garner them more complaints than positive responses, or vice versa. You make a valid point in saying that you don’t want physical mail any more than you want email. I wonder how many other people feel the same way.
From a strictly technical position, it’s important to remember that marketers are trying to emphasize the conversation that is already happening in the mind of their market. So, for instance, if I think reading will make me smarter, then when selling me a book the marketer would want to emphasize how many university professors have read xyz book.
So, with that in mind, we must assume that Audible thinks it’s customers perceive their world to be what is written in the letter and that it would be okay for Audible to contact them via regular mail.
Now, that last piece might be wishful thinking on their part, and your comments show that at least one person didn’t like the mailing. But, overall I would venture to say that the marketing team at Audible believes what was written in the letter and wanted to appeal to the customer in a way they would best receive the information.
The real question is, can a company follow through on the promises that they make in such a campaign. It would be one thing if the company sent you physical mail all the time in place of email. Credit card companies do it all the time and most people hate it. But, if a company sends a one time mailer to appeal to a customer to trust them, can that company follow through on the promise.
The answer I believe is that the campaign must be more than just a marketing effort to draw people in, but it must be a cultural thing within the company. It has to be more than a good idea from someone on the marketing team. It has to be understood throughout the company and every last person within the company needs to know that we are now all about the customer. Otherwise, there is sure to be egg on the face of the company.
Thank you again Amanda for sharing your opinion.
“Credit card companies do it all the time and most people hate it.”
And the light bulb goes on briefly but burns out. I hate spam and junkmail.
John, I agree. I hate spam too. There’s absolutely no value to the consumer, but it’s one thing to blanket a mailing list hoping for a bit, and another thing to reach out to your existing customer base and ask for the opportunity to provide them with value.
As an example, two days ago, Audible sent me an email offer that allowed me to get three audiobooks I’ve been wanting for the price of two. I already had two credits in my account so I naturally took them up on the offer. Had I not agreed to receive email offers from them I wouldn’t have been notified about the offer and would have missed out on a great opportunity.
To me this kind of interaction has value and is a positive way to do business. So, all I can say is it’s worked for Audible, and I feel that I’ve benefited on numerous occasions. I love learning via audiobooks and so far Audible has done a pretty good job of earning my trust and filling my needs.
Trust is definitely something companies have to earn.