Making contact
Any type of contact your customer has with your brand is important. Online stores know that email marketing can significantly affect the all-important conversion rate if done well. And using existing customers to get more sales instead of paying for new ones is a no-brainer.
So email might be the most important contact that customers can have with your brand.
An email doesn’t sell a product effectively by notifying people that the product exists and is available to buy. Good marketing means enticing customers and helping them to connect with the brand. It helps them to buy into the ideas and values that the brand represents.
“Good marketing means enticing customers and helping them to connect with the brand”
A case study
Here is an example of a main image for part of an email campaign. It was part of a series we did recently and looks very simple, but sets the scene. The photograph looks grainy which matches the seventies retro logo typography. The scene is a road trip. That American symbol of freedom. The model’s look and styling fit in well with the era.
The typography placement adds to a cinematic feeling, like the intro credits of a film. If it didn’t say “T-shirt” you might not understand what the email was about, but you would connect with the scene. You would understand the feeling of the story being told.
There is no boring product shot but the email plays it cool. There isn’t even a call to action, although the image links to the relevant page so it’s easy to use.
The Cadbury’s advert
This story about the classic Cadbury’s Gorilla advert tells a story about feeling good. There were many ads at that time which entered the public consciousness but people still didn’t recall the products. Despite the product not being shown in this case, people retained the memory of the product far more than adverts which showed their products.
Results
When we implemented a better brand experience into the email marketing for the online store, conversions increased significantly. The product became more desirable. Sometimes less really is more, and an effective image with minimal type can be the best option.
So when is an email not just an email? When it’s a brand experience.