Tuesday, 18 August 2009

Too good to share

by Cliff

By Eleanor Workman

Yesterday I was lucky enough to be one of the 2,000 Metro readers to win a year’s Taste London membership through a competition they ran in a London free sheet.

Having seen the ad in the paper on the way to work I eagerly registered my email address on the website, to be informed that at 2pm on the Friday I needed to be at my computer, ready and waiting to submit my details to be one of the first 2,000 to enter and win.

What a great data capture and viral list building idea. BUT – here’s the snag.

I really wanted a Taste London card (I know several people with them and they’re ace) so I selfishly made sure that I told as few people as possible about this promo. I figured the less people I told, the less people they told and the less people I’d have to compete against at 2pm.

I had all morning on Friday to forward the email to friends, colleagues and everyone I know in London, but rather wisely I think – I chose not to. Was I the only one to think this offer was too good to share?

Maybe Taste London would have seen a much wider viral reach and collected much more data if they had turned the promo on its head – so that everyone who registered at 2.00pm got a free mini trial membership, and a random 2000 won the year’s free membership.

Still, I’m sure Taste London now have a much bigger database, and have probably thousands of people trialing the card. I think they’re even giving away a month’s membership today in the Metro.

Using email marketing Taste London can now grow their database further, encourage contacts to send to friends and post links on Facebook and Twitter, and set about converting trialists to annual memberships.

So apologies to all my dear friends and work colleagues for my neglecting to tell you about this pretty amazing offer – I’ll buy you lunch I promise (using my Taste London card of course).

Next viral campaign you do however – consider this – is it too good and too limited an offer for people to want to share?

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Tuesday, 2 December 2008

The Attack of the Killer Shoes

by Cliff

By Cliff Guy

On a seemingly normal day in November, one of dotMailer’s email marketing clients sent an email campaign through dotMailer to an email list of 88 opted-in contacts which then showed a staggering 9,000 number of opens.

How can they have done such a thing?

Well mentioning no names, our client – a much admired designer shoe label – followed one of the number 1 golden rules of marketing – make them an offer they can’t resist. Who could resist? No-one, it seemed. And the power of email marketing meant one click of the forward button sent this offer truly viral.

Our viral specialists leapt into action. What had caused the spectacular success of this tiny campaign? How could we help all our clients’ emails do the same?

The diagnosis was clear:

1. The offer was so great that everyone who saw it wanted to tell other people. (the chance to get first dibs at this prestigious designer shoe sample sale).
2. The offer was presented as an invitation to a private event – so the recipients wanted to share it because it made them look ‘in the know’.
3. By offering them something to sign up to, they collected the viral recipients’ data and grew their databases, closing the loop.

This wasn’t the first time a dotMailer email had gone viral – but it is our most instantly contagious so far. If there’s a cure for this, I don’t need it!

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