Earlier this month I received a message from REI, a retailer that specializes in outdoor equipment clothing and supplies. The message was welcomed because I opted-in to receive messages from REI several months ago when I received a forwarded message from my sister.
The subject line, REI-OUTLET: “Save and EXTRA 20% on gifts and more”, was compelling enough for me to take a second look. Who wouldn’t want to save an additional 20% off the discounted outlet price? The message had a nice design with a jacket, snowshoes and other items one could expect to find on sale. In the bottom left corner I found the cutest purple hat I had ever seen. I decided at that moment that it must become mine.
As I clicked on the hat, I imagined driving my convertible with the top down in the chilly winter months wearing the adorable purple hat to keep my ears warm. Nothing happened. The image wasn’t clickable. My eyes began franticly scouring the message. How can I start shopping? Where can I click? I MUST HAVE THAT HAT!
The box at the top of the message was clickable. I was taken to the REI-Outlet page. Whew. But wait, where was “my” purple hat? It did not make the cut onto first page. Where was that hat hiding? I had to find the hat, but how?
I located the Search REI-Outlet at the top of the page and desperately typed in “hat”. I was directed to more than 60 results for “hat”. I then narrowed it down by category by selecting “Women’s Clothing” I was then able to locate the hat I had become instantly smitten with.
It took me no less than five steps to locate this “Must Have” item that was prominently displayed in the email message, and by the time I found it I was too annoyed to make a purchase. The long journey to find the hat turned into more of a scavenger hunt than a shopping trip.
I never did purchase the purple hat. Dashed was my dream of being the woman, driving top down in January, with the heat on full-blast wearing the purple knit hat tied under my chin.
What was the impact to REI-Outlet? In this case it was the $13.00 minus an extra 20% for one hat. Not a great deal of revenue, but how many other subscribers became frustrated by their inability to click-through on the images? The ultimate damage may never be known.
How many subscribers would have purchased if they had been taken directly to the item description with the ability to add the item to their cart immediately? I would have.
When planning your email marketing campaigns, remember that with each additional step your audience has to take to reach the call to action, a percentage of interested subscribers will start dropping off. When it becomes a hassle, people give up.
The images in your email messages should be clickable, and the destination should be relevant. In this case leading me directly to product description would have been ideal, but I would have settled for the Women’s Clothing: Winter Hats category. You never know, I might have found something else I liked better…
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Posted by MindComet on Dec. 20, 2006
Call to actions are just that. A clickable link to that damn hat! And it’s such a nice hat also! I hope you sent a copy of your post to REI.
Posted by Jules on 12/21/2006 02:11 AM