MindComet

Is AskMen.com Coming On Too Strong?

As an email marketer, I am all about getting as much subscriber information as possible. Knowing who they are and knowing what is relevant to them is invaluable. Having this information makes for an ideal relationship for both the marketer and the subscriber.

But how exactly are you supposed to go about getting this information? Do you ask for as much personal and lifestyle information as possible up front? Or do you take a more lengthy approach, collecting data through responses and activity over time?

AskMen.com believes in the former.

When signing up for their newsletter, you’re given a series of options that are presented in a 4-step process.

The first step being the “List City Guides” step. Mainly, there is a pre-selected opt-in to their newsletter , the “A. List”, which covers everything “guys need to know” about. They also set expectations informing users that it arrives every Wednesday. Nicely done.

In addition to opting in to receive their general newsletter, it provides the opportunity to sign up for newsletters based on a major US, Canadian, UK or Australian city. I’m assuming this comes in handy whenever AskMen is sponsoring an event in that particular city or when a they have a lot of editorial or user-submitted content for a specific area.

The second page consists of more general demographic info—name, sex, zip, etc. The usual suspects. It also provides an option to receive BlackBerry text versions of the newsletter. Smart move, as I’d imagine a large portion of AskMen.com’s potential subscribers probably use BlackBerrys.

The third page consists of an arbitrary refer-a-friend step, which is where AskMen.com loses focus. There is no incentive for the new subscriber to invite their friends to a newsletter that they have not yet received. It comes off as being a little greedy, but I give them an A for effort.

Finally is a sports-centric page with the opportunity to sign up for newsletters on all of the major american sports.

Once this process is complete, they know what city you live in (or near), general demographic info, if you’re using a BlackBerry, who your 5 closest friends are and what your favorite sports are… and they know all of this off the bat.

So is this method of data collection overkill? Does it turn potential subscribers off from signing up? Or is it best to collect this information upon sign up and get it out of the way?

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Posted by Bryan Quilty on Jul. 14, 2010

Let’s Go Rangers!

Geotargeting is an excellent way to provide your subscribers with timely and relevant content.  Its easy to implement by collecting either the users’ zip code or state.

My favorite hockey team has always been the New York Rangers.  My folks grew up in NY/NJ.  My dad always watched their games. I was born into it.  Recently I signed up for their mailing list and my first email by them was a doozy.

This is an extremely well-executed example of geotargeting-based messaging done right.  They know I live near Tampa, so they sent me an email to buy to tickets to a Rangers /Lightning game on two separate occasions.  All it entails is to segment your database by state or zip code.  Elementary stuff, really.

If anyone reading this will be in Tampa on Wednesday, November 26th, come by the St Pete Times Forum… Say hello.  I’ll be in section 203, row K.  Let’s Go Rangers!

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Posted by MindComet on Sep. 23, 2008

Luck of the Irish and the BoSox

Saint Patty’s day is by far one of my favorite holidays - Im Irish and you get to drink green beer.  I also love that my favorite sports team, who else but the Boston Red Sox has apparel to match the luck of the Irish.  I received this email the other day and was instantly drawn in - why wouldn’t I want to update my Red Sox wardrobe and be festive for the upcoming holiday . 

Although this email was targeted to me in a non intended way, I don’t believe the MLB is doing anything to target based on gender or preferences.  Im pretty sure all the Red Sox fans got it as well because I haven’t received any other targeted messaging such as women’s only clothing.  I was reading The Email Wars blog the other day on gender specific emails and was frustrated for them that they were receiving the wrong gender based emails.  Luckily, the Red Sox have my support regardless if they win or loose so the non segmented emails can continue.  If it were another store/brand though, that may not be the case.

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Posted by MindComet on Feb. 27, 2008

Adjust Send Schedules Around the Holidays

My three-day weekend was fantastic.  I went to a few bars, went to the movies, a cookout with my closest friends, and karaoke night (my renditions of “Wanted Dead or Alive” and “On the Road Again” garnered me two standing ovations, but I digress…) I couldn’t have asked for a better holiday.

But when I returned to work on Tuesday, I was immediately stressed. My inbox was flooded with newsletters and sales offerings desperate for my attention. Because of the abundance of emails, my attention was concentrated only on the ones related to my daily tasks at hand.  The others merely fell by the wayside, or in this case, the delete button.

As a rule of thumb, don’t send any emails for your campaign until at least 3 days after everyone returns to work… It gives the recipient some time to catch their breath.  Unless of course it’s time sensitive or you’re sending to a highly segmented list.  But even if its segmented, your recipients might be as overwhelmed as I was and completely overlook your message.

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Posted by MindComet on Sep. 05, 2007