Maintain A Personal Touch With Targeted Email Marketing

Part two of this three-part article looks at how to improve the e-commerce and email marketing customer experience.

When distributors are improving their email marketing strategy they need to keep in mind the “Amazonization of customer expectations,” a movement that takes Amazon’s focus on user experience and applies it to the business-to-business market.
 
“Just because you sell in a business-to-business environment doesn’t mean that you can get away with a clunky and cumbersome experience online,” says DeStefano. “Virtually every business-to-business buyer has purchased consumer products online, and they know what a pleasant and user-friendly experience that is. They have come to expect the same from their business-to-business vendors.”
 
Distributors should make sure that their software is able to personalize messages. Instead of a mass email with the same exact message to hundreds or even thousands of clients, the distributor should consider a way to frame the email message with client-specific elements, so it appears to be a personal message when it hits a client’s inbox, says DeStefano.

One of the simplest ways this can be accomplished is by having the client’s name in the email, giving the appearance the message was not sent through a mass email generator, but by an individual who works for the distributor.

“The more that you can send out targeted messages to your customers that are relevant to them and as personalized as possible, (the more you) will get a better engagement and a better response,” says DeStefano.

Another key to sending out mass emails with elements of personalization and relevance is a function that takes time into account. Clients will need to replace supplies every few months. For instance, DeStefano’s east coast firm consistently orders coffee from a distributor in the Midwest. 

“The only reason that I purchase my coffee from them is that I get an email from them precisely when I am about to run out of coffee,” says DeStefano. “They know what my previous purchase behavior has been. They know how long it takes me to reorder, so they are being proactive in sending out a targeted message to me.”

That email also contains a one-click button that links to a Web page that allows him to quickly order the coffee he enjoys without having to dig around an e-commerce site. 
 
“That’s a great example of how personalized messages can get that type of response,” he says. “If I just received a broadcast email from them, not talking about anything specifically, I would not have acted on it at that point in time.”

Jan/san distributors can apply that same thinking to their customers’ chemical and restroom consumable needs.

Timing can also be used to base emails on seasonality. Distributors should be proactive with email marketing when it comes to products that are more popular during a given season, such as deicer and weed killer. Classic Solutions does exactly that, routinely sending out an email blast featuring seasonal items.

“It’s a reminder. It lets them know that a salesperson will talk to them soon,” says Creps, who adds that it has been a successful approach to engaging clients.

The company does not put product prices on its email blasts, because, according to Creps, pricing is different depending on quantity and the relationship the jan/san distributor has with the client. If the client is logged into its account, the link in the email would send the client to a page that shows that client’s price for the product.

“You don’t have to do anything after that but click a button,” says Creps.

Some email software allows distributors to send a client a “cart abandonment” email that is generated after the client has chosen items online but does not complete the purchase. These emails should also have a one-click button that allows the client to go directly to a Web page to complete the purchase.

“The key idea is that the more personalized these messages can be, the more effective they are in the long run,” says DeStefano.