Discounts and well, discounts…
What makes you not hit that ‘unsubscribe’ button?
Do you suscribe for email marketing? Because I sure do.
Whether it is by offering you a 15% off, shopping points, or the possibility of free shipping on your birthday. Email marketing gets us all, and some great examples of it are apparel and fashion brands of any kind.
Today we are looking at Converse and analyzing their email marketing strategy — what’s making it successful, and whether or not I should unsubscribe after finishing this blog post.
Getting started is easy
One thing about subscribing to a marketing newsletter is that it should be easy. So easy it should take less than a minute. Maybe less, considering today’s attention spam, it should take exactly 30 seconds.
I had already subscribed to Converse sometime last year. However, I decided to re-suscribe using a different account for the purpose of this exercise.
After putting down a different email address — just so I could see everything from the start — the next step was putting down my name, last name, and birthday.
At that point, and almost automatically, I received two emails directly to my inbox. One, confirming my subscription and delivering the 15% discount that was offered from the start. The second one, officially welcoming to their club, describing the benefits of the account, and strategically including an action button saying “Start Shopping”, that of course I had to click — which leads me to the second part of this process.
Strategic action buttons
Every good promotional email should have at least one action button. Whether it is directing the user to your site, a social media account, or to perform an action elsewhere. Yes, emails should contain meaningful information, sometimes even pictures, but they should above all things tell users what to do.
Once I clicked on this button, it automatically directed me to a page in Converse’s website with all their best-sellers and all-time classics. Looking at it from a new user perspective, this is a great way to get new and upcoming customers a look into what has made the brand as great as it is. Second, the styles selected in this page are best-sellers for a reason, right? So it is only fair to assume that a new email marketing contact will enjoy and potentially buy them as well.
A deeper dive
Frequency
These are simply the initial steps. However, since I have been subscribed for longer, I was also able to look back at some of their emails and identify some sort of rhythm. To start off, Converse sends an average of 4-6 emails a week offering discounts, showcasing new styles, giving outfit inspiration, and testimonials from their fans.
Which yes, in a way, it means they have contacted 4-6 times their customers throughout the week in one way or another. Now, whether or not you will choose to buy something every time is a different story.
Look and Feel
Their overall emails are typically simple promotional emails, with the use of quick titles such as:
“Find your fall fit inspo”
“PSA: Last chance for 30% off”
“Kids styles that pass the test”
Most of them have bold letters, links directing users back to their site, vibrant images, and a section — which I actually find to be very useful — with access to their returns, gift cards, store locator, contact info, and shipping policy. As well as great responsive design, as every email can be seamlessly opened from a mobile device. An “unsubscribe”, “get help”, and “privacy policy” sections are also hyperlinked in the end of the email.
Social Media
Now, get ready for this. Naturally, Converse also adds social media buttons linking users to their online pages. However, something very interesting that I found after scrolling through some of their past emails is that Converse does not longer link their users to their Twitter/X account.
The action buttons have transformed from Twitter to, guess who?
Threads!
They have not, in fact, used their Twitter/X account since October 2022. After doing some additional searching, I also noticed the company never made an official communication about its reasons behind leaving the platform. Isn’t it so interesting how one simple action can communicate so much?
Abandoned Cart
Finally, of course I had to try clicking on one of their site, adding a few shoes to my cart and wait patiently for an abandoned cart email.
An hour had gone by when I received it! No offer or special discount was included. It was simply a gentle reminder that I had left some items behind.
Now, whether or not I return to complete the purchase will simply depend on how persuasive they can get. ;)
What do you think?