Email Trails: The Path of the Modern Day Herald
I like to joke that on a daily basis, there’s a lot more happening in my subscription inbox than in my actual life so what’s a few more to add for the love of marketing research. When it comes to hiking shoes, my thoughts are pretty straightforward — I’ll only buy them if they make me look good on the trail. Hence the fascination over Salomon and its many collaborations with fashion brands and pop culture moments (refer to the Salomon x Maison Margiela shoes worn by Rihanna during the Superbowl). However as part of the brand research process, I also explore competitor brands like Merrell to see how they’re faring in the email game.
Trailing Breadcrumbs
When I enter Merrell’s site, there’s a pop-up of a dirt-ridden shoe prompting me to ‘reveal the special offer’. Right off the bat, the interactive feature already captured my attention in a good way. As i hover the cursor over to wipe off the virtual dirt, I’m transported to another prompt saying that I get to unlock a 15% discount when I sign up with an email — ticking the box on incentivizing a prospect buyer!
The welcome email is consistent with the branding, a message in earth-tone colors enticing the user to ‘venture outside’ and subheading the benefits of being part of the email list. The experience is not lost on mobile, attesting to the responsiveness of the layout. Scrolling down further along the content, I can’t miss the welcome offer with a bold call to action to ‘Shop Now’. Some consumers may feel slightly inconvenienced at remembering to paste a discount code upon checkout, but for marketers — this is key to precisely measuring the conversion success of an email campaign.
The next segment includes easy navigation on the product assortment of Merrell as they place category images and unique links for seamless shopping. Towards the tail end of the mail, there’s an invitation to connect showcasing the brand initiative to put forth a community of hikers that may be relevant to anyone thinking of finding their next trail or simply exploring options for their first time.
All Trails Lead Here
3 days later, another email pops up — a reminder of the welcome discount just in case I forgot about it. There’s a different angle to the email now as Merrell places product highlights of their Moab shoe, “the world’s #1 hiking shoe”, and jungle moccasins. Two highly rates shoe designs were displayed with excerpts from satisfied customers. There was an option for each gender too but I wonder if they are able to collect more data on their newly acquired mailers and tailor the best-selling content to the gender and search history of the consumer. Will it affect open rates and conversion?
Another feature to wrap up my Merrell email experience was the Shoe Finder — if you weren’t convinced enough of their products, there’s a mini questionnaire that promises to match you with your ‘solemate’. Filling up the criteria in terrain, climate, distance, protection, and basic specs — I’m presented with my results and was impressed with the experience as a prospective first-time hiker.
The amount of interactive activities was enough to warrant a continued subscription to see what the next email may contain — I will have to stay tuned!
