The Marketing Argument for Email Marketing
Is it still beneficial for liquor brands to provide an email marketing experience?
I recently went on the Don Ciccio & Figli website to learn about their email marketing for their Ambrosia — an all-natural Italian herbal liqueur made with turmeric, blood orange, cantaloupe, carrots, and 9 botanicals. Ambrosia is best enjoyed as a spritz and Don Ciccio & Figli is the Italian-style distillery that released it into the market. Experts are saying that if you love the Aperol Spritz, you should try an Ambrosia Spritz.
Easy to Sign Up
After advancing through their age verification greeting, I scrolled the home page in search of where I could register to receive communication from the brand. I knew from experience navigating websites that brands chose many different ways to position the newsletter form on their websites. It seems like everyone is using box pop-ups because I can’t remember the last time I was on a website (on mobile or desktop) where seconds into scrolling, something popped up promoting something or asking for information. However, ADC&F had their newsletter form as a footer bar found at the bottom of the page after scrolling past liquor visuals and a write-up on their company history. I would say it was fairly easy to find.
What happened after I signed up?
After I submitted my email address, the website populated a “thank you!” However, it was about 24 minutes before I received a response in my inbox acknowledging my contact form submission. I registered at 11:15 p.m. and heard back from Don Ciccio & Figli at 12:09 a.m. Generally, when someone orders a spritz, they expect a low-ABV drink, three parts prosecco, two parts bitter liqueur, and one part soda water delivered to your table in 2–6 minutes (that’s fair). Not so much the case when ordering a digital spritz. This one took a while, but not a big deal.
Was there a welcome email?
No, not yet. First, I had to confirm my subscription to Don Ciccio & Figli. In fact, I originally registered twice. After not getting a response immediately, I thought maybe there was a glitch in their system, so I entered my email again and that is when I got this response:
This is what confirming your subscription looks like:
Besides asking for confirmation, they assured you just because you received an email didn’t mean you’d be receiving communications. I was also curious about the digital technology that Don Ciccio & Figli implemented and noticed it uses socketlabs for their campaign tracking.
What have you noticed about the frequency of the emails sent?
Once I was a verified subscriber, I waited for emails. First day nothing; second day nothing. As a test, I simultaneously signed up for another liquor brand. In a matter of 24 hours I received an email encouraging me to join in the fun on their instagram. I would think that Don Ciccio and Figli’s Ambrosia would be quick to use the power of digital marketing to bring attention to their brand (especially since they were mentioned in Washingtonian as an appealing alternative)
Are they using email best practices?
They started out with a call to action asking to confirm that it was me attempting to register for news and communication. This was a best practice used. However, going forward not so much. On the third day I received an email notifying me of “Don Ciccio & Figli in the news” with a link to their press spots:
While this was designed simply, readable at a glance on my phone and desktop, it’s not really content worth the space in my inbox. I can easily just google search the brand news. I would have wanted to know things like which bars in my area serve Ambrosia or maybe if the brand is associated with any social causes or sports sponsorships. I also added an item to my cart and waited 48 hours to see if I would receive a behavior triggered message reminding me that my cart was open. I didn’t receive anything.
What is your opinion of the way they are using email?
I think they started out using email very responsible verifying that it was me asking for communication. This showed me that they weren’t just interested in spamming me but rather checking to see if I would be loyal to the brand. I think they could use email more to bring awareness to their Instagram and Facebook accounts which they illustrate in small icons underneath their 2019 award badge. Not to get too conspiracy theory, but it is quite possible that their market automation software picked up my geolocation and realized I am not in the D.C. area, so why send me personalized information while I’m in New York, but I don’t think this is the case. In conclusion, I think Don Ciccio & Figli can use email marketing to boost sales of their products and they already have the cart infrastructure in place to make the sale happen. Their website communicates the ability to host receptions for up to 200 people, being able to accommodate almost any occasion, intimate or festive. This is a great way to built trust which is key in the liquor market and I think they should use email marketing to send out information on events they are running in the New York area.
