Customer-First Marketing: The argument for sending your customers non-transactional emails in two case studies
In a 2016 MarketingSherpa study, we split 2,400 consumers into two groups. We asked half of the respondents to name a company they were satisfied with, and we asked the other 1,200 to name a company they were unsatisfied with.
The most popular response from satisfied customers — 42% of respondents — said that their chosen company’s marketing puts their needs before its business goals.
For unsatisfied customers, the most popular responses — 30% of respondents in each case — were that the company they were unsatisfied with “sometimes” or “seldom” puts their needs before its business goals.
How does this translate into email marketing? Examining the ratio of company-first emails (heavily transactional) to customer-first emails.
We’ll do this by reviewing two case studies featuring marketers who decided to dedicate significant time and effort into producing an email send where the goal wasn’t to drive revenue.
Case study #1: Marriott International
“It felt like we had the opportunity to really do something that was much more member-centric, and really use all the data that we’ve got on our members and present it to them in an interesting, fun way that they might not expect from us,” Clark Cummings, Senior Manager of Member Marketing, Marriott International.
Clark said that in the interview for his published case study for MarketingSherpa, where he was describing Marriott’s Year in Review campaign.
That send — which was non-transactional in nature — helped triple the December average of revenue per message delivered and contributed to making Marriott’s Q4 of 2014 the most successful fourth quarter in three years.
The Year in Review campaign led with a video that summarized several of the Marriott-specific highlights of 2014. This video was customized to each Rewards member.
