VerticalResponse Email Marketing Blog for Small Business

September iPod Shuffle Winner!

Tara McCarthy, Colliers International, is the winner for September!

Check out the multiple listing email and the single listing email.

Why did she win? See below.

1. Email Strategy -  It isn't just about ONE email here, it's about an email strategy. Classic use of the ONE - TWO punch. Tara not only sends out emails announcing multiple property listings within one email, but she also highlights a single property in a secondary email.

2. Email Design - Great use of text, white space and graphics in the multiple listings email. in the event that graphics are stripped out by an recipient's email reader, the text appears nicely.

3. Call-to-Action - "Click here for the flyer" - There isn't an overwhelming amount of information here, bullets are great. The call-to-action is a download of a flyer with more information.

4. Graphical Genius - In the single listing email, this may sound elementary, but this is a super use of an animated gif! She shows about 4 views of the property and only takes the space of one picture not 4 separate ones.

Another 9 out of 10 for this winning email combo! Great job Tara and team!

The Gap Goes Down!

I know that writing about this might be at the expense of possibly ever getting business from the Gap but here goes.

At the end of this summer the Gap did a crazy thing, they took down all 3 of their sites (Gap, Old Navy, Banana Republic) to do a website upgrade. Normal? Yes. But here's the kicker, Banana Republic was down for 2 days, and Gap and Old Navy were down 2 weeks smack in the middle of back to school!!! In September they were throttling customers visiting their sites because they couldn't handle the traffic and a spokeswoman said "This will help us gain valuable learnings while providing a solid and improving experience of the interim."

Are you clutching your pearls? Because I did. So I asked our Technical Director Nick, is there any technical reason why this would need to happen? "Yes" he uttered to me over IM. "Lack of electricity to power the servers, lack of Internet connectivity or death of all of their technical people at once."  That's what i figured.

Internet Retailer wrote an article about it in this month's publication featuring a spokeswoman said that "running parallel sites is hard and expensive". My gut tells me not $20 million worth.

I felt i should write about it because:

1. VR has many customers who are retailers who shouldn't think this is the norm.
2. If you can manage it, working on a total new site should happen in conjunction with running your old one. At some point a switchover happens so you don't lose revenue, more importantly aggravate customers.
3. Timing is important - At most a few days is acceptable and preferably in your slow time.
4. I went to buy something and got aggravated.

Gap took a serious risk so good thing they have some serious loyal customers (like me) and a $10 million revenue hit per week doesn't kill their company. But something this important could damage yours so beware.

VerticalResponse Gets an Award! Fastest Growing Co's in the Bay Area!

OK, I have to write about this. It's truly an accomplishment of our employees and a huge thank you to our customers. We were selected by the San Francisco Business Times as one of the Top 100 Fastest Growing Companies in the Bay Area. On top of it all, we ranked #26!!

The scene: There were about 400-500 in attendance for the event at the Westin St. Francis on Union Square, and we were in some great company. The team was decked to the nines and we waited with bated breath as they counted down the top 50 one by one.

The moment came and it was fantastic, a very proud moment for us all.

The crew was happy, we celebrated, and it was a great sense of achievement for our business and for me personally.

Thanks to all that have helped made VR a success!

Using Greed As An Advertising Motivator

So I was watching the movie Wall Street this weekend, how appropriate! Gordon Gecko had the great speech to his investors at Teldar Paper: "The point is, ladies and gentlemen that greed, for lack of a better word, is good. Greed is right. Greed works. Greed clarifies, cuts through and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit." What a comment.

As I got a bit slammed by my Fear as an ad motivator blog, I'm SURE, I'll get some comments here about Greed in continuing to discuss the 5 advertising motivators.

So do I think using greed in advertising is a good thing? In certain cases - definitely. It helps overcome consumer inertia. Just don't abuse it, as it can be a risky motivator.

According to Webster, 'Greed' is defined as "an excessive desire to acquire or possess more than what one needs or deserves..."

We've all seen the ads that hype that someone can lose 50 lbs. in 5 days, or a guy can be instantly more "manly" after taking a pill. This is a use of greed; it is an excessive desire to acquire something much more soon than it may be reasonably deserved. Abuse of greed occurs because it is a base-level reaction in many people. You've all seen the spam email about the $1,000,000+ account in Nigeria that 'only you' are being contacted about. 

However, there are some appropriate uses that leverage the "greed" motivator. Maybe not as strongly as Gordon gecko would like, but that's the point...a more slightly more subtle emotional appeal.

One of my favorite commercials is a VW commercial. A dealer walks out of the building with a happy couple on their way to buy a new Jetta, it's one of the last on the lot. A guy who wants the car as well licks the door handle marking it as his car (and grossing out the couple!). He wants the car so bad he'll go to any lengths to get it!

Or how about QVC? They promote amethyst earrings like they must have the last 20 pair on earth. "You can't find these anywhere and we only have 20 pairs left. You have two minutes to call! HURRY!" On HSN the Knife guys are boasting the Emperor's Collection (complete with a SWORD) at $169.95, only 10 left!!!

Do you remember the Furby Frenzy of 1998? A $30 toy was going for $800 on the secondary market! Greed was abound as parents HAD to buy this toy for their children because their friends had one. (Disclaimer: If you were one of those parents, it's OK, you were doing it for the child you love.) Don't even get me started with Tickle Me Elmo.

Time limits, quantity limits, they all drive our greed. What do you have that might trigger someone to make a decision to use your good or service?

• Are you a Realtor selling a house in a hot market? So many people want to get into the housing market and they'll pay over asking just to get in. If you don't sell them a house, someone else will. Get your name out in front of them with your properties.

• Does your retail business sell a product that everyone wants? In the holiday season there is always THE product that flies off the shelves. If you've got it, flaunt it.

• Are you an artist or art dealer that has a limited supply of lithographs or better yet originals? Selling #130 of 150 total lithos can appeal to the greed factor.

• How about a winery that has limited production of a Cabernet, and you're down to your last 50 cases? Prompt people to 'act now' - get the word out via email or on your website and get great response.

• The concert or event you're promoting may sell out, so promote your "One night only" event where tickets "sold out last year".

Whatever product you have, calling out any time limits or product limits, even expiration dates can induce your customers or prospect to respond. Use it. And don't hate me for quoting Gordon Gecko, although greed got the best of him in the end, it doesn't have to get the best of you.

As always, if you have examples of good or bad uses of marketing motivators, or just want to add your 2¢, comment back!