The attraction of bulk email marketing is that a slight, a very slight, increase in returns gives a massive increase in ROI. It follows therefore that a little idea, just a slight alteration, might be well worth the effort. Mind you, how do you to know what to change?
There has been very little research published specific to bulk email. We cannot be blamed for not cooperating in something which gives others advantages of our experience. So we have to go to similar forms of marketing to find the way forward.
The Point of Purchase Advertising International (POPAI) has conducted research regarding what it calls shopper engagement. It concentrates on the behaviour of purchasers in grocery stores, which whilst not specific to bulk email marketing points in a specific direction.
The startling conclusion of the report is that something in the region of 76% of in-store decisions are impulse buys: counter intuitive or what? Less controversial is a second conclusion that people are more cautious when handling money than when using credit or debit cards.
Whether the results are relevant to users of bulk email is unknown, and that is the vital point. There is no evidence to say whether our customers are susceptible to impulse buying because the research has not been published. However, it might well have been completed and, worryingly, by your competitors.
You must try to discover whether or not making an offer late on in your campaign will tempt your customers to buy that bit more. They will be using cards rather than cash so you have one thing going for you already.
It is up to you to complete the research. Try a little offer, perhaps on the page which shows what they have ordered so far. A little click through which could double their order, but only increase the charge by 70% might well be enough to convince them to give into the impulse to buy.
You might get nothing out of it. On the other hand it might prove to be that extra couple of percent. If you are considering trying it then I would suggest you give in to your impulse.
