The Art of the Email

I love J.crew but that company used to blow my email up. It seemed as if every day they felt like they had some new product or campaign or sale they wanted to email me about. I did myself a favor and unsubscribed.

That brings me to my topic of email strategy. We talked about the importance of website analytics and understanding your conversion rate in the previous post. Now I want to discuss how to boost your conversion of viewers to buyers by the highest Return On Investment marketing tool available...yes folks you got it..."The Email!"

With email marketing you want to have a strategy. You don't want people to unsubscribe case and point my J. Crew situation. However, you want to reach out to your customers as much as possible with the most relevant information...that keeps them engaged and most importantly not totally annoyed.

The best way to do this is to use a system such as campaigner by gotcorp.com to manage your email database. This easy to use online service will allow you to see who's opening your emails, when they're opening them , if they click through to your site and forward it on amongst other things. There are so many things you can learn about your customers..and email marketing makes it easy and cheap as long as you know how to analyze the information you have and put it to good use.

So let's isolate one point to get you started in creating your email marketing strategy. I advise that any serious marketer with a database over 100 people learn how to segment their customers. Segmenting your customers means putting them in a category based on who they are or their behavior patterns. That way you can always send them emails that are most relevant and that they are more likely to open. Relevant information helps your prospective customers to Trust you....you will establish integrity...and people will be happy to see your business in their inbox.

Example.... Let's say you sell men's clothes, childrens' clothes and baby clothes. It will behove you to take a look at your sales and see exactly who's buying what. If one of your good customers buys a lot of merchandise and it's always mens product...why bother them with an email about children's clothes. Yeah, they may have a niece...or little cousin or something that the decide to give a gift to but the reality is their core purchases have been in mens clothing. You don't want to inundate them with emails about kids...and baby clothing to the point where they're hearing a little bit too much from you and realize that you don't even understand who they are. Bottom line is people in in retail and in life like to feel special.

Once you group your customers according to their purchase patterns. You can market to them accordingly sending each group what they would be most interested in. You'll find yourself with higher click through rates and less unsubscribes. People will know you are approaching them specifically and have a good offer that will be of their interest. If they think they are part of one of your big endless campaigns that runs every week.... it won't be long before you end up unopened...and in the junk folder. What a sad way to go:(

A Boost for your Online Boutique...

If you're really looking to boost the sales in your online store ask your web designer about web analytics. Not now....but right now!

Analyzing your site can make a world....yes...yes...a WORLD of difference in your sales and conversion rates (the number of viewers that become buyers).

There's a lot you can learn from your web analytics but If I had an online boutique I would start by learning my conversion rate. Here's how you do it.....

Let's assume that you have a decent number of visitors coming to your site. Decent is relative-- depending on the product you sell... so if you're a small boutique and you have 100 visitors per day take a second to be happy with that.

Within that second you want to find out how many of your viewers are actually buying, to calculate your conversion rate.

Take the # of visitors and divide it by the number of buyers.

It goes like this: 3 buyers/100 visitors= 3% conversion rate

Most apparel companies hover around 3% conversion, which is commonly known as the industry standard. Find your number. Oh, and make sure you look at your "unique visitors," and don't look at your "hits." This is a common mistake as hits are how many times someone clicks anywhere on your site so one person may account for 50 hits. If you want a true number of how many individuals are coming to your site ask your web designer to give you your"unique visitors," number.

Converting your existing visitors to buyers thus raising your conversion rate can happen a lot quicker and is way more cost effective than marketing to find new customers. You still want to find new visitors but starting with your exsiting customers is the best strategy.

So...now that your know your conversion rate how do you raise it??.....Email Marketing is #1 and it has the absolute highest ROI (return on investment) of all marketing vehicles. We'll talk more in my next post.... Go Ahead and find your conversion percent today...then we'll pick up where we left off!

Boutiques...Put your .com to work

9 times outta 10 in most large companies the .com is the highest producing store. Um hummm... For example Gap.com produces more than any individual store does on its own, even the huge flagships. This is the absolute norm for most retailers.

Therefore it can be the absolute norm for your boutique. With very little over head your online component can be the proverbial cash cow driving your business.

I have to be honest with you...developing a profitable online store is a lot of work..it's time consuming and its tedious. Did I mention it was tedious...and it's really not as simple as it seems. The good news is that at the end of the day it's worth every additional penny and ounce of effort and will pay for itself many times over.

Here is my 2cents on setting up your boutique .com....

1. Do It Right- If you feel like you have to go cheap and cheesy to get online---just wait. A great Ecommece site doesn't have to be crazy expensive but it absolutely must be Attractive and Fully Functional.

2. Be Prepared- A successful Ecommerce site is trusted...meaning it's not down or--- so out of stock that it might as well be down. Keep fresh products and give people a constant reason to come and to come back.

3. Market....Market....Market- The cool thing about marketing on the web is that there are so many options to drive traffic to your site. Email advertising has the highest return on investment of any other vehicle. The cheapest and most effective...now that's just fabulous.


In closing...at some point or the other if you want to grow your business you have to stop playing and get with the program. Selling online is it. PERIOD.

If you need help there are books, websites and consultants like myself that can help you out. But whatever you need to do make it happen....Make it Happen!

Give em' What They Want

I had a client not too long ago that hadn’t realized what made her business go left. She owned a stylish super chic accessory company specializing in handbags.

Her “star” item was always her signature clutch….it was $125 wholesale and it sold and sold and sold. Every season it was reinvented in some way or another and it kept selling. Well one day I guess Jessica Simpson--Sienna Miller-- Lindsay Lohan or one of them had too much to carry one night and she pulled out this huge bag… and sent the clutch and the clutch business straight to hell.

So it downtrended….died…played out whatever you want to call it. Being the businesswoman that she was she started doing these gorgeous Italian leather boho bags but her business stumbled or chocked…or stumbled and chocked would probably be the most accurate. So let’s take a look at this…what’s really going on?

Now the clutch did in fact go out…that was a fashion fact THE CLUTCH WAS OUT and it was nothing she or I could do about it.

But what we discovered was really missing wasn’t the clutch. It was the $125 pricepoint. Buyers have allocated dollars to spend….with a $125 clutch they may be able to buy a few from here and a few from there but with $500 big bags of the moment that same strategy just won’t work.

My advice----find that $125 price point again…give it back to your customers. They miss it! They need it! And for right now you need it to fill that hole in your sales.

We know it’s not in the body of a clutch…. but is it a belt, a wallet a leather planner? As the designer she’d have to figure that out. Fashion is fabulous but every buyer has a bottom line…through merging price and the right product that’s what you have to find.

See my dear…you had it all along.

Market Fresh Marketing

I started thinking about my blog. It’s been way too long…I know people have been checking it out but I’ve barely had the energy to read it myself. So I’ve decided to freshen it up a bit, change the format to something a little more “digestable,” if you know what I mean… Short and Sweet Tips...Smart Little Pearls of wisdom on how to market your line or your boutique.

As a consultant I meet with designers, boutique owners and other design related companies just about every day. I make it my business to keep my ear to the ground. Therefore, I learn something every day. People are always talking about what works..what doesn’t work..yadda…yadda…yadda.

So for those designers and retailers that have no time to sit through the endless seminars, meetings and conferences like I do…and so enjoy…I’ll be happy to share my knowledge with you. Check back in a bit…I will start today!

A Fresh Start

I started thinking about my blog. It’s been way too long…I know people have been checking it out but I’ve barely had the energy to read it myself. So I’ve decided to freshen it up a bit, change the format to something a little more “digestable,” if you know what I mean… Short and Sweet Tips...Smart Little Pearls of wisdom on how to market your line or your boutique.

As a consultant I meet with designers, boutique owners and other design related companies just about every day. I make it my business to keep my ear to the ground. Therefore, I learn something every day. People are always talking about what works..what doesn’t work..yadda…yadda…yadda.

So for those designers and retailers that have no time to sit through the endless seminars, meetings and conferences like I do…and so enjoy…I’ll be happy to share my knowledge with you. Check back in a bit…I will start today!

The Two Faced Designer— Editing Your Line

Merchandising is a matter of using both the creative an analytical side of the brain. Achieving financial success in fashion doesn’t have to be a gamble. The merchandising process is designed to turn your product from a simple work of art to merchandise positioned to produce financial return.

After your line is beautifully designed the Merchant then takes over and begins editing the line to make it a marketable assortment. In this article we’ll discuss the general of merchandising and how to begin the process. .

A Merchandiser is not all about numbers and margins. Although the bottom line is their priority both the designer and merchandiser ultimately want a visually stimulating line.

The conflict can approach when it comes to turning your gorgeous line into a successful business. This means creating an assortment with the right number of pieces, appropriate pricing, positioning and strategic sales strategies.

I say all this to say that in any design related company that’s goal is financial reward, there needs to be at least two people making product decisions. A designer and a merchandiser.

If you’re a one man show you’ll need to assume both roles as you begin merchandising. This journey begins with editing your line. In order to accomplish putting together an effective merchandising strategy the first stop is to separate yourself.

The designer side is free and artistic while the merchandiser side is best described as the business person as well as the “customer filter.” It is ultimately the merchant’s responsibility to make sure everything suits the potential customer’s preferences and most of all sells.

Let’s back up a bit. If you haven’t already you’ll need to define your customer. Outside of typical demographics age, gender, income and geographic location, take some time to dig deeper.

Really try to get into the psyche of your customer. Shop where they shop. Read what they read. Watch what they watch on television and son on and so forth. At times I suggest my clients write a little story about their customer’s lives. This helps ensue that every product they decide to produce has a place in the customer’s life.

Another helpful exercise is to match your product to a well known person or celebrity. Is your product more Posh Spice or more Sienna Miller? Jackie O or Kelis?

Getting your customer profile together first helps to put everything in perspective from your brand strategy to your actual product assortment.

Once you’ve thought about your customer preferences begin applying them to your product line. As you get started whether you have samples or simply flat sketches the Merchant should pull each product through this customer profile or story. If it doesn’t fit it’s out. You don’t want to throw off your brand with an unfocused assortment. The goal is to make sure your product says something and keep in mind it’s not supposed to say something to everyone; just your potential customer and anyone who aspires to be like them.

The proper merchandising strategy is not only going to serve to increase your sales but it will also help greatly reduce your costs. You’ll hopefully eliminate things without sales potential and draw more focus in your marketing to product that you strongly believe in.

In effect you’re working at it from both ends to achieve the highest sales and profits possible.

If you need help developing your merchandising strategy contact Gloss Marketing at info@glossmarketing.com.

The Luxury of Customer Loyalty

The only thing that may stop a customer from buying True Religion jeans from Saks instead of Barney’s is that they have a Barney’s card. With Barney’s points based program you get money back for every dollar that you spend. So although Barney’s rests at the top of the luxury fashion food chain, they still have a loyalty program similar to one you may find at your local grocery store.

Why? Simply put “Loyalty Works.” There’s a marketing adage that says it takes 3 to 4 times as much money to find a new customer as it does to keep an existing one has been proven time and time again. It’s about more than keeping a clientele book. Fantastic customer service should be a given, but establishing true loyalty takes putting your money where your smile is:)

I’ll caution you that as a contemporary boutique you too have to be strategic like Barney’s and develop a brand savvy luxury loyalty program that stops your customers from worrying that you’ll soon be changing the name of your boutique to Dress Barn.

Keep in Mind a Good Luxury Loyalty Program Should….

1. Increase Sales. Create a program that not only rewards customer’s current sales but drives them to buy more. Although it’s nice to reward people you want to make sure the program serves its purpose of driving more volume through loyal customers.

2. Elevate the Brand. Reward customers via points with something they’d want anyway. Maybe it’s a gift certificate to an ultrachic restaurant, a massage at Bliss Spa or Fashion Week tickets. Make it a true reward….not a discount. While a discount cheapens your brand a luxury reward puts you in the front of the class.

3. Begin Exclusively. Do a test run with some of your top customers or try a “Summer Rewards” program. Run it June through September, and then compare your sales to last year to evaluate your return on investment. Once you determine what’s what you may decide to make some adjustments or roll it out to your entire customer base.

Overall you want to make sure that before you start, you reviewed your sales and understand your customer enough to determine the best luxury loyalty program for your store. The right program will give customers a vested interest making your boutique the ultimate destination for every shopping trip.

For help on implementing a fashion focused luxury loyalty program contact us at info@glossmarketing.com.