After following these three companies and receiving Google Alerts / emails about them, I have deduced that they are using proper direct marketing and email design principles to attract my attention and provide me with the information / news I need.
Email Design
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| Source: Google |
The emails are predominantly well constructed in terms of email design, they adhere to many of the elements that make an email visible and attractive. The fact that I have chosen to opt-in and continue to do so (as a person who religiously chooses to not receive and follow emails) shows that they are doing a great job on their designing and delivery.
The Google Alerts emails are very numerous and generated a lot of traffic in my email making it hard to sort, but in terms of the email themselves they almost all have compelling content and very interesting offers and promotions that I never imagined.
At first glance, the emails display decent subject lines but excellent preheaders to let me know quickly if the email is even worth opening, or what I can expect after opening it. These alerts are great and although high in numbers, give me the option of always stop receiving them which is really useful.
Marketing
In terms of the content and how they used proper marketing tools, they also fulfilled various elements of good marketing that I caught on to. The content itself is very relevant to the information I need to find with steady updates that seem to know every little thing about the company and what they are doing. Most of these emails weren't thoroughly read but the majority were still opened and given a glance, which still elicited a course of action from myself (I commend you!). There was a couple of emails with very fun content as well as opposed to strictly news and straight on info-type.
Many of these emails had good click through rates and also made me feel like an active partner who receives relevant emails from a provider. In regards to the CAN-SPAM act: there is not a single email with content irrelevant or with malicious intent such as phishing. They all adhere to the principles of the act and have no misleading or deceptive content.
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| Source: Google |
- Reduce quantity in general
- Increase alerts on interesting updates such as features
- Reduce alerts on financials / scandal type news
A/B Testing - 2 elements
- Different Subject Lines - See if attraction will change or if it will only derail it
- One email displayed at a time after clicking it - versus a whole list of past emails and alerts from past days
Internet I's - Interactive. Information-Driven. Immediate. Involving.
For Line Messenger's website:
In terms of interactivity the website is not very interactive and has very few clicking points. For example, as shown in the image to the right, there are several pictures showing the many features and more if you scroll down, but no option to click or learn more about the features on a new page.
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| Line Website |
The website is very well designed, informative and easy to learn about the product and its many features at a glance. Immediately, the website is very straight forward and designed for immediate action and response, in a matter of seconds you can learn about the product, watch videos, and take action to download it instantly (As an app on Windows 10 browser or app on phone).
The involving element of Line Messenger's site is probably the strongest. The also website features a section with various games with the original characters from the app, as well a store with different features such as LineOut (international calling) and other purchasable items such as stickers and themes for your chats.
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| Line Website |
WhatsApp - First Look
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| WhatsApp Website |
The main premise of WhatsApp is to offer a global chatting service that can strictly run on WiFi and give you international calls with other users. So from its already widely known brand, it's offer for the product is automatically very strong by default. The proposition to the prospective customer is very well forged and the website upon being opened immediately within seconds gives you everything you need to know with no trouble, as well as 3D images of all the devices it works on. Now with Facebook, the media is on WhatsApp's favor, all the advertising and branding has been boosted and now seen a great brand who got even greater. WhatsApp is a strong company with a strong customer service as well. The company, even before Facebook acquired it, was always loyal to the customer and had extremely good customer help and satisfaction.
Works Cited
WhatsApp :: Home (WhatsApp.com)
https://www.whatsapp.com/
LINE : Free Calls & Messages (LINE)
http://line.me/en/store
How Big Advertisers Are Using Next-Gen Messaging Apps
Snapchat, Kik, Tango, Line and WeChat (Advertising Age Digital RSS)
http://adage.com/article/digital/advertisers-snapchat-kik-tango-line-wechat/292631/
