We’ve written in the past in this space about the importance of the emerging Email Marketing arena and how a successful email campaign can be an important part of your overall marketing plan. Obviously, step one for any potential activity in this area is getting your customers email addresses…not always the simplest part of the equation.
Enter Bath & Body Works and their recent efforts in this area. The chain recently revealed that they have quietly gathered over 10 million customer email addresses over the last two years, claiming each one is worth about $18 to the company.
Their secret to getting so many customers to willingly hand over these addresses? The company actually uses a multi-channel approach in gathering the email addresses. They offer items such as free tubes of lip gloss through a promotion sent to the customer’s in-box (once they agree to give the address) that must be redeemed in-store to get the free item.
The chain’s VP of Customer Marketing, Brian Beitler, recently told a gathering at an e-commerce show in Washington, DC that email is significantly more valuable to them for an in-store customer than for a Web customer explaining that their customers spend as much on subsequent trips to the store as they do on their first visit.
