/ Building a better customer loyalty program /

Dear friends and colleagues, a successfully integrated marketing strategy relies on creating a seamless experience between multiple and communicating marketing ‘levers’. To give a few examples of some of these levers, they include company website and logo, external chat (such as WhatsApp) and smart working customer services, social networks (Facebook, YouTube, Instagram), the publication of articles or ads in specialized magazines and the distribution of brochures and leaflets at relevant expo events.  

The interaction between these levers, especially when complemented by captivating graphics and efficient content management, may seem enough in a lot of cases. However, one of the most powerful digital marketing tools available to market your business is the newsletter. The reason why this marketing lever is frequently overlooked is that we tend to view mails in the Promotions tab as “Spam folder”. What normally tends to happen is to tick and delete all of these emails without even giving it a second thought. Under the constant bombardment of promotional advertising our already saturated attention span just filters that information out. So why should we consider the newsletter as a strategic lever of corporate communication? The newsletter is a specific type of direct email marketing which, like any marketing or real-life interactive element, certainly has its advantages and disadvantages. 

The motivation behind contacting a customer is the potential to open a line of communication capable of overcoming their initial indifference. Every moment is an opportunity to highlight the company and its products by diverting visits towards the platforms that are most functional to business objectives at any given moment (video, social networks, website). This does not mean that we must send dozens of newsletters a month, otherwise, as mentioned before, our news will be immediately relegated to the bin. And it should be noted that, in compliance with international privacy law, any mass email software must include an “unsubscribe link” at the end of every email by default. A simple click and a potential new customer could forever be lost. This is what happens whenever our contacts feel overwhelmed (and seems fair enough once we try to put ourselves in their shoes). 

In order to secure customer loyalty, the newsletter should therefore be used only to communicate relevant information and ensuring the client has an awareness of the company’s constant focus on innovation and new market demands. Providing specifically tailored content makes the client feel both at the center of attention and valued by the company.  

Analytics and campaign reports are invaluable tools in helping a company determine the success of a campaign and the impact of its marketing strategy. Almost all major platforms provide detailed graphic information measuring newsletter customer satisfaction. It is a time-consuming but necessary process. You might be asking what sort of information they provide: among other things, email tracking tools capture data on sent emails such as open times and rates, as well as click-throughs on links. The best of all possible outcomes being when a potential customer forwards a sent email or even replies to it.

Oscar Giacomin  / General Manager, Facto Edizioni

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