Dear Bertrand, I finally read your newsletter

To buy or not to buy?
That is the question!

Many of us have an automatic reaction to newsletter emails: we just press delete. Even if we have subscribed them and they come from a company or brand that we admire and buy from, at some point the amount of information we are bombarded with is too overwhelming. And so, even without opening it, we delete the email.

Many times we come across some sponsored ad on social media and find it visually appealing. Search algorithms also work their magic to show us the exact products we were looking for, even before we know we were looking for them! We click the link to visit the website, sniff around the catalogue, the online store, check for some opportunities – meaning freebies! A significant majority of the times we don’t make any purchase in the first contact with the brand. We are following a friend’s recommendation, or we are merely looking around and evaluating the best option before deciding where to spend our money. We search, compare, check for reviews and take a while to make our pick. In most of marketing customer behaviour theories, the decision-making process involves a five stages process. Following the lead of Philip Kotler ^[1], these stages are problem recognition, information search, alternatives evaluation, purchase decision, post-purchase evaluation.

Most marketing theoretics agrees on this pyramid, but two specific stages actually determine where I, as a consumer, am going to spend my money: stage 3, where I evaluate the product’s or service’s benefits, qualities, features, attributes, image, the brand reputation, popularity and other aspects and use tangible criteria to make a selection; and stage 4, where I come to a conclusion and take action to buy.

It is well known that beyond tangible criteria, many factors influence our purchase decision, and many of them are, in fact, intangible. Some derive from our cultural and social frame, and others derive from our personal and psychological characteristics.

On the one hand, cultural and subcultural factors are structural and play a significant role at an individual level as they are related to one’s origin and identity. Gender, religion and politics fall within this category and are exogenous aspects to the individual. They feed our need for integration because, after all, we are gregarious animals. 

On the other hand, social aspects are related to the educational level, occupation type and income standard, and also, consequently, purchasing power. People from the same social extract tend to cluster in reference groups, and members mirror the consumer patterns in choices and consuming consistency. Some individuals’ behaviour can influence others as they represent social status role models by displaying desirable aspects like considerable wealth or alluring lifestyle.

Personal and psychological characteristics are very diverse, but they are probably the ones that most decisively affect our individual purchase choices. Age and lifecycle stage, personality and lifestyle, beliefs and attitudes are aspects that will determine individual needs according to time and circumstance.  Perception and motivation in the decision-making moment of the buying process fall within the Maslow hierarchy. Reasoning says that most of the marketing actions will be successful if they work upon the needs observed in the middle of the pyramid and upwards, meaning the needs for belongingness, ego fulfilment and self-actualization.

The hardship of matching brands’ interests and customers’ needs

As a communication player, either a marketing agency, a brand or a media agent, being able to respond to these needs requires understanding the environment within which you are addressing the consumer. It does not always come intuitively, and so it requires grasping the full picture of your context and deconstructing the specific nuances that directly and indirectly impact the individual. In the realm of marketing communication, we can observe various scenarios where the message content may even be relevant, but the inadequacy of its form fails the purpose of reaching the audience successfully. These scenarios may include:

a) The message may have content about products or services that respond to the receptors needs, but the communication vehicle is not appropriate, and so chances of being successful are very low because it does not meet the receptor where he/she is.

b) The message may have content about products or services that respond to the receptors needs, and the communication vehicle may be appropriate, but the conveyor language does not meet the receptor’s characteristics, and so chances of being successful are very low because the receptor does not understand you.

c) The message may be sent through the appropriate vehicle, and its structure may be formulated in terms understandable by the receptor, but if contents are about inadequate product or service, chances of being successful are very low because receptor’s needs are not met.

Beyond these hypothetical examples, we know for a fact that the mismatch between message and receptor is very frequent and it sounds like a lot of effort has to be put into it to get the perfect match between the message issuer’s interest and the receptor’s needs. Having to put “a lot of effort into it” means having to put more time and more thought into it. Since we are living in an immediacy culture, subdued by the rule of speed and efficacy, it seems daunting and discouraging to permanently have a thorough eye on what is happening around us. The processes’ automation is the most useful way to cope with deadlines and objectives that are to be cleared every day, every week, every month. Many times, quantity is valued in detriment of quality turning mass marketing cheaper but also less effective because receptors are overwhelmed by the information overload and cannot concentrate.

Juncture is everything. It frames almost every determining factor influencing people’s needs at any time. Situational events are recurring and can have a moderate impact on local or regional levels, or may apply only to specific consumer clusters. But profound structural occurrences like the one experienced with the COVID-19 pandemic, causing a worldwide lockdown and spreading fear and uncertainty to the whole globe, require a clear-eyed analysis to understand, adjust and actually respond to the fluctuation in fundamental needs. This analysis must be prejudice-free, and action must genuinely address the consumer through the appropriate channels and in their own words. If we want to match our message to the receptors’ needs, we have to see, listen and think – if this means putting “a lot of effort into it”, then yes, that’s what it takes to be successful in conveying the message.

“Dear reader, we miss you”

Let us get back to our main topic, email marketing, so I can give you an example of a very simple and clever marketing action that I have received.

I am a frequent client of a very charismatic bookstore in Portugal named Bertrand. It holds the honour of being the oldest bookstore in the world and stands the test of time as a reputable brand. I am a subscriber to their newsletter, and it goes without saying that I delete many of their newsletters without even opening them. Why do I do it? Why don’t I just unsubscribe it? The answer is that I really don’t know. The bookstore sends me newsletters with different frequencies. Some are weekly, some are monthly, some come on special holidays… I don’t know exactly. I just know that they are too many, all structured in a similar way, written in an impersonal tone of voice like most email marketing pieces and it clearly doesn’t reflect this particular brand’s historical identity.

One of these crazy, hazy, fuzzy pandemic days, I received another email from Bertrand. It was just another auto-pilot day; being in self-isolation sure has peculiar effects on each person and feelings of uncertainty and solitude pervade the hours. This time the email subject had something different. It said, “Today is International Book Day, and we miss you.”. From just looking at it in the inbox, I could read the first sentence, and it said something like this “Dearest reader (please excuse us the intimacy, but we honestly miss having you around), we sincerely hope that you are well.” These surprisingly warm words intrigued me, and this time I opened the email. There was a 572 words text – yes, I counted them. Not even one image. No links whatsoever to any discounts or promotions on their website. Just an electronic letter to the “Dearest reader”.

In five paragraphs, the brand’s voice described how their almost 300 years-old bookstore survived wars and revolutions without ever closing its doors, to now see them shut down by this new invisible threat called COVID-19. It humbly said that there was not much to add about the topic than just stating the facts as we are all spectators of this terrifying play, and, like me, so the bookstore was anxiously waiting for the next act. Nevertheless, and by quoting national authors with emotional words of resilience and bravery, Bertrand assured its trust in the future, hoping for a quick and safe return of the days when I, the “dearest reader”, will be able to visit them once again. The closing words reminded that this is a time to grow inner patience, nurture our loved ones, cherish friendships and don’t give in to fear. And it ended with “We miss you. Take care of yourself.”

It moved me. So much that I replied with a thank you note and even shared it with my friends. Here’s an example of how an attentive analysis of juncture can have fruitful results in marketing actions. In the face of such a drastic chain of events, as the spread of this disease has been, the brand took a moment to stop and understand present facts. It actually put on their customer’s shoes and identified specific needs that arose from the current context. In this particular case, the brand chose not to address its own commercial objectives in its email marketing action. Instead, Bertrand decided to respond to a lower level of the Maslow pyramid, touching some very primal needs like the need for security and affection. One may think that considering such a disruptive international context, it was easy to do the exercise of identifying the swift in needs and priorities. But the truth is that most brands are struggling to find that match we identified earlier, between their commercial interest, their message format, the suitable vehicle and communication line and the receptor’s actual needs.

The email contents were beautifully written, using a personal and experienced tone of voice. By putting itself in the same level of uncertainty and anxiety of the reader, the brand triggered feelings of belongingness in the receptor of the message and by reassuring its trust in better days to come, it fed the need for protection. Even though there was absolutely no explicit commercial content or reference, this email marketing action planted the seed to better retention rates by acting on the customer loyalty side. I personally felt proud of being a customer of an authentic brand. They made me feel special by thinking that I am part of such an inspiring, century-old community of readers. And surely I am going to buy Bertrand more books willingly.

Stop selling, start sharing

Maybe the time has come for every communication agent to renounce the immediacy culture and have an intentional approach to email marketing. An intentional approach means an in-depth, conscious and exempt analysis of the factors driving the consumer decision-making process and then truly addressing customer needs. This may mean that commercial content is not always the answer. Brands should work their relevance and customer loyalty also through email marketing, without giving in to the urge of trying to sell something in every contact. Brands should share more content about their core values and mission, about their interests and actions beyond commercial activity. Customers are smart, and they can always perceive when a brand’s communication is trying to push a product or service only for the sake of it. Even if that sales’ action may seem subliminal. Instead, brands should try “selling” their own beliefs and personality, boosting the sense of community identity. It is fundamental to revive brands’ empathetic skills and work email marketing actions based on a common ground of interests between commercial objectives and audience needs.

Let us all take one minute of silence in memory of all the unread deleted newsletters of the world!

References

[1 ] Philip Kotler, Gary Armstrong (2008). Principles of marketing . 5th ed.Essex: Pearson Education limited