Well designed email program

I so often talk about the failures of various email marketing programs that it’s only fair I mention when someone gets it right.
We spent the past week with family on the east coast. Our flight back to the west coast was very, very early Sunday morning so I booked a night at the airport hotel. That way we could just stumble to the shuttle at some horrible hour and not worry about trying to coordinate drivers and cars and all that other stuff.
As we were headed to the airport, I pulled out my phone to confirm directions. I found a new message in my mailbox offering me the opportunity to check-in online. I decided to see how it worked.

  1. Click link in email that takes you to a webpage.
  2. Confirm data pre-populated on the webpage.
  3. Select time you’re going to arrive at the hotel.
  4. Click check-in.

Immediately afterwards, I received an email confirming the check-in process.

Screenshot of Hyatt Check-in Email
All the information I needed
We arrived at the hotel about 20 minutes later. There was no line for check-in, so I didn’t bother scanning, just gave my name at the desk. They had all my info, gave me a key and we were checked in.
It gets better. Instead of the normal printed bill under the door in the middle of the night, they sent me email. From this email I was directed to a website where I could review all my charges, confirm they were correct and then check out. I could even choose the time I wanted to check out. All I had to do when leaving was drop off my key and wave goodbye.
I’m often impressed when someone gets email right. I know I shouldn’t be, email is not rocket science. But there are so many poorly designed and executed email programs out there that it’s often a surprise when I see a program that works.
Not only that, a well-functioning email program tells me quite a bit about the company.

  • They understand I’m traveling and don’t always have access to a printer, so they give me a virtual barcode to scan.
  • They understand I’m probably reading email on a mobile device and design emails for those devices.
  • They make sure the information I need is easy to find, including their address and phone number of the hotel.
  • They don’t need to sell me at every touch point, they already have my business, so the emails focus on the current transaction with branding and invitations at the bottom of the email.

This email tells me that Hyatt puts my needs, as a customer and a traveler, first. And that does mean they’ve earned my repeat business.

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The frequency conundrum

What is the perfect frequency to send mail? Is it daily, weekly, monthly, hourly, minutely (is that even a word?) or randomly? Any number of experts will give you a definitive answer to this question, but I don’t believe there is a single answer.
The frequency recipients will respond to depends on the type of mail, the recipient expectations, the sender and a host of other factors.
For one example look at the mail sent by social networks. Many people, myself included, will accept dozens of emails a day telling me someone wrote on my Facebook wall or retweeted something I said or wants to link to my network on LinkedIn. Another example is when I’m traveling or waiting to pick up someone who is, I am thrilled to receive multiple updates an hour from the airline.
This willingness to receive frequent commercial or bulk emails doesn’t necessarily translate to marketing emails. When Sur la Table started sending double digit amounts of email a week, I down-subscribed, and had they not let me pick an acceptable-to-me frequency I would have unsubscribed completely.
A lot of marketing experts insist that mailers don’t send frequently enough. That increasing frequency increases ROI. What a lot of people miss are all the caveats in the fine print. In their minds, increasing frequency goes hand in hand with increased segmentation, targeting and recipient specific emails.
The idea isn’t simply to mail the entire list more frequently but to mail those who are more open to increased frequency. This is an idea I wholeheartedly support.

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Relevance?

As a past guest and/or meeting planner of Millennium Hotels and Resorts we are pleased to share these occasional special offers. If you no longer wish to receive email communications from us, please click the unsubscribe link. Please note that this broadcast is sent from an address which is not monitored. If you have questions about the offer, please contact us directly. Our hotel contact details may be found in this email offer above or you may visit www.millenniumhotels.com.

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