ROI is a function of both cost and impact. As long as email is low-cost, there will always be spam and spam will continue to decrease consumer responsiveness to email as a tactic overall. As such, I am not optimistic that content can be compelling enough on its own. Great content is a pull tactic more than anything else, promotions are a push.

Good email campaigns should have BOTH. Discounts and promotions are short-cycle, immediate-interest opportunities, but adding in more custom content as a secondary method of engagement should never be discounted (no pun intended). Promos are immediate calls To action, but personalized, relevant custom content gains longer term “stickiness.” Good content ALWAYS helps to tie shoppers to brands if they do not have an immediate need for a promo to stick.

There are two parts to a successful email. First, the subject line to get consumers to open the email. Compelling content enables this open rate to happen. In my 19 years of experience with email marketing, a subject line like “The Deals That Make Us Proud (Unlike Our Nephew, Steve)” will have a significantly higher open rate than “10% off with this coupon.” Once you have gotten the customers to open the email, then you have to get them engaged with what you want them to do. And that is to buy. So you need an incentive to purchase. High-quality and engaging content will lead them to where you want them. Which is to click through to your site and buy. Content is what gets consumers engaged with your brand and enables the deal you are offering to be successful. They go hand in hand and are not mutually exclusive. One of the most important aspects of marketing today is content. Consumers may not call it content, but if you look at the more successful… Read more »

The rise in “native” advertising as an alternative to mobile banner ads moves the exchange to an information-based relationship from simply a promotional one. By better informing, rather than just enticing the purchase, the value exchange is improved. Benefits-based selling works across all demographics.

At this point, consumers are certainly conditioned to expect discounts. If that’s part of a brand’s strategy, then email is likely the right medium to deliver the discount. Content, on the other hand, is a top-of-the-funnel activity. While sending out an email can help amplify content and draw your customers’ attention to the knowledge your brand has, content is instead more useful for SEO and for drawing in customers who are searching online. Content gives the opportunity to add value and answer questions beyond those that simply relate to your product. In general, I would treat content as a way to engage not as a way to convert which is the explicit purpose of discounts.

The results of these DMA studies are hardly a surprise. Consumers always say they want more discounts and generally to pay less and “don’t care about content.”

However, we all know that consumers respond to good content, and quality content supports engagement and stickiness.

A new angle to think about this topic is related to which retail vertical are we discussing. For food and grocery retailers, drugstores, and other high frequency multi category retailers, targeted and personalized discounts based on customer demographics and past purchases would be a highly effective tool. Quality content that is really relevant to their customers would be more difficult and costly to create.

Contrary, for specialty, vertical shops and sites with more engaged and homogeneous customers base, such as mountain bikes, hiking equipment, cooking accessories, baby accessories etc, quality content can be a much more significant part of their communication mix, so that should include occasional discounts as well.