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 constant barrage of discount-oriented emails — some daily — gets downright numbing. Lands’ End was successful, in part, because of compelling descriptions of its products. Retailers selling products at a similar investment level should consider providing more information. They should consider making this content available in stores as well.

Great content leads to loyalty and engagement while discounts lead to instant traffic. Although both forms of marketing have their place, it is content, not sales, that creates lasting engagement. In today’s information economy it is more pivotal than ever to become a resource for customers, which can only happen through informative content.

Have you ever heard of a cycling brand called Rapha? If you haven’t, I would recommend you check them out (google: Rapha cycling). They are masters of content marketing. What they email you is stories of riders, where they ride, high production value videos of the rides — of the beauty, the suffering, the camaraderie, the food, the places they stay on rides, etc. For an outsider this sounds corny, but if you’re a rider you know that they GET it. That they REALLY get it. Then, oh by the way, here’s some product that goes with said ride. This M.O. works in so many ways, but primarily it allows you to absorb and identify with the brand vs. diving right into price. As a matter of fact very rarely do they even talk about price and, when they do, it’s not with any of the stories or excellent videos. Of course, it helps that their product is off the charts in terms of quality, but that’s the price of entry for any brand pushing… Read more »

Value comes in many different forms. Discounts and promotions — and content. If all you do is try to sell and promote, a customer may turn off from the retailer by opting out of an email list, deleting an app, etc. You must provide value at all levels. Content is a great way to engage and retain interest and relevancy with customers.

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.

Non-stop, constant discounting is numbing to many shoppers. Yes, shoppers will say they want discounts, but it’s more relevant a question of *when* they want those discounts — when they are ready to buy. When they’re not ready to buy, they want content and information that helps them on their path to purchase, whatever path that may take (online, mobile, in-store, combination of all of the above). The key for retailers is not just to have the right mix, but to deliver the right message at the right time. Endless discounting only conditions shoppers to hold-off buying until they see a discount and is still a race to the bottom — one that most retailers shouldn’t want to win.